Quebec’s new secular norm: $144 fines for religious worship

Prophecy Sign: Christian marginalization and persecution


This country of Canada that we live in is quite a varied place. For instance, the province Alberta is to the state of Texas as the province of Quebec is to any indebted European socialist/secular nation that you might name.  Quebec is also the most secular province in the nation, (although with a tradition of being very Catholic). This growing secularism is becoming evident in some of the recent government mandates that have been put in place in that province. Case in point is the following news story about a Catholic user group which held a private event in a publicly owned building who were subsequently ticketed for using the facility for a religious event.

This smacks of similar news stories we have seen from California where Christians in that state who were holding home groups meetings in their own homes were issued citations from the civil authorities for holding those meetings.

These types of events may not seem to be Christian persecution on the surface, but do you suppose the same citations would have been issued had religion in question been Islam?

The Quebec incident is now going to court with the Catholic group arguing Freedom of Religion based on Canada's Charter of rights and freedoms. We will be watching this with much interest.

From the article:

MONTREAL • On a Sunday morning two years ago, Paula Celani and about 80 members of her Catholic lay group gathered in a hall they had rented from the city. They watched an inspirational video, they prayed, they celebrated mass and they capped it off with a potluck lunch. “We had a beautiful day,” Ms. Celani recalls.  But now that beautiful day has generated a nasty court battle after she was hit with a $144 ticket from the city, which alleged her event was illegal because it involved religious worship.  This week her lawyer advised Montreal municipal court that he will challenge the fine on constitutional grounds.  The case illustrates how far the pendulum has swung in a province once dominated by the Church. Public displays of religious faith have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as Quebecers have embraced secularism.

Quebec’s new secular norm: $144 fines for religious worship
http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/11/03/quebec%e2%80%99s-new-secular-norm-fines-for-worship/