Has Deconfessionalization Been Completed? Some Reflections upon Québec's Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) Program

Abstract

Québec's Ethics and Religious Culture program is described by the Ministry of Education as “the culmination of a long process” of “deconfessionalization,” in “which the Québec school system shifted away from essentially confessional Catholic and Protestant structures to lay structures.” The ministerial documents surely indicate that the program is oriented to respect the freedom of religion of all citizens. Nevertheless, it is also possible to draw evidence from the documents that the program is attempting to superimpose a certain view of religion/religions on pupils. This article focuses upon three such “confessional” aspects of the program: (1) the phenomenological presentation of religions, which avoids controversial issues; (2) the ambiguity of “Whose history?”; and (3) the potential reduction of religion into secular ethics. It examines the basic ministerial documents on the program, comparing them mainly with British, American, and Japanese materials. It could be said that the ERC program is one of the most deliberately designed models of multi-faith, intercultural religious education. It, therefore, epitomizes possible problems of such education also.

KEYWORDS:

• dialogue
• ethics
• history
• liberalism

Acknowledgments

This article was first presented at the 2010 Toronto Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. I appreciate the valuable comments from the panel participants, especially from Prof. Patrice Brodeur.

Notes

“Establishment of an Ethics and Religious Culture Program,” (Québec, Canada: Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, 2005).

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” (Québec: Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, 2008).

“Québec Education Program: Secondary Education,” (Québec: Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, 2008).

Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, “Background for the ERC program,” in Éducation, Loisir et Sport Québec, https://www7.mels.gouv.qc.ca/DC/ECR/index en.php?page = history.

See, for example, M. A. Pike, “Faith in Citizenship? On Teaching Children to Believe in Liberal Democracy,” British Journal of Religious Education 30, no. 2 (2008), 113–122. D. Moulin, “A Too Liberal Religious Education? A Thought Experiment for Teachers and Theorists,” British Journal of Religious Education 31, no. 2 (2009), 153–165.

In this article I use the word confessionalism not in its historical, narrow sense but in the sense of unrealized presuppositions, both secular and religious, that function as educational dogmas.

Strictly, England and Wales.

Religious Education: the Non-statutory National Framework (London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 2004), 8.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 296.

Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School, eds. A. Wright and A. Brandom (London & New York: Routledge/Falmer, 2000), 186–191. The 1988 Education Reform Act requires schools to “promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils” (emphasis added) throughout school curricula.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 293.

“Religious Education: the Non-statutory National Framework,” 12.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 320.

“Establishment of an Ethics and Religious Culture Program,” 7.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 293.

Full definition: The pursuit of the common good, which goes beyond the satisfaction of purely personal interests, not only involves the greater welfare of the collectivity, but also that of each individual. It refers to three main actions: the search, along with others, for common values; the promotion of projects that foster community life; and respect for democratic principles and ideals specific to Québec society. (“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 296.)

More precisely, it should be described as “liberalism with a communitarian twist” because of the idea of “the common good.” Another communitarian idea of “interdependency (interdependent)” can be found in various parts of “Québec Education Program.”

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 312.

Intercultural education is not an independent, official program in Japan. Some teachers have voluntarily incorporated the idea and the method of interculturalism into some social studies classes or other off-curriculum activities.

Strangely, while Jürgen Habermas appears in the bibliographies of the documents, Charles Taylor does not. According to Patrice Brodeur, there is no particular reason for the lack of reference, and the ERC shares the ideal of the reasonable accommodation policy.

The debate on the issue of carrying a kirpan in a public space was rekindled in 2011. “Ban Kirpan from Parliament: Bloc,” CBS, Jan 20, 2011, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/ 01/19/bloc-sikh-kirpan-ban-parliament.html.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 363.

Houghton Mifflin's Across the Centuries is one such example. The American Textbook Council is known for such criticism, represented by Gilbert Sewall. [G.T. Sewall, Islam and the Textbooks (New York: The American Textbook Council, 2003).]

G.A. Tobin and D.R. Ybarra, The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2008).

Another history textbook controversy in Texas in 2010 can be seen as a “whose history?” claim from evangelical Christians. R. Shorto, “How Christian Were the Founders?,” New York Times Magazine, Feb. 11, 2010.

Vamsee Juluri offers a unique view on the issue. (V. Juluri, “How Does California Teach about Hinduism?,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2006), B-7, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/06/EDGU9GJCQH1.DTL).

T. Jensen, “RS based RE in Public Schools: A Must for a Secular State,” Numen 55 (2008): 145.

“Establishment of an Ethics and Religious Culture Program,” 10.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 293.

“Establishment of an Ethics and Religious Culture Program,” 5.

Ibid.

“Québec Education Program: Elementary Education,” 302.

The following analysis is a synopsis of my recent work Religions in Textbooks. For reasons of space, I do not include references to Japanese materials upon which my work is based. S. Fujiwara, Kyōkasho nonakano Shūkyō (Tokyo: Iwanami, 2011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Satoko Fujiwara

Satoko Fujiwara is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at The University of Tokyo. Her areas of research interest include theories of religious studies and comparative cultures, religion and education, and North American religions.