I'm proud to say Ezra Levant is a friend of mine. He is one of the foremost fighters on the Canadian scene for recovering fundamental civil rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. When publisher of the now defunct Western Standard, he was one of the few in North America who had the courage to reprint the famous Mohammed cartoons. For his trouble, he faced human rights complaints from a Calgary imam that he fought and won, but not without it costing about $100,000. Ezra is also quick to defend Christians who have been taking a beating in the public square, most recently the Catholic lay movement Opus Dei. Here's a link to Ezra's op ed in the National Post that shows how devastating a dose of good humor can be in the face of bigotry:
I have never told him this, but I was tremendously disappointed when I first met Monsignor Fred Dolan, the Canadian vicar of Opus Dei.
It was about six or seven years ago, around the time The Da Vinci Code was published, and frankly I was hoping that he would be a dark and conspiratorial figure — someone who would fit the words "ultraconservative" and "shadowy." I didn't quite want him to be an assassin, like the Opus Dei priest was in the book and film, but I surely wanted someone who was mysterious and secretive and powerful.
Like if the Pope had a CIA agent.
I admit it: I wanted an Opus Dei friend so I could shock the liberals in my life, and perhaps seem like I had a few exotic secrets of my own. And I thought it would be nice to have a friend who was more right wing than me.
To my regret, Msgr. Dolan is just a mild-mannered priest and worse, Opus Dei doesn't have any secret handshakes or midnight meetings. I don't want to sound lazy or selfish, but joining Opus Dei sure looks like a lot of do-goodery and just plain work (I asked Msgr. Dolan for a brochure and I read it carefully, even looking for hidden clues). I already had enough pro bono commitments and I didn't need any more. (As a Jew, I could join Opus Dei as an associate member).
I've stayed in touch with Msgr. Dolan since then and we're friendly. I admire his charity and his ecumenicalism. He sends me notes from time to time, about Passover or Holocaust remembrance, and he always asks when I'll be in Montreal again. In seven years, he's never tried to put the shadowy moves on me, and I'm starting to worry that he never will.
Pat Martin worries, too. Oh, does he worry.
Mr. Martin is the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. And his secret sources told him that Msgr. Dolan met with a dozen or so MPs in the Parliamentary dining room last week. (Actually, every MP received an invitation, and not even in invisible ink.)
Mr. Martin didn't attend. But he sought out reporters to tell them that Opus Dei members "give me the creeps."
That's fine, if rude. Though someone ought to tell Martin that The Da Vinci Code is not a documentary.
Though he is Jewish, Ezra is often the first to defend Christians who have faced discrimination or bigotry in Canada.
Related posts:
There you go, introducing us to another of your delightful friends. Based on your address book. my opinion of Canada is on the rise.