The following is a letter to the editor
that I wrote regarding Quebec’s decision to ban public employees from wearing
religious symbols at work, which appeared in The New York Times:
Quebec Errs on
Freedom of Religion
June 19, 2019
To the
Editor:
Re “Critics Vow to Fight Quebec
Ruling Banning Religious Symbols at Work” (news article, June 18):
Quebec’s disturbing
decision to prohibit certain public-sector employees from wearing religious
symbols while at work is a major infringement of its citizens’ religious rights
and a stinging repudiation of the ethnic diversity that exists in the Canadian
province.
Rather than celebrating
its pluralism, Quebec’s government unjustly singled out Catholics who wear
crosses, Jews who wear head coverings, Muslims who wear head scarves and Sikhs
who wear turbans, subjecting them to ostracism and racism.
While working to safeguard
the separation of religion and state is a lofty goal, using that laudable tenet
to needlessly and shamelessly trample on multiculturalism and suppress civil
liberties is an indefensible assault on religious tolerance.
At a time when xenophobia
and religious-based hate crimes are on the rise, adding fuel to the fire by
means of bigotry masquerading as legislation is wholly imprudent and improper.
N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
