The defenders of Bill 101 scoffed at the notion, denigrating the complainers by telling anyone who'd listen that these were the opinions of alarmists and that the government would never, ever, interfere in religious affairs.
Skip forward forty years and here we are, with the government doing exactly that.
Back then Catholicism was the majority religion, but today it is largely a spent force with most francophone Quebeckers, Christians in name only. It's fair to say that secularism is the religion du jour, with just 6% of Francophone Quebeckers attending church regularly. The baptism rate for newborns has fallen below 60% and most of these are based on tradition or in order to satisfy parents and family.
Christianity was chased from the public schools and has recently been replaced with a general course on religion that doesn't teach faith, but rather the nuts and bolts of all religions in a sterile and often criticized curriculum.
But there remains a minority, people of faith who object to a type of religious training that teaches children that their religion is no better or worse than the rest.
Private religious schools which are also forced to teach this course, have objected that they cannot instruct children from a Christian, Jewish or Muslim point of view. One Catholic high school went to court and won its case. Now the issue will be decided by the Supreme Court and it doesn't look good for the Quebec government once again.
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| Yolande James- Minister of Anti-Religious Affairs |
This week a newly formed group, an alliance between Christian and Jewish organizations is launching another court challenge, this one over the recent declaration by the government that state-funded day cares cannot teach any manner of religion. No doubt this is destined once again, to to head to the Supreme Court, which is over-burdened with cases from Quebec, all relating to attacks on personal freedoms and rights by the provincial government. LINK
Considering that many of these day cares are operated by churches, synagogues and mosques, it seems a bit harsh to tell them that religion is verbotten. The rules are so silly that it is now legal to have a Christmas tree, but not legal to tell the story of the birth of Jesus. Jewish children may light a Menorah on the holiday of Hanukkah, but the teacher may not tell them why they are doing it.
Childrens songs that have religious references must be purged of offending passages or be banned!
Now many of you out there will argue that the state has no business supporting religion and should remain neutral. It's the responsibility of the parents, if they choose to, to give their children religious instruction on their own time and on their own dime.
Makes sense, right? ......er ....not so fast.
The day-care issue is a case in point on how a government can control people through funding.
Ronald Reagan the old US conservative president lived by the credo that if he didn't like certain public policy he would effect change through funding cuts, instead of legislation.
We're getting a bit of that from the Conservative government which is cutting funding to organizations receiving government subsidies that don't share values with the government with the 'Rights & Democracy' group a prime example. This ranges from support of the arts, special interest groups and international aid groups.
It's toe the ideological line, or no money for you!
Now Quebec's state-funded daycare is so successful because of its low price, that it has practically driven all competition out of business. The $7 a day fee that parents pay is topped up by a government subsidy of $28 per child per day.
How is private industry able to compete with that?
And so parents who want religious training in daycare are priced out of the market by a government who drives off the competition and then imposes a secular agenda on what is left. How fair is that?
Still not convinced? Let me make an analogy;
Let us say that the government decides that in an effort to make sure that each family has enough to eat, it will enact a universal food program.
The program is funded by all Quebeckers who pay a new tax, which averages out to about $100 a week, per family.
No family is exempt and nobody can opt out. Everybody must pay, like it or not.
For this $100 tax the government provides each family a weekly food package worth about $75 per week (The $25 is lost to administration expenses. Hey, it's the government!)
Government nutritionists choose only healthy foods it deems appropriate and no exceptions or exchanges are allowed.
Now certain Jewish families complain that they eat only Kosher food and that most foods in the basket are inappropriate.
"TOO BAD!" -says the government, "we're not in the religious business! Buy your own food if you don't like it."
Certain Muslim families also complain as well. The meat is not Hallal and we don't want pork products!
"TOO BAD!" -says the government, "we're not in the religious business! Buy your own food if you don't like it."
"BUT YOU TOOK OUR FOOD MONEY!" the Jews and Muslims respond.
"TOO BAD!"
And that is how the religion of secularism can be imposed on an unwilling segment of the population..
It isn't the government's job to tell citizens whether they should or should not be religious and it should not dictate to what extent that faith may manifest itself in society.
Refusing public funding of religious schools is not a neutral decision, it is a decision towards secularism. Those people of faith who pay taxes have rights as well and those rights should be respected.
It's easy for secularists to refuse funding to religious day cares because they are in the majority. But the Quebec government has long held a principle that fighting for minority French language rights in Canada is laudable and fully justified.
But not respecting its own religious minority acts completely in opposition to the principles it espouses.
What harm is there in funding religious day care? Only people of faith send their children there and their tax money is used to fund the program. If you don't like religion don't send your children there!
Government exists to serve the people, all the people, not just the majority.
We all pay taxes and should expect expect equal consideration.
Funding religious day care costs not one cent extra and serves those families who wish to avail themselves of the program.
So what is the real objection?
