{"id":127416,"date":"2025-09-02T14:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/127416\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:38:09","slug":"a-premier-goes-out-on-wing-and-a-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/127416\/","title":{"rendered":"A premier goes out on wing and a prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Now deeply unpopular in Quebec, Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault is poised to lose next year’s general election.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Last week, the government of Quebec announced that it intends to table legislation this fall that will ban prayer in public places<\/a>. We will now repeat that, just in case it didn\u2019t sink in.<\/p>\n

Quebec intends to table legislation that will ban prayer in public places.<\/p>\n

This was perhaps always going to be the next step in Quebec\u2019s devout effort to enforce secularism in a province that two generations ago rejected the Roman Catholic church\u2019s influence over its society.<\/p>\n

Reasonable people might have hoped the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government of Fran\u00e7ois Legault<\/a> would not go further than its 2019 law preventing teachers, judges, police officers and other government workers from wearing clothing or items that have religious symbolism on the job.<\/p>\n

That law, Bill 21, was deliberately unconstitutional and only survives because of the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause.<\/p>\n

Quebec says Bill 21 opponents are trying to overturn established law<\/a><\/p>\n

Record number of groups to speak at Supreme Court case against Quebec secularism law<\/a><\/p>\n

But here we are, six years later, and Mr. Legault \u2013 a deeply unpopular premier<\/a> whose party is poised to lose the general election next year \u2013 now plans to extend the heavy hand of government beyond public employees in their workplaces and out into the streets and green spaces of the province.<\/p>\n

The ostensible reason for this is that pro-Palestinian protesters have been mixing prayer into their demonstrations in Montreal ever since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, and that bothers the Premier.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing people on their knees in the streets, praying, I think we have to ask ourselves the question. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something we should see,\u201d Mr. Legault said last year.<\/p>\n

This summer, a group of peaceful Muslims bearing a Palestinian flag prayed outside one of Montreal\u2019s biggest basilicas, prompting some passersby to tell reporters that it made them feel uncomfortable. <\/p>\n

Is it really the act of seeing someone commune with the spiritual that is so offensive to the secular mind? Is that really an existential threat to Quebec\u2019s cherished la\u00efcit\u00e9?<\/p>\n

If that is the case, Quebec has opened a big can of worms. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Hero to zero: Fran\u00e7ois Legault is following in Justin Trudeau\u2019s footsteps<\/a><\/p>\n

It is already presumed that whatever law the government tables will infringe on an individual\u2019s freedoms of expression, of religion, of conscience and of peaceful assembly, and then duck behind the notwithstanding clause. But how far will the government go?<\/p>\n

What happens to a Quaker standing silently in a park? Is the government aware that this can constitute a form of prayer? Should the person be detained for questioning? <\/p>\n

What about someone doing yoga in a park? While yoga is generally a secular practice in Canada, it can for some be a devotional exercise and a communion with a higher power. How will the government know what intentions the person doing yoga al fresco has set?<\/p>\n

What about doing tai chi in a park? It, too, is most often a secular, meditative practice in Canada. It is not a religion in and of itself, but it can be used as part of a spiritual journey by people of different faiths. Like yoga, it depends on intention.<\/p>\n

What about Falun Gong, a modern religious movement devoted to a god-like leader that has been banned in China? Its practitioners are often seen outdoors in parks, and sometimes on sidewalks in front of Chinese consulates, their hands clasped in the prayer position. Will Beijing suddenly have an ally in the suppression of Falun Gong members? <\/p>\n

What about the annual Roman Catholic Good Friday procession in Old Montreal, an event involving public prayer? Will that still be allowed? It could make a secularist uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Or what about a soccer player who, smack in the middle of a public stadium, crosses himself before a game or when he scores a goal? Is that permissible?<\/p>\n

If this seems ridiculous, it is no more ridiculous than the failing CAQ government taking a desperate swing at a divisive issue to save its skin.<\/p>\n

How far Mr. Legault goes with this will be telling. Is it even possible to ban public prayer based on the actions of some Muslim protesters without also ensuring that people of other faiths and beliefs aren\u2019t allowed to get away with the same infraction? <\/p>\n

Or is that the whole point \u2013 to again single out the one group that was most affected by Bill 21 and its ban on hijabs, and which has so often come under fire in Quebec?<\/p>\n

Like yoga, it\u2019s all about setting intentions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Now deeply unpopular in Quebec, Premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault is poised to lose next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,13849,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-127416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-pleasemod","10":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}