The Canadian province of Quebec passed legislation that would bar civil servants in positions of "authority" from wearing religious symbols at work. I have mixed feelings about this, on the one hand it seems in line with the American concept of separation of church and state but on the other are they quashing people's freedom to practice their religion.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-us-canada-48477086?__twitter_impression=true
I have mixed feelings in this too. In the schools, there is a moment of silence for anyone to say their "prayers" according to their belief. But, this is scraping the respect of beliefs and 'moment of silence' completely.
ReplyDeleteIs it done to make other people "feel" safe? Is it so they will not judge others? Will this truly forever separate the state and church?
and how many kids really pray during that moment of silence? ; )
DeleteProtecting the public sphere as an officially-neutral domain is presumably the point of this legislation. We don't do a very good job of maintaining neutrality in our own public sphere, especially in the south. Consider the banner hanging ON the Rhea County courthouse in Dayton: "Read Your Bible." Imagine if the judge had been wearing religious vestments, on the bench. That would be an even more egregious overstepping of church/state, religion/society bounds. Judges, civil servants, and other authorities really should be more sensitive to the ways in which their free exercise of whatever (not just religion) might give rise to a perception of bias and unfairness.
ReplyDeleteI don't think many Christians give much thought to the fact that others might believe otherwise. I mean, the first question many people ask someone new in these parts is "Where do you go to church?" A friend of mine who is Muslim told me that when all the hubbub was going on concerning the local mosque's building project, a customer of his shared her concerns about "those Muslims" not even realizing that he was one.
Delete"Where do you go..." is right up there with "What do you do?" Both can feel like constrictions of identity, and challenges to justify oneself in conformist terms. As you can imagine, my own responses to those questions tend to evoke consternation.
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