• The religious right is again in a tizzy over the resuscitation of a controversial Brampton municipal policy that could threaten tax-exempt status for large churches. The local Harvest Worship Centre is leading the opposition and has drawn out most of the usual suspects in its support, including the Canada Family Action Coalition and Equipping Christians for the Public. ECP’s No Apologies blog has some of the details.

• The government of Alberta is undergoing a controversial review of the list of medical services it funds for residents of the province, including the recent (now postponed) decision to remove sex-change operations from the list. The Association for Reformed Political Action, an organization headed by Trinity Western alumnus, former Focus on the Family researcher and Conservative Party intern Mark Penninga, is pushing the government to remove funding for abortions, too.

• The city of Sarnia, Ontario, will review its transit advertising policies after St. Francis Xavier student Miranda Domingue submitted a complaint about a pro-life bus ad suggesting that more should be done to outlaw abortions.

• Montreal Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte has courageously stepped into a minefield by breaking with church policy and informing Le Devoir that abortions might be defensible “in certain cases.”

BD here. Thanks to Rick Hiebert of The Shotgun and Richard Bartholmew at Talk2Action.

Rick Hiebert:

My own reaction, as a so-con, would be more along the lines of “Canada’s religious right has a presence in Ottawa? They actually have some influence? If only that were so!”

However, I also wish them Godspeed too. Religion is newsworthy, and so often it is not covered in the Canadian media, or covered only superficially. Canada’s “religious right” does share some similarities with their cousins in the U.S., but there are some significant differences too. If you are an editor, you can’t just plug an American story into your newspaper and assume that you have automatically covered what is happening in Canada. We need to report on what is happening here too.

Richard Bartholomew:

(Religious Right Alert is)…a site that looks impressive, user-friendly, intelligent, and informative. As the religious right continues to globalize and adapt to new conditions and circumstances, Religious Right Alert promises to be a significant resource for critical investigation.

Thanks heaps to our technical set up team – Prairie Fusion and cre8d-design. They speak the language which gives us voice.