Father Raymond J. De Souza suggested this week in his National Post column that 'open' secularism won't help Quebec. I agree. It also won't help the rest of Canada. The difficulty with the Bouchard-Taylor Report on reasonable accomodation of minorities in Quebec is that it includes both freedom of conscience and religion and neutrality of the State in its definition of open secularism. How can you both foster religious expression and be neutral to it? What the report ends up doing is suggesting that some civil servants should avoid wearing religious symbols at work in deference to neutrality while other public spaces like schools should continue promoting particular religious expression. It all gets a bit complicated, to say the least.
This conversation brings me back to one of my core beliefs about living together in Canada. The best and most productive conversations are those that genuinely engage real convictions. Nobody lives a "neutral" life. So let's start talking about our convictions and stop acting as if only some people have them.
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