Comparative Ethics and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Debate

Abstract

For the past few years I have been working on a case study of the involvement of the Canadian churches in the Mackenzie Valley pipeline debate. My aim in this paper is to use the pipeline debate to illustrate a method for the clarification of ethical issues. This approach was developed in a contemporary issues course that I have been helping to teach since 1969, in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Toronto. It therefore reflects the influence of developments in religious studies and religious ethics during the past decade and a half, and of an academic setting characterized by religious diversity and public funding. After I have used the pipeline debate to illustrate this 'comparative religious ethics' approach, I will suggest that it is appropriate for both university and theological college contexts.