Centre for Civic Religious Literacy

Centre for Civic Religious Literacy (CCRL) is a non-religious organization that develops civic religious literacy in order to promote the public understanding of religious, non-religious, and spiritual perspectives and communities across Canada.  

In 2018, we established the Centre for Civic Religious Literacy (CCRL) to provide Canadians the opportunity to learn and broaden their religious literacy about religions, spiritual, and non-religious perspectives. It grew largely out of our converging research and experiences on the intersection of religious and non-religious identities in public schools and workplaces, which raised our awareness for the need for religious literacy navigation in Canada.

We recognized that various aspects of identity have been of significant focus in Canadian diversity, e.g. language, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and gender. However, often missing in this discussion is the understanding of religious and non-religious identities and traditions – an understanding that can foster respect and dismantle discrimination or harm towards another person based on their belief.

As a group of researcher-educators, our research showed that effort from every portion of society is needed in order to foster understanding and respect for religious, non-religious, and spiritual individuals. As a result, our programming is multi-faceted. We offer programs, workshops, and professional development seminars to industry staff (such as health professionals, police officers, and sales and other business professionals), community leaders, educators, parents, and students.

As a group of religious literacy specialists, our combined experiences and research now fuel the work at CCRL. Our topical, industry-specific, and regional-specific knowledge enable us to help you and other members of society develop the religious literacy that is needed to understand the underlying influences in today’s world. Our backgrounds from different traditions – religious, spiritual, and non-religious – ensure perspectives from varying groups are considered in all our work.

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