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Communities in Conflict: The School Prayer in West Germany, the United States and Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Jerold Waltman
Jerold Waltman
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Southern Mississippi
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Abstract

Three remarkably similar court cases involving prayers in public schools have been decided in Germany, the United States, and Canada, all of which illustrate the issue of communities in conflict. Comparing these cases is especially pertinent for Canadian jurisprudence inasmuch as community has been trumpeted as important for giving life to the Charter. Developing four options for religiously plural federal societies, this article shows how these three countries each choose different routes, and how these choices relate to history and culture. Further, it points out that an emphasis on community in Charter interpretation is in tension with itself.

Résumé

En Allemagne, aux États-Unis et au Canada, des tribunaux ont statué sur trois cas d'une similarité remarquable portant sur la prière dans les écoles publiques. Ces trois arrêts illustrent bien le problème des communautés en conflit entre elles. La comparaison de ces cas a une pertinence particulière pour la réflexion légale au Canada, étanta donné l'accent mis sur l'importance de l'idée de communauté dans l'interprétation de la Charte. Après avoir élaboré quatre options pour des sociétés fédérales a pluralisme religieux, cette étude examine comment ces trois pays ont chacun opté pour une voie différente, et de quelle façon ces choix sont reliés à l'histoire et à la culture. Par ailleurs, elle indique que l'accent mis sur la communauté dans l'interprétation de la Charte est en contradiction avec elle même.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 6 , 1991 , pp. 27 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 1991

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References

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8. Another important religiously inspired clause, unrelated to our concerns here, is that “No one may be compelled against his conscience to render war service involving the use of arms.”

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30. This test is also from R. v. Oakes.

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