News round-up

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Stories about Easter and the state of Christianity:

Revolution in the Bible belt
As many Londoners pause for the holiest of Christian traditions today -- Good Friday -- The Free Press launches a series examining the staggering changes taking place in religion in Ontario's Bible belt. The changes are nothing short of a revolution.
London Free Press, March 21

The invisible church prays for a quiet Easter in the emirate of Qatar
Qatar's first Christian church has no cross, no bell and no steeple. And when thousands of worshippers gather at Our Lady of the Rosary to mark Easter, they pray no one will notice. "The idea is to be discreet because we don't want to inflame any sensitivities. There isn't even a signboard outside the church. No signs at all," said Rev. Tom Veneracion.
Globe and Mail, March 21

15,000 see Good Friday walk of passion
46th Good Friday procession in Little Italy draws thousands of Catholics to streets
Toronto Star, March 22

Taking Christ out of Christianity
That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today -- Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country. But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words "Jesus Christ" will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with "Glorious hope." Thus, it will be hope that is declared to be resurrected -- an expression of renewal of optimism and the human spirit -- but not Jesus, contrary to Christianity's central tenet about the return to life on Easter morning of the crucified divine son of God.
Globe and Mail, March 22

It's okay to confess again
At Roman Catholic churches this week, priests were busy giving confession to those who wanted to make a clean sweep of their souls before Easter. Some churches even brought in extra priests to handle the overflow of the annual rush during what is known as Holy Week. But for many parishioners, it was likely the only time of the year they would go to confess their sins one-on-one, if they went at all, as the habit of the regular trip to the confessional fades into the past.
National Post, March 22

In new-style confessional, sinner is face to face with priest
At St. Bonaventure Church in Toronto, the new-style confessional is a room with two chairs and a Bible on a small table. The wall is clear glass and a curtain is pulled for privacy. The old confessional was a wooden box divided in two with a grill in between in which someone would say, "Bless me father for I have sinned." They still say that, but more often than not they are looking the priest in the eye at a close distance.
National Post, March 22

'Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world'
Easter Sunday is the holiest day in the Christian calendar, representing the triumph of hope over despair, of life over death.
Ian Hunter, National Post, March 22

The great beyond: A dialogue on Heaven
Heaven is the mystery at the heart of Easter. For that matter, the vision of a perfect state of being, or an idyllic afterlife, beckons to most of the planet's inhabitants, regardless of religion. To mark Easter, when Christians recall the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I gathered together an evangelical, an atheist, an Anglican and a Buddhist to share their views on heaven and afterlife.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, March 22

Easter spirit of sacrifice rings true for Canadian faithful in Kandahar
It's a tiny, unassuming but immaculately maintained church, with thin plywood walls, a modest flower garden - and a gun rack where soldiers can check their rifles at the door. Perhaps nowhere else is the notion of faith more important than in a war zone such as Afghanistan, where life itself can be a fragile commodity and a day's work is often shrouded in violence and death.
Canadian Press, March 23

Easter Sunday
For a lark, before writing this Easter Sunday column, I typed the single word "Easter" into an Internet search box, and looked for "news results." Here, in order, were the top five stories, as of midway through Holy Week, MMVIII.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, March 23

Soldiers observe Easter in Afghanistan
Hundreds of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan observed Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar, yesterday morning after a week in which the country's ongoing conflict claimed one of their comrades.
CanWest News Service, March 24

Mission feast 'best meal I've had in a long time'
G.K. Cameron's motto is: When you're not sure when you'll eat again, you don't let good food go to waste. So, after enjoying a hearty Easter meal of roast beef with gravy, baby roasted potatoes, broccoli, cream of tomato soup and tropical Jell-O, washed down with fruit punch at the Scott Mission yesterday morning, Cameron shovelled what he couldn't eat, along with the leftovers of some others at his table, into a plastic container he had brought with him.
Toronto Star, March 24

Stories about Native issues and the Easter protest:

Native protesters disrupt Easter services in Vancouver
Two dozen native protesters rallied outside Easter services at Vancouver's Roman Catholic cathedral yesterday demanding to know where the bodies of children who died in residential schools are located. Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared served the church with an eviction notice in a similar protest on March 16. Now, the group says the church is a squatter because the deadline to vacate was last Wednesday. Spokesman Kevin Annett said yesterday's protest was designed to draw attention to the plight of children who were forced into both Catholic and Protestant residential schools.
Canadian Press, March 24

Archbishop issues stern rebuke on jailing of natives
Canada's Anglican primate has called the jailing of six Northern Ontario native community members a throwback to colonialism, a dangerous violation of the rights of native people and an act of the Ontario government putting itself above the law. Archbishop Fred Hiltz's unusually forceful language appears in a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty, in which the Anglican leader implies that members of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation are being punished solely for defending the sacred trust of their traditional lands. He also links the jailing of KI Chief Donny Morris, the deputy chief and four councillors to the abuses of the residential school system, and says it has caused a "serious impasse" between Canada's native peoples and the Ontario government.
Globe and Mail, March 25

Churches maintain their stonewall on school deaths
It's encouraging that our nation is beginning to face some of its terrible legacy of the Indian residential schools after decades of official denial. But it's equally discouraging that the churches responsible for much of this legacy still seem unwilling to accept responsibility for what they did and continue to do to those who suffered and died under their care.
Kevin Annett, Vancouver Sun, March 26

Earlier: Legacy of residential schools remembered

Stories about Chris Hedges and his book on the "new atheists":

The fundamentalist atheists
Hedges, in Toronto recently to promote his book, attacks both fundamentalists and the new breed of atheists as not only intolerant, but wrong about both the Jesus story and the nature of sin. Sin, he says, is a personal thing that will always be with us. Humans will never outgrow it through evolution, as the atheist authors contend, nor can anyone (Jesus included) relieve us of it, as fundamentalist Christians believe, Hedges says. The best we can do, he says, is try to mitigate evil by living a good life, and having democratic institutions in place to ensure that we can get rid of bad leaders from time to time.
Toronto Star, March 21

Author turns other cheek, takes on 'new atheists'
Chris Hedges has an exhausting list of things he is angry about. Sitting in a diner in downtown Toronto, while on two-day book tour in the city, he does not so much speak as attack his topics. He stares down at the tape recorder, ignoring his oatmeal, speaking at rapid speed with the urgency of someone who, if he takes a breath, might forget his point. And his point is very bleak. In his last book, American Fascists, the former New York Times reporter and war correspondent attacked the religious right, calling it "the most frightening mass movement in American history." His latest book, I Don't Believe in Atheists, finds a new target to revile: such popular atheistic writers as Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great), Sam Harris (The End of Faith), and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), whom he equates with the same religious fundamentalists they are fighting.
National Post, March 22

Stories about Vancouver City Hall, faith groups and social-work permits:

Mayor seeks church exemption
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan says he will bring a motion to council in April that will exempt churches from having to get permits to shelter and feed the homeless. In doing so, the mayor told an informal news conference Friday, he hopes to finally defuse a feud between the city's churches and City Hall that has been simmering for nearly two years, since complaints by neighbours prompted city staff to require the Tenth Avenue Alliance Church to seek a social-service use permit for a building that it uses to deliver services to the poor.
Vancouver Sun, March 22

Mayor to exempt faith groups from seeking permits
Will table motion waiving their soup kitchens, shelters from some regulations
Globe and Mail, March 22

Earlier: City's land use requirements may restrict ministry

Stories about the Anglican schism:

Dissident Anglicans retain church use
Parishioners at three Anglican churches, who voted to break away from the national church, will celebrate Easter in their buildings after an Ontario Superior Court judge held off yesterday on deciding who gets the keys to the properties. The Anglican Diocese of Niagara made a bid for temporary joint custody of St. George's Anglican Church in Lowville, St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Oakville, and the Church of Good Shepherd in St. Catharines until the courts decide who ultimately owns the properties. That decision, argued lawyer John Page, could take up to a decade to resolve in the courts.
Globe and Mail, March 20

Breakaway Anglicans to stay put for Easter
Three breakaway Anglican congregations will remain in their parishes for the holiest weekend of the Christian calendar after a judge reserved decision yesterday on who has ultimate legal claim to the buildings. After hearing legal arguments all day on the issue, Justice Jane Milanetti said she could not make a quick ruling on the case, and did not say when a decision would be made.
Toronto Star, March 21

Church property decision delayed
A decision on who has the right to use the property of three Anglican breakaway churches was put on hold on Thursday by a judge after hearing arguments that lasted all day.
Charles Lewis, National Post, March 22

Earlier: Stories about the Anglican schism over same-sex blessings

Stories about human rights commissions and similar justice issues:

Scrutinizing the human rights machine
Next Tuesday, at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in Ottawa, one of Canada's most prominent white supremacist propagandists, backed by the legal team that defended Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel, will put the country's entire human rights bureaucracy on the witness stand. After months of closed-door wrangling, a constitutional challenge, an appeal to federal court and a blizzard of legal motions, Marc Lemire can now interrogate, under oath, two investigators of the Canadian Human Rights Commission about why they posted provocative comments on his and other ultra-conservative Web sites. Much credibility hangs on their answers. The curious thing about the hearing, which will make it a crucial moment in the history of Canadian human rights law, is that Mr. Lemire, the last president of the now defunct neo-Nazi Heritage Front, enjoys the qualified support of a Liberal MP, PEN Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association -- even a leader of B'nai Brith Canada.
Joseph Brean, National Post, March 22

How to turn a neo-Nazi into a free-speech martyr
You'd think that human rights types would understand the power of empathy. A short while back, I attended a Toronto awards dinner for something called the Canadian Centre for Diversity. Out in the lobby, the organizers unfurled some of their latest public service announcements. In one, a black man intones: "I am a woman when I am confronting inequality." In another, a Chinese man says "I am a Jew when I am learning about the Holocaust." An able-bodied woman says "I am a person with special needs when I am realizing how inaccessible our world is." As Lemire goes up against the HRC, a similar set of aphorisms suggest themselves: "When the law bans obscenity, I am a pornographer. When a fatwa bans blasphemy, I am an infidel. And when a human rights commission prosecutes internet hatemongers for hate speech, I am a neo-Nazi scumbag." If Lemire and his ilk have a secret scheme to render neo-Nazis into sympathetic figures, they could conceive no better weapon than Section 13.1.
Jonathan Kay, National Post, March 25

Continue article >>

Jeers and loathing at tribunal
Critics in gallery challenge human rights bureaucracy
Joseph Brean, National Post, March 26

Justice a la carte
Encountering no significant public censure, on hot-button issues our courts routinely sacrifice individual rights to collectivist principles, favouring Quebec nationalism over individual non-francophones' rights, motherhood over individual fathers' rights and aboriginal culture over individual non-natives' rights. But amongst ideological dualists, for whom life is an unending struggle, with their valiant group's innocent vulnerability eternally pitted against the superior forces of an imperialist/patriarchalist/ colonialist oppressor, de facto privilege isn't enough; only de jure entrenchment will validate their group's moral superiority. Preparing the way: A rogue band of feminist law professionals and academics have formed the Women's Court of Canada (WCC). Their mission -- already in evidence in the current issue of Canadian Journal of Women and the Law-- is "to rewrite key Supreme Court of Canada decisions," and indeed "any judgment that could benefit from a gender-specific analysis."
Barbara Kay, National Post, March 26

Earlier: Stories about free speech versus human rights commissions

Stories about Islam and the West:

Curling jihad: It's so Canadian
Men, if while adhering to the dictates of an ancient creed, you find yourself housing four welfare wives, imported, one by one, from the wretched homeland, why have you not formed a curling team? Imagine the jostling for position: Who gets to be lead, second, vice, skip? Smock-ripping brawl to follow. And then, makeup sex -- you'll need a long weekend! No, you won't. None of you has a job. I bring up curling because I was watching the Brier finals and feeling a little put off by the whiteness of the spectators. It's whiter than the Senate at the Brier. It shouldn't be. Last year, a commercial for Little Mosque on the Prairie showed colourfully costumed Muslims curling, and this year -- I remember seeing the promo, and Wikipedia confirms it -- an episode called "Jihad on Ice" featured a Muslim curling team.
Kevin Baker, National Post, March 22

Testing religious freedom in the West
Most observers recognized that something had been lost as well as gained in the spiritual transition of Magdi Allam, deputy editor of Italy's top newspaper, the Corriere della Sera. The Egyptian-born, Salesian-educated Allam had long been recognized as one of Europe's top Muslim critics of Islamist terrorism. As recently as last year, the historian and controversialist Daniel Pipes had named him first among "civilized [Muslim] allies" of freedom residing in the West. As a Catholic, he can no longer be counted in that company, and whatever moral weight his words may have carried with Muslims before may now be lost.
Colby Cosh, National Post, March 24

Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West

Stories about the polygamous cult at Bountiful:

What a tangled web they wove
Daphne Bramham has been a columnist at The Sun since 2000, winning a National Newspaper Award in 2004. Since May of 2004 she has written more than 100 columns on the fundamentalist Mormons. She has been honoured by the non-profit group, Beyond Borders, for her continuing series on the fundamentalist Mormons. Her new book, The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect, comes out Tuesday.
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, March 22

The Taliban Among Us
In both Canada and the United States, radical polygamists live in open defiance of our laws, treating their young wives as property. In a new book, Daphne Bramham asks: How can our society permit this?
Daphne Bramham, National Post, March 22

Earlier: Stories about the polygamous cult at Bountiful

Stories about China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama:

Chinese ambassador calls Dalai Lama a liar
China's ambassador to Canada held an extraordinary news conference Wednesday where he likened Tibet's traditional governance to Nazi Germany and called the country's exiled spiritual leader a serial liar. "The Dalai Lama has been telling lies to the world for decades," Lu Shumin told a group of invited journalists at the Chinese Embassy.
Canadian Press, March 26

Stop ignoring China's brutality and start a modified boycott of the Beijing Games
Surely, there must be a certain incomprehension in Beijing these days. After all, the Chinese regime has been breaking heads since 1949, and the world has more or less gotten used to it. Why should it be different this time? The question for friends of Tibet, for friends of the Chinese people, for friends of liberty, should be: Can it be different this time?
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, March 26

Earlier: Dalai Lama brings message of reconciliation to Ottawa

Other stories from the past week:

Studying religiously
The Citizen's Pauline Tam, reporting this week on Carleton University's new Muslim studies program, noted how, "a decade ago, religion programs were on life support at most universities, where they were viewed by some as antiquated, perhaps even irrelevant." That's very true. The 1990s were thought to mark the end of ideology, political or religious. With the Soviet collapse, globalization was to be the new, secular religion. People around the world would unite around their shared faith in trade, development and economic progress.
Leonard Stern, Ottawa Citizen, March 1

The Jesus problem
The newest view of Christ -- activist, politician, not very Christian -- is hard to square with the Bible's. Now some believers even say the faith might be better off without him.
Brian Bethune, Maclean's, March 19

How secular can religion get?
The Catholic Church's seven new deadly sins hint at a not-so-divine future
Philippe Gohier, Maclean's, March 20

Performer created a new form of religious theatre
To state that Sara Lee Stadelman was a woman of parts is to state what should be obvious to everyone but sadly is not. Stadelman, who died March 9 at the age of 90, had a life full of incident and achievement -- brushes with some of the more famous Americans of the last century, some modest but real achievements on Broadway and the creation of a ground-breaking form of religious performance that gave her a large reputation among segments of the Roman Catholic Church in the last four decades.
CanWest News Service, March 20

Emotional service for hit-run victim
Silas O'Brien remembered by family and friends
Vancouver Sun, March 21
Earlier: Stories about the hit-and-run death of Silas O'Brien

A lost vocation: ageing Canadian missionaries have no relief
Rego is like many Canadian missionaries abroad. He is fully committed to his work. But If the Roman Catholic clergy is greying, then those on missions abroad certainly would have succession planners more than a little worried for the future. The Roman Catholic Church has a long tradition of sending missionaries to the world's outposts, but those like Rego appear to be the last of a dying breed.
CanWest News Service, March 21
Also: Vancouver Sun

God's sugar daddy
What is billionaire Sir John Templeton up to? His fans say the venerable investment guru is using his fortune to elevate humanity. His critics see a social-conservative plot
Globe and Mail, March 21

Bryan Adams concert a religious experience
On the night before Good Friday, a few hundred people were treated to a religious experience at a grand downtown Vancouver church, courtesy of hometown boy Bryan Adams. The once-Vancouverite played a thrilling acoustic set at an invitation-only concert at St. Andrews Wesley Church to promote his new album, 11.
Globe and Mail, March 21

Adams treats crowd to a holy experience
Twelve years ago, Bryan Adams christened GM Place by delivering the arena's first rock concert. On Thursday night though, Adams was engaged in an entirely different kind of holy experience. The rocker Vancouverites love to call their own performed an intimate, "secret" show to about 1,000 people at St. Andrew's-Wesley Church in downtown Vancouver.
Vancouver Sun, March 21

Man guilty after church collision
A man who crashed his car through the front doors of a church says he was being chased by a couple of machete-wielding men in a black car when he lost control of his vehicle. Unfortunately, Cody Dreher was also impaired at the time of the crash.
Regina Leader-Post, March 22

Local concert pianist has key to Bach
Siberia-born West Vancouver resident Svetlana Ponomareva helped by translating essay that addresses speech-like articulation and religious meaning behind baroque music
Malcolm Parry, Vancouver Sun, March 22

Gun victim's family asks for prayers
Peace and quiet and prayer were the only requests from the family and friends of a young man taken to Sunnybrook hospital in critical condition following a shooting in the east end of the city. "We are asking people to pray for him," said a woman who would only identify herself as a relative as she sat in the second floor waiting room at Sunnybrook with a group of about two dozen people.
Toronto Star, March 23

A bastion of hate
Ownership dispute sees black minister seeking to move congregation into home of Ku Klux Klan museum
National Post, March 24

Parents urged to protest teacher guide on diversity
The Catholic Civil Rights League is urging parents to protest a B.C. teacher guide that encourages discussion about diversity -- including sexual orientation -- in all subjects and in every public school classroom.
Vancouver Sun, March 25
Earlier: K-John's passion

Making an argument for life support
Alecsandrina Priboi was dying. There was no hope for recovery, no point to continuing life support. Priboi's daughter, Georgeta Rotaru, did not accept that conclusion and last month went to B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver to force medical staff to continue her 80-year-old mother's life support and medication. Although relatively rare, more of these end-of-life court disputes are ending up in Canadian courts, says lawyer Christopher Grauer, who represented VGH and medical staff in the Priboi challenge.
Vancouver Sun, March 25
Earlier: New legislation for assisted suicide on horizon

Laibar Singh taken to Abbotsford temple
Paralysed refugee claimant moved without notifying border agency
Vancouver Sun, March 25
Earlier: Stories about Sikhs and Sikhism

The Kanye dilemma
To mark the end of Lent, we're spending the next seven weeks getting reacquainted with the deadly sins. This week, we get puffed up about pride. Is it boasting if it's all true?
Mark Medley, National Post, March 25

My ego v. 'the father of Now'
It is a Monday night and I am attempting to "step out of my egoic consciousness" with some 700,000 other people from around the world. In the interest of "awakening" my "life's purpose," I've signed up for a series of 10 free Internet lectures featuring German-born, Vancouver-based New Age spiritualist Eckhart Tolle and presented by the ultimate awakener, Oprah. Mr. Tolle's bestselling new book, A New Earth, chosen by Oprah for her book club, has been flying out of stores, mainly in the hands of middle-class women looking for another dimension to their lives.
Judith Timson, Globe and Mail, March 25
Earlier: Stories about the Vancouver-based Oprah Book Club author

Catholic board votes to appoint new trustee
Toronto Catholic trustees have decided to appoint a replacement for disgraced trustee Christine Nunziata, overturning a previous vote to hold an $180,000 by-election.
Toronto Star, March 27

March 27/2008

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