No one should be surprised.
Quebec City’s decision to remove the crucifix from its council chamber is not an isolated bureaucratic choice. It is the latest chapter in a long, deliberate effort to purge Christianity from public life while dressing that effort up in the language of “neutrality,” “inclusion” and “secularism.”
According to the CBC, “the crucifix hanging in Quebec City’s council chamber is set to be removed in accordance with the principle of separation of church and state.” The stated justification is familiar, predictable and revealing.
What, exactly, threatens secularism more than Jesus Christ, who declared Himself “the way, the truth and the life”?
Secularism That Targets One Faith
The resolution, which city council members are expected to approve, asks that the crucifix be removed and “preserved in the city’s collection of ethno-historical objects.” In other words, Christianity is acceptable as a museum artifact, but not as a visible moral or spiritual presence.
The CBC reports that Quebec City’s advisory commission for an inclusive city concluded “the presence of the crucifix no longer appropriate and that the council chamber must promote religious neutrality as a democratic and inclusive space.”
That word — neutrality — is doing a lot of work.
Because in practice, neutrality rarely means removing all belief systems from public life. It means removing Christian symbols while secular ideology fills the vacuum without challenge.
History Isn’t the Issue. Christ Is.
The commission traced the crucifix’s history, noting that “the first crucifix was hung in the council chamber in 1936,” removed in the 1970s, then reinstalled years later. The current crucifix was sculpted by artist Jacques Bourgault.
Former mayor Régis Labeaume recognized the deeper implications when the issue surfaced in 2019. At the time, he argued the crucifix was “a heritage object and was against the idea of erasing all religious symbols in the name of secularism.”
That position no longer holds sway.
Mayor Bruno Marchand has since “rallied behind the position of the committee,” aligning the city with a broader provincial push to reinforce laicity, or state-enforced secularism.
But this is not really about heritage. And it is not truly about law.
It is about discomfort with Christianity itself.
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Why Is It Always Christianity?
Governments across the Western world have quietly removed the word “Christmas” from calendars and public celebrations, replacing it with vague references to “holidays” or “winter festivities.” Yet Christian observances are the only ones consistently muted or reframed for the sake of “diversity and inclusion.”
Other religious expressions are accommodated, explained or even celebrated. Christianity is treated as dangerous, outdated or divisive.
Ask why.
The Bible answers plainly: “The world hates Me,” Jesus said. And if it hates Him, it will hate those who bear His name.
The CBC article notes that this vote comes as Quebec’s government has tabled Bill 9, “An Act respecting the reinforcement of laicity in Quebec,” which builds on previous secularism laws.
The direction is clear. The pressure will increase.
A Pattern, Not an Accident
In 2019, Quebec removed the crucifix that had hung for decades above the Speaker’s chair in the National Assembly’s Blue Room. Now, municipal chambers are following suit.
Each removal is justified as reasonable. Each is framed as administrative. Each is defended as inclusive.
But together, they form a pattern: Christianity must retreat from public view.
Jesus Christ does not fit neatly into a secular framework because He does not claim to be one option among many. He claims authority. Truth. Lordship.
That is what provokes resistance.
Expect More of This — And Worse
None of this should shock Christians.
Scripture is explicit that hostility toward Christ will intensify, not diminish, as history moves forward. The pressure to privatize faith, sanitize language and remove visible reminders of God from public life will only grow stronger.
Quebec’s crucifix is not just being taken down from a wall. It is being treated as something that must be contained, explained away and ultimately sidelined.
But history has shown that removing symbols does not erase truth.
And no resolution, vote or law can do what governments have been trying to do for centuries: silence the name that still divides the world.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
