A Particular Amnesia: Religious Freedom and the Pitfalls of Secularism

This presentation, given by Fr. Dcn. Andrew Bennett at Assumption University in Windsor, ON, explores the impact of a purportedly neutral secularism on our understanding of freedom of conscience and religion in a pluralist society. 

An amnesia has set in within our public institutions and within many of our faith communities that fails to account for the intrinsic link between religious freedom and the manifesting of public faith or public belief. This has contributed to the significant privatization of faith and a discomfort around the presence of vibrant and robust faith within our common life and our public discourse. What does this say about our conception of human dignity? What does this say about our democracy? What remedies for this amnesia are available? Where do we go from here?