We cats are not atheists — being cats, it's pretty hard for us to argue against the existence of a supreme being — but we were mighty pleased to learn that the Supreme Court of Canada recently told the city council of Saguenay, Quebec, to stop opening their meetings with a Catholic prayer.
The case dates back eight years and originated as a complaint filed by an atheist guy who teamed up with a secular group called le Mouvement Laique Quebecois — after which the mayor of Saguenay went nuts, ginning up a counter-campaign and insisting the prayers were just a celebration of the province's Roman Catholic heritage.
Gee, what does that sound like? Remind you of those yahoos in the American South who want to fly the Confederate battle flag everywhere? Or the teabags and crazies in the Republican Party who scream about their "religious freedoms" getting trampled all the time?
Now, we cats adore Quebec, but please. The court provided the true definition of religious freedom in its decision, which said: "The state's duty to protect every person's freedom of conscience and religion means that it may not use its powers in such a way as to promote the participation of certain believers or non-believers in public life to the detriment of others."
No pun intended, but we cats say amen to that. We've never understood why people can't "respect heritage" and, at the same time, refrain from inflicting individual religious beliefs or objectionable symbols on everybody else — especially when the state's involved. So, no prayers in Saguenay's city council. And although we know that some in the South consider it a religious symbol, no Confederate flags on state house grounds or license plates, either. We cats PURR.
No comments:
Post a Comment