Catholic school wins curriculum battle at Canadian Supreme Court

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The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Catholic high school’s right to teach a state-mandated ethics and religion class from its religious perspective, instead of a “neutral perspective,” as required by law.

In 2008, the Quebec Ministry of Education began requiring all schools to include a curriculum entitled Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC). The course discusses ethics in decision-making and the role of religion in culture. The Ministry of Education required all content be taught from a non-religious point of view.

Loyola High School, founded by a Jesuit order in 1896, is a private, English-speaking high school for boys in Montreal, Quebec. The school sought an exemption from teaching the ERC curriculum as it already taught a similar class in ethics and world religions. Teachers taught the class from a Catholic perspective, but included the worldviews of other faiths. In addition, Loyola asserted the ERC program was incompatible with the school’s religious perspective as it promoted a relativistic philosophy commonly called “normative pluralism.” The basic principles of that philosophy trivialize and negate religious experience and belief, the lawsuit said.

In November 2008, the Quebec minister of education denied an exemption, stating Loyola’s current program did not “provide for the development of competence in the practice of dialogue” about other religions and cultures and thus was not an “equivalent” program. The school sued.

The Superior Court concluded in 2010 the minister’s refusal of an exemption infringed upon Loyola’s right to religious freedom and ordered her to issue an exemption. But upon appeal, the Quebec Court of Appeal concluded the minister’s decision was reasonable and did not result in a violation of religious freedom.

Loyola appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court, but modified its request: Administrators agreed to teach students about the practices of other world religions “neutrally,” except for Catholicism, which would be taught from a Catholic perspective. The school also requested to teach the ethics of other religions from a Catholic worldview, to remain true to the school’s convictions. On March 19, Canada’s highest court ruled in Loyola’s favor and issued the following guidelines:

Loyola’s teachers must be permitted to describe and explain Catholic doctrine and ethical beliefs from the Catholic perspective, and cannot be required to adopt a neutral position. Loyola’s teachers must describe and explain the ethical beliefs and doctrines of other religions in an objective and respectful way. Loyola’s teachers cannot be expected to teach ethics or religious doctrines that are contrary to the Catholic faith in a way that portrays them as equally credible or worthy of belief. … Ensuring that all viewpoints are regarded as equally credible or worthy of belief would require a degree of disconnect from, and suppression of, Loyola’s own religious perspective that is incompatible with freedom of religion.

“The government cannot require a private, religious school to tell its students that their faith is no more valid than a myriad of other, conflicting faith traditions,” said Benjamin Bull, international executive director at Alliance Defending Freedom. “All faith-based organizations must be free to speak and act consistently with their faith, or religious freedom is not at all free.”