Law Deans, Legal Coercion and the Freedoms of Association and Religion in Canada

Abstract

The Canadian Law Deans, in unanimously opposing the application by a Christian University to establish a law school that would teach "from a Christian perspective" base their objection to the Christian moral position on a variety of matters that include sexual morality. In this paper it is argued that the law deans exhibit classic symptoms of "civil totalism" and are not, in fact, the liberals they profess to be but are, in fact, opposed to genuine diversity, liberalism and the proper approach to Canadian constitutional law principles. As such it is argued that the law deans have failed to take the proper approach to diversity and the freedoms of association and religion in Canadian law.

Keywords: Freedom of religion, freedom of association, civic totalism, illiberalism, political correctness, diversity, pluralism