Ethics course riles up Quebec bishops, parents

Dumping religious educations studies adds fuel to provincial election debate

BY MARY DURRAN
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

MONTREAL — The head of Quebec’s official opposition party has called for an end to a new ethics and religious culture course that has replaced religious education in the province’s schools.

However, opposition leader Mario Dumont might have overestimated the support he would gain with such a position.

His Quebec Democratic Action party is behind in the polls for the Dec. 8 election, with 14 per cent of the vote, compared to 41 per cent for the Liberals and 35 per cent for Parti Quebecois.

When schools reopened in September, the ethics and culture course replaced religious education with a socio-cultural approach offering an overview of major religions. The course presents each religion as valid and highlights the ethics promoted in major world religions.

Separating church and state

The law implementing the change is part of the process of the gradual separation of religion from the state.

Dumont has said the new course is the product of overzealous promoters of multiculturalism, the “same people who would like to see Christmas trees removed from schools.”

Children in predominantly Catholic Quebec need to learn about their Christian and Catholic roots, not about world religions like Islam and Hinduism, Dumont said. However he said he would not replace the ethics and religious culture course with religious instruction, but rather provide extra French lessons.

Dumont’s calls have brought anger from many political commentators, who say they are a crude attempt to obtain the votes of those worried about the increasing presence of immigrant communities throughout the province.

Dumont’s opposition is similar to that of parents organized in the Coalition for Freedom in Education, who have resolutely opposed the new ethics course.

“We have the right to choose what is best for our own children,” said Jacinthe Lavallee of Drummondville, in a video on the coalition’s website. “The government is trying to take away from us this fundamental right.

“How can a six-year-old child be expected to understand descriptions of seven different world religions?”

Bishops’ concern

The Quebec bishops’ conference has raised several questions about the Ethics and Religious Culture program. Although the bishops have called for vigilance regarding its implementation, they have not called for its withdrawal.

The bishops have applauded the “recognition of others and the pursuit of the common good” implicit in the new course and have praised its efforts to promote “learning to live together in a pluralist society.”

But they also have criticized the course for offering no moral guidelines for children.

Bishop Martin Veillette of Trois-Rivieres, president of the Quebec bishops’ conference, described a “growing solidarity” as “thousands of people accept the accompaniment of others” in a journey of faith through the new parish-based program.

In an article in Le Devoir Oct. 20, Father Andre Tardif of Magog described the response of parents to the new parish religious education program: “To my enormous surprise, the response was extraordinary. I hope that the catechism that we learned is never taught again in schools.”

Late last year Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet reiterated his support for parents who want their children to receive religious instruction at school.

He asked the government “to respect the Quebec tradition of handing down religious teachings at school . . . and allow churches and recognized religious groups to teach confessional courses, conceived and paid for by them. And in the name of everyone’s religious liberty, state ethics and religious culture courses should be optional.”

The lack of a choice to opt out of the new course has become an issue for some parents.

“Parents used to have the right to withdraw their children from religious education,” said the coalition’s lawyer, Jean-Yves Cote. “But they are not allowed to withdraw their children from this course.”

Representatives of the coalition have said they are pleased with the position of Quebec Democratic Action and have said that this will be seen in the upcoming elections.

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter