Stories about Islam, Muslims and the West:
Jefferys sex assault 'a
lie,' says mother
The mother of one of the young men accused of
sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Muslim girl in the washroom of C.W.
Jefferys Collegiate says she's convinced the allegations are false and
wonders why it's taken almost a year for them to surface.
Toronto
Star, September 21
'Little
Mosque' expands its global reach even further, including Israel and
Gaza
"Little Mosque On The Prairie," the CBC hit comedy that
begins its second season next week on CBC-TV, will soon air in Israel, the
West Bank, Gaza, Dubai, Finland and Turkey. The first season of the show,
about the residents of a small Muslim community in the fictional Canadian
prairie town of Mercy, will begin airing Oct. 23 on Israel's paid
satellite channel, Stars 3. "Little Mosque" will air in English with
Hebrew subtitles.
Canadian Press, September 25
Little
Mosque hits the Middle East
CBC's Little Mosque on the
Prairie is set to air in Israel and other corners of the Middle East,
creating an interesting case of a Canadian sitcom exporting a message of
religious tolerance to various trouble spots.
Globe and Mail,
September 25
The
folly of 'Islamic economics'
Though few in the West have
noticed the phenomenon, a significant and rapidly growing amount of money
is now being managed in accord with Islamic law, the Shariah.
Daniel
Pipes, National Post, September 27
Earlier: Stories about Islam,
veiled voters, and the West
Other stories from the past week:
Tonight,
have dinner with your family
Do you watch TV while eating
dinner with your family? Here's a novel idea: Don't. Do you check your
e-mail at the table? Do your children send text messages on their mobile
phones? Here's another idea: Don't. That's the gist behind this year's
"National Family Dinner Night." It's called "dinner unplugged" -- or as it
used to be known, talking to each other across the kitchen table.
Fr.
Raymond J. de Souza, National Post, September 20
Burma's
monks mount a direct challenge to military junta
When hundreds
of Buddhist monks joined popular protests against impoverishing fuel price
hikes in Burma two weeks ago, it opened the way to the most significant
uprising against the military regime since 1988 when thousands of
pro-reform demonstrators were killed by army gunfire. Monks are the
objects of great respect in Southeast Asia, but traditionally they use
their political influence sparingly.
Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver
Sun, September 21
'We weep for their pain,'
rabbi says at murder-suicide funeral
Few at service to mourn
sad deaths of terminally ill man and mother he cared for -- and
killed
Toronto Star, September 22
Thou
shalt not lean too far to the right
Stephen Harper is trying to
do what no Conservative leader since Sir John A. Macdonald has been able
to do -- build a viable, long-term political coalition with a broad enough
appeal to win elections and, if it falls short, enough strength of
character and self-discipline to avoid immolating itself on a bonfire of
recrimination. In other words, he wants the Conservatives to replace the
Liberals as the natural governing party of Canada.
Tom Flannagan,
Globe and Mail, September 22
Who's
making the decisions on privacy vs. security?
In our digital
world, spying is back, big time. So is paranoia. A hint of the
surveillance powers now available to espionage agents hits home for me
each time my office computer malfunctions and I phone The Vancouver Sun
techies for help. Within seconds, the techies, working from the floor
above me, remotely seize control of my computer screen -- magically moving
my cursor and manipulating my files. It's like watching someone suddenly
take over your life. Of course, the technical support staff are on my side
(I hope.) But their display of deus ex machina powers provides a taste of
the vast network of electronic surveillance options now
available.
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, September 22
Evangelicals
disturbed by Israeli rabbis' call for Jews to shun holiday
event
Israeli rabbinical authorities have abruptly called on
Jews to shun a major Christian tourism event, baffling and upsetting
evangelical groups that traditionally have been big supporters of the
Jewish state. More than 6,000 Christians from more than 90 countries are
expected to arrive in Jerusalem this week to take part in the 28th annual
Christian celebration of the weeklong Jewish holiday Sukkot, or Feast of
Tabernacles, said the event's organizers, the International Christian
Embassy Jerusalem.
Associated Press, September 23
Science
While
he more-or-less promised not to return to this subject for a while, and it
doesn't really feel like "a while" yet, your faithful pundit is going to
write about science again today. For offstage, he has continued to
skirmish with the very people he has deprecated in his columns as
"Darwinists" -- which is to say, those exponents of scientism who have
elevated the general principles of Darwin's quaint Victorian evolutionary
scheme to a form of religious orthodoxy, and defend it by traditional
fanatical means, from heretic-hunting to the commission of pious
frauds.
David Warren, Ottawa Citizen, September 23
Vandals
make off with Buddha during rampage at B.C. mall
Victoria
police are on the lookout for a pair of thieves with bad karma.
Investigators suspect the two men smashed a window in an Oak Bay area
strip mall yesterday and stole a gold-plated Buddha welcoming statue.
Police are now searching for the suspects and the one-metre high,
34-kilogram figure worth about $1,200.
CanWest News Service, September
24
U.S.
diocese ousts nuns over Quebec sect
Six Roman Catholic nuns
have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership
in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be the reincarnation of the
Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday.
Associated
Press, September 27
Earlier: Stories about the Army of Mary
Christopher
Hitchens to launch local speech series
Bestselling author
Christopher Hitchens will be in Vancouver next Wednesday to speak about
his controversial new book, and to kick off what organizers hope will
become an ongoing series of top-name intellectuals to come through the
city. . . . Tickets for the event are $100, which includes a copy of God
is Not Great.
Vancouver Sun, September 27
Earlier: Stories about atheism
First-past-the-post
isn't the problem
Readers outside Ontario likely don't care too
much about the Oct. 10 referendum on the province's electoral system.
Readers inside Ontario don't appear to care too much either, given the
collective yawn that has greeted the whole business. Yet it is important,
both for Ontarians who may wake up to a new electoral system, and for
Canada as a whole, because what is happening in Ontario today is likely to
be proposed elsewhere tomorrow.
Fr. Raymond J. De Souza, National
Post, September 27
September 27/2007