From Canada-
Kevin Flynn is an Anglican priest and director of the Anglican Studies Program at Saint Paul University.
That there should be such a program at all is a cause for celebration. There are, unfortunately, some understandings of citizenship in a liberal democracy such as Canada's that take no account of a person's cultural and religious identity. At best, such concerns are thought to belong to the purely private sphere. This view imposes a truncated view of citizens.
Democracies need thorough public debate about our common priorities. To recognize the role of religion is public life is not about "imposing" particular views, still less to advocate some kind of theocracy. The religious contribution can offer a vision of the common good that is greater than a mere balancing of competing consumer choices and individual self-interest. But even that view, along with any other religiously inspired view, must be as subject to critique as any other.
A degree program would have to include education in the world's major religious traditions, attempting to show something of the world view that each promotes. How have religions balanced competing claims of citizenship and belief? How has public life itself been understood and developed in democracies? If the state itself is neutral regarding religion, does this mean that only functionaries of the state are required to keep their moral and religious views to themselves, or does the burden of this obligation fall on citizens as well, requiring them to divide themselves into public and private selves?
Read more:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Religion+Experts/3650757/story.html#ixzz11x9cMy00
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