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Stories about the Holocaust-denying bishop:

Bishop Richard Williamson and the B'Nai Brith
When there are difficult occasions in Jewish-Catholics relations, leaders have a choice about whether to attempt to make things better or worse. Sadly, Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada, chose the latter option this week.
Father Raymond J. de Souza, Full Comment, National Post, January 30

B'nai Brith responds to Father Raymond J. de Souza re: Bishop Richard Williamson
Father de Souza's attempt to shift the blame on to Jews, like myself, accusing us of exacerbating tensions rather than seeking to heal the obvious rift in Christian-Jewish relations, speaks volumes about the silence from those within the Church whose voices have been conspicuously silent on this topic.
Frank Dimant, Full Comment, National Post, February 4

World, especially Germany, thoroughly unimpressed with Pope Benedict XVI
Full Comment brings you a daily collection of international punditry at its finest. Today: International reaction to Pope Benedict XVI's rehabilitation of the world's most infamous Bishop.
Full Comment, National Post, February 4

Vatican's blunders taking toll on Pope
The papacy of Benedict XVI is being undermined by an incompetent inner circle and an archaic view of how the head of the Roman Catholic Church needs to relate to the world. "I think the fundamental problem is he still thinks like a German professor," said Father Thomas Reese, a Jesuit scholar at the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington. "Rather than thinking like the pope he thinks he is speaking to a classroom of deferential students who won't challenge him. And that's not the world he is working in any more."
National Post, February 5

Earlier: Stories about the Holocaust-denying bishop

Stories about Jews and Judaism:

When your best friends assume your name is an insult, should you change it? Is it time for the word "Jew" to go the way of "Negro"?
As a Jew - and not a "Jewish person"- I was somewhat taken aback by John's semiotic squeamishness. So I e-mailed him and asked him if the locution had been consciously chosen, and if so, why? Certainly, as I pointed out, he would never have said "Christian person" or "Muslim person." Yes, he promptly responded, it was consciously chosen, because after years of hate and propaganda, "Jew" has acquired "the patina of insult."
Barbara Kay, Full Comment, National Post, February 3

If "Jew" is a bad word, what about "gentile" and "goy"?
As someone who has interchangeably used Jew and Jewish person, I've never really thought about this. While there are some distasteful monetary references -- including "jewing someone" and "jewed him down" -- I was still under the assumption that Jew was acceptable in modern society. Little did I know that the thought police had placed the word "Jew" under house arrest.
Michael Taube, Full Comment, National Post, February 5

Stories about Islam and the West:

Ottawa using intervention to extinguish extremism
The government has been using "counter-radicalization techniques" to steer Canadian Muslims away from extremism, according to a secret intelligence report obtained by the National Post. The document outlines a little-known, government-wide, counter-radicalization strategy that aims to prevent al-Qaedainspired terrorists such as the London transit bombers from emerging within Canada.
Stewart Bell, National Post, January 31

Dealing with the 'devil'
Three decades after the mullahs transformed one of the oldest cultures on Earth, swept away a monarch who described himself as the "King of Kings" and unleashed militant Islam on the world to create "a government of God," Iranians remain fixated on the "Great Satan." But the United States suddenly appears determined to seek detente.
Peter Goodspeed, National Post, January 31

Terror trial for man from rural Quebec opens with training, propaganda videos
The Crown contends that Namouh is a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, an organization involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment and described as a media tool for al-Qaida.
Canadian Press, February 2

Order to take off niqab pits law against religion
A judge has ordered a Toronto woman to testify without her niqab at a sexual assault trial -- raising the thorny issue of whether Muslim women should be allowed to appear as witnesses wearing a veil that covers everything but the eyes.
Toronto Star, February 2

Court ruling causes 'collision of values'
A decision by a Toronto judge to compel a Muslim woman to testify in court without wearing her niqab has raised the tricky issue of how freedom of religion fits into the legal system and how it stacks up against other Charter rights.
National Post, February 3

Lack of action on Khadr riles Muslim community
More than 180 Canadian organizations and public figures have signed a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling on him to repatriate Omar Khadr -- one of the largest efforts yet in a growing campaign to bring the detained Canadian home.
Globe and Mail, February 3

Harper government anti-Muslim, letter charges
185 groups and individuals sign letter seeking return of Omar Khadr
Toronto Star, February 3

Shining a light on Islam's hidden scientific treasure
'Sultans of Science' exhibit aims to teach Canada about little-known discoveries made centuries ago
Toronto Star, February 4

Secularism prevails in crucial Iraq vote
As the interim results from Iraq's provincial elections trickle in, it is becoming obvious the vote has transformed the country and possibly the Middle East. A new generation of Iraqi politicians appears to be stepping to the forefront, young, secular and rooted in the country --not exiles riding the coattails of a U. S. invasion force. In a dramatic move away from the sectarian and religious-based politics that traumatized Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, voters appear to have picked Sunni and Shiite secular parties at the expense of their religious competition.
Peter Goodspeed, National Post, February 4

To allow niqab a small concession
There is no absolute right, in Canadian law, for a defendant and a witness to look upon one another during trial or even a preliminary hearing. Whether one of them is wearing a niqab -- a full face veil that leaves only the eyes of a woman uncovered -- seems never to have been addressed by courts in this country or considered within applicable legislation.
Rosie Dimanno, Toronto Star, February 4

Veil of ignorance
Barely a week goes by in which my Islamic faith does not face a fresh round of scrutiny. If it is not a suicide bomber blowing himself up in an Iraqi mosque screaming "Allahu Akbar" it is news that an imam in Malaysia has declared the practice of Yoga sinful. If it is not a Toronto Imam defending suicide bombing on a TVO talk show, it is a Muslim woman writing a column in a Canadian daily, advocating the introduction of shariah law in Canada. But the one topic that generates heat more than any other is that of a Muslim woman's supposed "traditional" attire. Whether in swimming pools or polling booths, there is no escape from the repeated controversies surrounding the face mask, better known as the niqab or burqa.
Tarek Fatah, National Post, February 5

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For spiritual seekers and popcorn munchers
The tale of a 14th-century Muslim traveller who followed the sun and stars for 30 years, searching for spiritual contentment, Journey to Mecca: in the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta has been endorsed by the Dalai Lama and the former archbishop of Canterbury. But don't let that discourage all you temporal pleasure-seekers out there. The 45-minute Imax film, now playing at Toronto's Ontario Science Centre in conjunction with the exhibit Sultans of Science (Islamic Science Rediscovered), has the cheery innocence and dramatic sweep of a Saturday-afternoon kids matinee.
Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail, February 5

Earlier: Stories about Islam and the West

Other stories from the past week:

15 minutes and counting
Perhaps best known for his Emmy-nominated role in L. A. Law and appearances in various soap operas, Mr. Bernsen and the town are co-producing Rust, a film Mr. Bernsen wrote about a priest experiencing a crisis of faith who eventually finds solace in his home town -- a possible allegory of Mr. Bernsen's own recent narrative.
National Post, January 30

Eternally caught between Earth and the angels
If Rabbit hungers after the body, so Updike, his creator, seemed to hunger after righteousness. His short stories, with titles like Dentistry and Doubt and The Christian Roommates, were explorations of uncertainty. One could argue that all of his writing and his thinking came down to the matter of faith and doubt. Perhaps this is why I fell in love with Updike; he was a writer who took the time to ask questions about God, as his character David does in a story called Pigeon Feathers. After David shoots six pigeons in the family barn, he bends to study his kill, and "with a feminine, slipping sensation that seemed to give the air hands, he was robed in this certainty: that the God who had lavished such craft upon these worthless birds would not destroy His whole creation by refusing to let David live forever."
David Bergen, Globe and Mail, January 30

Anglicans eyeing same-sex blessing
Toronto diocese to draw up details for 'committed' gay relationships amid bitter debate within church
Toronto Star, January 31
Earlier: New Anglican church proposed

Jesus visits the Super Bowl
This was not the Super Bowl. It was not even the Grey Cup championship game. It was a Hamilton Tiger-Cats training camp in 1985, and Steve Kearns, a Canadian receiver with modest skills and an unwavering faith in God, was wrestling with some inner demons. Football was what he wanted to do. He did not want to get cut by Hamilton. He did not want to see his CFL dream come to an end. But the son of Christian missionaries was not afraid of disappointment, because for him, failing to make the team would not really be a failure at all. The good book had taught him that all God wanted was for him to do his best, and so that is exactly what he did.
National Post, January 31

Two remaining Truth and Reconciliation commissioners resign
The panel created to investigate Canada's Indian residential schools era is being forced to start anew after a high-level power struggle led to Friday's resignation of the remaining two commissioners. Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Morley issued a joint statement announcing their resignation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission effective June 1, 2009. The announcement follows the resignation of Mr. Justice Harry LaForme as commission chairman last October.
Globe and Mail, January 31
Earlier: Stories about the residential schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission

From the ashes
Surprising things happen when a 'disgraced' centre-left ex-premier agrees to work for one of Canada's wealthiest men
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, January 31

Candlemas
This is an important feast, for Christians, bringing an end to the seasons of Christmas and the Epiphany, and looking forward towards Lent and Easter. It is celebrated with august dignity in the Byzantine rite of the Eastern Church, and alike in the "western" or Catholic Church. Anglicans and Lutherans and some other Protestants inherited the Catholic practice.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, February 1

Do Obama's nods to non-believers signal turning tide for U.S. atheists?
Three years after a high-profile University of Minnesota study found that atheists outranked Muslims and new immigrants as the most distrusted and despised minority in America, it seems little has changed in a country where 92 per cent say they believe in God.
Canadian Press, February 2

Students behind pro-life display at Calgary university charged with trespassing
Students who set up a controversial anti-abortion display at the University of Calgary say they'll fight trespassing charges and won't stop showing the graphic pictures on campus. Three students with Campus Pro-Life were served legal papers last week and three more are expected to face charges, said president Leah Hallman.
Canadian Press, February 2

Henry Gordon, 89: Magician, debunker
Henry Gordon was a magician and a realist who wasn't afraid to take jabs at UFO believers, ghostbusters, astrologers and faith healers. The long-time Toronto Star columnist and debunker died Jan. 24 at the age of 89.
Toronto Star, February 2

Crash killed man: Cambodian cops
Cambodian police officials say Kamloops humanitarian worker Jiri Zivny died because of injuries from a motorcycle crash -- not the violent robbery previously reported. Cambodian authorities say Zivny was fatally injured after a moped motorcycle he was riding collided with another moped.
Vancouver Sun, February 3
Earlier: Stories about the slaying of humanitarian worker Jiri Zivny

'Women deserve better than abortion'
Although I am a staunch supporter of your right to advocate against abortion, and deplore all attempts to suppress your freedom of speech on certain campuses, I am not opposed in principle to legal abortion. Rather, I am here to offer the prospect of an alliance between pro-lifers and those, like myself, I would call cultural reformists. Abortion should be a serious moral decision, and undertaken with a heavy heart, with all options carefully weighed beforehand, rather than the rushed, banalized service of convenience it has become. Cultural reformists do not oppose legal abortion, but hope to see Canada become a more life-respectful society.
Barbara Kay, National Post, February 4

Refugee pact survives court challenge
A controversial refugee pact that allows Canada to turn back would-be asylum seekers at the U.S. border has survived a court challenge. . . . The Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Council of Churches and Amnesty International first went to court in 2005 to challenge the pact.
Canadian Press, February 5

The Boss goes soft
The Super Bowl appearance was to support his new album, Working on a Dream. The title track, which he performed as part of his four-song halftime set, is Springsteen's contribution to the expanding hymnal for the fast-growing church of Barack Obama. There is something genuinely new in this latest studio album from Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Boss has gone soft. Or perhaps better, the world around him no longer seems so hard.
Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Post, February 5

February 5/2009