Must Schools Teach Religions Neutrally? The Loyola Case and the Challenges of Liberal Neutrality in Education

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Must Schools Teach Religions Neutrally? The Loyola Case and the Challenges of Liberal Neutrality in Education
Abstract
The author explores the question of whether it is morally permissible for the liberal state to require schools to teach religions “neutrally” to children. She examines this question through the normative analysis of the 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision in "Loyola High School v. Quebec." The author argues that it is in principle morally impermissible for the liberal state to oblige all schools to adopt a neutral approach to teaching children about religious diversity. She proposes a normative framework for evaluating the legitimacy of such an imposition and identifies a strategy in support of accommodating schools like Montreal's Loyola High School that does not appeal to the existence of a strong parental right to control their children’s education. The Supreme Court decision ruled that Quebec infringed on the religious freedom of the Catholic Loyola High School by requiring it to teach the province's non-confessional Ethics and Religious Culture program. However, the high court was divided by a 4-3 margin on how to resolve the clash between religious freedom and the need to follow the secular law of the province.
Publication
Religion & Education
Volume
Vol. 46
Issue
no. 1
Pages
308-330
Date
2019
Language
en
URL
Notes

The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Loyola High School v Quebec (Attorney General) is located at: https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14703/index.do

Citation
Cormier, Andrée-Anne. “Must Schools Teach Religions Neutrally? The Loyola Case and the Challenges of Liberal Neutrality in Education.” Religion & Education Vol. 46, no. 1 (2019): 308–330. https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/14703/index.do.
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