"Students in Quebec, Canada are being required to take a new Ethics and Religious Culture class that teaches that "all religions -- including pagan animism and cults -- are equally 'true.'"
"It is not a religion instruction course. It is religious culture," Stephanie Tremblay, a spokeswoman for Quebec's education department, told Canada's National Post newspaper. "We introduce young people to religious culture like we introduce them to musical culture. The goal is to better know and understand others."
But school boards across Quebec reported in December that they had received and rejected more than 1,400 requests from public school parents seeking to have their children exempted from taking the course, which requires about two hours per week and also is mandatory in private schools.
Not only did students at one Quebec high school have their exemption requests turned down, but they were suspended and threatened with expulsion for not attending the class they said violates their freedom of conscience. At least one set of parents is challenging the class in court, the newspaper said.
"All the parents are doing is claiming a right that is recognized, the right to educate one's child in conformity with one's religious or philosophical convictions," Jean-Yves Cote, a lawyer representing the family, said."
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Should parents have the right to pull their children out of this class? Are "all religions equally true"?
"It is not a religion instruction course. It is religious culture," Stephanie Tremblay, a spokeswoman for Quebec's education department, told Canada's National Post newspaper. "We introduce young people to religious culture like we introduce them to musical culture. The goal is to better know and understand others."
But school boards across Quebec reported in December that they had received and rejected more than 1,400 requests from public school parents seeking to have their children exempted from taking the course, which requires about two hours per week and also is mandatory in private schools.
Not only did students at one Quebec high school have their exemption requests turned down, but they were suspended and threatened with expulsion for not attending the class they said violates their freedom of conscience. At least one set of parents is challenging the class in court, the newspaper said.
"All the parents are doing is claiming a right that is recognized, the right to educate one's child in conformity with one's religious or philosophical convictions," Jean-Yves Cote, a lawyer representing the family, said."
***
Should parents have the right to pull their children out of this class? Are "all religions equally true"?