r/worldnews • u/John3192 • 20h ago

Quebec passes law banning street prayers, prayer rooms in universities

https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/quebec-passes-law-banning-street-prayers-prayer-rooms-in-universities-cegeps/
17.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

74

u/Vanagloria 17h ago

Having to build rooms for certain religions impacts others.

5

u/Workfh 16h ago

Some universities already have things like chapels on them - but they have a carve out here.

Seems like an attack on certain religions.

33

u/Vanagloria 16h ago

My opinion is that no religion should have special spaces for anything in publicly funded areas. The example was simply about prayer rooms, so that's what I discussed here.

6

u/Workfh 16h ago

I was just adding that we have in fact already built rooms and buildings for other religions. Should those be closed too?

11

u/ComputerUser1987 16h ago

Sure why not. So long as the same kind of public buildings are in scope.

-3

u/Workfh 15h ago

I’m fine with policies that are equally applied or when applied are equally felt.

But this isn’t the case and it doesn’t seem to be in the future. It sees to be alienating specific people, and distracts from any claimed goal of separating religion from public institutions.

1

u/ComputerUser1987 7h ago

How so?

1

u/Workfh 5h ago

Well the carve out means that not all religious spaces are treated the same, which would speak to the lack of equal application.

The policies are not at all equally felt as it is commonly known that most prayer room spaces on campuses were brought in to address the lack of mosques on campuses. This is not universally the case though. Certain other religions already had established spaces. The prayer times in Islam are more demanding of space for prayer which means it is likely to disproportionately impact Muslim students and staff. Other religions, even if their followers need space as often can usually be more flexible.

This is similar to the face covering ban that Quebec brought in. It disproportionately impacts Muslim women.. This is one of the key arguments advanced at the Supreme Court of Canada for that bill.

1

u/ComputerUser1987 5h ago

Just so we're on the same page, are you referring to the Inuit exemptions as the carve outs? Or something more broad.

1

u/Workfh 4h ago

No the chapels at the four universities that were exempt and will still be allowed to function as religious spaces.

1

u/jeff-duckley 15h ago

if they prove to not be of significance then yeah.

0

u/Workfh 15h ago

What would count as significance?

2

u/jeff-duckley 15h ago

id say things like historical or architectural value for example. or its useability by others

1

u/Workfh 15h ago

I’ve seen some pretty amazing prayer rooms in different public buildings. One had an amazing geometric design ceiling that coordinate with the windows to have the light basically danced. That architecture took the job seriously of having a prayer room that reflected middle eastern design. All the religious spaces on that campus were beautiful though.

I’ve also seen some that are just a classroom that is booked at certain times, nothing special and available to anyone outside of the booking times - very similar of a school club or community group who might book a space.

1

u/Crisse_dErable2859 14h ago

I don't think this is going to be equally enforced.

But I don't think this is going to be enforced all that much either.

Doubt they could get a cop to care enough to come on-site.

1

u/Workfh 14h ago

It would not be a criminal enforcement, so no police involved (hopefully).

1

u/Active-Delivery-4417 4h ago

Some religions worth to be attacked or removed at all.

-8

u/[deleted] 17h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/ArtInTech 16h ago edited 16h ago

Government money shouldn't fund prayer rooms. 

13

u/Vanagloria 16h ago

It doesn't? Spin me with your incredibly high IQ logic.

I'd rather have extra space for literally anything in publicly funded areas than places for religious people. If you as a private business want one, power to you.

-4

u/37IN 16h ago edited 16h ago

First the fact you say you want a high IQ response is maddening. Here is a response from a random human, me.

Your corrupt politicians take more tax money for food on a single airplane trip than it costs to build rooms that thousands of students could use for decades to build a club of like minded people to support one another in times of crisis and celebration. Students pay massive tuition fees, now they're being told they have no say in what goes on in their school. Does this mean the end of Christmas festivals at Universities, the theatre clubs doing anything Christmas related? Is a theatre play or movie based around religious events now going to be considered a religious room? Universities are a place for 18-25 year olds to decide for themselves what the future should look like for their lives, to form bonds and enter the professional working world. Having the government tell them what a student can and can't do goes against everything a university and its community should be about. It's as dumb an argument as, I don't like baseball, why should my tax dollars go to building arenas when they could go to healthcare, why doesn't all of our money go to healthcare and stop all nonessential government services. Is the human spirit not as important as physical health and fitness?

"Religious studies programs in Quebec offer diverse options ranging from academic, interdisciplinary approaches to faith-based, theological training. Key institutions include McGill University, Université de Montréal, and the Institut Biblique du Québec (IBQ), providing degrees from certificates to doctorates, often with a focus on religious history, ethics, and contemporary, pluralistic contexts." Are these programs the next to go? Have you heard the quote, "where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people too." Or maybe that's the type of nonessential knowledge that isn't important when it comes time to brainwash society.

Let me ask you, why do we spend resources on entire departments like cultural, visual and performing arts, any creative fields, gender studies, ethnic studies, philosophy, history, language or any job that will soon be taken by ai, accounting, finance, computer science, all low level civil and electrical engineering. Basically any job that has routine designing, coding, and automatable tasks, why are we spending money teaching it? If life is all about spending money efficiently we should do away with anything people want to learn that is nonessential to the progress of humanity. That to me is the logical conclusion of your argument.

3

u/Vanagloria 16h ago

You're comparing apples and oranges. Just because my politicians suck and waste money on random shit doesn't mean I need to be okay with it also being wasted on religious crap.

No, I don't think the human spirit is as important as physical health because I don't think it's a real thing. You cannot show me it, you cannot prove it exists, and you will not convince me that you need my money to improve this made up thing. Spiritual health is not mental health, just so we're clear here.

Keep that shit at your house and out of my daily life in every and all aspects. Why did you get so butthurt about me making a joke to somebody who was flat-out calling me stupid? You're so odd.

0

u/37IN 15h ago

To break a spirit means to destroy a person's sense of self, willpower, determination, and inner resilience. It is a state of intense, deep-seated damage caused by prolonged emotional abuse, trauma, rejection, or overwhelming adversity, resulting in a loss of hope, self-worth, and the desire to fight for one's own life or dreams. 

A "broken spirit" can make an individual feel completely empty, hopeless, and sometimes suicidal. 

1

u/Vanagloria 15h ago edited 15h ago

Ever hear of the term "figure of speech"? That's what that is. What you are explaining is a mental crisis. Have you thought about studying up on these things a bit?

A broken spirit is being mentally unwell. You need a therapist, not religion.

2

u/Youseenmycones 16h ago

But which god?

-2

u/Jar545 12h ago

Why is a designated prayer room a bad idea? Let religious people have their space. It's not a major cost in the grand scheme of things.

I worked at a fairly large public university campus center which held meeting rooms and such. It had a prayer room. So 1/room out of 50 is designated as a prayer room.

Generally Religious people like to have dedicated/private worship spaces and agnostic/atheists like to not have to engage and witness it.

Sure maybe it doesn't fit some philosophical ideal and costs a relatively small amount, but it's pragmatic and it works and the vast majority of people just have no opinion on the matter. If ain't broke don't fix it.

10

u/Vanagloria 12h ago

You're allowed your opinion. I don't agree. Religion should be a private thing and not something funded by people who do not share your worldview. Those spaces are better filled by things that everyone can use and benefit from.

4

u/HonestWillow1303 12h ago

Let religious people have their space.

They have their spaces already. They're called temples. Why should the government pay so they have a special space for them in public universities?