Running head: PERSONAL REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT

An Obligation to Religious Pluralism

Personal Reflection Assignment

EDER 372 Ethics and Religious Culture

Marinella Oca Iballa (260549053)

McGill University
PERSONAL REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT 1

According to the Gouvernement du Qubec Ministre de lducation, Enseignement

suprieur, et Recherche (2008), both the ethics and religious culture areas of instruction

share the same objectives: the recognition of others and the pursuit of the common good.

Though it is without a doubt that they are goals worth striving for, I believe I am in the right to

portray some skepticism at such optimistic objectives. In fact, it seems as if these objectives

ignore the fact that students who make up these ERC classrooms are autonomous beings with

established goals and values of their own. Some of these goals and values may be completely

incompatible with the set goals of the ERC program. Thus, it is a bit of a tall order to aim for

complete and unequivocal recognition of all people, especially with the undeniable fact that

discrimination still manifests itself in many forms throughout North America.

With that being said, I believe that Ethics and Religious Culture is an extremely

important course to teach within the reality of our highly diversified and pluralistic society.

However, as teachers, we must strive for more realistic objectives than that presented by the

Gouvernement du Qubec Ministre de lducation, Enseignement suprieur, et Recherche. We

must work towards simply building the foundations for respectful interactions and trust our

students to practise their personally crafted autonomy with these foundations in mind. That is, we

must first work towards simple religious literacy. The main components of religious literacy is

the ability to integrate defining concepts of religion into casual everyday situations (Prothero,

2007) and the ability to analyze the fundamental intersections of religion and

social/political/cultural life through multiple lenses (Moore, 2008). Therefore, religious literacy

not only entails in-depth knowledge of a myriad of faiths but also asks for enough mastery to be

able to critically reflect how these faiths may influence contemporary social and cultural

situations.
PERSONAL REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT 2
Personally, there was never a question regarding the importance of religious literacy

within religious pluralism. Growing up as a Philippine national where Roman Catholicism

informs every aspect of day-to-day living in an isolated and conservative Muslim country with

devout Protestant parents meant that my very personhood was a constant convergence of

religious influences and, thus, a product of religious pluralism itself. Due to this, a lack of

acknowledgment of religious pluralism in my academic studies hurt me; I was missing the

affirming validation that would have been inevitable in a class that prioritized religious literacy.

Therefore, in the highly diverse province of Qubec, I believe that many students could do well

with the affirmation that this course would inevitably bring. The article from National Post (n.d.)

scoffs at this affirmation and any kind of fulfillment students may receive from this course they

deem the [facilitation] of spiritual development [and] self-fulfillment [as] a chilling intrusion

into parental realm of authority. Apart from the fact that I cannot fathom a world where

students receive too much academic gratification, the article is ignoring the fact that these

students live within a highly pluralized society where simply existing within it and being witness

to the plurality of their societys population would be deemed a chilling intrusion into parental

realm of authority. This course is simply meant to dodge misinformation, providing students

knowledge that is complementary to their social reality.

We have an opportunity, as educators, to lay out the basis for more respectful human interactions
and relationships through this course. The National Post article sneers at how the course equates
paganism and cults with Christianity and insists that Aboriginal spirituality doesnt hold as much
importance as the course proclaims, all at the cost of Qubecs Judeo-Christian roots. However,
the fact of the matter is that practising witches (or Wiccans), pagans, and Aboriginal people
committed to their spiritual practises are still autonomous people who exist even within the
province of Qubec. In fact, their existence within the province has not hindered any
acknowledgment of its Judeo-Christian roots. Therefore, for as long as students are to live within
the province that boasts of this kind of religious diversity, then they are only obligated to learn
about their fellow members of society.
PERSONAL REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT 3

References

Moore, D. (2008). Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: A Cultural Studies Approach. Retrieved

January 14, 2016, from http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/4.1/moore.html

Prothero, S. (2007). Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know And Doesnt.

San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Qubecs creepy new curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2016, from National Post

(http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=5828a9b0-d652-48ad-

8178-e5a587a96d28).

Qubec Education Program: Ethics and Religious Culture Secondary Cycles One and Two

(May 2008). Retrieved January 14, 2015, from Ministre de lducation, Enseignement

suprieur, et Recherche

(http://www1.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/programmeFormation/secondaire2/index_en.asp)