Dimorphs and cobblers: Ways of being religious in Canada

Abstract

Two specific examples considered in the author's Locations of the Sacred— Japanese Canadians and an Inuit crisis cult—raise the possibility of drawing selectively on two or more religious traditions. More generally, in Japan and among other Canadian Native peoples situational needs sometimes determine which religion is followed. Rather than syncretism (that is, the combination of two religions), the term religious dimorphism better describes this kind of compartmentalization and alternation. As several scholars have observed, situational use of various norms characterizes the manner by which many contemporary Canadians manage conflicts between religion and culture. A multilayered spirituality, cobbled together from various sources, is more characteristic of religion in Canada today than an exclusive and hegemonic monotheism.