Jul 20 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — Last week, I participated in an international panel on the subject of banning conversion therapy — the entirely spurious and immensely damaging procedure based on the grim notion that homosexuality is somehow undesirable, and that LGBTQ2 people can be “repaired” or converted. My contribution was meagre, but what I heard was devastating. Because I wrote […]
Jul 9 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — In recent weeks, churches in Canada have been attacked, some of them destroyed. Most have been Roman Catholic, but some were Anglican, which is the denomination in which I’m an ordained cleric. This has all happened since mass unmarked graves of Indigenous children were found on the grounds of former residential schools, which were often […]
Jun 30 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — I came to this country from Britain in 1987, when I married a Canadian. The English have for many years not been particularly explicit about their public patriotism, and a too enthusiastic waving of the flag or singing of certain songs is considered just a little too close to doubtful politics. Soccer and beer might […]
Jun 3 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — The horror of the remains of 215 children being found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School has opened, or reopened, a wound in Canadian society. It’s reminded us of the birth defect in this country’s history, the cultural genocide of Indigenous people. So many are responsible. The state, the settler mentality, the colonial culture, the […]
May 28 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — According to the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, the remains of 215 children have been found in the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. It’s grotesque, heartbreaking but — if we’re honest — not completely surprising. As we peel away the layers of lies and myths surrounding the treatment of Indigenous people in […]
Apr 23 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — It was only a matter of time before the absurd remarks of Conservative MP Tamara Jansen went viral on social media, and it was entirely justified. Addressing a Liberal bill aimed at criminalizing conversion therapy, the MP for the B.C. riding of Cloverdale—Langley City said, “I’m going to invoke the words of the Apostle Matthew: […]
Apr 9 2021 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — I grew up with Prince Philip. Not, of course, in a literal sense. But being born in Britain in 1959, the Royal Family was as much a part of communal life as the BBC and football. He was part of the fabric of daily life, an adjunct of the monarch who was, in an implicit […]
Mar 15 2021 — Michael Coren — Toronto Star — In a deeply disappointing and upsetting declaration, the Vatican has just issued a new statement that the Roman Catholic Church will not bless same-sex unions, because, they believe that such partnerships are a “choice,” are sinful and “cannot be recognized as objectively ordered” to God’s plans. It goes on, “The blessing of homosexual unions cannot […]
Feb 25 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — Establishments come; establishments go. That’s the nature of the beast. What remains constant is that every institution, every culture, has one. In the case of the Conservative Party of Canada, that establishment may be experiencing some radical changes. Four well-known and influential party activists — James Dodds, chair of Conservative Fund Canada; former chair Irving […]
Feb 22 2021 — Michael Coren — iPolitics — One has to admire Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole. Whenever he has the opportunity, he tells us he’s intent on making his party modern and progressive, and that he simply will not tolerate any form of extremism or fanaticism in its ranks. Problem is, the Conservative base in Canada contains a number of extremists and fanatics, […]
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, […]