ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how religious diversity – especially involving non-Christian minority religions – has challenged multiculturalism in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. While all three countries historically framed diversity around ethnicity, language and culture, the growth of non-Christian communities, particularly Muslims, exposed tensions between multicultural inclusion and modern civic values such as gender equality, secularism and toleration. Governments have often celebrated ethno-cultural diversity for its economic and cultural benefits, and its association with modernized anti-racist national identities, but have struggled to integrate religious identity, which involves exclusive beliefs and practices not easily commodified or shared. In Australia, concerns about Islam intensified after 9/11 and subsequent terrorist incidents, prompting political rhetoric about ‘Australian values’ and pressures on Muslims to integrate. Toleration was turned against Muslims, who were portrayed as hostile to modern civic values. In Canada, Charter rights enabled extensive religious accommodation, yet Islam also became framed as challenging Canadian liberal–democratic values. Controversies over dress revealed limits to public support for religious pluralism. New Zealand historically paid little attention to religious diversity, but the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks exposed institutional neglect of Muslim communities and elevated discussions of social cohesion and inclusion, though mostly without the antagonistic tone seen in Australia and Canada.
