• Supreme Court of Canada reject appeal against mandatory ethics and religion course
    25 replies, posted
[URL=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/16/supreme-court-canada-religion-education-challenge.html]CBC[/url] [release]Canada's top court on Friday rejected an appeal from parents in Quebec who sought the right to keep their children out of an ethics and religious culture program taught in the province's schools. The program, which was introduced in 2008 to elementary and high schools by the provincial Education Ministry, replaced religion classes with a curriculum covering all major faiths found in Quebec culture, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and aboriginal beliefs. "Exposing children to a comprehensive presentation of various religions without forcing the children to join them does not constitute an indoctrination of students that would infringe the freedom of religion of L and J [the appellants]," Madam Justice Marie Deschamps wrote in the main ruling. "Furthermore, the early exposure of children to realities that differ from those in their immediate family environment is a fact of life in society. The suggestion that exposing children to a variety of religious facts in itself infringes their religious freedom or that of their parents amounts to a rejection of the multicultural reality of Canadian society and ignores the Quebec government’s obligations with regard to public education." The top court said that the appellants had not proven that the ethics and religion course infringed their freedom of religion, nor that the refusal of the school board to exempt their children had violated their constitutional rights. In 2009, Quebec's Superior Court rejected a request from two Drummondville parents who wanted to keep their children out of the program. After their appeal was denied in Quebec in 2010, the parents took it to the Supreme Court, which heard their case in May 2011. [B]Incompatible beliefs[/B] When the program became mandatory in Quebec schools in May 2008, the appellants, who cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban, had one child in elementary school and another in secondary school. The parents wrote to the two schools to request that their children be exempt from the courses. They claimed their children would suffer serious harm from contact with a series of beliefs that were mostly incompatible with those of the family. The school board refused to grant the exemption, responding as other boards had to similar requests. The Quebec minister of education publicly stated that there would be no exemptions. When Quebec first brought in the ethics and religion course, some Catholic parents fought back, saying it interfered with their ability to pass their faith on to their children. They also argued that it infringed on their freedom of conscience and religion under the Charter of rights and Freedoms. They wanted to pull their children out of the classes and exempt them from taking other religion classes in the future. Almost 2,000 other parents also requested exemptions from the education ministry but were denied. In effect, the Supreme Court now has sided with the provincial government and the earlier ruling by the Quebec Court of Appeal.[/release]
teach ethics in quebec classes !
The entire argument this dumb bitch had was that making kids aware of other religions is religious indoctrination and it's wrong. The incomprehensible irony of that statement makes me want to weep.
For a province that often votes Liberal or NDP, Quebec does have a lot of people who are massive bigots.
honestly surprised there aren't more people questioning the religious classes here since, you know, that kind of sucks and Facepunch doesn't tend to like religion. Also holy shit Quebec is 83.6% Catholic, that's more than America is of all denominations of Christian. Maybe they could use that class since they're going to meet like one Jew in their lifetimes.
[QUOTE=Venezuelan;34751116]honestly surprised there aren't more people questioning the religious classes here since, you know, that kind of sucks and Facepunch doesn't tend to like religion. Also holy shit Quebec is 83.6% Catholic, that's more than America is of all denominations of Christian. Maybe they could use that class since they're going to meet like one protestant in their lifetimes.[/QUOTE] Do you make a habit of reading only the titles of threads you post in?
When I was in high school, I remember that the Cultural and ethics class was more about modern world concerns and things like that than religion. Parents who says it violate beliefs and things like that are stupid, it's to educate kids about the modern and past cultures and ethics. What's wrong with that? You actually learn interesting stuff in that class. The court was right not to allow exemption of the kids to this class in my opinion.
I have to admit the ethics course sounds interesting, and as religion defines concepts of "right" and "wrong" behaviour, it's fair game for study in an ethics course. As long as the course stays neutral and doesn't attempt to support or demonize any of the ethical systems it examines, I can't see the problem. And I'm an atheist. Stereotypically, I should be foaming at the mouth because religion was mentioned in this thread. :v: The unbiased course is the ideal of course, and where people are involved there will be bias. So perhaps the parents had a legitimate concern. On the other side, I'm sure the teachers are trained not to preach.
Good, I feel we should get rid of the publicly funded catholic schools and just mandate unbiased religion courses at the high school level. Why should the catholic schools get special treatment when, if I'm not mistaken, most of the Christians here are Protestant, and they don't provide public funding for schools of all religions. Either fund them all or fund none of them, but mandate a religion course in high school.
Actually, if they were exposed to more religions I'd think that they'd end up questioning it too much to the point they become atheist anyway.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34751139]Do you make a habit of reading only the titles of threads you post in?[/QUOTE] A clas that covers multiple religions still only covers [I]religions[/I]. I've seen people on here get pissy over less.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;34751165]Good, I feel we should get rid of the publicly funded catholic schools and just mandate unbiased religion courses at the high school level. Why should the catholic schools get special treatment when, if I'm not mistaken, most of the Christians here are Protestant, and they don't provide public funding for schools of all religions. Either fund them all or fund none of them, but mandate a religion course in high school.[/QUOTE] Where are you , because I'm fairly certain that Parochial schools don't get state funding.
[QUOTE=Venezuelan;34751176]A clas that covers multiple religions still only covers [I]religions[/I]. I've seen people on here get pissy over less.[/QUOTE] The article may not have been clear on this, but it was a diversity course, not one geared at religious indoctrination. I had one of those classes myself, it was mandatory, and it focused on explaining the tenets of, core beliefs of, and differences between major religious faiths. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. That means it aimed to reduce bigotry through improving understanding. And no matter how much I dislike religion, that's pretty fucking noble.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34751197]The article may not have been clear on this, but it was a diversity course, not one geared at religious indoctrination. I had one of those classes myself, it was mandatory, and it focused on explaining the tenets of, core beliefs of, and differences between major religious faiths. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. That means it aimed to reduce bigotry through improving understanding. And no matter how much I dislike religion, that's pretty fucking noble.[/QUOTE] Oh no, I understood that, and I don't think it's that bad, just expected facepunch to. Actually, not sure why I added "it sucks" probably just because the one I'm in now is boring lol
[QUOTE=The_J_Hat;34751183]Where are you , because I'm fairly certain that Parochial schools don't get state funding.[/QUOTE] Ontario, Toronto specifically, and the Catholic school board is publicly funded, people choose whether to support the normal or Catholic school board with their tax dollars.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34750872]For a province that often votes Liberal or NDP, Quebec does have a lot of people who are massive bigots.[/QUOTE] There's bigots everywhere, pal.
[QUOTE=Cl0cK;34751375]There's bigots everywhere, pal.[/QUOTE] Most Canadian provinces don't have stores that arbitrarily kick out colored people. And don't tell me I'm bullshitting, because it happened to me.
If something happened to you, doesn't mean there's more bigots in one province more than another.
I fucking love my country, I always cringe over news that happens in the USA. Also in my ethnic class we studied all major religions without bashing other ones. These parents are the close minded 0.05% that you will never hear about here in Quebec because everyone is an immigrant here and have different cultures. (atleast in montreal)
[QUOTE=archangel125;34750872]For a province that often votes Liberal or NDP, Quebec does have a lot of people who are massive bigots.[/QUOTE] It's the French in them
[QUOTE=Venezuelan;34751176]A clas that covers multiple religions still only covers [I]religions[/I]. I've seen people on here get pissy over less.[/QUOTE] Ethics and religions. From that you can assume it covers multiple worldviews.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34750872]For a province that often votes Liberal or NDP, Quebec does have a lot of people who are massive bigots.[/QUOTE] That said, Quebec is the only province with the balls to stand up to the immigrant lobby groups. Even english quebecers can respect that.
[QUOTE=FlakAttack;34756543]That said, Quebec is the only province with the balls to stand up to the immigrant lobby groups. Even english quebecers can respect that.[/QUOTE] Tell me more about these groups.
[QUOTE=archangel125;34751197]The article may not have been clear on this, but it was a diversity course, not one geared at religious indoctrination. I had one of those classes myself, it was mandatory, and it focused on explaining the tenets of, core beliefs of, and differences between major religious faiths. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. That means it aimed to reduce bigotry through improving understanding. And no matter how much I dislike religion, that's pretty fucking noble.[/QUOTE] Yeah it sounds like it's more of a cultural study than sitting in a class and praying to Jesus. You would take these kind of classes in university if you were an Anthropology or Sociology major.
[url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1164548[/url] see what I'm talking about?
He, I never had any classes based around religion at all. I only remember that back in grade school we had the choice between a course on religion, or on society. Nowadays it's weird for me to read about kids having to deal with that shit. I feel lucky.
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