Darwin & Pope Share Air time on my Latest Encounter on the Michael Coren Show
May 11, 2009
Justin Trottier blogs about his experience on the Michael Coren Show:
Last week’s “Faith Matters” panel on the Michael Coren Show was interesting, as it was the first time Coren actually turned to me halfway through the show and asked me to pick the next topic from the usually lengthy list of news items to discuss. I of course had to clarify the old story Pro-Darwin Motion Fails in Parliament. The motion, which was reported to have failed to achieve unanimous consent by the House stated:
That this House recognizes the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, the book which initiated the theory of evolution, the only scientifically-proven and recognized explanation of the origins of the human being.
That much was easy. MacLeans had done a fair job of clarifying their report in a follow up UPDATE: About those Darwin Day deniers in the House … where the blogger reports that:
But last night, ITQ [some source] was chatting with a Tory staffer who shall remain nameless who pointed out that caucus members are instructed to deny consent to any motion for unanimous consent put forward by an opposition MP, regardless of the content, unless the fact that there is all party agreement is stated up front.
So it seems it was a procedural failure rather than one of substantial content. Much of the rest of this episode was devoted to the Pope whose activities since taking office seem as busy as President Obama’s.
First on the agenda - Pope expresses sorrow over suffering and abuse at residential schools. For those unfamiliar with what this is referring to, here’s some background courtesy of our friend wikipedia:
Funded under the Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of the federal government, the schools were run by churches of various denominations — about sixty per cent by Roman Catholics, and thirty per cent by the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, along with its pre-1925 predecessors, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches.
The attempt to force assimilation involved punishing children for speaking their own languages or practicing their own faiths, leading to allegations in the 20th century of cultural genocide and ethnocide. There was widespread physical and sexual abuse. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a lack of medical care led to high rates of tuberculosis, and death rates of up to 69 percent. Details of the mistreatment of students had been published numerous times throughout the 20th century, but following the closure of the schools in the 1960s, the work of indigenous activists and historians led to a change in the public perception of the residential school system, as well as official government apologies, and a (controversial) legal settlement.
The only problem is the Pope didn’t actually apologize. Prime Minister Harper apologized, several times, to several different groups that were effected by this tragedy. Other churches that were involved issued formal apologies, such as the United Church of Canada (in 1998), the Anglican Church (in 1993) and the Presbyterian Church (in 1994). It took the Catholic Church, which ran 3/4 of the schools, until 2009 to issue an expression of “sorrow.” That’s just not good enough. Hereditary Chief Bill Wilson noticed, as reported in the above story:
But Hereditary Chief Bill Wilson said Wednesday he was angry the Pope did not take direct responsibility for the harm caused by the residential schools experience.
“There is no apology,” said Wilson from Musgamagw Band in northern Vancouver Island. “He says he has great sorrow. Well, it’s one thing to have sorrow for tragedies that happened in the world. It’s quite another thing to accept responsibility for causing them. And the Catholic Church caused a great deal of misery and suffering in this country. And it’s not apologizing for anybody.”
In any case, this topic quickly derailed into a discussion on whether churches should be given special charity status, and ultimately whether atheists can ground their morals (doesn’t it always come down to that?).
The Pope - and other Catholic church defenders like the Catholic League - aren’t too thrilled about the release of the film Angels & Demons either, but that will have to wait for a future post.