Since September 2008, all children in the public and private schools in the Province of Quebec have been taking a compulsory course entitled ‘Ethics and Religious Culture’ (ERC). Instruction begins in grade one and continues each year thereafter through the end of high school. As the name of the course suggests, it includes teachings on ethics and religion. The goals and objectives of the ethics component of the ERC are described as follows: “Your child will learn to: Carefully reflect on aspects of certain social realities and subjects such as justice, happiness, laws and rules, and ask himself or herself questions such as: What value should guide people in their relationships in society? What are the characteristics of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour? How can these behaviours be recognized? It will therefore become easier for your child to organize his/her ideas and express them with respect and conviction.” The goals and objectives of the religious component of ERC are described as follows: “Your child will learn about the important place of Catholicism and Protestantism in Québec's religious heritage; discover the contributions of Judaism and Native spiritualities to this religious heritage; and learn about elements of other religious traditions more recently found in Québec society (such Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other religious traditions).”
The ERC curriculum treats all religions as completely equal or on par with one another. No religious tradition is presented as more desirable than any other. Private schools established by religious groups are not permitted to teach a course on ethics and religious traditions which contradicts the curriculum of the Province’s ERC curriculum.
Parents of children attending a Roman Catholic School and a Roman Catholic parochial high school applied to the Ministry of Education of the Province of Quebec for an official exemption which would excuse the children under their care from participating in the ERC. The parents’ and the school’s application were based on religious grounds. They argued that ethics could not be taught apart from religious beliefs and values. They also argued that the teachings of the ERC conflicted with their fundamental belief and confession that the Christian Church is the very body of Christ and therefore cannot be on par with other religions. The Province of Quebec denied the exemptions. Some of the parents took the Ministry of Education to court. The parents lost the case at the trial court level. The parents have appealed their case to the Supreme Court of Canada. The trial court ruled in favour of the parochial High School. In his ruling, the judge in the school’s case likened the Province’s law, which dictated what religious groups are required to teach about their faith, as being on par with the church’s having barred Galileo from teaching the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. Lawyers representing the Roman Catholic parents and the Ministry of Education will make oral arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada this month and a decision will follow some time thereafter.
Many will say that the lawsuits filed by the Roman Catholic parents and the parochial school are really “much ado about nothing.” Some might even argue that such a curriculum should be compulsory across Canada. After all, in Canada we live in a multi-cultural and pluralistic setting. They will contend that it is important for children to be exposed to the religious beliefs, creeds, tenets, traditions, hopes, dreams and aspirations of their fellow citizens. Canadian citizens and residents have a constitutionally protected right to practice their religious beliefs and traditions. All religious traditions are equal under Canadian Law. They will say that Canadian law requires Canadians to tolerate one another’s religious traditions, and ask how this can happen if we don’t learn about and understand one another’s religious traditions. Thus, Quebec’s ERC curriculum only embodies and reinforces what we have come to believe and embrace as a society.
The ERC curriculum speaks to an even greater challenge and concern for Canadian society and our global village. It can be argued that the very declaration that one religious tradition is more desirable, and more powerful and efficacious than all other religions causes all sorts of serious problems. The desire to demonstrate the superiority of one religious tradition over another can cause a renegade Christian Pastor to burn a copy of the Koran; cause religious zealots to crash planes into office towers; and cause nations to engage in horrific military campaigns against other nations and their own people allegedly for the purpose of advancing a particular religious tradition. It could be forcefully argued that, by teaching our children all religious traditions are on an equal footing and no religious tradition is more desirable than any other, religiously condoned violence could be curbed and even eliminated. The ERC curriculum seems so reasonable, logical and so beneficial for our Canadian multicultural society. However, before we get too carried away, we must consider the following.
Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus have established schools in Quebec which seek to pass on to their descendants their faith and belief in the divine, together with their traditions, creeds, ethics and morals which flow from their faith and beliefs. In the final analysis, the ERC curriculum dictates how all schools in Quebec, whether public, private or religious, teach the beliefs, creeds and tenets of their religious traditions. We must ask if this is the proper role of any Canadian province or our Federal government. The answer is obvious: No! It is not the proper role for any level of our government. If a religious group threatens to breach the public peace or commit a crime, the government has every right to interfere and punish those who commit crimes, even those committed in the name of the divine. However, we must be careful. We must question whether tolerating a province’s interference in the manner in which children receive religious instruction in private religious schools can lead to more. Is it possible that our toleration of the imposition of standardized instruction on religious beliefs in the classroom could lead to our toleration of the imposition of the same standardized teaching in the sanctuary, the temple or other sacred space? Before you say no, just ponder for a moment the monumental changes we have experienced and tolerated in Canadian society since World War II.
Such thoughts can lead one to depression and despair. How can we be the Church, the body of Christ, and proclaim that Jesus is the unique Son of God, the way, the truth and the life and only way to the Father in our schools, when our society teaches that all religious teachings are on equal footing? We would be preaching a message that is in violation of the law of the land! What does the future hold for the Christian church in Quebec and the rest of our nation?
Take heart! This is nothing new. Governments and empires have tried to keep Jesus in his place for centuries. When Jesus was crucified on the first Good Friday, they put His body in a tomb and rolled a stone in front of the entrance. They put a Roman seal on the stone that blocked the entrance to the cave and posted a guard. The religious and political powers of the day wanted to keep this Jesus in His place. However, the stone walls, floor and ceiling could not keep Jesus in. He passed through the strips of linen which bound Him, and the stone that encased Him, in the same way that sound travels through a wall. The angel rolled the stone away from the tomb to show the women that came to the tomb that Jesus was already gone. As the women rushed from the tomb they saw Jesus, clasped His feet and worshiped him. (Matthew 27:32-28:10). Jesus defied and continues to defy religious and political powers that want to keep Him in their idea of His place.
Like us, the disciples were afraid that first Easter Sunday. Unlike the women, they had not seen Jesus. They were afraid of the political and religious authorities. They were sure they would be killed by them. In reaction to their fear, they locked themselves in a room. They wanted to keep everyone out. However, the walls, ceilings, floors, doors and the disciples’ fears could not keep Jesus out. He appeared to them, breathed His Holy Spirit on them and told them to get out and preach the forgiveness of sins in His name. The disciples eventually went out into the world, proclaimed the Gospel and the body of Christ grew. (John 20:19-22).
