> Quebec’s secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, said the controversial new provisions were the latest steps in a province working towards full secularization. He criticized previous accommodations by post-secondary institutions, including prayer rooms, telling reporters the schools “are not temples or churches or those kinds of places”. The ban on public prayer comes after the group Montreal4Palestine organized Sunday protests outside the city’s Notre-Dame Basilica that included prayers.
> The province will also limit the offering of kosher and halal meals in public institutions. “We think that when the state is neutral, Quebecers are free,” said Roberge, rejecting allegations the law disproportionately affects minorities. “We have the same rules applying to everyone,” he said.
TIL: Quebec has a secularization minister.
This is all pretty horrific stuff. Does accommodating someone's diet really offend you this much? This is squarely an anti-diversity and anti-inclusion movement with a scoundrel's veneer of equality.
Let's say I have a religion that, as part of practicing it, restricts my diet.
If I try to make you - a non-practitioner - eat that diet, then your reply makes sense. It's a personal matter; I don't get to force it on you or anyone else.
But if you try to remove the option of me being able to get food that fits my diet out in public? Don't try to justify that by saying "religion is a personal matter". That's an absurd rationale.
> Let's say I have a religion that, as part of practicing it, restricts my diet.
> If I try to make you - a non-practitioner - eat that diet, then your reply makes sense. It's a personal matter; I don't get to force it on you or anyone else.
In the UK, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find restaurants whose meat is not halal. One could argue that a religious diet is in fact being forced upon those who do not practise Islam.
How does praying infringe on a public space? Does it leave behind wrappers? Hurt the local wildlife? Ruin the watershed?
Should we ban people quietly playing musical instruments in public spaces to? Perhaps people walking? Certainly people reading books - they could be religious books or even, gasp, depict sex.
Out of memory, it is often times Muslims praying in the middle of a road or pathway to block other people for no reason than being obnoxious. And then as a reaction they will get this stupid law.
> The province will also limit the offering of kosher and halal meals in public institutions. “We think that when the state is neutral, Quebecers are free,” said Roberge, rejecting allegations the law disproportionately affects minorities. “We have the same rules applying to everyone,” he said.
TIL: Quebec has a secularization minister.
This is all pretty horrific stuff. Does accommodating someone's diet really offend you this much? This is squarely an anti-diversity and anti-inclusion movement with a scoundrel's veneer of equality.