‘To make more room for 21st century themes’: the secular dynamics and demise of Quebec’s ‘Ethics and Religious Culture’ curriculum

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the secular dynamics of Quebec’s controversial and ultimately short-lived Ethics and Religious Culture curriculum (ERC). I argue that the conflicting criticisms the ERC attracted over the course of its brief existence emerged from the tensions inherent in its conceptualisations of religion, learning, and knowledge. These tensions were themselves rooted in the constitutive concepts and epistemic assumptions of Quebec’s broader socio-spiritual context of political secularism. In this way, my analysis makes a broader argument about the dynamics and viability of religious education programming in secular societies, especially those programmes aimed at fostering ‘religious literacy’.