By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
QUEBEC, December 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mario Dumont and the Action démocratique du Québec party (ADQ) want the government to stop and take a closer look at the new non-denominational religion course to be taught to all Quebec children from kindergarten to the end of high school, starting next September.
The course is mandated for all students whether in public school, private school or even schooled at home.
Arguing that the course ignores the Catholic cultural and social heritage of Quebec, Dumont stated the program dismisses the essential character and reality of Quebec and its people.
“It is the vision of Pierre Trudeau where the culture, the Quebec reality, the fact of the Quebec culture is just a small vegetable in a big soup,” Dumont said.
Taking into account the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of many people in Quebec, especially in larger urban areas where Christians may be a minority, Dumont asserted that to spurn a part of Quebec’s history would impair student’s understanding of the society in which they live. “This is deeply part of the culture of Quebec in the broad sense of culture, and making sure that they well understand the society in which they live, for me is even more important.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews in October, 2007, the program also includes instruction equating homosexuality with normal family life and requires children to question their own religious upbringing.
Parents who do not wish to have their children in the courses have protested the mandatory nature of the program and are insisting that the government respect their right to choose the type of religious and moral education their children receive in school.
Quebec City Cardinal Marc Ouellet has spoken out against the relativistic religion program, saying the course “subjects religions to the control and the interests of the State and puts an end to religious freedoms in school which were acquired many generations ago.”
Both Cardinal Ouellet and Mario Dumont have indicated an appreciation of the importance of Quebec’s Catholic roots. “The real problem in Quebec is the spiritual emptiness created by a rupture of religion and culture and a substantial loss of memory brought about by a crisis of the family and education,” the Cardinal said.
Read the related LifeSiteNews articles:
Quebec Mandates Relativistic Ethical and Religious Education For All Students in Province
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07100409.html
Quebec Cardinal Speaks Out Against Imposing Relativism on All Students
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07110608.html