Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity

by Deirdre Meintel (Université de Montréal)

To cite this article: Meintel, D. (2016). Religion, Conviviality and Complex Diversity. New Diversities18(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.58002/bt3f-8055

Religion is often presented as a likely cause of social division and conflict. However, research on religious groups carried out in Montreal and several other areas of Quebec shows that in religious contexts, persons from different ethnic minorities connect with each other and, importantly, with those of native-born, majority background. I focus on the affinities, solidarities and convivialities that arise in contexts of complex diversity in Montreal and in smaller regional towns and cities in the province. Conflicts and tensions arise along ethnic lines in some of the religious groups we studied in Quebec. Nevertheless, the convivialities that complex diversity has occasioned in the religious domain are much more evident in our findings. These include religious communities where ethnicity is secondary as well as interreligious collaborations involving members and leaders from different religious traditions. Such initiatives are particularly evident in regional towns and cities.

Keywords: , , , ,

New Diversities • Volume 18, No. 1, 2016
Religion and Superdiversity
Guest Editors: Irene Becci (University of Lausanne) and Marian Burchardt (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen)
ISSN-Print 2199-8108
ISSN-Internet 2199-8116