Strange Bedfellows? Attitudes toward Minority and Majority Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere

Bilodeau, Antoine; Turgeon, Luc; White, Stephen E.; Henderson, Ailsa

doi:10.1017/s1755048317000748

Cited by 29 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, none have systematically explored the impact of holding liberal values, although O'Neill et al (2015) show the determinant role played by feminist arguments. Moreover, in a study of the sources of support for the Charter of Quebec Values (Bilodeau et al, 2018), we found that supporters of both the Charter and the removal of the crucifix from the National Assembly of Quebec were more liberal than those who opposed the Charter. In this article, we explore whether holding liberal values has distinct attitudinal consequences inside and outside Quebec.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 91%

A Tale of Two Liberalisms? Attitudes toward Minority Religious Symbols in Quebec and Canada

et al. 2019

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Proponents of restrictions on the wearing of religious symbols in public institutions in Quebec have often framed their support in the language of liberalism, with references to “gender equality”, “state neutrality” and “freedom of conscience”. However, efforts to account for support for restrictions on minority religious symbols rarely mention liberalism. In this article, we test the hypothesis that holding liberal values might have different attitudinal consequences in Quebec and the rest of Canada. Our findings demonstrate that holding liberal values is associated with support for restrictions on the wearing of minority religious symbols in Quebec, but it is associated with opposition to such restrictions in the rest of Canada. Moreover, this difference between Quebec and the rest of Canada in the relationship between liberal values and support for restrictions on minority religious symbols can explain Quebecers' greater support for restrictions.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 91%

A Tale of Two Liberalisms? Attitudes toward Minority Religious Symbols in Quebec and Canada

et al. 2019

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“…Research in the Netherlands has shown that those who object to what they consider unequal treatment of women and authoritarian childrearing practices among Muslim minorities do not necessarily show dislike or antipathy toward Muslims as a group (Hagendoorn & Poppe, 2012;Sniderman & Hagendoorn, 2007; see also . Similarly, a large-scale study in Canada found that a majority of people supporting the banning of religious symbols in the public sphere did not have anti-Muslim sentiments (Breton & Eady, 2015; see also Bilodeau, Turgeon, White, & Henderson, 2018). And among national samples in the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, a substantial portion of people with a positive attitude toward Muslims supported a ban on headscarves (Van der Noll, 2010).…”

Section: Attitude Objectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toleration and prejudice‐reduction: Two ways of improving intergroup relations

Verkuyten

Yogeeswaran

Adelman

2019

Euro J Social Psych

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While a large body of social psychological research has shed light on the nature of prejudice and how to reduce it, we argue that such work does not address situations of cultural or religious outgroup beliefs and practices that are considered incompatible with one's own. The present theoretical article contrasts a prejudice‐reduction approach with a toleration‐based approach to consider the differences each have with regard to the attitude object they focus upon, the perceived reasonableness of the attitude, and the behavioral consequences each may lead to. In doing so, we consider the psychological processes involved in whether the negative attitude leads to negative actions. We conclude by arguing that a toleration‐based approach forms an important addition to the psychological thinking about cultural diversity and intergroup relations. Collectively, the present work makes a novel contribution to the social psychological literature by stimulating theory development and raising novel questions for empirical research.

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“…Both Amnesty International and the Quebec Human Rights Commission condemned the Charter as in clear violation of existing human rights legislation. 2 The proposal launched a polarizing public debate that mixed concerns about gender equality and the religious repression of women with local expressions of republicanism, ethnic nationalism, anger about the marginalization of French within Canada, and global anxieties about the religious Other, particularly Muslims (Adelman, 2011;Bilodeau et al, 2018). Colleagues at the McGill Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, concerned about the potential impact on the populations we serve, entered the debate with a letter to the newspapers and subsequent media interviews (Kirmayer et al, 2013).…”

Section: A Divisive Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Diversity: Pluralism, Multiculturalism and Mental Health

Kirmayer

2019

Transcult Psychiatry

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which would aggravate mental health problems, and impede access to safe, equitable, and effective health care for minorities (Kirmayer & Guzder, 2014). While the political debate was an important opportunity to articulate competing visions of society, it also provoked an escalation of hateful speech and acts toward women wearing veils and other groups in public settings (CBC, 2013). The PQ government's rhetoric during public consultations on the Charter gave permission to some of the most reactionary regressive segments of society to voice their prejudices. The government seemed unconcerned about this debasement of public discourse, perhaps because their real interest was the deliberate mobilization of xenophobia to promote their brand of ethno-linguistic nationalism. During the debate, some Quebecois self-described ''feminists'' asserted that they were in solidarity with a group of Muslim immigrant women from the Maghreb, Middle East and France who were in favor of the Charter (e.g., Bertrand, 2013). These women viewed the Charter as a helpful constraint on Islamic fundamentalism symbolized by the veil, which they saw as a signifier of female oppression. Of course, this view did not acknowledge the wide variation in identity and motivations of women who choose to wear headscarves or coverings for personal, spiritual, or other reasons (Bilge, 2010; Eid, 2015). Indeed, many in Quebec read the veil not only in terms current anxieties about Muslims (Bakali, 2015), but also through the lens of Quebec history, in which the Catholic church was dominant until the 1960s and nuns in habit were a common sight in public space. The Quiet Revolution (La re´volution tranquille), which overthrew the dominance of the Church, made this religious dress a symbol of a bygone, ''backward'' and, at times, oppressive past (Seljak, 1996). As Joppke (2009) has noted, debates about the veil have held up a mirror to different nations' approaches to collective identity and notions of inclusion. 3 The silence of many francophone institutions and intellectuals-and outspoken support for the Charter by some celebrities and academics (Tessier & Montigny, 2016)-lent legitimacy to the Charter's perspective, leaving newcomers and minority groups increasingly vulnerable to the forces of political repression and everyday prejudice. Reported incidents of racial slurs and attacks on Muslims increased after the Charter debate began in September 2013. In this issue, Ghayda Hassan and colleagues (2019) document the intercommunity tensions following the societal debate over the Charter of Quebec Values. Their survey of young francophone adults in community colleges identified ''a shift from a predominantly positive perception of intercommunity relations to a predominantly negative one, particularly among women, immigrants, and those who self-identified as cultural or religious minorities'' (Hassan 2019, p. 1148). While their survey could not assess the magnitude of the increase in intercommunity tension before and after the debate, they found that ''more t...

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Strange Bedfellows? Attitudes toward Minority and Majority Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere

Cited by 29 publications

References 39 publications

A Tale of Two Liberalisms? Attitudes toward Minority Religious Symbols in Quebec and Canada

A Tale of Two Liberalisms? Attitudes toward Minority Religious Symbols in Quebec and Canada

Toleration and prejudice‐reduction: Two ways of improving intergroup relations

The Politics of Diversity: Pluralism, Multiculturalism and Mental Health

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