ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the perennial attempts by Canadians, especially since the inception of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to legitimate their regime in ultimate principles that are seen by their adherents as sacred and incontestable. Canadians are involved in the perennial human task of creating for themselves a little world of order, a cosmion, amid their understanding of cosmological and anthropological truth. Canadians are involved in the perennial human task of creating for themselves a little world of order, a cosmion, amid their understanding of cosmological and anthropological truth. "Civil religion" is a perennial problem for political order because the common life as citizens always has a spiritual or religious component to it. The project of self-government depends on the capacity to form and sustain civil associations. The freedom of religious organizations is a critical barometer of the overall health and openness of society, as religious organizations, their traditions and purposes precede and transcend the scope of political regime.
