Full Description
Canada officially prides itself on being a multicultural nation, welcoming people from all around the world, and enshrining that status in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as in an array of laws and policies that aim to protect citizens from discrimination on various grounds, including race, cultural origin, sexual orientation, and religion. This volume explores the intersection of these diversities, foregrounding religion as the primary focus of analysis. Taking as their point of departure the contested meaning and implications of the term diversity, the various contributions address issues such as the power relations that diversity implies, the cultural context that limits the understanding and practical acceptance of religious diversity, and how Canada compares in these matters to other countries. Taken together the essays therefore elucidate the Canadian case while also having relevance for understanding this critical issue globally.
Contents
Preface: Canada, Eh?
William H. Swatos, Jr.
Introduction: Religion and Diversity in Canada
Lori G. Beaman and Peter Beyer
1. From Far and Wide: Canadian Religious and Cultural
Diversity in Global/Local Context
Peter Beyer
2. Québec and Reasonable Accommodation: Uses and
Misuses of Public Consultation
Pauline Côté
3. Fearing Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Sociophobics and
the Disincentive to Religious Diversity
Douglas E. Cowan
4. Two by Two: Religion, Sexuality and Diversity in
Canada
Pamela Dickey Young
5. Does Religion Matter? Canadian Religious Traditions
and Attitudes Toward Diversity
Sam Reimer
6. Canadian Religious Diversity Online: A Network of
Possibilities
Christopher Helland
7. Old Structures, New Faces: The Presence of Wicca
and Neopaganism in Canadian Prison Chaplaincies
Mireille Gagnon
8. Between Law and Public Opinion: The Case of
Québec
Solange Lefebvre
9. A Cross-National Comparison of Approaches to Religious
Diversity: Canada, France and the United States
Lori G. Beaman
Afterword: Religion, Diversity, and the State in Canada
John H. Simpson
