Quebec’s provincial government plans to bring in legislation banning prayer in public places. This has been decried by civil libertarians and church leaders as overreach.

Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepine opined in Montreal’s La Presse on Aug. 25 that such a ban was impractical and would jeopardize Catholic traditions, such as Good Friday and Palm Sunday processions.

“Banning public prayer would compromise their very existence,” he said. Hardly. Surely, in a society that’s ever more secular, the church should stop shutting down streets for archaic traditions and move the processions to church property.

Civil rights advocates say this legislation is aimed at pro-Hamas demonstrators, who have taken to praying in front of Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica in support of Gaza. Groups regular

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