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Quebec passes secularism law banning street prayers and prayer rooms in universities
(www.ctvnews.ca)
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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Let's recap.
Literally, what I said was this:
And you said this:
And now you're trying to backtrack by claiming this:
No, I distinguished quite plainly between public institutions and individuals in my first comment. You dug in your heels that we shouldn't just ban public institutions from forcing one set of beliefs on others, but that we should also force individuals to give up their own beliefs (thus, "ending religions," in your words).
The thing is, any attempt to systemically force people as individuals to give up their beliefs, is literally "institutions forcing their beliefs on others." So, no, you're just doing mental gymnastics to rationalize your own prejudice.
Also,
Would you? Well, where do we draw the line? You realize science hasn't plumbed the depths of understanding the universe yet, right? Some things are still theoretical. Can we call those things "reality and science," or are they mere belief until proven beyond reasonable doubt?
For instance, is quantum gravity theory just religious mumbo jumbo? What about string theory? What about unified field theory? Hell, what about the big bang theory, the big crunch theory, and any speculation about dark matter and dark energy, or the origins of life and consciousness?
Who gets to determine what constitutes "science and reality," and what constitutes "religion and belief," particularly in these edge cases where there is no general consensus? The publishers of the journals? The peer review board? The dean of faculty for the science department at such-and-such big-name university? The administration of that university, who get to determine who keeps their job as dean of faculty? The board-of-trustees?
Academic freedom is already coming under fire in this political environment, and gatekeeping has always been a problem in academia besides. Do you really want to promote state-mandated and enforced worldviews based on some vaguely defined "reality"? Reality has always been a consensus, and nothing more.
How much further would it go? The social sciences? The humanities? All the subjects where "reality" can't be simply boiled down to a set of quantifiable data?
Because this would go a lot further than just banning religions. And even if that was all it would do, I would still be against it, even though I'm not religious, because forcing people to adopt my worldview is no better than when religious people do the same thing.
Your need to justify your own beliefs are blinding you. A wall of text arguing semantics… you agree with the far right in USA that is rooting their system in Christianity? Or you agree that because of birthright via your mother you are superior to me?
I’m also pretty confident that doubts and theories in science are unrelated to mysticism. If only in intents.
"Semantics"
My guy, they just laid out your argument and demonstrated the particular flaws in your reasoning. What you're describing isn't secularism, it's wishing the state would enforce your particular world view.
Guess what? Removing religious mysticism from the equation doesn't make that viable or ethical. They already tried this during the French Revolution and it sucked. Giving the state powers to attack nebulous things like metaphysical beliefs is reverting back to the problems we had for thousands of years under Popes and Kings and Caliphs and Emperors.
So much projection and deflection in two short paragraphs, and yet you dismiss all of my (valid and factual) arguments as "a wall of text rooted in semantics" without even attempting to engage honestly with a single thing that I said? Bold strategy, let's see if it pays off for you...
I'm not the one attempting to justify my beliefs, you are. My argument here from the start is that institutions shouldn't enforce beliefs or worldviews, and that individuals should maintain their rights to religious expression.
You're the only one here arguing otherwise, claiming that we should enforce one set of beliefs because it's the one that you hold, that everyone who holds other beliefs should be forced to give them up because you don't agree with them.
Not even a little bit. Holy strawman. They're attempting a religious theocracy, which by definition involves public institutions enforcing one religion. That's the opposite of what I've been saying from the start.
Another strawan. Who the fuck said anything about a "birthright"?!? When did I claim in any way that I'm superior? At what point did anyone mention my mother?
You're the only one here trying to grant yourself exceptionalism, pretending you're superior to others. Never in a million years would I agree that you should be the sole arbiter of what everyone else gets to believe.