"Citizens don't say 'amen' to council opening prayers"

17 posts / 0 new

Sun, 2009-01-25 17:02

toddsschneider

... Less than a year after a long-awaited report was tabled on the reasonable accommodation of minorities in Quebec, the heated debate about the place of religion doesn't seem to be over. This time, the incendiary issue is whether to keep the faith of the majority or not ...

Two Quebec towns are the latest targets of citizens who want them to stop reading a Christian prayer before council meetings. Similar cases have unfolded in other provinces, notably Ontario ...

More than 80 per cent of Quebecers consider themselves Roman Catholics - even though church attendance is one of the lowest in the country ...

Wed, 2009-01-28 15:22

G. Babbitt

I'm sure the Ontario New Dems will support the towns and lash out at the Human Rights Commission like they did in Ontario.

Wed, 2009-01-28 15:59

Michelle

No kidding. Don't even get me started.

Wed, 2009-01-28 16:07

martin dufresne

"More than 80 per cent of Quebecers consider themselves Roman Catholics"

This is because people mechanically indicate that religion as if it was an ethnic group when census time comes around. They feel if you were born into a Roman Catholic family, that makes you one all your life. And the bishops gleefully use that misleading statistic - and most people's diffidence at checking "None" - to protect Roman Catholic church privileges.

Wed, 2009-01-28 16:11

Lard Tunderin Jeezus Lard Tunderin Jeezus's picture

G. Babbitt wrote:
I'm sure the Ontario New Dems will support the towns and lash out at the Human Rights Commission like they did in Ontario.

I'm rather sure that the "Ontario New Dems" will be smart enough to keep their nose out of Quebec politics.

Thu, 2009-01-29 13:35

G. Babbitt

I didn't think that I would have to explain, but...sigh... I know that they won't actually get themselves involved in Quebec politics. I made the comment to remind people that the ONDP criticized the Human Rights Commission and Courts and sided with Ezra Levant types and bigots who felt that Ontario should still promote one religion over others.

Mon, 2009-04-13 18:51

toddsschneider

Que. man readies for court to keep 6-metre cross

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=1492377

QUEBEC - Jean-Marc Gregoire erected a six-metre steel cross on his property in St. Cuthbert, Que., three years ago to thank God for saving his life when he was battling cancer.

Now he is preparing to go to Quebec Superior Court to prevent the town council from forcing him to remove it. The council says it is simply too close to the road, but Gregoire, who intends to invoke his freedom of religion in court, believes he has God on his side to win the battle.

"The cross is a powerful symbol and good might come out of this ordeal if the cross is brought to people's attention," said Gregoire, 59, who makes no secret of his beliefs. ...

Tue, 2009-04-14 08:51

Boom Boom

Here in far eastern Quebec, between Natashquan and Sept-Iles, homemade roadside shrines to the Virgin Mary are still commonplace on private property. I also saw some of this in northern Ontario, particularly in the Hearst area, although that was almost 20 years ago. Usually these are made of cement and sometimes bricks, and with a store-brought small statue of the Virgin, dressed in blue and white robes. Here on Quebec's Lower North Shore, in predominantly Roman Catholic communities, you see the occasional shrine to the Virgin, although not so many. And, in our French language weekly newspaper, you find a column in the Classifieds devoted to the Virgin for "favours received". Some of my Roman Catholic friends, right across Canada and throughout the USA, have a small statue of the Virgin in their gardens.

I don't have a problem with any of this; I'm a semi-devout Anglican, after all. These roadside shrines are just expressions of people's piousness, although I understand the argument that is sometimes made that this all hearkens of superstition. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.

Tue, 2009-04-14 11:20

Michelle

Yeah, I don't see why the guy can't keep the cross on his property either. So what?

Tue, 2009-04-14 11:57

#10

remind

Perhaps it is too close to the road?

Quote:
Gregoire was fined $379 by the municipal court for installing his blue-painted cross too close to the road.

According to town rules, the cross is a construction and has to be 10 metres away from the road. Gregoire argues it is a roadside cross and should be considered as a commercial sign and allowed to be closer to the road.

Tue, 2009-04-14 12:05

#11

martin dufresne

I assure you that Saint-Cuthbert is NOT a hotbed of secularism where a man would be kept from expressing his faith. Six metres of steel overlooking a roadway is a real problem.

Tue, 2009-04-14 13:06

#12

Snert

I would love city officials to tell him that the real problem is that the cross is top-heavy and could topple, but if he'd consent to mounting it upside down...