From Moral Duty to Cultural Rights: A Case Study of Political Framing in Education

How does an old social cause like religion in public education get revived and reinvented? How do small and politically insignificant interest groups mount a viable campaign that flows against the main political tide? This article addresses these questions by examining two multifaith religious coalitions in Ontario, Canada, that are lobbying the provincial government to fund separate religious schools. Drawing on theories of framing strategies and using material from interviews and public documents, it examines how the coalitions have adjusted their claims to suit Ontario's evolving political culture. The coalitions are gaining political ground by avoiding traditional arguments for religious schooling that stressed the moral impact of faith and religious duty and by couching their claims in the idioms of multiculturalism and choice. This strategy involves reframing religion as a form of culture that needs protection, stressing minority rights, and supporting school choice.