Lots to write about this week, so I have to be a little eclectic.
In Quebec a girl was told she couldn’t play soccer while wearing a hijab and the usual suspects screamed “Islamophobia.”
Actually there are two very simple solutions to this. The young lady must either remove the hijab, or she must not play soccer in that particular league. It’s called obeying the rules, and while you don’t have to like it, you do have to observe it.
The argument really stops there, but if you want more here goes. Wearing a burka is not a religious requirement as the Qur’an only demands modesty, but it is an outward symbol of a cultural statement, and in many ways it is more political than theological.
There are several forms of Islamic covering, but the hijab is the Muslim Brotherhood-prescribed version. Organized soccer does not allow political expression.
A hijab might cause an injury or might give the girl an unfair advantage when heading the ball, but that’s largely irrelevant.
Playing soccer is not a fundamental human right and religion does sometimes require sacrifices. Sorry dear, play somewhere else or do what Christians are always told and change with the times.
Oh, and just to do the irony thing, in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Afghanistan, where the hijab is compulsory, women have been killed for watching soccer, let alone playing it.
In the United States, the ever-shrinking Episcopalian Church — Anglicans with American accents — voted to ordain transgendered people. “Bless us Father Mother Father, for we have sinned.”
So many have left this church, as well as the Anglicans here and the Church of England in Britain, that it’s said there will soon be more ministers than congregants. Good Lord, pretty soon they’ll be more transgendered ministers than congregants!
At the United Nations, Iran was appointed to be a member of the international Arms Trade Treaty conference. Iran being, by the way, another one of those countries where women have been murdered for watching soccer. And boys executed for being homosexual, and transgendered people slaughtered.
But those good old Episcopalians still insist that Iran should be listened to and singled out as the cause for the region’s problems — yes, you’ve guessed it — Israel, where gays and transsexuals have full equality and anybody can watch soccer.
Back in Canada, there are still hardly any Liberals willing to openly declare their intention to fight for the party’s leadership. The most notable so far is Deborah Coyne, and if she’s notable, imagine how anonymous and bland the others are.
She’s best known, of course, for being the mother of one of Pierre Trudeau’s children. He wanted to remove the state from the nation’s bedrooms, while finding his way into Coyne’s. Pierre was 71 when his daughter was born. So he could father a child but, one assumes, not pick her up.
Coyne is no fool, so she must know she can’t win and she’s probably jockeying for position for when the Liberals form another government. Whoops! You’d be better off waiting for the Afghan women’s soccer team to win the World Cup. Or Episcopalians to fill their churches.
Michael is a weekly columnist with the Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg Sun newspapers, and in more than a dozen other daily and weekly newspapers across Canada. He is also a columnist for The Catholic Register, Catholic Insight, Catholic World Report, The Landowner, and The Interim. He also appears each Wednesday on Newstalk 1010 radio, and is a regular guest on networks as diverse as Russia Today and TVOntario.
He is the best-selling author of fourteen books, including biographies of G.K. Chesterton, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. He has contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography and several other anthologies. He is published in many countries and in more than a dozen languages. His last two books were on the best-seller list for more than ten weeks.
He has received several honorary doctorates and awards for his writing and broadcasting. In 2005 he won The Ed Murrow Award for Radio Broadcasting, in 2006 The RTNDA Radio Broadcasting Award, in 2007 the Communicator Award in Hollywood and in 2008 the Omni Award for his television show. In 2012 The Catholic Civil Rights League gave Coren the Archbishop Adam Exner Award for Catholic Excellence in Public Life, and in the same year he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for services to media. Michael Coren is a frequent speaker on a number of issues. Please visit the Public Speaking page for more details.
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