Civil religion and human rights in Canada
Date
2008-04
Authors
von Heyking, John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Conference on ”Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Conscience, Right for Unification: International and Russian Experience of Application: The 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Abstract
One of the reasons why religious pluralism flourishes to the degree it does in Canada and the United States is because, as immigrants, we have inherited a cultural attitude of
healthy skepticism toward what politics can achieve. We have a cultural inheritance of
recognizing that religious persecution is frequently the result of attempts by political
rulers to establish political uniformity with dubious and overreaching civic ideals. Wehave a cultural inheritance of recognizing that human happiness is better achieved within religious communities, through education, than in larger political communities where those ideals are enforced with the sword. In short, we have a cultural inheritance of recognizing the limits of state power and laws to promote public morality, which sustains a public understanding of the limits of what politics can achieve in promoting human happiness and virtue.
Description
Keywords
Human rights--Canada , Civil religion--Canada , Toleration--Cross-cultural studies , Cultural pluralism
Citation
April 2008: “Civil Religion and Human Rights in Canada.” Conference on ”Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Conscience, Right for Unification: International and Russian Experience of Application: The 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ekaterinburg, Russia. Sponsored by The Expert Council for the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, of Sverdlovsk Region, the “Znanie” Society of Russia, and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University.