Christianity and North America

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although both Canada and the United States, to varying degrees, have renounced their Christian heritages, their basic natures are what they are because of the influence of, or as a reaction against, Christianity. The author points out that, in Canada, the historical evolution of Quebec and English-speaking Canada can be traced to its Christian heritage and the dramatic secularization of Quebec in particular can be traced to a rejection of that heritage. The paper relates that, for the United States, even though America has always been a fairly secular society in a formal, legal sense, it does have, and has always had, a religious element responsible for thrusting into the public spotlight social issues, which compel Americans to take sides and to engage in the pressing concerns of the day.

From the Paper:

"Starting first with the similarities between the two nations, it is evident that both Canada and the United States have a much more modest role for God in public life than is to be found in many other countries. For instance, just as jurists in Canada treat the 1982 Canadian Constitution's reference to God in its preamble as vestigial and thus prefer a form of jurisprudence that has frequently sought to de-Christianize public space in the Dominion, American jurists have also taken to employing an aggressive form of jurisprudence, founded in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, that holds the use of the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bibby, Reginald W. "Canada's Mythical Religious Mosaic: Some Census Findings." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39.2 (2000): 235-239.
• Daniel, Wallace L. "Pluralism and Freedom of Conscience." Journal of Church & State, 48.4 (2006): 741-751.
• Di Mauro, Diane, and Carole Joffe. "The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexual Policy: An Examination of Reproductive Rights and Sexuality Education." Sexuality Research & Social Policy: A Journal of the NSRC, 4.1 (2007): 67-92.
• Ediger, Garry. "British Protestant Christianity in the Mid-Nineteenth Century." n.d. Canadian Mennonite University <http://www.cmu.ca/library/ediger/cic/BrtshPrtstntXnty-1850.pdf>
• Hayes, Alan L. "Canadian Protestantism: Pre-1867 Background." Pre-Confederation Protestantism. N.d. University of Toronto (Wycliffe College). 1 Jul. 2007 <http://individual.utoronto.ca/hayes/Canada/preconfed.htm>

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