The Archbishop of Montreal believes the Quebec government’s plan to ban prayer in public places is a violation of the “fundamental freedoms in a democratic society.”

In an op-ed published in La Presse Monday morning, Archbishop Christian Lépine was responding to the CAQ government’s announcement that it intended to introduce a bill this fall to ban public prayers in a bid to strengthen secularism in the province.

“Religious freedom is not confined to places of worship: it is an integral part of living together. Restricting prayer to the private sphere would amount to reducing the space for freedom in all of society,” Lépine wrote in the op-ed titled “What if we banned… thinking?”

Lépine says the right to pray – both indoors and out – is recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human R

See Full Page