Crucifixes are protected by secularity law
A late addition to the CAQ’s secularity law protects crucifixes in and on public buildings and makes them immune to legal challenge. I keep seeing the word catho-laïcité around, and that seems particularly apposite here.
jeather 12:30 on 2019-07-14 Permalink
Ah yes, okay to have a cross on a your secular school but not a woman with her head covered. (I wonder, once it’s taken off — say, for repairs — can they put it back up? I assume so, because it’s not about religion in public, just Muslim women.)
Oh look, you can even ADD one: Rien dans la loi québécoise n’empêche une institution publique d’accrocher de nouveaux symboles religieux à ses murs, même si elle stipule aussi que les citoyens ont « droit à des institutions parlementaires, gouvernementales et judiciaires laïques ».
Patrick 14:16 on 2019-07-14 Permalink
Does this mean you can add Jewish or Muslim symbols too? I’d like to see that. Or how about one of the combo “coexist” logos?
Blork 14:38 on 2019-07-14 Permalink
Check out this thing I saw in Varennes this afternoon. Full 3D diorama of a torture scene, but it’s OK because it’s crucifixes. Here’s the kicker — there isn’t even a church nearby:
https://goo.gl/maps/M2rcpkQPagafcdN48
Uatu 15:07 on 2019-07-14 Permalink
There also was a crucifix at the end of Rome Blvd when the land facing the river used to be farmland. Maybe it was erected to bless the crops or mitigate floods. Who knows? It just disappeared along with a rundown barn when they turned the land into condos and a bunch of townhouses. So much for preserving la patrimoine…
Kate 22:24 on 2019-07-14 Permalink
Blork, it might be where it is because there’s no church nearby, to function as a kind of shrine. Or is it maybe a memorial?
Blork 09:48 on 2019-07-15 Permalink
Kate, a bit of digging indicates that it (or a version of it) has been there since about 1767! (Or 1774, depending on source.) And of course it is considered “patrimoine” so it is protected.
https://ville.varennes.qc.ca/portrait/patrimoine/calvaire
http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=92899&type=bien
Kate 10:35 on 2019-07-15 Permalink
Maybe it’s meant to permanently mourn the coming of les Anglais!