Moral relativism in the classroom
Since September of 2008 all Quebec students, from primary school entry to high school graduation, in public and private schools, have been obliged to take a course called, in English, Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC). And teachers, regardless of their religious beliefs (or lack thereof), must teach it.
According to its inventors, the ERC curricula are designed to sensitize students to the tenets of Quebec's rich array of religious beliefs -the major religions, plus aboriginal myths and even Wiccan beliefs -in order to "facilitate the spiritual development of students so as to promote self-fulfillment." No exemptions from the program are permitted, not even if the children are home-schooled.
A Drummondville, Que. couple (who cannot be named), representing 2,000 Quebec parents who wish to have their children exempted from the ERC program, have gone to the Supreme Court to argue that their rights as parents and to their religious beliefs have been violated by Quebec. In their factum, the lawyers pose the question: "Can the state impose, without the possibility of an exemption, a program of study about religion and ethics on parents who view it as infringing on their religious beliefs and their freedom of conscience? Such is the stake in this case."
The ERC curriculum was adopted without public consultation. Its mission is to instill "normative pluralism" in students. In simpler terms, normative pluralism is moral relativism, the notion that there is no single truth, and that all religions are of equal merit and equal worthiness of admiration. As Fernand Ouellet, an ERC founder noted, students "must learn to shake up a too solid identity"; they must experience "divergence and dissonance." Encouraging critical thinking is not part of the ERC program.
Even if one conceded that the study of all religions is a good thing, the ERC program is highly disingenuous in that only positive elements of every religion are examined. Two values dominate the courses: "vivre ensemble" (live together) and arriving at the "bien commun" (common good). Social harmony is to be achieved by constant dialogue and "recognition" of other cultures, which are to be accomplished, in the words of ECR mandarin Georges Leroux, by inculcating in children "ab-solute respect for every religious position."
Thus, children are taught, for example, that witches "are women like any other in daily life," and, "Technologically [the Raelians] are 25,000 years in advance of us." And considering that only 700 of Quebec's aboriginals identify themselves with aboriginal spirituality (the vast majority of ethnic aboriginals are Christian), aboriginal myths are accorded absurdly disproportionate reverence.
This is precisely what religious parents do not want their children exposed to in their tender years. They do not want their children to learn that Christianity and pagan Animism and tinfoilhat science fiction are equally true and equally conducive to a life of morality and spiritual vigour. Aside from a violation of parents' rights to morally instruct their children, such a critically vacuous prescription is an insult to the intelligence, equally offensive to the religious and atheists alike.
Ethnic Studies Phd candidate Joelle Quérin produced a study in 2009 for the Institut de Recherche sur le Québec. After a deep analysis of the course's stated objectives, content, teachers' role and suggested classroom activities. Quérin stated: "I wanted to verify if the course gives knowledge to children or if it indoctrinates them. I observed that it was the second alternative that prevailed."
Quérin cites, for example, an instance where students were invited to redesign the Quebec flag, replacing the cross with a more "inclusive" symbol, and another student activity in which religions invented by students are accorded the same deference as real ones. The vaunted "dialogue" of the program consists only of politically correct scripts that must be followed without divergence. If a student poses a question that does not conform to the "recognition" mantra that all beliefs are equal and good, the teacher must intervene to stop the discussion.
Quérin concludes: "After having followed the ERC course for ten years, the students won't have a great knowledge of religions, but one thing is sure: no [cultural] accommodation will seem unreasonable to them."
The ERC course, disguised as diversity positivism, will serve to undermine Quebec children's natural pride in their own patrimony. It undermines the rights of parents to raise their children in accordance with their own beliefs. And worst of all, it will serve to suppress students' ability to think critically about different religions and cultures without guilt. A 2008 poll found that 76% of Quebecers prefer a choice in religious education. We hope that the Supreme Court agrees with them.
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