OTTAWA - The Supreme Court has rejected the arguments of a Quebec couple who wanted to have their children exempted from having to take an ethics and religion course at school.

The court unanimously ruled on Friday that the course does not violate freedom of religion.

The case centred on a couple from Drummondville who wanted to have their children exempted from the course, which the Quebec government introduced in 2008.

They claimed the class violated their freedom of religion by forcing their children to be exposed to religious beliefs that were different from the family's.

But Canada's highest court said otherwise.

"The early exposure of children to realities that differ from those in their immediate family environment is a fact of life in society,'' the ruling reads.

"The suggestion that exposing children to a variety of religious facts in itself infringes their religious freedom or that of their parents amounts to a rejection of the multicultural reality of Canadian society and ignores the Quebec government's obligations with regard to public education.''

The Supreme Court ruled that the parents did not prove their rights were infringed or that the school board's refusal to exempt their children violated their constitutional rights.

One expert agreed with the decision.

"The way you teach it is there is a variety of beliefs and everyone has a right to their beliefs and we have to respect these beliefs and that's the way the world is," said McGill University Professor Spencer Boudreau, who trains teachers for the Ethics and Religion class. "But it's a world which parents feel they should be able to control, not the government."

Quebec introduced the ethics and religious culture curriculum to replace the former Protestant and Catholic religious courses for all students except those in Grade 9.

The government billed the course as a way of fostering harmonious relations among students by introducing them to religious practices and traditions from around the world as well as from Quebec.

The couple's case went to the Supreme Court after the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected the parents' arguments.

They are expected to meet with reporters in Montreal later Friday.