Who’s afraid of religion?
Few people worry more about what might be called "excessive nationalism" than Canadians. Just look at the national hand wringing that occurred when, in an effort to wipe up enthusiasm for Vancouver's recent Olympic Games, we were urged to get behind our athletes' efforts to "Own the Podium."
Canadians declaring that we would run over anyone who got in our way in our quest for gold? Surely not peacekeeping Canucks! It was enough for one amused American athlete to politely tell us that we could own the podium, but U.S. athletes would rent it.
Trash-talking aside, why shouldn't we Canadians want to beat the pants off everybody, whether it's in a hockey rink or out in the global economy? Isn't a little national pride and patriotism a good thing? Given the state of our economy and our politics—both mediocre at best—why not let our hair down, give off a rebel yell and thump our chests a little?
Most Canadians probably had little trouble cheering on Sidney Crosby and his fellow Olympians. Most of us are probably very proud of our men and women in our Armed Forces, whose incredible dedication and sacrifice in Afghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere should be a source of inspiration to us all.
But it might be a little harder to find a common national identity in other areas. Take, for example, the recent firestorm in Quebec over proposed changes to the provincial school curriculum. The provincial government wants to allow Jewish schools to open on Sunday in order to accommodate ultra-Orthodox students. To judge by the reaction of Quebec nationalists, changing that curriculum to allow a small number of Jewish schools enough time to teach the mandatory curriculum plus their religious courses crosses some sort of line in reasonable accommodation.
The issue is not about accommodating a small, distinct religious group. It's about Quebecers' discomfort with acknowledging that someone's religious values matter and should be not only protected but encouraged by society.
In other words, a society should be able to allow distinct groups to look different, sound different, even act differently without worrying that its identity is at stake.
It always strikes me as disturbing that religion is often at the centre of such controversies. Muslims experience backlash if female devotees of that faith wish to wear burkas. Sikh males wishing to wear a kirpan (a small, ceremonial dagger worn by baptized Sikhs) in schools have found themselves branded as potential terrorists. Even Christians who want to put up Christmas trees in public places risk the wrath of secular authorities.
If Canadian officials were consistent and declared war on every single vestige of religious expression, we'd at least have battle lines drawn. But governments won't, for example, eliminate Easter and Christmas as national holidays (nor will they add holidays from other faiths to the roster of statutory holidays). In Ontario, the provincial legislature still starts each day with the reading of the Lord's Prayer. In Quebec, a recommendation from the 2008 Bouchard-Taylor report on reasonable accommodation which would have removed the crucifix from the national assembly was quashed by federalists and separatists alike.
Picking and choosing which religious symbols, holidays, and acts are allowed in public does a disservice to the role of faith in our country. In essence, it makes faith into a private cultural phenomenon, a decoration to be looked at but not absorbed into our national psyche.
What exactly are secularists afraid of when it comes to religion? Recently, state legislators in Oregon engaged in a heated debate over a 90-year-old law which bans teachers from wearing "religious" dress in a classroom. The law, which was originally intended to keep the influence of the Ku Klux Klan out of classrooms, pits those who feel that children must be protected from the influence of any and all religions in the classroom against those who believe that expressing your religious identity is part of freedom of expression and religion.
Should we keep people who are obviously religious—the Christian who wears a cross, the Muslim or Sikh with a distinct headgear or dress—out of our classrooms? Our workplaces? What about our Armed Forces or law enforcement organizations? Will a non-Muslim child really be scarred for life if his or her teacher is a Muslim woman who chooses to wear a burka?
A nationalist identity honours the past, acknowledges the changing present and celebrates the potential changes of the future. It doesn't say to the Jew, the Muslim, the Buddhist, or the evangelical Christian that they must conform to a narrow, inevitably secular "public persona" where faith is a quaint thing akin to the Easter Bunny.
I am Canadian. I like hockey. And I am a person of faith.
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
