Religion and Diversity in Canada

In addition to the issues of religion and diversity explicitly referred in the title, this collection of nine papers, presented by Beaman (classics and religious studies, U. of Ottawa, Canada) and Beyer (religious studies, U. of Ottawa, Canada), also has power as a central theme. Papers discuss the creation of Canada's multiculturalist identity in the 1960s and 1970s, the politicization of the Bouchard- Taylor commission on diversity, fear and Canadian hostility to religious minorities, diversity in religious traditions' reactions to same-sex relationships, religious minorities' self-presentation using the Web, an emerging Wiccan chaplaincy in Canadian prisons, and broad institutional change in the definition and understanding of religion as it relates to religious minorities as revealed in court and human rights tribunal decisions. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Lori G. Beaman, Ph.D. (1996) in Sociology, University of New Brunswick, is Canada Research Chair in the Contextualization of Religion in a Diverse Canada and Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious studies at University of Ottawa. She has published extensively on religion and law including Defining Harm: Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law (UBC Press, 2008). Peter Beyer, Ph.D. (1981) University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, is professor of religious studies at the University of Ottawa. Major publications include Religion and Globalization (Sage, 1994) and Religions in Global Society (Routledge, 2006).