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While Canada's increasing ethnic and racial diversity have received a great deal of attention in recent years, the pluralization of its religious makeup has been largely ignored. As a result, political and societal responses to religious diversity have been mixed. This study highlights one response to religious difference at the community level. Using qualitative research methods I highlight the ways in which Interfaith Grand River, a group of religiously diverse individuals in Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario, "build bridges" between local religious groups and the larger K-W community. I use the theories of Charles Taylor and Jurgen Habermas, among others, to locate IGR's dialogue-centred approach within larger discussions about the importance of recognizing religion and religious difference in the public sphere. I argue that interfaith practices are a "dissonant child" of multicultural policies, sharing an emphasis on inclusion while critiquing multiculturalism' blindness to religious issues. From this, I argue that faith-based diversity needs to be addressed not only in national policies, but also in communities through individual relationship building and dialogue.

Thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2003.

In diverse societies like Australia, Britain, Canada and The Netherlands, government policy has increasingly focused on inter-citizen relations. There have been demands for citizens to respect each others?? differences, as well as fears about declining social cohesion and acts of intolerance. In political theory, these themes also have currency, although here they often have been obscured by a tendency to think in terms of ??majorities?? and minorities??, and ??we?? and ??they??, rather than in terms of the state and the individual citizen. This thesis argues that while respect of difference may seem to be the best way to successfully accommodate individual difference, it is an indefensible demand on the citizen: such a demand is both excessive and unnecessary, and has the potential to unjustifiably limit individual freedom and the accommodation of difference. Further, the requirement for social cohesion is often overstated, while acts of intolerance are best avoided by citizens respecting each others?? sameness (citizenship) rather than their difference. As far as the state is concerned, by clearly distinguishing specific instances of tolerance (which always involve forbearance) from the general practice of toleration, the thesis defends toleration as a general and maximally permissive practice ?? one which is compatible with both liberal neutrality and the maximal accommodation of individual difference, and thus the freedom of individuals to live their lives as they see fit.

This educational history thesis contributes to knowledge of citizenship education in Australia during the 1940s and 1950s. It provides unique perspectives on an important part of Australian citizenship educational history. This examination of citizenship education also helps to explain contemporary trends and the recent revival of citizenship education in multicultural Australia. Following the Second World War, Australian political leaders initiated an unprecedented immigration programme to help develop and defend post-war Australia. The programme enjoyed bipartisan support and was extraordinary in terms of magnitude and nature. It became the catalyst for a citizenship education campaign orchestrated by Federal political leaders for the benefit of all Australians. The citizenship education campaign was, however, primarily aimed at non-British adult migrants. The intention of the Federal Government was to maintain the cultural hegemony of the Anglo-Celts evident in pre-war Australia. In accordance with government policy, the new arrivals were expected to assimilate into the Australian community and become loyal citizens. Citizenship rested on a common national language and thus, the focus was on teaching migrants of non-British origin English for the workplace, everyday intercourse and, as a means to dissuade migrant enclaves. This thesis comprises of three sections which illustrate how the citizenship education campaign was extended through: (i) official education channels; (ii) the media, specifically the Australian Broadcasting Commission; and (iii) annual citizenship conventions which encompasses a case study of the Good Neighbour Movement in New South Wales. These particular areas have been chosen as they identify important and different ways the campaign was expressed and funded. Discussion of the financial arrangements concerning the implementation of the campaign is important as it uniquely illustrates the power of the Federal authorities to direct the campaign as they considered necessary. It also highlights conflict between Federal and State authorities in dealing with the education of new arrivals, primarily due to the traditional two-tier system of government extant in Australia. The general theoretical framework of this thesis emanates from concepts and ideas of writers who illustrate, in general, the concentration of power within Australia society and supports this work's notion of a `top-down' paradigm, i.e. one invariably directed by the nation's political leaders. This paradigm is presented in an effort to provide an appreciation of the powerful nature of the Federal Government's immigration policy and citizenship education campaign in the dramatic post-war reconstruction period. The thesis is related to an elite theory of political change but with due consideration to issues of context, that is, Australian society in the 1940s and 1950s. Understanding that there was a citizenship education campaign provides a novel means of appreciating post-war immigration policy. The campaign embedded and tied together multifarious notions extant in the Australian Government policy for the Australian community in meeting the challenges of a nation experiencing massive social and economic change. Significantly, this study helps to explain the shift from the Anglo-Celtic, mono-cultural view of citizenship to one that officially recognises the culturally diverse nature of Australian society today.

Thesis (M.A.R.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 57-58).

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2000. / A thesis "presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Geosciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 380-401. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Political Science. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/23). Includes bibliographical references.