Michael Coren

Michael Coren (born January 15, 1959 in Essex, England) is a Canadian columnist, author, public speaker, radio host and television talk show host. He is an alumnus of Nottingham University, where he studied Politics, and is the host of the television series The Michael Coren Show. He has also been a long-time radio personality, particularly on CFRB radio. He lives in Toronto, outside Toronto, with his wife Bernadette, who is a professor of philosophy at Humber College. They have four children.

Career in Canadian media

Coren moved from the UK to Canada in 1987. For several years, he was a columnist for Frank and then The Globe and Mail, before he began syndicated columns for the Financial Post and Sun Media in 1995. Following his departure from Frank, he became a favourite target of that publication, culminating in a spoof ad contest to "deflower" Michael Coren (a nod to Frank's notorious "Deflower Caroline Mulroney" contest, and a satirical jab at Coren's conservative leanings.) Coren had also been a favorite target of Frank back in the days before he began writing for them.

His career as a broadcaster began in the early 1990s when he co-hosted a political debate segment with Irshad Manji on TVOntario's Studio 2. In 1995, he began an evening talk show on CFRB. In 1999, Coren briefly moved to Talk 640 for a short stint as its morning man. He returned to CFRB, where he hosted a show from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. weekday nights, and regularly filled in for other hosts until November 2005. Coren was dismissed by CFRB as a result of complaints arising from comments ridiculing the weight of an apparent guest. In fact, the guest was an actor and the segment was scripted. According to CFRB's Operations Manager, Steve Kowch, "Pat Holiday, our general manager and myself went through the tape of Monday night's show and were shocked....it was totally out of bounds." Coren argues that it was a satire comparing in his mind public attitude to third world starvation with North America's obsession with slimming and self-indulgence. After moving to North America Coren gained one hundred pounds, but claims to have "lost it very quickly".

Despite this acrimonious termination, Coren made regular talk show appearances on CFRB in July 2006, at the start of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, as he happened to be in Israel at the time. After receiving 60% approval from CFRB listeners in an August 2006 poll, Coren returned to the CFRB airwaves in September 2006 with a Sunday evening show. As of the 22nd of April 2007, the show expanded from its usual 1 hour 7-8pm to 7-9 pm. Coren celebrated by giving away double the prizes usually given out. In the fall of 2007 he and former Liberal Party of Canada president Stephen LeDrew launched a daily hour-long afternoon show on CFRB called Two Bald Guys With Strong Opinions in which the two argue about the issues of the day.

On television, Coren hosts The Michael Coren Show weeknights on Crossroads Television Services, and is published every Saturday in the Sun newspaper chain. He is also a columnist for the Western Standard, Catholic Insight and The Women's Post and writes regularly for the National Post, Reader's Digest and several other publications. He is also a public speaker, particularly at religious gatherings.

Political controversies

Cohen drew some criticism from Pagan groups for an August 2, 2003 article in which he expressed displeasure with the decision to allow tax-funded Wiccan chaplains to work in Canadian prisons.

He is staunchly pro-life and has a reputation as a social conservative. Unlike many of his conservative counterparts, he opposed the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.He wrote "A baby is a separate being, accepted by science as being unique at conception. It has its own distinct DNA, its own genomic character."

In September 2006, Coren published an article in the Toronto Sun, supporting the use of nuclear strikes against Iran while acknowledging that this would cause the deaths of civilians. This position was later retracted.

In an article in the Sun on May 22, 2007 Michael Coren equated homosexuality with necrophilia and bestiality.On the subject of AIDS Michael Coren has said that "the majority of sufferers in North America contracted the disease through perverse sex."In keeping with this theme he wrote a column in 2006 titled "Why is AIDS so special?" in which he said "At its most simple, stop fornicating." "AIDS in the West is still overwhelmingly a threat to male homosexuals and intravenous drug users."He frequently refers to "the gay issue", but it's unclear what this means.

Michael Coren calls atheists "god-haters", or "liberal god-haters", and abortion clinics "abortuaries."

Michael Coren said that his father's family "escaped Poland shortly before the Holocaust."He has also said that his father's family emigrated from Poland in the 1890s.

Michael Coren wrote "The gene for Downs Syndrome was discovered by a man who thought it would help us prepare for Downs Syndrome babies and improve their lives."

Michael Coren wrote: "In Norway 80% of first-born babies are born out of wedlock. Even those who campaigned for gay marriage in this region are rethinking their positions."Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family appears to be the source of this false statistic. Norway has never had gay marriage.

Spirituality

His articles and speeches often include stories of his own personal spiritual journey. Coren's father was Jewish as was his maternal grandfather. His maternal grandmother was Welsh and converted to Judaism. His uncle was also Jewish, as is his sister and her family. Coren's father and uncle were cab drivers. Michael Coren was profiled on Credo, on Vision TV, and said that his father told him he could not attend his son's wedding in a Catholic Church without becoming "physically ill."

He converted to Roman Catholicism in his early twenties while still living in England, but that didn't last long. He eventually converted to Evangelical Christianity in the 1990s, after a conversion experience as an adult, greatly influenced by Canadian televangelist Terry Winter.

In early 2004, he embraced Catholicism again. This was his third and most recent conversion. He cites St. Thomas More, C.S. Lewis, Ronald Knox and his godfather Lord Longford as spiritual influences, but remains connected to the ecumenical scene in Canada and beyond. In 1991 Michael Coren described evangelical Christians as "intollerant, small minded, and repellent." In a 1993 book review he said "Can anyone imagine a detective priest? Regrettably, it is easier to conjure up the image of a priest being questioned by secular detectives over abuse charges." In 1993 Michael Coren had a falling out with the Catholic Church over an unflattering profile he wrote of Archbishop Aloysius Ambrozic for Toronto Life magazine. The Bishop was quoted using words like "friggin" and "bitch", and said that Francisco Franco was a "conservative Roman Catholic and not a bad fellow." Coren defended himself, saying "He's an archbishop and he was vulgar...obviously what thousands of Roman Catholics expected me to do was lie. I still get hate mail about the article." Afterwards, Coren said that he didn't consider himself a Roman Catholic anymore. He said "My wife is Catholic and the children will be raised Catholic, but that's it. It's just not there for me."

Published Books

Coren is the author of eleven books including works of social criticism and biographies of famous writers. His biographies include the lives of G. K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and C.S. Lewis. His books have been translated into fourteen languages. He is currently writing a book entitled Socon, A Handbook for Moral Conservatives.

External links

• Cloak and Dagger
• Michael Coren on CFRB
• Official site