QUEBEC, October 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life group in Quebec is calling on Christians in the province to make a pledge to wear large, visible crosses as a protest against the Parti Quebecois government’s controversial Charter of Values.
The Charter would forbid public employees, from judges down to daycare workers, from wearing “overt and conspicuous” religious symbols.
Georges Buscemi, president of Campagne Québec-Vie, said the “Je porte ma croix!” campaign has two goals: to voice opposition to the proposed legislation, and to affirm Christians in their right to bear witness to their faith in public.
“Wearing a cross in public is a small but effective way of bringing religion out of the private sphere and into the public sphere,” he said. “Faith has both a hidden, private dimension and a public, manifest dimension.”
“One of the reasons secularism has been progressing so rapidly in the West is that Christians are afraid or unwilling to bring their faith to bear in the public square, in policy making decisions, in conversation or debate,” he added.
The campaign is primarily being promoted online via the “Je porte ma croix!” website and on Facebook. At the website, those interested can make the pledge and add their name as a signatory.
However, Buscemi said that as the campaign picks up steam, a second stage is planned where those who have pledged to wear a cross are invited to take a picture of themselves with their cross while holding a paper which reads “Je porte ma croix!” or “I bear my cross.”
These pictures would be used to further promote the campaign through various media, including the possibility of buying ad space in newspapers to publish the witness.
Buscemi noted that the Charter’s ban on religious symbols is limited to employees working in the public sector, but he suggested it’s a slippery slope. The ban for public employees “is bad enough,” he said, “but I definitely anticipate that this might, in the fullness of time, evolve into a general prohibition of religious expression in public for the sake of ‘harmony’ and ‘public safety’ and ‘the protection of children’.”
Buscemi explained that people wishing to participate in the campaign are encouraged to pledge to wear a visible cross on their person at all times, even if they work for the government, and even if the Quebec Charter is passed. A crucial aspect of the campaign, Buscemi pointed out, is that beyond wearing a visible cross, “people are willing to pledge that they are ready to face the consequences of wearing their cross – they indeed are ready to ‘bear their cross’.”
Buscemi remarked that a personal choice to wear a visible cross has benefits exceeding the objectives of the campaign. “I myself have taken the pledge and now wear a San Damiano cross everyday. I must say that wearing a visible sign of my belonging to Christ has brought me great graces,” he said.
Another facet of the campaign, he suggested, could be a re-evaluation and acceptance of Christianity after the province's wholesale rejection of the faith that was foundational in Quebec's history and culture.
“If everyone who loves Christ, while living as He taught, wore a cross everyday, there would be much less suspicion of Christians, because people would all have seen examples of cross-wearing individuals acting in an exemplary fashion. It's hard to say ‘all religion is poison’ when there comes to mind many examples of people, wearing a cross, whom one has seen doing good deeds,” Buscemi said.