News round-up

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Stories about Christmas:

Jewish family pulls boy from school
A Shawnigan Lake mother has pulled her five-year-old boy from his kindergarten class at Ecole Mill Bay because she says Christmas has gone beyond the annual concert and is saturating his lessons. Mary Anne Watson's family is Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas. She wants the Cowichan Valley school district to give the Jewish faith equal treatment at the French-immersion elementary school. Her request was refused.
Victoria Times-Colonist, December 13

Bethlehem star may have been supernova
Arabic knowledge of astronomy may have guided magi
Calgary Herald, December 15

Choir drops 'Christmas' from carol
One of the more popular Christmas songs is getting a slight retooling by an Ottawa elementary school choir so as not to offend any students. The teachers leading the Elmdale Public School choir -- made up of Grade 2 and 3 students -- have dropped the word Christmas from Silver Bells and replaced it with the word "festive."
CanWest News Service, December 19

Tourists see writing on Bethlehem's walls
A dove wearing a bulletproof vest is hardly a traditional Christmas image, but when the mysterious artist showed Maha Saca a sketch he wanted to do, she let him paint it on the wall outside her small museum and handicrafts store.
Globe and Mail, December 21

Stories about the Vancouver Sun's poll on morality:

Which way does your moral compass point?
What do you believe is right and wrong? Many Canadians don't even think they have ethical convictions, that they are constantly making choices about what is good and bad -- let alone that they might have a certain moral style. But if you scratch the ethical surface of most Canadians, as The Vancouver Sun has done with an exclusive Angus Reid poll conducted by Andrew Grenville and Mario Canseco, you'll find Canadians fit into one of five moral categories, or types. The precious few moral questions that nearly all Canadians agree on is that contraception is fine and pedophilia is bad. Beyond that, the moral compasses of Canadians dart all over the map.
Vancouver Sun, December 15

We're not so laid-back in Lotusland anymore
Almost one in four British Columbians are Strict Moralists compared with 12 per cent across the rest of Canada, according to an exclusive Angus Reid poll
Vancouver Sun, December 15

Conflicting political vision, values
The most striking political trend to be discerned from the Angus Reid morality poll relates to the Conservative party
Vancouver Sun, December 15

The Ten Commandments guide evangelicals through an increasingly liberal world
Bill Chu is an evangelical Christian who follows the Ten Commandments. That's why he ended up falling into the category of Strict Moralist when he filled in The Vancouver Sun's questionnaire on his ethical beliefs.
Vancouver Sun, December 15

An accepting middle-of-the-road Canadian doesn't see gay marriage as an aberration
"I am the cliche of what it means to be a Canadian," says Elizabeth McKenzie. And The Vancouver Sun's morality quiz shows the east Vancouver artist and mother is right. McKenzie, 52, is an Accepting MOR (Middle of the Road), the type that Angus Reid pollster Andrew Grenville says embodies the typical Canadian
Vancouver Sun, December 15

Canada's changing moral landscape
Are new immigrants to the country changing the face of what's considered right and wrong?
Vancouver Sun, December 15

Stories about court rulings with implications for practising Jews:

Family fights hospital over father's care
A Winnipeg family is going to court today to try to force a local hospital to keep their ailing father on life support, saying the hospital's decision to withdraw such care violates their orthodox Jewish faith. Orthodox Jews believe it is essential to do whatever possible to extend life, and "sacrilegious" in any way to hasten death, the children of Samuel Golubchuk say in court documents.
National Post, December 11

Supreme Court orders divorce settlement
In a landmark ruling that could have wide-ranging consequences, the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday ordered a Montreal man to pay his former wife $47,500 for going back on his word and refusing for 15 years to grant her a Jewish religious divorce. In a 7-2 ruling, the court found that the civil divorce agreement Jessel Marcovitz signed, agreeing to grant Stephanie Bruker a get, was a valid contract and takes precedence over his claims of freedom of religion. While it advocated a case-by-case approach when dealing with questions that pit church against state, the court rejected the argument that it had no jurisdiction in the matter because it involved a religious obligation.
CanWest News Service, December 14
Also: Montreal Gazette | Vancouver Sun

Top court backs wife in bitter religious divorce
The Supreme Court of Canada made a rare foray into the religious forum yesterday, coming to the aid of a 48-year-old Jewish woman whose estranged husband had stubbornly refused for 15 years to grant her a religious release from their marriage. A 7-2 court majority said that judges must tread warily when they adjudicate religious matters, but that it would be wrong to shy away when a bedrock Canadian principle -- such as gender equality -- is jeopardized.
Globe and Mail, December 14

Keeping Jewish wives in lonely limbo
Karl Marx got many things wrong, but not this: "Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex." My Hebraic ancestors, following the customs of the regions they lived in, practiced polygamy and concubinage, but before long the principle of one man, one wife emerged, with rights and responsibilities assigned to each party. The Talmud's halacha -- the "fence around the law" -- parsed the often cryptic utterances of the Torah to extrapolate a litany of customs designed to promote sexual purity before -- and sexual dignity within -- marriage.
Barbara Kay, National Post, December 19

Privileging equality rights over religious freedom
The master of one-liners, Henny Youngman, once quipped, "Why do Jewish divorces cost so much? They're worth it." Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada cranked out a watershed legal judgment demonstrating that a refusal to grant a Jewish divorce also can prove costly.
Daniel Cere, National Post, December 19

Stories about Conrad Black:

Charities face ethical bind over Black's donations
At the apex of his influence almost a decade ago, Conrad Black gave away millions of dollars to charity. Some donations were made in the name of his company, Hollinger International; some of them in his own name. . . . In 1999, Lord Black donated $1-million to Toronto's University of St. Michael's College to establish a namesake chair in Christianity and Culture. Eight years later, the chair has not been filled, leading to speculation that his legal status is holding up the process.
National Post, December 11

Black faced his trial as an honest man
Since the outset of what Lord Black refers to as "this cataract of horrors," I have believed that the American prosecutors were criminalizing what was essentially a management dispute. After following the trial closely, I was confirmed in that judgment. Now Lord Black has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail. It is a sign of how excessive the baying for Black's blood had become that the sentence is considered to be a good result for him.
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, December 11

Earlier: Black's brush with Wheaton

Stories about the Sikh sanctuary claimant:

Border agents seek refugee at wrong temple
Representatives of the Canadian Border Services Agency yesterday visited the Sikh temple in Abbotsford where a paraplegic refugee claimant took sanctuary in June, says one of his supporters, but were informed Laibar Singh was no longer staying there.
Globe and Mail, December 14

Protesters fail to support disabled refugee claimant
Just last week, supporters of a paralysed refugee claimant vowed to care for him forever, as they prevented his deportation at Vancouver International Airport. But on the weekend, Laibar Singh was moved for a third time in six days after those same supporters decided they couldn't care for the severely disabled man any more. Singh is now at Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh temple, its president Balwant Singh Gill confirmed Sunday. Gill said the New Westminster temple where Singh had been taken last Monday didn't want him there any more.
Vancouver Sun, December 17

Stories about Islam and the West:

Alberta Soccer Association ban on hijabs kicks Edmonton team to sideline
A temporary ban on hijabs by the Alberta Soccer Association has sidelined an Edmonton Muslim female soccer team until a final decision is made on players wearing head scarves on the field. Thirteen of the 18 women, aged 16 to 25, who play for the Al-Ikhwat team wear a hijab, a head scarf worn by some Muslim women in keeping with the Qur'anic directive that they dress modestly.
CanWest News Service, December 8

Father of slain teen shows no emotion
Mother called 'inconsolable' at daughter's death; her husband is accused and a son is also behind bars
Toronto Star, December 13

Culture not behind girl's death: brother
While a devout Muslim family struggled yesterday to make sense of an incident that left a daughter dead and a father and son under arrest, one relative denied that the teenager's death resulted from a clash between Western and Islamic cultures.
National Post, December 13

Death of Aqsa Parvez had nothing to do with Islam, Muslim leaders say
Islamic leaders rose to the defence of their religion Thursday as the Muslim community continued to grieve the death of a 16-year-old girl -- and deny suggestions that her slaying should in any way be interpreted as a reflection on their faith.
Canadian Press, December 13

A teenage Muslim girl: Why was she killed?
It's all about violence against women
Sheema Khan, Globe and Mail, December 13

Lack of hijab a 'failure' to some
Muslim leaders yesterday denounced as un-Islamic the murder of a Toronto-area teenager who had clashed with her family, but said some parents would view themselves as having failed in their duty if their child chose not to wear the hijab.
National Post, December 14

Teen's slaying sparks 'honour killing' debate
Slain schoolgirl Aqsa Parvez will be buried tomorrow after a funeral service expected to draw more than 1,000 family members, friends and others touched by her death.
Toronto Star, December 14

Continue article >>

Waqas Parvez, 26, charged with obstructing police, released on bail
The older brother of a slain 16-year-old who reportedly clashed with her family for refusing to wear traditional Muslim garb was freed on bail Friday on the eve of his sister's funeral.
Canadian Press, December 14

Calgary imam says Islam, family violence don't mix; goes on hunger strike
An imam from Alberta was planning to go on a weekend hunger strike to bring attention to domestic violence and how it is completely against the teachings of Islam. Any violence involving families is "absolutely un-Islamic," Syed Soharwardy of the Calgary Islamic Centre said Friday.
Canadian Press, December 14

Sanctity of human life at heart of Islam
The media may have unthinkingly described Muhammad Parvez as a "devoted Muslim" in the same sentence as they reported him to be the alleged murderer of his daughter Aqsa. But in doing so they have created an oxymoron -- a clash of two mutually exclusive entities that cannot coexist in religion, any religion, including Islam.
Zijad Delic, Vancouver Sun, December 14

A malignant vestige of 'tradition'
The tragic death of Aqsa Parvez has been on my mind incessantly since I heard the news that the Mississauga, Ont., teenager had been killed -- allegedly by her traditionally minded Muslim father. As a professor of Islamic law, I teach my students about its history, doctrines and modes of analysis. We shift back and forth from common law reasoning to Islamic doctrines. We analyze the differences between the values of the Islamic system and our own value commitments. But then an extreme episode such as the death of Ms. Parvez arises, and we move beyond the academic exercises of the classroom to pangs of outrage and heartbreak.
Anver M. Emom, National Post, December 14

Aqsa's last days
Father, teenager had tried to reconcile, friends say
National Post, December 15

Culture, faith at crossroads of debate
The death of Aqsa Parvez has prompted considerable soul-searching and much polarized debate about multiculturalism, how to balance religious rights vs. gender rights, intergenerational dissent and a culture clash. The Post asked two people involved in these issues to discuss the controversy in an e-mail exchange. Anver M. Emon is an assistant professor at U of T's Faculty of Law, who teaches on gender and Islamic law. Amita Handa holds a PhD in sociology and is author of Of Silk Saris and Mini Skirts: South Asian Women Walk the Tightrope of Culture. We asked them how to make sense of this and what sorts of things we should be considering.
National Post, December 15

Why I wear a hijab ... and I don't
One Muslim teen wears the headscarf known as the hijab, the other doesn't. The girls tell the Star what everyone wants to know. Why? And why not?
Toronto Star, December 15

Hundreds expected at funeral of slain girl
Vigil for Aqsa Parvez in Mississauga today
Toronto Star, December 15

Teen's funeral moved at last minute
Mourners who sought to pay their respects to a slain teen who had reportedly clashed with her family over traditional Islamic dress were shocked to find the girl's family changed funeral plans at the last minute. On Saturday afternoon, dozens of emotional mourners arrived at the Islamic Centre mosque in Mississauga, Ont., for the funeral, only to discover that 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez had been buried earlier in the day at a private location.
Canadian Press, December 15

Hijab
I know something of this conflict through a 19-year-old university student. Her family came from Lahore, Pakistan. Her father and three brothers have been "on her case" for many years now: more or less since she was nine; for from the moment they landed in Canada, she took to her new environment like fish to water. She has a sympathetic mother and younger brother in no position to stand up for her, at home. And like Aqsa Pervez (from what we have read), she has been in the habit of leaving home in hijab each morning, then changing on the way to class. She also works evenings -- I know her from a common interest in art -- less, I think, for the money, than for the excuse of staying "in town."
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, December 15

Keeping the faith for the sake of all our Aqsa Parvezes
Piety is the worst sin of all.
Rosie DiManno, Toronto Star, December 15

The arguments may be drivel but that's no reason to censor them
In one sense, this is a depressingly familiar battle over free speech. But it's also unique, and uniquely depressing, because the core of Steyn's argument is that Muslim immigrants are a threat to the West because they are not embracing core western values. One of those core values is freedom of thought and expression. So how does the CIC respond? By insisting Steyn should be punished for writing that.
Dan Gardner, Ottawa Citizen, December 15

Friends 'cheated' out of teen's funeral
Close pals turn up at Islamic centre to find 'private' ceremony moved to secret location
Toronto Star, December 16

Hurtin'
These days in Canada, if you're feeling down and blue, and you think somebody hates you, you bring your case to a Human Rights Tribunal. And the people you think hate you get that knock on the door, celebrated in the literature of the Soviet Gulag, and wherever else ideology triumphed over humanity in the 20th century's painful course. . . . I mentioned last week the case Mohamed Elmasry and the Canadian Islamic Congress have brought against Maclean's magazine for publishing Mark Steyn -- simultaneously before multiple human rights commissions, a tactic that is itself an egregious abuse of process. It is a case that should clang alarm bells right across Canada. Yet we've heard only a few modest tinkles.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, December 16

Censorship In The Name Of 'Human Rights'
The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) is taking Maclean's magazine to a human rights commission. Its crime? Refusing the CIC's absurd demand that Maclean's print a five-page letter to the editor in response to an article the CIC didn't like. It may shock those who do not follow human rights law in Canada, but Maclean's will probably lose.
Ezra Levant, National Post, December 18

The true enemy: human tribalism
The clash of civilizations we're living through is widely seen as a battle between Islam and Christendom. I'm convinced it's more basic than that. The reason Iraq and Afghanistan remain unsettled battlefields isn't that our two civilizations can't agree on the nature of God. It's because we can't agree on the nature of man.
Jonathan Kay, National Post, December 18

Alberta Soccer Association to allow sports version of hijab in women's soccer
The Alberta Soccer Association has lifted its temporary ban on Muslim head scarves that prevented some girls from playing the sport. The ban was imposed earlier this month after a referee barred a 14-year-old girl from wearing the traditional scarf, or hijab, during a game in Calgary.
Canadian Press, December 18

Alberta soccer group rules to allow girls to wear head scarves
Muslim girls in Alberta will be allowed to wear hijabs while playing soccer, ending the latest battle over religious clothing in sports. Controversy erupted last month after 14-year-old Safaa Menhem, pictured, was not allowed to finish a game with her under-16 team in Calgary because a referee said her hijab was unsafe.
CanWest News Service, December 19

Split among mullahs weakens Pakistan's religious parties
Despite one party's boycott, voter disillusionment and stronger opponents, Taliban-linked cleric could still emerge as PM
Globe and Mail, December 20

Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West

Other stories from the past week:

Spiritual ruse meant to fool murder suspect
An undercover policeman, wearing sweeping black robes and speaking the lush patois of the Caribbean, pretended to be a shaman empowered with black magic as he worked to gain the trust of a young man suspected in a fatal shooting, a jury heard yesterday.
National Post, December 11

Historic streetcar depot restoration a business boon for Army
A bit of restored heritage in downtown New Westminster has improved business for the Salvation Army. "With the store looking better, we have had a change in demographics," said regional executive director Roy Bennett.
Vancouver Sun, December 13

Tory vows to stay on
Embattled Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory dug in his heels yesterday and vowed to hang on to his job as card-carrying party members who are agitating for a leadership review complained that their plans are being intentionally thwarted. . . . Party sources say there is still a lot of anger directed at Mr. Tory over the election loss, particularly the much-maligned religious-schools proposal, which dominated the fall campaign.
Canadian Press, December 14
Earlier: Stories about the Ontario election and non-Catholic faith-based schools

We honour Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Why not Jesus?
Of course, had Campbell made the fictitious "Jesus Christ" announcement, we could have expected to see a crack CBC investigative team descend on the premier's office, and scandalized critics from coast to coast raising a hue and cry over Campbell's trampling of the principle of separation of church and state. But honour the peace-loving, charitable founder of Sikhism and opinion leaders in the best newsrooms apparently think it's no more interesting than Campbell's kissing a baby or cutting a ribbon. Funny thing, then: The issue of church-state separation seems to arise only when the "church" involved is a Christian one.
Terry O'Neill, National Post, December 14

Rejected Tory candidate to run as Independent
A Calgary man who was rejected as a candidate by the Alberta Progressive Conservatives says he'll run against them as an Independent. Craig Chandler was rejected as a Tory candidate after two human-rights rulings against a Christian group he heads over an anti-gay letter.
Canadian Press, December 18
Earlier: Stories about Stephen Boissoin and the "anti-gay" letter

Board widens ban on fantasy novels
The Halton Catholic school board has rejected the recommendation of its book committee and banned the children's fantasy novel The Golden Compass, as well as the subsequent books in the trilogy, which were not officially under review.
Toronto Star, December 20
Earlier: Stories about The Golden Compass

Impose a carbon tax, churches urge minister
Saving planet a sacred duty, Anglican and United officials say
Vancouver Sun, December 20

A win for science -- and human dignity
As we move into the retrospective season on 2007, there will be lists aplenty about the major stories of the past year. Herewith let me nominate my candidate, a good news story that may well reconfigure major issues on the public agenda for years to come. It's a health story, a science story, a morality story and a human dignity story: the stem cell breakthrough reported last month in research papers by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka and Dr. James Thomson.
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, December 20

December 21/2007

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