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.