Forcing Catholic school to teach “secular” religion course is 'totalitarian,' critics say

Life Site News ^ | 12-14-12 | Peter Baklinski

[ReformationFan]

The government of Quebec is forcing Catholic schools to replace the Christian religion with the state’s “neutral” alternative based on moral relativism. That’s how defenders of religious freedom have responded to last week’s court ruling that a private Catholic high school must teach the state’s “secular” Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course.

Barbara Kay slammed the judges’ decision in the National Post on Wednesday, arguing that it empowers a government to “compel a faith community to jettison its driving beliefs in order to promote the state’s secular religion of multiculturalism; or indeed, in the future, to compel promotion of any other theory or belief the state may wish to substitute for a faith community’s convictions.”

Kay said that the ruling treats religion merely as a “cultural preference, not a deeply held core belief.”

“For Catholics, on the other hand, everyone who is a Catholic or a member of another religious faith —or even atheistic — is respected as a spiritual pilgrim on a profound journey in pursuit of truth,” she said.

Marie Bourque, vice president of the Association of Catholic Parents of Quebec, told the Catholic Register that the mandated ERC program will make children skeptical of any kind of religion or faith.

“It sort of vaccinates children against all faiths by teaching them you can fabricate your own religion,” she said.

The ERC course purports to take a “neutral” stance on world religions, giving equal spiritual standing to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Wicca, Raëlism, aboriginal animism, and even a student’s own invented religion. “If you say that, you are rejecting the divinity of Jesus Christ and the whole of Christianity,” Bourque said.

The Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) called the ruling “a grand social experiment” that raised the “legitimate objections of religious parents”.

[xzins]

It is time to revisit what judge’s should have purview over and what they should not.

It is time to have all judicial decisions overseen by a legislative body that, by law, has the authority to refer them to the legislation for overturning.

It is time to have all acts of a legislature automatically include a line about exemption from judicial review.

[EBH]

Having grown up in a Catholic school, I think this is a brilliant opportunity to teach about the core values vs. some other religious values.

And to help the students think very critically regarding ‘how’ other religions exercise their beliefs vs. the ‘we all worship the same God’ stuff of the utopian left.

[Campion]

Before you make comments like that, you might want to verify that the school in question, Loyola High School in Montreal, actually takes public funding. I have been unable to do so. Students there definitely pay tuition.

Some FReepers are under the sweetly naive assumption that the government will leave you alone if you don't take their money. That's no longer true even in this country, to say nothing of Canada.

[dangus]

1. This has nothing to do with accepting government funding. The government is mandating this on all schools, whether or not they accept government funds, which you would know if you learned something instead of leaping to your own bigotry-based presumptions.

2. The government takes their money, supposedly to teach their children; why SHOULDN’T they demand a portion of it back, if they provide that service for their own kids?

3. As I already noted, the Catholic schools in Quebec largely DON’T take government funds.

It’s like your saying, “She had it coming for dressing like a slut” when the victim was wearing a full habit!

[Mrs. Don-o]

I believe you are factually in error. Montreal Catholic schools were organized specifically to be independent of the Provincial “Confessional” schools which were dependent on public funds. These Montreal Catholic schools are supported by tuition. This is a flat-out attempt by the Montreal provincial government to force independent Catholics to surrender on faith and morals. It has nothing to do with money.

[old and tired]

Some FReepers are under the sweetly naive assumption that the government will leave you alone if you don't take their money. That's no longer true even in this country, to say nothing of Canada.

You're absolutely right, of course. However, our Church needs to stop relying on government funds. Here in Philadelphia, Archbishop Chaput put in a plug for vouchers as he announced he was closing dozens of parish schools. I wanted to put a brick through the TV. Can't he see that the government cannot be trusted and that we Catholics need to pay for our own?

[Hacksaw]

The Canadian Catholics should announce that they will no longer accept a single Loonie from the Government in any way, shape, or form for any purpose whatsoever.

I'd agree, but if Canada is like the US then there are lots of nasty tricks the government has. I could be wrong, but I think the GI Bill in the US counts as "government money" if a soldier wants to go to a private school, which then allows the feds to enforce all their corrosive edicts, like Title IV.