Charles McVety Embarrasses Christians Everywhere

Image courtesy Bouquets of Gray.

Speaking as a Christian, I just want to say that I am embarrassed that social conservatives like Charles McVety claim to represent who I am and what I believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, I have integrity, and I don’t try to deceive people.

Over a month ago, there was a mild controversy when Dr. Morgantaler, an individual who was at the heart of the abortion debate almost twenty years ago, was granted an Order of Canada, one of the highest honours this nation can bestow. I say there was a mild controversy because, even though the appointment did generate some headlines, and a few individuals returned (or claimed to have returned) their awards in protest, most Canadians, pro-life and pro-choice alike, just shrugged their shoulders and moved on.

But people like McVety have problems moving on, it seems. After a month of fruitlessly trying to maintain attention over the Morgantaler award, a group of 42 “conservative Christian” organizations filed a formal complaint against Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLachlin, asking for her to be removed from her post. Justice McLachlin is said to be one of the individuals who succeeded in granting Dr. Morgantaler his honour.

Not one conservative Christian group! Not two! Forty-two! Count ‘em! Forty-two!. Much was made of this number, to suggest a broad, grassroots support for this action against the Supreme Court Justice. Forty-two groups stood up to say, “no!”

Or… make that 39:

if you look you’ll find “David Murrell, Phd, UNB, Economics” — who is clearly not a group, but an individual.

And some of those listed aren’t groups, but private businesses. Consider these three:

• A.J. Slinger Service
• Can Am Fabricating and Welding
• Can American Stone Spreader

That’s not all. If you click on the links you’ll see that these three businesses share the same address: 156 Berryman Ave, St. Catharines. Presumably this is one pro-life business owner.

(link)

Or is that 38?

The same point can probably be made about this pair, which are 22nd and 23rd in the list.

• Eternally Yours Radio and Telecast Ministry
• Eternity Club.

Or is that 36:

Among Rushfeld’s … socially conservative groups demanding that Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLachlin be dismissed are these three (they are 8th, 24th, and 25th in the list):

• Canada Christian College
• Evangelical Association
• Institute for Canadian Values.

Canada Christian College is an evangelical bible college and seminary (wikipedia article [here]). The college and its president, Charles McVety, have been at the vanguard of the social conservative movement in recent years. The College is located in Toronto at 50 Gervais Drive, and its phone number is 416-391-5000.

The Evangelical Association, as you can see if you follow the link, is a credentialing organization directed by Rondo Thomas, who is VP of Student Affairs at Canada Christian College. For $50 per year and a processing fee, you can be ordained or licensed as a pastor, provided you are of good moral character and either have a theological education or are open to classes at the Canada Christian College. The Association’s address is 50 Gervais Drive, Don Mills, Toronto, and its phone number is 416-391-5000.

If you follow the link for The Institute for Canadian Values, you’ll see that it has the same address (50 Gervais) and same phone number (391-5000) as the CCC and Evangelical Association. In addition, the president of the ICV is Charles McVety, president of CCC.

To make a long story short, the blogger Bouquets of Gray has so far whittled the list of 42 groups down to 25, by identifying wanton duplication, largely of Charles McVety’s own sock-puppet organizations.

You know, I get that McVety and his friends are offended by Morgantaler’s Order of Canada honour. And I suppose they are as free as anybody else to stand up and demand that a Supreme Court Justice be removed because of it. But if they had stood up with their group of 25 and spoken, they would have had somewhat more credibility than what they’ve done, which is pretend to be larger than who they are, speaking for more people than they actually do.

This isn’t the first time that McVety has engaged in practises that one might term deceptive. During the Same Sex Marriage debate, a tactic he used was to purchase open domain names containing the names of MPs who were in support of the idea, and pointing those domains to his own website. I’m sensing a pattern, here. I would have thought that to be Christian would be not to act deceitfully, but McVety doesn’t seem to believe that such Christian invocations apply to him.

Speaking as a Christian, I just wish that McVety would either engage in the political debate honestly, or shut up. He makes a mockery of the Christian values he claims to uphold and embarrasses true Christians everywhere.

And, yes, I am ultimately speaking for myself. However, I do suspect that I’m far from alone in thinking this.

I Kick Butt, Apparently

I’ve been tagged by Chet Scoville who believes that my blog kicks… uh… butt, apparently. Here’s the rules of the meme:

• Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
• Let ‘em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they’ve received an award
• Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to www.mammadawg.com
• Hop on back to the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Many thanks, Chet. I do my best, though I do find I’m not waxing political as I once was. Now, for my picks of who I think kicks butt…

• Dave at Blogography. He’s a strange combination: he’s a nice guy, and interesting. Mostly because he takes no prisoners when he confronts the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. He kicks the butts we’d all like to see kicked.
• Kate at The Last Amazon. I disagree strongly with some of her politics, especially with regard to Israel, but there is no doubting the passion behind her philosophy. She also engages you honestly, so that you’re free to agree to disagree. Expect to disagree.
• Calgary Grit. Quite possibly the most even-handed partisan in the blogosphere. When he kicks butt, he doesn’t care if some of the butts he kicks are Liberal. But he does it all with a smile.
• Angry French Guy. Here’s somebody else I don’t agree with, but it’s got to be rare to see a Quebec separatist engage his audience in English. If you want to see what one member of the other side things (and it’s remarkably coherent), go here.
• Finally, no list of butt kickers could be complete without a nod to the Canadian Cynic. I don’t always approve of the language, and I’m sometimes intimidated by the passion, but if you want a good butt kicking, here’s where you’ll find it.
• And as Canadian Cynic has already been linked to, I’ll add Conservative Raphael Alexander’s blog, Unambiguously Ambidextrous. I don’t always agree with him, but he also doesn’t care if the butt he kicks is his own… I mean, his own party’s.

Now, off you go Internet Meme. Fly, Meme! Fly!