Prayer at Council: the debate rages on in Trois-Rivieres

This is a translation of an article from Radio Ville-Marie:


Prayer at Council: the debate rages on in Trois-Rivieres

The debate about Prayer at Trois-Rivieres City Hall continues. In a letter to the editor, Ghislain Parent, professor at the department of educational science at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, is calling for an end to prayer at the beginning of meetings at City Council. He goes further by saying that all the cities in Quebec should respect the ordinance of the Human Rights Tribunal that required the City of Laval to stop practicing prayer. In an interview in Le Nouvelliste [Trois-Rivieres newspaper], he declared that it would be desirable that there be a period of reflection at the beginning of each municipal meeting, where the people present could, in silence, address God, Allah or Jehovah, or to any other belief, according to their personal values" in the "respect for all".

In Trois-Rivieres, there are two forms of prayers. One refers to the Trinity, while another directly address the Lord. The advocated for the abolition of prayer say that it is necessary to separate religion from administrative, judicial and political power.