IS OBAMA THE REAL PRO-LIFE CANDIDATE?

Obama is-pro choice. So how in the world can he be the pro- life candidate in the American election? Easy. Most of the data now show that the pro-choice approach is more effective at achieving what the American public views as pro-life goals: reducing the number of abortions, preventing late term abortion, [...]

IS PREMARITAL SEX WRONG?

Most would agree that young people are staying away from church in droves. None has been more affected by this phenomenon than the Catholic church.
What is the problem? It would seem there is an almost total disconnect between what the septuagarian celibates in the church leadership teach and the lived experience of young [...]

SHOULD POLYGAMY BE A CRIME?

The Attorney-General of British Columbia, Wally Oppal, has named a special prosecutor to weigh charges against individuals in the village of Bountiful which houses a community of polygamists.
Bountiful has been a headache for B.C. officials for years. But there are conflicting opinions on whether polygamy (punishable by five years in the penitentiary) [...]

WHY IS AN AMERICAN CARDINAL TRYING TO MUZZLE AN AUSTRALIAN BISHOP?

The Australian bishop whose “devastating critique” of sex abuse in the Church (Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus) became a controversial bestseller last year has come under fire from the American hierarchy at the start of a month-long US tour.
Retired Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson was “den[ied] permission [...]

SHOULD THE CRUCIFIX BE BANNED?

The Bouchard-Taylor report on the accomodation of immigrants has recommended that Quebec be neutral as regards religion i.e. a secular state.
To that end judges, Crown prosecutors, police officers and prison guards should be banned from wearing religious signs or symbols, but teachers, public servants and health professionals should be allowed to do so.
Most controversially, [...]

CAN A MINOR REFUSE MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS?

Today the Supreme Court hears a case involving A.C., a 14 year-old Winnipeg girl who is a Jehova’s Witness. A.C. believes she has the right to prevent doctors from running roughshod over her religious beliefs and forcing a blood transfusion on her. However, she was forcibly given a transfusion (on a judge’s [...]

SHOULD THE MONARCH ALWAYS BE A PROTESTANT?

Tomorrow Montrealer Autumn Kelly will marry Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne (and the first of the present Queen’s grandchildren to marry) at Windsor Castle.
Recently the Sun newspaper ran a headline: “Royal’s girl to ditch Catholics.” The headline referred to the fact that Autumn Kelly, who grew up in an Irish Catholic [...]

SHOULD LUTHERANS ORDAIN GAYS?

This Friday the Holy Cross Lutheran church in Newmarket, Ontario, will become the first Lutheran church in Canada to ordain a gay man, 45-year-old Lionel Ketola.
However, if tomorrow’s plan goes forward, the congregation could face anything from a verbal warning to expulsion from the national church organization according to Bishop Michael Pryse of the Evangelical [...]

DOES ABSTINENCE WORK?

It would seem too many people beat the drums for sexual abstinence by imparting false information: that abstinence-until-marriage materials incorrectly suggests that HIV can pass through condoms because the latex used in condoms is porous. (Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, the Vatican’s septuagarian celibate in charge of family values also peddled [...]

IS MARRIAGE IN TROUBLE?

New figures from Great Britain suggest marriage in in steep decline.
If present trends continue, one in 10 marriages will end in five years and a staggering 45 per cent of couples will divorce. In fact, marriage is at its lowest level of popularity since records began in 1962. Now 43 per cent of [...]