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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (15464)	1/23/2005 10:22:44 AM
From: Crocodile	Respond to of 20773

The religious political nexus just downright scares the Europeans, because they've been there, done that, and had the religious wars to prove it. No wonder they're becoming more and more secular! I agree. I have a good many friends in Europe and they are quite shocked by the rhetoric coming out of the U.S. It doesn't play well in Canada either, btw. I was thinking more about this last night and why it is that Canada seems to be much more secular than the U.S. I believe part of this may be explained by the power which the R.C. church once had in the province of Quebec. Without going into a great deal of history, the church once called most of the shots in "Lower Canada" (what eventually became Quebec). The church was very much tied to France -- both religious and political rule. The influence over everyday life in Quebec was, at one time, quite large. In post-WWII Quebec, politics began to move away from religion -- partly because religion really held back the French Canadian population (large families, sending one son going to the priesthood, daughters to be nuns, etc..), and meanwhile, Anglophones in Quebec prospering as they were not held down by similar constraints. In many ways, the laws in Quebec reflect an even greater degree of secular thinking -- probably reactionary considering the long history of religious meddling in politics in Quebec. Btw, there was a great degree of tension caused by this movement from reglious to secular thought in Quebec. I would mark the crisis point somewhere in the mid-1960s. By 1970, I think that crisis was past and Quebec was greatly changed. Of course, that also coincided with the rise of the seperatism. Having lived in Quebec through the latter part of the 1960s, the change in religion and politics was quite palpable. Until that time, the monasteries, convents, etc.. were quite large and active, but a decade later, were in decline. Religious expression that seemed so "odd" to me as an outsider when I first moved to Quebec -- huge crosses erected at country road intersections with a big wooden "bleeding heart" and golden rays around it -- lit-up crosses on mountaintops, etc.. were all beginning to recede into the realm of folk art. If you're ever curious about how all of this felt at the time, see if you can pick up a novel or two by Roch Carrier (La Guerre, Yes Sir!; Is it the Sun, Philbert?; The Garden of Delights). Perhaps not entirely accessible to those without a background in social and political history in Quebec, but a fun read nonetheless. ~croc