“The Pontiff spoke at St. Peter’s Basilica in March, 2000, in the great confessional tradition of the faith. But why say sorry for the Crusades between the 11th and 13th century? The Muslims had taken Jerusalem in 638, and it was in the spirit of the times for Christians to try to take it back. To me it seemed the Church needed to apologize for the Crusades no more than Islam would need to apologize for the conquests of the Ottoman Empire. (No fear, by the way, of it ever occurring to Islam to apologize.)
(…)
“A prime minister for our times would recognize that, while he’s saying sorry for residential schools, his entire country is being turned into a residential school. He’d notice the censorious state’s intrusions into contemporary life under the pretext of ‘public hygiene’ or ‘human rights.; He’d apologize for the cultural arrogance of Canada’s hate- or health-police trying to tell editors what to put into their periodicals, clergymen into their sermons or parents into their mouths.
“What about it, Mr. Harper? You’re Prime Minister — any interest in being a great one? Now that you’ve tackled the social engineers of yesterday, will you take on today’s [expletive deleted]?”
