Law and Religion: A Comparative Approach to the Management of Religious Intolerance in Brazil and Canada

Abstract

Abstract The issue of religious intolerance, despite its antiquity, currently poses new problems, due to globalization, cultural diversity, the speed of exchanges and the phenomenon of migration, the latter being forced or not. How can we guarantee a coexistence that respects, at the same time, religious freedom and cultural pluralism, religious diversity included? The Canadian experience based notably on the notion of “reasonable accommodation” seems to represent a demanding effort to reconcile diversity and unity. It is not, however, exempt from criticism, such as the one elaborated by Lori Beaman from the notion of “deep equality”. This article comments on that experience and the criticism addressed to it, relating it to the existing ways to deal with religious intolerance in Brazil.