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Hi, I'm Benjamin Berger,
a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Let me tell you a little-known story
from Canadian legal history The year was 1875
and a federal election was approaching in the county
of Charlevoix, Quebec.
The Liberal party of the time was advancing a platform
that would limit the rights and privileges
of the Catholic Church in the affairs of public government.
The Bishops instructed the curés of the county
to direct their parishioners not to vote for the liberals.
The clergy complied, and with soaring rhetoric.
One priest declared that, and I quote, "our Bishops tells us
that it is no longer permitted
to be conscientiously a Catholic Liberal; be careful never
to taste the fruit of the tree Catholic Liberal".
The liberal candidate, Mr. Pierre Alexis Tremblay,
was soundly defeated, but his supporters challenged the
election, claiming that the church had exerted undue
influence on the election.
He took the case to the Supreme Court of Canada ...
and the Court agreed, annulling the election.
Justice Ritchie found that the Church's influence
"so permeated the county as to make it impossible ...to say
that there was a free election".
He explained that this was not "at all a religious question"...
it was "simply a constitutional legal question."
The facts of this case are interesting and specific
to their time, but the basic question
that the case raises is one that has been with us for hundreds
of years and is very much still with us today: what is the just
and appropriate relationship among religion,
law and public life?
This question is at the core of my research on law and religion.
It is a question that raises basic issues of diversity
and equality, of constitutional law, of history and philosophy,
and of the central role of law
in governing our collective lives.
Today we are facing a host of difficult issues that flow
from this basic question:
can a mature minor refuse a blood transfusion
on religious grounds; should polygamy be criminal;
can a religious community be exempt from general laws
because of their religious beliefs;
can religious views form a part of public decision-making?
The answers are elusive but the questions can't be ignored.