From Secondary School to the Supreme Court of Canada and Back: Dancing the Tango of 'Ethics and Religious Culture'
Fides et Libertas 102-118, 2012
21 Pages Posted: 6 Jul 2013
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
This paper focuses on Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence (both decided and anticipated) related to the mandatory "Ethics and Religious Culture" course in Quebec schools, with an emphasis on the intertwining of faith-based identity and institutional autonomy, on one hand, and governance grounded in openness to a diverse range of religious beliefs and practices on the other. By comparing relevant decisions of the UK and US Supreme Courts, the paper suggests that the contours of religion-state relations might be imagined in a way that avoids problematic entanglement and instead embraces the potential of "tango" as metaphor for that always dynamic interaction. Thus, the Ethics and Religious Culture course may be simultaneously a site for education of young citizens and a site for teaching religious and state institutions complex dance steps.
Keywords: Ethics, religious culture, Supreme Court of Canada, religion and state
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