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Human rights make for strange bedfellows
In their human-rights complaints against Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, Muslim groups claimed that the articles the authors had written and published incited "Islamophobia." Yet these same complainants had done worse. One had claimed previously that Israel treats Palestinians worse than Jews in the Holocaust. Another claimed that all Israelis (read: Jewish Israelis) over the age of 18 are legitimate targets for terrorist groups. If that kind of discourse doesn't expose Jews to hate and contempt, I'm not sure what does exactly. In fact, Levant himself has been subject to a disgusting anti-Semitic internet hate campaign launched by certain elements (we'll call them "youths," in keeping with the euphemism used to describe those who burn cars in France) within Alberta's Muslim community. Yet in such instances, the legal advisors of the CJC and Bnai B'rith both have little to say. It's easier to go after some ignorant neo-Nazi with a bad haircut than trample on the sensibilities of media-savvy Muslim radicals.
Michael Ross, National Post, March 17
Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West
Other stories from the past week:
Seeking the 'blueprint of God's thinking'
The world's richest annual prize has been won by a Polish physicist and Catholic priest whose research on the origins of the universe and the tension between religion and science was conducted for decades under intense Soviet-era repression. Michal Heller will be awarded the $1.7-million Templeton Prize by Prince Philip at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in May, the foundation that has been handing out the award since 1973 announced yesterday.
Ottawa Citizen, March 13
Also: Vancouver Sun
Monks' protests elicit crackdown
Chinese soldiers surround Tibetan monasteries after wave of demonstrations
Globe and Mail, March 13
Vancouver's soaring spirit
The West is more than a mere geographical designation. It is not merely a place, but an attitude. It was to the West that the explorers came, followed by the fur traders and pioneers, and the gold rush, and railwaymen, and homesteaders and eventually the loggers and miners and oilmen. A place where new things were possible, and the vastness of the land was an invitation to do great things.
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, March 13
St. Patrick's Day on March 15? For the religious only
The patron saint of Ireland will be feted on a host of different days this year. Although St. Patrick's Day traditionally falls on March 17, that date conflicts with the beginning of the Roman Catholic Holy Week, which is the seven days leading up to Easter and the most sacred time of the church's year. Recognizing that, Ireland's bishops asked the Vatican for permission to move the saint's feast day to March 15 this year. But in Canada, the secular festivities that have sprung up around the saint's day to celebrate Irish culture are continuing largely unabated on the usual date.
Globe and Mail, March 14
Calgary minister files complaint with human rights board over outdoor preaching
After weekly protests outside a Calgary municipal building and an ongoing court case proved unsuccessful, a street minister says he has filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. Art Pawlowski, pictured, is trying to win the right to preach in a Calgary park using loudspeakers.
CanWest News Service, March 15
Cross procession marks Christ's suffering and death
Good Friday event usually attracts 1,000-plus walkers
Calgary Herald, March 15
Bank robber who lost family to arson gets house arrest
A young man who lost his family in an arson fire and then robbed two Vancouver banks in a "desperate act" to provide for his pregnant fiance was given a 20-month conditional sentence Friday. Bolingo Etibako, 18, thanked Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Joe Galati for the conditional sentence, saying he was "truly sorry for this stupid decision I made" and promised not to disappoint him.
Vancouver Sun, March 15
Earlier: Stories about Bolingo Etibako, arson survivor
Private school director quits over explicit poetry
David Prashker, director of the Leo Baeck Jewish Day School, resigned yesterday after an outcry from parents over sexual and at times violent poetry displayed on his personal website.
Toronto Star, March 15
Thousands expected to celebrate guru's birth
Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Burnaby today for the first Nagar Kirtan parade to celebrate the birth of a sacred Indian guru. Like similar religious parades in Vancouver and Surrey, the Burnaby event is organized by local Indo-Canadians, but expected to draw crowds of people from all cultures, communities and religions. The parade, to mark the 631st birthday of Guru Ravidass, is being hosted by the Burnaby temple named after him -- Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha -- at 7271 Gilley Ave.
Vancouver Sun, March 15
Through adult eyes
'I couldn't have been less interested in anything Menno when I was a kid," Gayle Friesen confides as we compare notes on our experiences of growing up Mennonite. "I was interested in Anne of Green Gables and Gilbert Blythe, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Jane Eyre and... Hmm, I'm seeing a theme here. I was interested in romance. But 'romance' and 'Mennonite' didn't fit well in the same sentence." True enough. Actually, if you go back a little further, fiction and Mennonites didn't mix, either. Fervently religious Mennonite elders once banned fiction -- both reading it and writing it. Simply put, they perceived it to be lies.
Joe Wiebe, Vancouver Sun, March 15
Jesus 'uncovered' again in yet another book
Weyler, who was raised in the Catholic church but no longer professes loyalty to it, is a good candidate to take another stab at the man from Galilee. Like all capable journalists, Weyler is a quick study. The critically acclaimed author is also a supreme storyteller who writes with warmth, insight and integrity. In The Jesus Sayings: The Quest for his Authentic Message (Anansi), his goal is to rescue Jesus from "warmongers" and power seekers who claim to speak for Jesus.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, March 15
Protest over native school victims disrupts worship
A small but determined group of protesters interrupted Palm Sunday services at St. Michael's Cathedral yesterday to demand national religious institutions disclose the burial sites of children who died at Indian residential schools.
Toronto Star, March 17
'God bless you,' killer told
Young woman forgives brother's unknown gunman, lamenting how shootings are the norm
Toronto Star, March 17
Pedophile, jailed five years for third offence, met boy through church
An elderly former official with the Saskatchewan government was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old refugee he met through his church. Harold Lorne Jones, 80, pleaded guilty last week, admitting he engaged in sexual activity with the boy four or five times in 2006.
CanWest News Service, March 18
Religious music for our time
It's unusual, these days in the West, to hear Christian music sung as it was intended to be sung. It's as if conductors and performers are seriously afraid we might think they're religious. For example, in a recent performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion the general continuity and dramatic pacing were outstanding. But the chorales - those great hymns of the Lutheran church that are central to the work - were skated over briskly, as though saving time was more important than inhabiting it. The chorales failed through a seeming determination not to address their poignancy, and, more especially, their meaning. Imagine my surprise, then, at the Soundstreams Canada Sunday concert at Toronto's St. Anne's Church, to encounter quite a different approach to three holy works: one by Bach, one by the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina and a new one by the Canadian Paul Frehner. Ivars Taurins directed all three, daring to present them as holy music in all their numinous mystery.
Ken Winters, Globe and Mail, March 18
Two ex-B.C. high school stars lead U.S. university into nation's top tourney
Five years ago, Morrison's Argyle Secondary Pipers were battling Mara's White Rock Christian Warriors for provincial dominance. On Thursday, they'll lead Portland State University Vikings against the Kansas Jayhawks, the top seed in the Midwest bracket, in the first round of the tournament.
Vancouver Sun, March 19
Welcome to the Church of Romantic Love
Ahhhh. Spring is in the air. And so is romantic love. What could be better? Well, there's always the chance romance could be turning into a 21st-century religion. Have the beautiful-bodied purveyors of love in pop music and the movies, such as Christina Aguilera (right), become our new preachers, selling an enticing illusion? In the entertainment world, everyone's desperately looking for their mystical "baby." It's hard not to like romance, speaking as a single father. But here's the lead to a recent spring-inspired column that takes a different approach. Let me know what you think.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, March 19
March 20/2008
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