%0 Journal Article
%T Promoting the Everyday: Pro-Sharia Advocacy and Public Relations in Ontario, Canada¡¯s ¡°Sharia Debate¡±
%A Jennifer A. Selby
%J Religions
%D 2013
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/rel4030423
%X Why, in the midst of public debates related to religion, are unrepresentative orthodox perspectives often positioned as illustrative of a religious tradition? How can more representative voices be encouraged? Political theorist Anne Phillips (2007) suggests that facilitating multi-voiced individual engagements effectively dismantles the monopolies of the most conservative that tend to privilege maleness. In this paper, with reference to the 2003¨C2005 faith-based arbitration debate in Ontario, Canada, I show how, in practice, Phillips¡¯ approach is unwieldy and does not work well in a sound-bite-necessitating culture. Instead, I argue that the ¡°Sharia Debate¡± served as a catalyst for mainstream conservative Muslim groups in Ontario to develop public relations apparatuses that better facilitate the perspectives of everyday religious conservatives in the public sphere.
%K ¡°Sharia Debate¡±
%K faith-based arbitration
%K representation
%K orthodoxy
%K advocacy
%K public relations
%K Muslims
%K Ontario
%K Canada
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/4/3/423