Quebec bans use of classrooms as prayer spaces

The Minister of Education officially prohibited schools from transforming classrooms into prayer rooms Wednesday, as announced two weeks ago. "Schools are places of learning, not places of worship," said Education Minister Bernard Drainville. The guidelines put out by the ministry say that "the development of places used for the purposes of religious practices" is "incompatible with the principle of the religious neutrality of the state" and "that it is likely to have an impact on the proper functioning of schools." The minister also says that using classrooms to pray goes...