by Judi McLeod
august 6, 2004
"God’s back--with a Vengeance" at the Couchiching Institute on Public affairs, billed as Canada’s largest, oldest and most influential public affairs forum.
Make that any God but the outcast Christian one.
In the view of some forum affairs, God cannot be back with a vengeance because he was never there.
In the first time religion was being addressed in the think tank’s 73-year history, it became a rallying cry for Muslims in Canada.
One of the greatest dangers facing the West is increased alienation among North american Muslims, says British historian and best-selling author Karen armstrong.
"Increasingly since 9/11, there’s a lot of hostility and some are saying they don’t have a place in the West. This is a huge opportunity lost."
armstrong, a former Catholic nun opened the annual conference near Orillia, Ont., on the same day that former President Bill Clinton was doing a walkabout on Toronto’s Bay Street, waving, shaking hands and signing copies of his book to a cheering crowd chanting his name.
Canada’s openness toward religious minorities and willingness to accommodate religious expressions is the way to go, armstrong said in an interview with the Toronto Star. "This is exciting".
There was no mention at the conference about the Liberal government’s recent move to ban the bible from its citizenship ceremonies because Canada is primarily a "multicultural country", or about Canadian Immigration Minister Judy Sgro’s recent edict that churches no longer will be able to provide sanctuary for immigrants.
Speakers at the public affairs forum read like a Who’s Who of the left. Included in this year’s roster are Peter Beyer, University of Ottawa Professor of Religious Studies, whose publications include Religion and Globalization (Sage, 1994) and Religion in the Process of Globalization (Ergon, 2001).
Robert Buckman, President of the Humanist association of Canada will address the forum, which winds up on aug. 8. Canada recently granted the humanist movement charitable status.
Luis E. Lugo, who became Director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in January, 2004 and who continues to serve as the director of the Religion Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia, a position he has held since 1997, is in attendance.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) correspondent Patrick Graham, a freelance writer now living in Baghdad was to make the closing address.
If "God’s back--with a Vengeance" at this year’s forum, last year it was devil of the right, Hollywood actor Ed asner.
In a panel discussion on national cultural identity, the actor said of fellow americans, "We are pigs."
"It (the Couchiching gathering) purportedly brings people together to discuss vital public policy issues of the day," wrote The Left Coast Report’s James Hirsen. "This, of course, makes aging left-wing Hollywood actors mandatory participants."
asner, who had been complaining about the loss of jobs in the Los angeles area, placed the blame for a myriad of society’s tribulations on the Left’s whipping boy: evil corporations.
"It’s to your credit that you do that for your country," he said. "We don’t do a damned thing in our country, because we are pigs."
Meanwhile, don’t go looking for God at Couchiching. You’ll have more luck finding fairies in Orillia’s cornfields.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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