Quebec will now ban street prayers as the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) “super-minister” of identity, Jean-François Roberge, has just passed his bill to strengthen secularism.
Minister Roberge has previously stated that street prayers could be considered “acts of provocation.”
Municipalities will be able to authorize them, but only under certain criteria. The new law will also ban the wearing of religious symbols by daycare educators. The government is also extending this ban to teachers and staff at private schools.
I thought the whole point of secularism / separation of church and state was that the state couldn’t ban individual religious expression nor the right to assembly for religious purposes (or any other purpose)?
If the municipalities now have a say in what religious activities are authorized, and which aren’t, then that’s no longer separation of church and state.
Bloody ridiculous. This helps nobody.
I thought the whole point of secularism / separation of church and state was that the state couldn’t ban individual religious expression nor the right to assembly for religious purposes (or any other purpose)?
If the municipalities now have a say in what religious activities are authorized, and which aren’t, then that’s no longer separation of church and state.
So, yes, specifically targeting Muslims, but catching strays with Yarmulkes as well.