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Stories about the Anglican schism over same-sex blessings:
Anglican church warns against visit by controversial South American bishop
A controversial Anglican leader from South America arrived in this country on Wednesday, drawing a strong rebuke from Canadian church officials who fear his presence will further divide their flock. Several congregations have split with the Canadian church to join Archbishop Greg Venables' more conservative Buenos Aires-based diocese. Eleven more clergy members of the Anglican diocese of New Westminster handed in their resignations this week, saying they will continue under Venables' jurisdiction.
Canadian Press, April 23
Retired female priests tie knot in same-sex civil union
Ceremony in city care home highlights Anglican church's schism of morality
Victoria Times-Colonist, April 24
Rebel Anglican leader visits local dissidents
South American Archbishop Gregory Venables meets allies at Baptist church in Delta
Vancouver Sun, April 24
Argentine Anglican deplores infighting
Taking conservatives' side, Venables likens our feuding to destructive ping-pong
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, April 25
Influential evangelical theologian latest to split with Anglican Church
James Packer says he believes many of Canada's Anglican bishops are 'arguably heretical'
Vancouver Sun, April 26
Earlier: Stories about the Anglican schism over same-sex blessings
Stories about Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright:
Obama's pastor fights back
Rev. Jeremiah Wright says criticism of his comments amount to 'an attack on the black church'
CanWest News Service, April 29
Obama blasts Wright in dramatic bid to limit damage from ex-pastor's remarks
Barack Obama, in a dramatic attempt to quell a racial furor that's buffetting his bid for the Democratic nomination, said Tuesday he's outraged and saddened by "offensive, appalling, ridiculous" remarks from his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Canadian Press, April 29
This time, Obama completely denounces Rev. Wright
Confronted with a crisis that threatens to ruin his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, a grim Barack Obama has condemned the fulminations of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in the strongest language possible short of swearing.
John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail, April 29
Obama 'outraged' by Rev. Wright
Barack Obama, facing the biggest crisis of his 16-month campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, forcefully and angrily repudiated his former pastor yesterday, saying he was appalled and outraged by a performance by Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Monday.
Toronto Star, April 30
Jeremiah Wright's hateful vindictiveness and how it afffects Obama, the Democrats and U.S. voters
It has been a month now since we all discovered that Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a bit nuts (there's no other way to describe his wild and irresponsible opinions about 9/11 and U.S. race relations). But what we've learned this week is that Rev. Wright is quite clearly also vindictive and mean. After his speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday -- which he used to reiterate the major worldviews that have landed him and (now) former friend Barack Obama in hot water -- there is simply no other way to judge Jeremiah Wright.
Yoni Goldstein, Full Comment, National Post, April 30
Jeremiah Wright: Giving God the glory and America the blues
The black church in America has long lived between the glory and the blues, between the ecstasy of worship and the exigencies of politics. It is a place concerned with both the sacred and the profane, both a religious and a political institution. It is for that reason that an ambitious young Barack Obama first sought out Reverend Wright twenty years ago. Obama, the son of a white mother, raised in a white family, graduate of Harvard, was searching for a political base in Chicago's South Side. He went in search of the black community that he had not grown up in but now wished to identify with. The black church was the place to look for black community and black political power, and Reverend Wright's church was the biggest and blackest of them all. That was what Obama wanted. In due course, Reverend Wright led Obama to Jesus Christ, and there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of that spiritual conversion. Many a soul has found Christ while looking for other things. And it is also true that churches sometimes find other things while seeking to serve Christ.
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, April 30
America waking up to the scope of black liberation theology
White Americans are making a discovery: that in a country where the black church is an antidote to the six days of the week in which race matters, Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not a radical kook but a mainstream voice of righteous anger and uplifting hope.
Michael Valpy, Globe and Mail, May 1
Earlier: Obama carefully disavows his pastor's words
Stories about the Schoenborn children:
Residents gather to remember three 'angels'
Hundreds of residents of the tiny B.C. Interior town of Merritt gathered Sunday to remember three "angels" who were a "tribute to their mother." The memorial service was held for 10-year-old Kaitlynne Schoenborn and her brothers, eight-year-old Max, and five-year Cordon, who were found dead by their mother April 6.
Canadian Press, April 27
Community holds service for Schoenborn children
One of the local pastors presiding over a memorial yesterday for three Merritt children brutally slain in their home three weeks ago says the service was an opportunity for the community to find closure. "Closure is all part of an emotional balancing, part of a healing process," said Dave Strugnell of Crossroads Community Church.
Canadian Press, April 28
Merritt mourns
In a eulogy, Clarke's brother, identified only as Mike, called the children his "three little angels." That eulogy, written and delivered last week by Mike at a private family service, which was attended by the children's mother, was read Sunday by Rev. Dan Krausert on the family's behalf.
Vancouver Sun, April 28
Stories about Expelled and Richard Dawkins:
Creating controversy
The movie spends most of its 90 minutes spotlighting examples of what its star calls the "persecution" of scientists who dare to question Darwinian explanations. There are researchers who claim to have been denied tenure, had their funding cancelled or lost jobs for raising questions about evolution. Mr. Stein calls on some of the world's most prominent evolutionists/ atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, to debate them, doing his best to mock them as arrogant and intolerant.
National Post, April 26
How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?
Author of The God Delusion in person is a lot more open-minded than his critics would have you believe
Peter McKnight, Vancouver Sun, April 29
Richard Dawkins refuses interview with me
The author of The God Delusion has refused to be interviewed in Vancouver by me, after he read a column I wrote about his book. That is pretty interesting, given that in my beat, covering spirituality and philosophy, I regularly interview (and respect) atheists -- and have interviewed thousands of people who would be aware that I could not agree with them on everything.
Douglas Todd, The Search, Vancouver Sun, April 29
Earlier: Expelled generates more heat than light in evolution debate
Stories about the polygamist cult at Bountiful:
BC premier says province looking at options to deal with polygamist community
The polygamist community in Bountiful, British Columbia, poses a "vexing problem" for the provincial government, Premier Gordon Campbell admitted Wednesday. "I'm as upset by what I understand is happening in Bountiful as I think most British Columbians are," he said in a telephone interview. But the B.C. leader said his government has to tread carefully to ensure that it doesn't make matters worse.
Canadian Press, April 23
Ex-fundamentalist fears 'scandal from Hell'
She says Canadian children could have been sent to Texas compound without their parents
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, April 24
Ottawa confirms at least one Canadian citizen found on Texas polygamist ranch
The federal government confirmed Friday that at least one Canadian citizen was living on a Texas polygamist ranch raided by U.S. authorities. Foreign Affairs says the Canadian government is providing that person with diplomatic assistance, but a spokeswoman for the department offered no further details. "Consular officials have confirmed the presence of one Canadian citizen," Eugenie Cormier-Lassonde said in an e-mail.
Canadian Press, April 25
Do something about polygamy in Bountiful, NDP warns Ottawa
The Harper government is coming under pressure from the NDP -- its chief rival for B.C. seats -- to abandon its hands-off approach to the Bountiful, B.C., polygamist colony and lobby Victoria to lay charges. The call for action was made yesterday as Ottawa confirmed that at least one Canadian was living on a Texas polygamist ranch -- a sister commune to Bountiful that U.S. authorities raided earlier this month.
Globe and Mail, April 25
Does the state have a place in the bedrooms of polygamists?
As B.C. attorney-general, Ujjal Dosanjh spent about four years in the polygamy hot seat now occupied by Wally Oppal, trying to decide how to deal with legal issues raised by the community of Bountiful in southeastern B.C. It was, he said, never comfortable. "This was obviously not an easy issue. The moral question was very clear. The legal issue was a lot more complex," said Mr. Dosanjh, who now sits as a Liberal MP.
Globe and Mail, April 25
Polygamy pastoral
A dramatic raid on a polygamist Mormon-fundamentalist ranch in Texas has drawn renewed attention to Canada's notorious polygamist community, Bountiful, in British Columbia. As the B.C. government discusses taking legal action, the town has opened itself up to journalists and photographers in an apparent bid for public sympathy
Globe and Mail, April 26
Most Canadians want polygamists prosecuted
Majority of B.C. residents support legal action in Bountiful
Vancouver Sun, April 26
Polygamy: We're lost in the fog of a moral disaster
With the recent raids on the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Texas, Canadians have turned a watchful eye to a polygamist community on our own soil -- in Bountiful, British Columbia. Contemplating the constitutionality of prosecuting the group, B.C. authorities face a dilemma. If they do proceed with a criminal trial, on what moral grounds will they base their charges?
Jacob Brinkman Reaume, Full Comment, National Post, April 30
Earlier: Stories about the polygamist cult at Bountiful
Stories about the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal's decision against Christian Horizons:
Lesbian wins $23,000 from Christian group
A Christian evangelical charity group has been ordered to pay a long-time employee $23,000 plus lost wages for terminating her employment on the grounds of her homosexuality. Connie Heintz, 39, a Christian of Mennonite heritage, complained to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario after being fired on Sept. 23, 2000, when directors of Christian Horizons discovered she had been discussing her sexual orientation with co-workers, and had come to believe she was gay.
National Post, April 26
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Ont. should consider pulling funding from religious group: critics
Ontario should consider pulling funding from a Christian group that has a history of human rights complaints and was recently ordered to compensate a worker who had to quit after revealing she was gay, the province's opposition parties say. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently ordered Kitchener, Ont.-based Christian Horizons to compensate former employee Connie Heintz and to end a prohibitive code-of-conduct contract for its 2,500 employees - the second time the tribunal has had to deal with a complaint against the evangelical organization. The tribunal's predecessor, the Human Rights Board of Inquiry, ruled in 1992 that two women fired by the organization for being in common-law relationships be paid $65,000.
Canadian Press, April 27
Internet hijacking 'disturbing' says Ottawa woman
A woman caught up in a mysterious Internet hijacking scandal that has sparked a federal privacy investigation into the Canadian Human Rights Commission says she was shocked, angry and confused at suddenly finding herself publicly associated with white supremacists. Speaking out for the first time, Nelly Hechme told The Canadian Press she was appalled to learn commission investigators might have hacked her Internet connection to post messages on supremacist websites.
Canadian Press, April 27
Policing thought in Ontario
Christian Horizons is an evangelical organization with a mission to people with developmental disabilities. It is also the largest operator of special-needs residential homes in Ontario. Under a $75-million annual contract with the provincial government, it runs 180 group homes for 1,400 residents and employs 2,500 staff. Now Christian Horizons (CH) has also run afoul of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). In a ruling, released last week, that once again proves rights tribunals are little more than politically correct thought police, the OHRC declared CH was wrong to make its employees sign a morality pledge as a condition of employment.
Lorne Gunter, National Post, April 28
The Ontario's Human Rights Commission is trying to take the mission out of Christian Horizons
Imagine that Mother Theresa and her Missionaries of Charity had been told that their ministry in the streets of Calcutta was, in essence, not ministry but "social work." In order for the sisters to continue in their work, they would no longer be permitted to require that staff members share their beliefs and ministry commitment. As bizarre as this may sound, this is essentially what a single adjudicator acting as an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal recently decided in the case of Heintz v Christian Horizons.
Don Hutchinson, National Post, April 28
Stories about Islam and the West:
Home-grown 'champion of Islam'
Naeem Muhammad Khan wants everyone to "Support Our Troops," but he's not talking about the Canadian Forces in Kandahar. From his apartment in Toronto, Mr. Khan has been posting messages on the Internet calling Osama bin Laden a "hero" and "champion of Islam."
National Post, April 25
'Support Our Troops' refers to Taliban, fundamentalist says
Q & A by the National Post's Stewart Bell with Naeem Muhammad Khan
National Post, April 25
In their own fanatical words
It's not easy to remember that terrorists, too, are in politics, with all the insecurity and ambition that implies. Certainly that's true of the four famous Islamic killers, two of them dead, whose statements, distributed on the Web, fill Al Qaeda in Its Own Words (Harvard University Press), published this week. Their messages rally the troops and attempt to recruit new soldiers, but also read like the pleas of politicians for status within the loosely defined and always changing jihadist movement.
Robert Fulford, National Post, April 26
The Canadian Islamic Congress tries for a ceasefire -- but they've already lost the war
The following press release (see below) just landed in my inbox: Apparently, the Canadian Islamic Congress is going to announce that it's seeking some kind of plea bargain with Maclean's magazine in regard to the human-rights complaint against Mark Steyn's famous 2006 article.
Jonathan Kay, Full Comment, National Post, April 29
Moderate Muslims, and the Quebec media "boycott" of pro-Israel scholar Morad El Hattab
We keep saying we want to hear from influential moderate Muslims who oppose the worrisome rhetoric and occasional deeds of anti-western Islamists, but what good is our wanting to hear from them if, when they come along to speak to us, the media ignores them?
Barbara Kay, Full Comment, National Post, April 30
Islamic group offers truce if it gets its say
The Canadian Islamic Congress yesterday offered to withdraw human rights complaints about allegedly Islamophobic journalism in Maclean's magazine in exchange for the publication of a rebuttal within three months by a mutually agreeable author.
National Post, May 1
Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West
Stories about Sikhs and Sikhism:
Why are Dalton McGuinty and co. showing up at parades honouring Sikh assassins?
Here's a question: If Arab-Canadians held an event that honored, say, Yasser Arafat, or Hamas, or Hezbollah, would municipal, provincial and federal politicians show up to take part? If Jews honored Baruch Goldstein -- or Tamils venerated the Tamil Tigers -- would Dalton McGuinty attend? Probably not, right? Then how come the rules of the game change when it comes to Canadian Sikhs?
Jonathan Kay, Full Comment, National Post, April 24
India complains over Sikh parade images
For the second straight year, Surrey's Vaisakhi celebrations draw fire for glorifying violence
Canadian Press, April 25
Teens spark debate about Sikh politics
Some wonder why students wore T-shirts with quote from controversial leader who called for independence
Canadian Press, April 28
Jonathan Kay gets results: radical Khalistani Sikh float booted out of Saturday's Toronto parade
Well, the downtown Sikh parade unfolded as planned on Sunday, April 27 -- and Messrs. Dion and McGuinty were indeed in attendance. But guess what? That same red pick-up truck, which was primed to lead the parade, was thrown out of the procession at the organizers' request -- just minutes before the start of the parade.
Jonathan Kay, Full Comment, National Post, April 28
Earlier: Stories about Sikhs and Sikhism
Other stories from the past week:
Agency tells church to change or close down free food service
When Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes, he didn't have to worry about health inspectors. But the charitable folks who feed the needy at Christ Church Cathedral do. . . . Under the new rules, soup and sandwiches made with perishable items such as meat, dairy and fish can no longer be made by parishioners at their homes. This food -- deemed high-risk by the health authority -- must now be prepared at the church.
Vancouver Sun, April 24
World Vision forced to cut aid
World Vision, one of the largest humanitarian organizations, said it is cutting aid to 1.5 million of the 7.5 million poor it fed last year because of the growing food price crisis, which has already sparked food riots around the world.
National Post, April 24
Reformer was a pillar of the Catholic community
Patrick Wickham, like his father, Jack, left a lasting legacy with his lifelong commitments to health care, social welfare and Catholic community service in Montreal.
CanWest News Service, April 24
Holding the justice system to a higher standard
The Premier of Ontario opened the door to a public inquiry into the wrongful conviction of Robert Baltovich yesterday. Given the alarming frequency of wrongful convictions -- the Goudge Inquiry into several such cases involving disgraced pathologist Charles Smith wrapped up last month -- perhaps there should be a standing office charged with exonerating the wrongfully convicted on a permanent basis.
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post, April 24
Remove story about adulteress from Bible: prof
Tale of forgiveness not found in early manuscripts: biblical scholar
National Post, April 25
A penny saved is another person helped by Hannah
Hannah Newbury was in kindergarten when a family friend handed her a bag full of pennies to spend on whatever she wanted. Hannah counted and rolled the copper coins. Then she took the $6 to the grocery store to buy food for the 200 or so poor and homeless people who come to Wilson Heights United Church looking for help.
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun, April 25
Faith put into practice
Not every Catholic doctor may feel on such firm moral ground. Even though the Canadian Medical Association allows all its members to opt out of those things that go against their conscience, including opting out of making referrals, many feel that they will be stigmatized if they are too vocal about their beliefs.
National Post, April 26
Multi-faith group seeks assurance of basic Christian education in Quebec
Fearing that Quebec primary and high school students will soon be deprived of a basic Christian education, a coalition of Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Copts is urging parents to demand their children be exempt from the province's mandatory new "ethics and religious culture" course.
CanWest News Service, April 26
China ready to discuss Tibet
The Chinese government said yesterday that it plans to hold talks "in the coming days" with a private representative of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Toronto Star, April 26
Earlier: Stories about human rights in China and the Beijing Olympics
'Progressive Christians' duke it out in print
An in-your-face Torontonian wants to debunk divinity and focus on ethics; a Vancouverite urges a more sacred path
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, April 26
Rwanda: A purpose driven country
If you made this journey on a Thursday morning earlier this month -- to this small church in a small town in a small country -- and settled into the pews of the mud-brick building, you would have found Kay Warren, wife of U.S. mega-preacher Rick Warren, staging a question-and-answer session with 40 or so members of the local church community. Four days earlier, Ms. Warren and her husband had appeared alongside Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President, in front of 20,000 people at Kigali's Amohoro Stadium, to launch the country's first "40 Days of Purpose."
National Post, April 28
Michael Coren on the Christian story of C.S. Lewis
As Prince Caspian rides onto the big screen this May there is a genuine danger that his creator, C.S. Lewis, might be left behind in a trail of over-priced popcorn. The movie is the second in Disney's adaptation of the Narnia series, the first being the 2005 version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. There were seven Narnia books, but it's not entirely clear how many films there will be. Profit will dictate product, which is actually something Lewis would have rather despised. Not that he embraced any fashionable objection to capitalism, more that he embraced a timeless regard for writing the piercing truth whatever the cost or reward.
Michael Coren, National Post, April 28
Age of sexual consent climbs to 16
Canada's age of sexual consent will be bumped up two years to 16 beginning Thursday. The change means adults who have sex with boys or girls aged 14 and 15 years old could face criminal charges. Canada's age of consent has been 14 since 1892.
Canadian Press, April 30
Earlier: Move to raise age of consent causes stir
Tories threaten to force election on C-10
Denying tax credits to offensive films deemed a confidence motion
Globe and Mail, May 1
Earlier: Stories about Bill C-10
Queen's eldest grandson keeps place in succession
The Queen's eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, will keep his slim chance of becoming king intact because his Canadian bride-to-be has joined the Church of England. Buckingham Palace on Thursday has confirmed a report in the Daily Telegraph that Autumn Kelly, a Roman Catholic, joined the church.
Associated Press, May 1
May 1/2008
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