Quebec is regularly the target of negative criticism from the english (but also french) media in Quebec and in the ROC (Rest of Canada). These criticisms must be denounced when factually erroneous. However, it is also important to highlight the many situations, often forgotten, where Quebec compares favorably to the ROC or other places. This is what we will try to do regularly on the site.
We have already published a first in this series, entitled When we compare ourselves - hate crimes, secularism and Bill 96.
We do it again here with a survey on religion. But first, a little history.
For a long time, Quebec was the subject of criticism abroad regarding the place of religion, because it would be a priest ridden province (See below an article from 1889 in the New York Times on a province which was priest-ridden- Religion Quebec Priests Image PRIEST-RIDDEN QUEBEC- POWER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE PROVINCE 02111889 NYT). This image of Quebec as under the control of the church was echoed in QC, notably by anglophones connected to McGill University:
The Catholic Church is naturally very fearful of the power and influence of Moscow, and is no friend of a democracy which tolerates freedom of speech for those whom it calls “communists”. 1 The authoritarian character of the Catholic Church makes it more lenient to the doctrine of fascism than the Protestant churches would be, and it is teaching a form of “corporatism” in Quebec, based on Papal encyclicals, as a remedy for social and economic ills.
These attitudes within Canadian Catholicism are frequently in sharp contrast to those adopted by the various Protestant Churches. The Protestant pulpits may vary in their emphasis on particular policies, and, in typical Pro¬ testant fashion, they speak with many voices, but their general influence in foreign affairs is against isolation and in favour of active Canadian support of the League and the Commonwealth. In domestic matters they emphasize, more than do the Catholics, the value of state control and social legislation to remedy economic evils, and oppose any changes in parliamentary government that savour of dic¬ tatorship from the “right” as well as from the left ...
socialism at the moment stands condemned by the clergy of Quebec. Consequently the nationalist movement is in an impasse; it must risk clerical censure or else continue to submit to economic inferiority... The drive against “com¬munism” in Quebec, sponsored by the clergy, is a powerful deterrent to any proposals that the government should expropriate existing investments, for the accusation of “communist” would at once be hurled at any daring advocate of such an idea. Canada today : a study of her national interests and national policy 1939 Frank R Scott
Today, during the debate on secularism, we see how the religious image of Quebecers has radically changed. Now, the Quebecer is accused of wanting to settle scores with religion::
(Translation) Nor can the State, while remaining neutral, rely on a justification which is based
on resentment against the Catholic Church? The anti-religious feeling of many
Quebecers must not serve as justification,...In the name of an atheist posture or
to settle our scores with a Catholic past.
L'État ne peut pas non plus, tout en restant neutre, s'appuyer sur une justification qui repose
sur le ressentiment à l'égard de l'Église catholique ? Le sentiment anti-religieux de plusieurs
Québécois ne doit pas servir de justification,...Au nom d’une posture athée ou pour régler nos comptes avec un passé catholique. See Laicité Religion PL-21 Anti-clérical Signes religieux La laicité 2018 Michel Seymour Jérôme Gosselin-Tapp
An Ekos survey in 2022 (see Laicité Religion Évolution créationnisme Les Québécois peu portés sur le religieux, les Canadiens un peu plus 08 12 2023 Philippe J Fournier) confirms this change of direction.
This survey revealed that Quebecers are, by far, the province which: has less religious practice; where religion has a less important place; and where we believe the most in the theory of evolution and the least in creationism:
Belief in Evolution vs Creationism:
QC 70%-13%
Canada (including QC) 58%-18%
Ontario 55%-18%
So what is creationism? It is first of all a religious doctrine from Christianity which affirms that the universe and human beings were created by a superior being. But unlike the majority of Christians who take the Genesis story metaphorically, creationists believe that what is written in the Bible must be taken literally. For them, Adam and Eve, the six days of creation, the flood etc., all this is true and is obviously incompatible with the theories of the Big Bang and evolution. See LES ATTAQUES DU CRÉATIONNISME CONTRE L'ÉVOLUTION 2023 Bruno Dubuc LeCerveau.McGill.ca.
The Canadian Charter of Rights enjoys fervent quasi-religious support in the ROC. The Supreme Court of Canada does not miss an opportunity to favor the place of religion in its interpretation of the Charter. Is it surprising when the ONLY preamble to the Charter states:
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Compare the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in which one of many paragraphs of the preamble states instead:
WHEREAS the Québec nation considers State laicity to be of fundamental importance;
Could the greater non-QC support for creationism be a manifestation of the greater importance of religion in the ROC? And indirectly an explaination for the popularity of the Canadian Charter itself?
Daniel Johnson,père
Author