Jan 11 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — If anything characterizes last week’s grotesque attempt to storm the Capitol building in Washington, it’s an almost surreal degree of paradox: Alleged patriots roaring their hatred of their country’s essence were joined by ostensible supporters of the police attacking cops — in one case, killing one — while supposed Christians, followers of the Prince of […]
Jan 5 2021 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — In 1665 the plague smashed its death-dark way though London. It was the worst outbreak of such a pestilence in the country since the Black Death of 1348. After it had its evil time, 15 per cent of Londoners were dead, and many more men, women, and children in other parts of the nation had […]
Jan 4 2021 — Michael Coren — TVO — It’s not the first time it’s happened, and I fear it won’t be the last. But the punishment of six members of Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo for breaching Ontario’s lockdown restrictions is causing quite the reaction. Regional police monitored a church gathering on December 27, saw a congregation that was larger than the 10 […]
Dec 23 2020 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — As we say goodbye, thank God, to the self-described “very stable genius,” we prepare to commemorate the birth of a baby born in a very modest stable: the child Jesus, whose earthly father was a skilled but simple worker from a nation living under foreign domination, and whose mother was likely a teenager.
Dec 17 2020 — Michael Coren — Maclean's — My father’s family were Russian Jews. Most left for Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, but some remained. We kept in contact with part of the clan, and as a child I met my very Russian, very funny, very loud great-uncle. In between laughs and vodka he told us stories about his life, […]
Dec 3 2020 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — Derek Sloan, the Conservative MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington, is quite the star among the hard line conservative right. Earlier this year he questioned the national loyalties of Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, and now he has sponsored a parliamentary e-petition that questions the safety of the much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine. The petition […]
Nov 16 2020 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — People on the political right have lost all of their freedom of speech. We know this because they write and broadcast about it so often in major newspapers and magazines, countless talk radio stations, television networks owned by billionaires, and books published by multinational conglomerates. And in case we’d forgotten, which is somewhat unlikely, Conservative […]
Nov 2 2020 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — The old adage about never mixing religion and politics is about as inane as it is ubiquitous. In North America, it’s applied mainly to Christianity, but Christianity is political, and has to be, because it was founded by a man who roared against injustice, and spoke of a better, more equal, and more communal world. […]
Oct 28 2020 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — A picture tells a thousand words, or at least conveys the attitude of a few dozen people. And the photo of Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff crowded in a restaurant with around 40 other people, all of them standing close together and not a soul wearing a mask, rather suggests that nobody involved had very […]
Oct 27 2020 — Michael Coren — CBC — Alistair Campbell, advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, once famously said, “We don’t do God.” Canadian politicians don’t much either, but Americans of both major parties do so in abundance and it’s on full display in the run-up to the U.S. election. One of the ironies of the United States is that a […]
Oct 12 2020 — Michael Coren — Maclean's — Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Notre Dame University law professor Amy Coney Barrett have just begun and it’s going to be a challenging time for the woman chosen by Donald Trump to replace the iconic Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The 48-year-old mother of seven has divided American politics, media and public opinion between those who see […]
Sep 16 2020 — Michael Coren — TVO — This week, the lawyer and former federal Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis announced that she intended to run for Parliament. While not yet an official candidate, she toured the riding of Haldimand–Norfolk with MP Diane Finley, who has held the seat for 16 years but has no intention of running in the next election. The […]
Sep 4 2020 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — Charles Adler is one of the highest-profile talk radio personalities in Canada. He’s hosted prime-time shows in all of the country’s major markets as well as in the United States. He’s also known as a conservative, albeit from the libertarian wing of the movement. Adler has been changing, however. He has been moving to the […]
Aug 29 2020 — Michael Coren — The Critic — Last Sunday night’s contest to elect the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada was a bad one for the religious creationists in the party. The evening ran on for so long that several new species evolved! In truth it really was a succession of errors, with results that were supposed to be announced […]
Aug 11 2020 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — Derek Sloan won’t win this month’s Conservative Party leadership, but the MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington will be influential in deciding who does become the new leader of the opposition. The darling of social conservatives and the Christian right, he’s positioned himself as an almost Trump-like figure and was rightly criticized when he questioned the […]