Secularism in Canada and Europe

Secularism in popular discourse is taken to be the distinctive feature of civilized states in contrast to uncivilized states, which retain formal ties between religion and the state. This exclusionary conception of secularism ignores the reality that there is no one model of secularism, even in the democratic west, where the relationship of religion to state has taken many diverse forms. This paper explores the different conceptions of secularism found in Europe and in Canada and argues that Canada offers a model of secularism that strives to achieve neutrality between the secular as a way of life and religion as a way of life, while European law, despite lip service to neutrality, in fact adopts a much thicker, “Enlightenment” mode of secularism that disfavors religion