« Legalize Gay Marriages Yet Ban Them by Anglicans, Says British Government | Main | New Census Reignites Debate over British Christianity's Future »
December 12, 2012
Canadian Catholic School Must Teach 'Secular' Religion Course After All
'Neutral' study of global religions is not 'infringement of freedom of religion,' rules Quebec appeals court.
The Quebec Court of Appeals has ruled against a private, Catholic high school desiring to teach a global religion course from a Catholic perspective.
The Court ruled that Loyola High School must fulfill Quebec's mandatory religious culture education requirement through a “secular” and “neutral” course provided by the government. Loyola had sought to win the right to use its own course, which teaches religion from a Catholic perspective.
The decision overturns a 2010 Superior Court ruling that the government's action violated the school's free exercise of religion. Canada's Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the course does not violate the religious freedom of parents.
“Exposing students to the global study of religions in a neutral perspective without requiring them to adhere to it, is not an infringement of freedom of religion,” stated the Quebec appeals court.
CT's previous coverage of Quebec includes a profile of Canada's prodigal province as well as a Catholic priest who sued a pro-life website for defamation and a Christian community of Native North Americans that banned sweat lodge prayers. Last year, Quebec restricted funds to faith-based daycares.
Comments
In terms of world views, there is no such thing as a neutral perspective.
The blindness of the Quebec court (and the "world" in general) propagates the false idea that a course on religions can be taught without bias. Part of the problem is that some world views are categorized as "religion" while others are exempt from that label.
The next step is forcing the school to hire someone who does not subscribe to the Christian faith.
Posted By: lfunk | December 12, 2012 12:57 PM
Canada is a weird country to say the least. It's divided into two languages and two governments (English and French) underneath the federal government. It has homosexual marriage and hords of different immigrants bringing with them religions foreign to Canada's French and British heritages of Christianity. Being Canada is across the lake from us, we get lots of visitors who seem to think there's something wrong with the U.S. and it's attitude with Christianity as if there's no heritage of Christianity. I and others here fear that the U.S. is heading the way of Canada, a government controlled tightly by secularists, replacing Europian Christianity with middle east beliefs and sexual perversion priviledges. We see Canada as our future. Their citizens don't have much control over laws made by their governments. Problems are never settled and laws never corrected no matter how much complaining the public does. They do get more reporting on government and citizen abuses TV shows than our side does. All we hear on U.S. TV is how wonderful no Christianity will be and how other religions are better and more control by the gov't of it's citizens will be loved by the citizens meaning me.
Posted By: Original Anna | December 12, 2012 8:27 PM
Post a comment: