[rayiner]

> Changing the names of all the places named after Catholic Saints? Not having the municipality put up Christmas decorations every year?

But that stuff really is "history and culture" rather than "public endorsement of religion."

People in my home country would never tolerate foreign Christians coming in and demanding that the state stop celebrating Eid or changing place names. People are entitled to their heritage, and shouldn’t have to erase it to accommodate newcomers.

[goosedragons]

Supposedly it's Quebecers themselves who want reglious symbols out of the public sphere. Not immigrants or outsiders. Crosses and Christmas trees are reglious symbols, sure there is some "history and culture" there but there is also "history and culture" in Confederate monuments and places named after them. If Quebecers are serious about removing religious symbols in the public sphere they should take steps to actually do so. It's picking and choosing what religious symbols to have around.

[rayiner]

> Christmas trees are reglious symbols, sure there is some "history and culture" there there

We had a Christmas tree every year growing up in America as immigrants from a Muslim country. When I visit Tokyo in December, which is in a non-Christian country, there are Christmas trees in all the malls. Christmas trees are the archetypal examples of religious symbols that have turned into cultural symbols.

> there is also "history and culture" in Confederate monuments and places named after them.

Please, lean into this.

[angry_octet]

To be clear (which Americans get really diverted into believing) this is not about banning Christmas or forcing people to say Happy Holidays. This is the hypocrisy of refusing to let Muslim women cover their hair if they are a public servant (and the Govt sector is large, including pre-school workers, cleaners, teachers, council office workers, librarians, road sweepers, health workers, archivists, town planners, etc) but still having profoundly religious symbols in places like schools, hospitals and other Govt buildings. Also cultural matters, e.g. an incredible refusal to acknowledge that people are fasting during Ramadan.

The use of saint names is unavoidable, a reminder of how the Church used to control everything. It would be a powerful statement of actual secularism if some schools were renamed, even some streets. But most people don't care, they just stopped going to mass and kicked the priests out of schools, job done. Secularism is now code for xenophobia.