Obama, McCain & Canadian religious politics

[via Pulpit & Politics, HT: Bene Diction Blogs On]

Conscientious Objectors?

Right now in Canada there are two cases before the courts which pit the religious freedom of an individual against the law of the land. In the first, two BC parents who are Jehovah's Witnesses will go before the Supreme Court of British Columbia because three of their four surviving sextuplets were given blood transfusions against their wishes. The children were legally removed from their parent's care long enough for the transfusion to take place.

In the other case, a marriage commissioner here in Saskatchewan is being brought before a Human Rights Tribunal because he refused to perform a same-sex marriage. Orville Nichols, who is a Baptist, does not believe in same-sex marriage and refused to perform the ceremony even though as a marriage commissioner he is legally obligated to do so.

When does the religious freedom of the individual trump the law of the land? As a country, Canada has been known for it's tolerance. Sikh's who become members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are allowed to wear their turban instead of the standard RCMP head wear. The college I went to had a prayer room set aside so that Muslim students could fulfill their prayer obligations. But what about the two recent cases I outlined above, are we as a country guilty of selective tolerance?

[via The Headbanger Theologian]

Top Dog's The Underdog

I have to hand it to the party, Canadians love to root for an underdog and Liberals showed their true Canadian colours at this convention. Stephane Dion was the underdog from the moment that he launched his campaign – the fact that he pulled off a fourth ballot victory against the establishment frontrunner is nothing short of miraculous.

When it was all over Michael Ignatieff acted more gracious in defeat than we have ever seen. It’s pretty ironic that this experience, which has to rank up their as a personal worst for him, may in fact have been his finest moment in public life....

Dion is an enigma to most Canadians and that’s not such a bad thing. He takes over the Liberal party as a relative unknown and as a result people have pretty low expectations of the guy. This is a good position for a politician to be in, he really has nowhere to go but up.

At the end of the day though, watching Dion on stage, I couldn’t help but be amazed at his physical presence. The Liberals went into this convention with a host of choices. They could have gone with a battle-tested politician, a former athlete, a world famous academic or a food bank founder from the West; at the end of the day they choose the nerd.

That’s pretty Canadian.

[via Rick Mercer's Blog, HT: Kevin G Powell]