Our Culture, Our Heritage, Our Values: Whose Culture, Whose Heritage, Whose Values?

This article reflects on the question of how culture and religion enter legal cases and public debates about the place of majoritarian religious symbols in diverse societies that have some democratic will to inclusion. In the context of the new diversity, the article considers how the articulation of our culture and heritage as a strategy for preserving formerly religious symbols and practices in public spaces excludes particular groups from the narrative of who we are as a nation. The reader is invited to consider how challenges to such symbols and practices might be articulated as a challenge to privilege and power and that a refusal to acknowledge those power relations puts the reputation of democracy and human rights at risk.

Automated summary

This article discusses how culture and religion impact legal cases and public debates, particularly in the context of preserving religious symbols in diverse societies. Challenges to these symbols and practices can be seen as a challenge to privilege and power, and ignoring these power dynamics risks the reputation of democracy and human rights.