Ebook: For Canada's Sake: Public Religion, Centennial Celebrations, And the Re-making of Canada in the 1960s

Breaking away from the traditional analysis of church policy, sermons, and clerical scholarship, "For Canada's Sake" presents an exemplary analysis of the meaning behind religiously informed public celebrations and rituals such as centennial hymns and prayers and Expo pavilions. Miedema argues that the 1967 celebrations reveal the continued importance of religion to Canadian public life, showing that a waning 'Christian Canada' was being replaced by an officially 'interfaith' country. The author throws into bold relief the varied attempts of government officials and religious leaders to come to terms with new Canadian and global realities, as well as the response of Canadians to an interfaith nation. In a world where public religion has become hotly contested, Miedema's valuable study sheds light on how Canada was reconstructed on the more inclusive, tolerant, and religiously neutral foundation of pluralism.