It is with shock and dismay that we learned on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 of the decision taken by the senior management of the University of Sherbrooke to close all its study programs in religious sciences (certificates, master’s, doctorate), as of now, by prohibiting any new registrations.
Shock and dismay since the news of yesterday and today continues to remind us, often in a tragic way, how essential the study of religion is to our societies. Without the sciences of religion, it is not possible to adequately understand the “holy war” raging today in Israel and Palestine. Without them, it is not possible to intimately understand the imperial ambitions of the Russian “Third Rome”. Without them, it is not possible to fully understand the “Christian nationalism”, or even the “manifest destiny”, of the United States of America.
Without them, it is not possible to understand the “anticlerical anger” that inhabits many Quebecers concerned about the place of religion in society, and more broadly the cultural unthinking in the daily life of Quebecers with a Catholic culture. Without them, it is not possible to welcome with intelligence and sensitivity many families and immigrant populations in Quebec.
Without them, it is not possible to train these young women and young men who will spiritually accompany the sick and dying in our hospitals and health centers, and who have done so with rare dedication during the COVID pandemic. 19. Without them, it is not possible to fully account for the needs, issues and transformations of the relationship to Beauty, Good and Truth which resides in the heart of every human being.
Without them, we deprive ourselves of knowledge about these centuries-old treasures of human experience and inventiveness, which distinguish the long march of humanity.
Shock and dismay since, until yesterday, the University of Sherbrooke could pride itself on cutting-edge knowledge on these existential questions, for which there will never be too many researchers, teachers and keen students. and passionate. From 1968, Mgr Lucien Vachon did pioneering work in Quebec by introducing the human sciences of religion to the Faculty of Theology of the University of Sherbrooke, thanks to important collaborations with researchers from the sociology of religions group of the National Center for Scientific Research of France, drawing on the knowledge and support of internationally renowned sociologists Henri Desroche, Jean Séguy, Jean-Pierre Deconchy, Jacques Maître and Roger Bastide.
Since then, the study of religion at the University of Sherbrooke has not deviated from its trajectory geared towards excellence, the relevance of which was renewed in 2015, when the Center for Contemporary Religious Studies (CERC) took over relays the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. Its professors and students are the pride of the Quebec field of religious studies: their annual conferences are known and attended by researchers from here and elsewhere; their research is followed by an imposing number of researchers, attracts students from all corners of the globe, contributes to the training of a remarkable and diverse number of graduates; their publications attract the respect and esteem of their colleagues who are happy to add their pen to theirs. These researchers, young and old, are a center of intelligence in the heart of Sherbrooke, Estrie and Quebec.
Shock and dismay, since this closure of the religious sciences programs at the University of Sherbrooke was done untimely, without collegiality or clear or convincing explanations. His teachers were yesterday faced with a fait accompli, without any warning sign or simple consultation. A decision made in haste, without in-depth evaluations of the programs, nor analysis of the impact, nor consultation with the Sherbrooke population.
To our knowledge, the CERC was a viable, functional and efficient structure. There is even every reason to believe that he accomplished a feat by asking his teachers to wear more than one disciplinary hat without dispersing themselves. Rather than being congratulated, they are now thanked and their efforts disappointed, not to mention the demotivation experienced by mid-term students who remain enrolled there.
We bet that the Union of Professors of the University of Sherbrooke will want to look into this decision which more broadly affects our conception of the university. A university which, as the Union of Professors of Laval University successfully reminded us during last year’s historic strike, with the support of the Quebec Federation of University Professors, does not can carry out its mission other than in the fullness of its specialized knowledge – a “complete university”, understood as a place of synthesis, creation, criticism and transmission of human knowledge.
We, the co-signatories, invite the senior management of the University of Sherbrooke to abandon its rearguard projects, and to reconnect with the avant-garde vision that characterizes its long and rich tradition.