As Theresa Matters reports on page two, the Carleton University Students Association will not recognize pro-life student groups, placing a serious burden on such organizations attempting to reach out to students on campus and engage in debate about moral issues touching the sanctity of human life. It is deeply disturbing that a students’ union at a major Canadian university would violate the [...]
For 13 years, Canadians in general, but especially pro-life and pro-family citizens, criticized the heavy-handedness of Liberal prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, who attempted to foist upon their party and the nation an ideologically rigid and radical approach to abortion and marriage. There was reason to believe things would be different when the Conservatives won power on Jan. 23, 2006. [...]
The American mainstream media, left-wing Democrats and pro-abortion and gay rights activists, all claimed that the Religious Right was repudiated after the country turfed the Republican Party and voters in some states defeated pro-life and pro-family ballot initiatives. This plinkered view of the midterm elections self-servingly misses numerous points: the Replican Party is not the same thing as the "Religious Right," voters [...]
On Christmas night, the angels announced “good news of a great joy” to shepherds tending their flocks. The shepherds were told to look for a sign, a “baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). This was not a miraculous sign, but it was the only one they received – and the only one they needed. The sight of [...]
The Interim is often criticized for reporting too much negative news. We disagree; there are plenty of positive profiles of committed warriors for life and family, reviews of uplifting music and plays and positive developments at various levels, including, last month, at the United Nations. Perhaps some people are only happy when they complain. But a look at this issue shows even [...]
Benedict XVI’s speech on Sept. 12 to scientists at the University of Regensburg, where he served as a professor, set off an unintended furor of controversy. It also highlighted an important dynamic in what Samuel Huntington describes as “the clash of civilizations.” The target of Benedict’s speech was not Islam, but modernity. Benedict took modernity to task for limiting reason to the [...]
How is it that the world’s smallest sovereign state is creating so much news? The Roman pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, sparked a firestorm of controversy last month when he quoted from a 14th century Byzantine emperor. The quotation, which was quickly taken from its context, was widely disseminated in the Middle East. The larger point of Pope Benedict’s address (which, as Gerald [...]
Feminist and former Toronto Star columnist Michelle Landsberg was named to the Order of Canada by Governor-General Michaelle Jean in July. Landsberg is just the latest outspoken advocate of abortion to be given Canada’s highest civilian honour. Few pro-life advocates are similarly honoured. It is a shame that this person, who has so often viciously attacked those whom she has criticized – [...]
The redefinition of marriage in Canada has caused so much scandal and confusion that marriage, as a concept, is in danger of becoming bankrupt. As the terms of the debate strain under the weight of politics and punditry, the only sure and irrefutable argument for marriage has become marriage itself. Of course, the beauty of marriage is its own defence. When two [...]
In 2003, same-sex “marriage” was introduced in Ontario. Soon after, attempts were made in many other Western countries to legalize it. These efforts were effective, not because advocates of same-sex “marriage” had suddenly discovered convincing new arguments for their position, but because they realized that no arguments were needed. Indeed, as Anthony Esolen has pointed out, the redefinition of marriage to include [...]
On July 19, 2006 days, George W. Bush used his veto power for the first time. The issue on which he finally took out his pen to thwart the excesses of Congress was important: embryonic stem cell research. After the House of Representatives passed a bill that would have mandated federal funding of stem cell research - which requires the killing of [...]
It is hardly surprising that after 35 years of abortion, contraception, and no-fault divorce, marriage is no longer the norm or even the ideal. Hence, the same-sex “marriage†lobby has been successful for the same reason that many of those who defend traditional marriage have failed - the definition of marriage has been lost. To give an adequate defence of marriage, it [...]
The recent, disturbing news uncovered by Western Standard magazine that sex selection abortions are taking place in Canada is quite simply the inevitable result of the abortion-on-demand ideology that has taken hold in this country, thanks in large part to the agitation of feminist zealots in co-operation with certain other influential and powerful elements that have a grip on key power points [...]
Three and a half years ago, same-sex “marriage” was not an issue. Marriage was understood to be the union of one man and one woman and the possibility of its redefinition was not even on the political radar screen. When marriage became an issue in 2003 (that is, when three Ontario judges decided to strike down what may be the oldest legal [...]
On Wednesday, May 10, MP Maurice Vellacott resigned from the parliamentary committee he headed because of allegedly“controversial” comments he made to a CBC reporter the previous Friday. This tawdry affair was entirely orchestrated by our public broadcaster, the CBC, in an attempt to tarnish the good name of a fine politician. And, although Vellacott has been humbled by this manufactured scandal, it [...]