LETTER

LETTRE

Is Quebec a secular society, or not?

 

If Quebec is not a religious state then why are churches, the overwhelming majority of them Christian, supported by our property taxes which they are exempt from paying on the grounds that they are a social good?
    Are churches a social good? This is by no means established. They promote the idea that there is a supernatural being or beings who have our interests at heart, who love us guide us and will grant us eternal life if we turn our lives over to them.
    All these beliefs fly in the face of science and promote passivity by expecting God to fix things rather than ourselves. We are thinking animals who have evolved on this planet and have only each other and this planet to rely upon for the meeting of our needs. (I believe) there are no supernatural beings, and that the promoting of this idea discourages us from facing our problems realistically. Only we can help each other and our troubled planet.
    So let Quebec be a truly secular society and remove the provision in the Real Estate Assessment Act, Section 18(5), that exempts religious institutions from paying property taxes. On what grounds should a secular society exempt religious institutions from paying property taxes like the rest of us? 
    While we’re at it, contributions to religious institutions should not be tax exempt.
    Is Quebec really a secular society or a lapsed Catholic Christian society in everyday clothing?  Please write to the Premier and your MLA to complain about this hypocrisy.
We have been told that Quebec is a secular society and this alleged fact is used to justify removing a Muslim teacher from her job on the grounds that her children must be spared the horrors of being exposed to a religion other than Christianity.
David Page
Aylmer