Quebec court sides with Catholic school
Finally, we see a sensible decision on religious education from a Quebec court. On June 18, a Quebec Superior Court ruled not only that Loyola High School can be exempted from teaching the Ethics and Religious Culture curriculum, but also that the Quebec government was "totalitarian" in denying the exemption.
To understand this issue, I have to take you back to 1997 when a constitutional amendment to the Constitution Act, 1867, allowed Quebec to de-confessionalize their schools. Up to that point, there were Catholic and Protestant schools. The amendment allowed the Quebec government to change the structure to French and English schools.
At the time, Christians supported the amendment because the government guaranteed that there would continue to be religious education.
The most recent version of the Quebec government's idea of religious education is the Ethics and Religious Culture curriculum. This is not just a course in one year of school. It has material for almost every year of schooling.
The goals are admirable—help students understand different religions. The problem is that in setting out the ideal of tolerance, the course requires that no religion be held up as superior and that nothing negative be said about any religion.
Even the ethics portion of the curriculum has students discussing various responses with the teacher playing the role of non-judgmental umpire. This is the height of relativism, where all ethical responses are equally valid.
Clearly, religious parents and students have some problems with this curriculum. Students are required to agree that all religions are equal. This includes Wicca, for example. As well, students are encouraged to challenge their religious beliefs, even in very early grades.
The Quebec government has prohibited students from exemptions from classes that offend.
Suzanne Lavallee took the issue to court in Drummondville, Quebec, on behalf of parents of children in the public schools. They lost the case on the basis that because the course deals with all religions, it does not infringe the religious freedom of any. The Quebec Court of Appeal refused to hear the case. The Lavallees have sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
That was the bad news.
The curriculum is also mandatory in all private schools in Quebec. Loyola High School is a private, Catholic, English school in Montreal. It asked for an official exemption but was denied.
Loyola's argument was that they have a world religions course and ethics and their entire curriculum has a strong religious and ethical component. However, Quebec officials said that unless the courses were neutral towards all religions, not favouring any, the courses were not equivalent. It would be pretty strange for a Catholic school to have to offer courses that did not favour Catholicism.
Loyola asked the courts for a judicial review of the official's decision. The Quebec Superior Court decided strongly in favour of Loyola High School. Justice Dugré said that the Quebec officials applied wrong criteria; equivalent does not mean identical.
The judge specifically invoked the Preamble to the Charter that affirms the supremacy of God. No judge has done that in a long time.
Justice Dugré said that officials were acting like the Inquisition did in demanding that Galileo deny the Copernican universe. Think about that for a minute. The Inquisition was the religious body and Galileo was making statements undermining religion. The officials, no doubt, would identify themselves with Galileo, not the Inquisition.
The Quebec government has announced that it will appeal the decision. No surprise. That is just what the Inquisition would do.
The Quebec government has been heavy handed against religion, especially in relation to education. They have harassed home-schoolers. They have threatened Christian schools that teach creationism.
But it is good to see that the courts will at some point stop the government and uphold the rights of the religious.
We will watch both appeals.
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