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A dispute over whether government can require Catholic schools to teach Wiccan and pagan rites as equal to the Ten Commandments and the resurrection of Jesus is heading to Canada’s highest court.
A dispute over whether government can require Catholic schools to teach Wiccan and pagan rites as equal to the Ten Commandments and the resurrection of Jesus is heading to Canada’s highest court.
“Faith-based educational institutions should be free to live and operate according to the faith they teach and espouse,” said Gerald Chipeur, Q.C., of the Canadian firm Miller Thompson LLP.
“If the government can force Loyola High School to violate its faith, then the government can do the same to others,” said Chipeur, a lawyer affiliated with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The battle is over a government program adopted in Quebec in 2008 called “Ethics and Religious Culture” that is mandatory for all public and private schools. It presents all religions, from Christianity to Wiccan, “as equally valid” and requires schools to teach the beliefs in that fashion.
It also bans teachers, including those at private, denominational or church schools, from expressing their opinion that their own school’s faith is preferred.
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Christians ordered to teach Wiccan, pagan rites
“If the government can force Loyola High School to violate its faith, then the government can do the same to others,” said Chipeur, a lawyer affiliated with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The battle is over a government program adopted in Quebec in 2008 called “Ethics and Religious Culture” that is mandatory for all public and private schools. It presents all religions, from Christianity to Wiccan, “as equally valid” and requires schools to teach the beliefs in that fashion.
It also bans teachers, including those at private, denominational or church schools, from expressing their opinion that their own school’s faith is preferred.
more
Christians ordered to teach Wiccan, pagan rites