Culture

  • The Bastard of Irony

    Words matter—just ask Paula Dean—yet we speak them without thinking from dawn to dusk. Collectively, though, they create our world, shape our imaginations, and uplift or wound those around us. The Bible has much to say about words and their importance. From Scripture we might wonder if there is anything more powerful in the universe.

    Urban Dictionary: Snark (noun)—combination of "snide" and "remark." Sarcastic comment(s). Also snarky (adjective) and snarkily (adverb).

    Words matter—just ask Paula Dean—yet we speak them without thinking from dawn to dusk. Collectively, tho...

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  • On Good Data & Bad Ideas

    In late June, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a report titled "Canada's Changing Religious Landscape." It provides an excellent overview of Statistics Canada data on religious identification and service attendance spanning the 1980s through 2011, complete with many high-calibre charts and tables. What is less helpful is the report's central focus on a few select trends that are not favourable to Christianity, resulting in a very truncated picture of Canada's changing religious landscape that minimizes the ongoing importance of Catholicism and Protestantism.

    Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from Bibby's full-length reflection in the current issue of Convivium. Buy the PDF or printed version now: https://www.cardus.ca/store/4001/.

    In late ...

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  • Tread Lightly and Carry a Big Dream

    I wholeheartedly agree that this is not an either/or scenario. However, acting locally—that is, in a particular place and time—should not be misconstrued as dreaming small.

    Last week on the Cardus blog, Jamie Smith's look at the rising generation whose local acts of kindness may, in some instances, signal a retreat from the more "macro" tasks of civi...

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  • Power and Common Good: Squaring the Smiths

    Over on the Slow Church blog, Christopher Smith objects to Jamie's arguments (admitting his Anabaptist political theology predisposes him not to vote) by describing how active civil society engagement can accomplish great things and that the slow, local approach that Jamie critiques as inadequate may, with God's blessing, achieve great things while avoiding the culture war narrative, with its inherent temptations and dangers.

    Wednesday's blog Knitting While Detroit Burns? by Jamie Smith has started some useful conversations. The road for faithful Christian public engagement has two ditches and Jamie wa...

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  • Knitting While Detroit Burns?

    But one could also worry that we're confusing humility with retreat. Eschewing triumphalism shouldn't be confused with abandoning aspirations for large-scale systemic change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    A generation of younger evangelicals are still reeling from the misguided triumphalism of a generation past. Having watched their parents confidently seek to "transform" culture, only to see some of them end up as evangelistic shills for crony capitalism an...

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  • An Assault on Cynicism

    Almost bereft, but not entirely. We have the good fortune, after all, to live at a time when Joseph Epstein is writing essays that are superabundant with bon mots, rich with wisenheimerisms and, above all, serving up series of sentences confined to a single topic that are masterpieces of the writer's craft. For those not familiar with Epstein, his Essays in Biography is a wonderful place to start. Suffice it to say that the workmanship is of such superior quality that it passed muster even with that intellectual and literary arc welder Rex Murphy, who recommends it be read cover to cover.

    Paragraphs achieve greatness when they reach beyond their immediate subject to touch the wider world. It may explain why we live in an age awash with throwaway one-liners but almost bereft of enduring thought.

    Almost bereft, but not entirely. We have...

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  • Who's to Blame?

    I have been both impressed and disturbed by the disparate reactions to these tragedies. On the one hand, the people of Calgary and High River appeared to pull together to overcome the tragedy that befell them. Politicians, businesses and ordinary people helped friend and stranger alike, and while the work of rebuilding has only just begun, I was touched by the spirit of cooperation.

    This summer has been a time of immense tragedy. From massive floods that destroyed house and home in Alberta and parts of Toronto, to the surreal Lac Mégantic train crash that is the stuff of Hollywood movies, Canadians have experienced their share of trage...

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  • No Class

    Some think these changes will significantly transform our politics. Justin Trudeau won the Liberal leadership this spring promising a new deal for the middle class. The thinking is that success for Trudeau is dependent on renewing a sense of hope and optimism regarding Canadian prospects. The NDP under Thomas Mulcair, on the other hand, with their historic affiliations to the union movement stand to benefit from increased numbers thinking of themselves as working class or poor.

    Ekos pollster Paul Adams has noted how Canadian sense of class identity has been changing in recent years. Historically, Canadian politics has divided more along regio...

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  • Setting Down Roots...or Not

    Reader's heart-strings were plucked by the trio's plight as they agonize over their inability to purchase real estate on the upscale West side, where even modest bungalows sell for $1 million-plus. "The challenge is to set down roots in the city you grew up in," The Globe quoted Vancouver urban planner Andrew Yan.

    The Globe and Mail's Report on Business carried a sob story this week about three 20-something Vancouverites who can't a...

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  • "Ring of Fire" Re-Kindling Northern Challenges

    The discovery of valuable minerals in the so-called "Ring of Fire" in Northern Ontario has brought discussion of these social challenges to the fore once again. The Ring of Fire, discovered in the early 2000s, has been estimated to contain between $30 billion and $50 billion worth of mineral deposits. This land, currently in early development, is expected to produce between 3,600 direct and 4,500 indirect jobs. The Ring of Fire has the potential to be a catalyst of socio-economic development among nearby Aboriginal communities.

    When the northern Ontario Aboriginal community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency in 2011 because its houses were falling apart, it was analogous to the social state of emergency tha...

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  • True Patriot Love

    On this fourth of July, our American friends are celebrating 237 years of their founding fathers declaration of independence from the "tyranny of repeated injuries and usurptions" that King George III had imposed on the colonies, declaring that "they are also absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown." As a loyal subject of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, (we share her with 15 other countries including Great Britian), I suppose the red, white, and blue bunting that decorates the parades, fireworks, and concerts south of the 49th today should provoke resentment but this isn't the case.

    I will confess to being among the 86% of Albertans who experience "an upwelling of emotion when singing" the Canadian national anthem...

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  • The Extraordinary Ordinariness

    In a lovely, reflective article by Charles McGrath, who identifies himself as Munro's first editor at the New Yorker Magazine in the 1970s, Munro confirms that a lifetime of short story writing has come to an end. It is astonishing, of course, to think of Alice Munro turning 82. Writing that endures seems to confer on the writer not just extended literary mortality but also an exemption from normal human passage.

    One of the small, quiet, but deeply meaningful stories on Canada Day was the news in the New York Times that Alice Munro will write no m...

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  • Socialist Acts?

    I've read The Communist Manifesto, large chunks of Capital, and a bunch of other Marxist material, and compared to the power of the Holy Ghost, the spectre of communism looks like Caspar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    The book of Acts does not condone or command socialism because socialism didn't exist in the first century. Socialism is an ideology that arose in response to the social problems brought about by the industrial revolution; the Apostles were preaching the go...

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  • Where is the Video?

    It is this: where is the video? In either its short or long form, the only answer to date—i.e. we don't have a clue—is unacceptable.

    There is a very short question that has deeply serious long-term implications for Canada's democratic life.

    It is this: where is the video?

    The slightly longer version of the question, perhaps necessary for those who have been away building th...

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  • Sensible Common Sense

    We have a federal government that is frequently at odds with experts in policy decisions: replacing a mandatory census with a voluntary one at the objection of statisticians; putting more petty criminals in jail to the chagrin of criminologists; reducing the GST even though economists say it is bad policy; and investing less in research, resulting in an exodus of PHDs to the U.S. in an increasingly knowledge-based economy. To be fair, there are cases where the government puts forth an evidence-based policy, such as the federal government's aboriginal property ownership plans. But this seems to be less and less the case.

    The phrase "common sense" has become ubiquitous in our culture.  This phrase implies that whatever is the most widely-held belief is the most correct.  In many cases, common-held knowledge is correct, but in Canada I believe our politicians have often based...

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  • When Democracy Loses its Moral Authority

    "Harper government had to know $90,000 payment to senator crossed all sorts of ethical red lines"—May 20, 2013 Andrew Coyne column. "Alleged Rob Ford video raises ethical dilemma"—May 20, 2013 Global News report.

    "Hard to believe Obama's claims of ignorance in IRS Scandal"—May 20, 2013 Fox News headline.

    "Harper government had to know $90,000 payment...

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  • Le Parti Moustique

    If you were ever in doubt about the heights of lunacy which governments committed to a high-modern conception of secularism  can reach,  I present to you Exhibit A of the latest valiant effort from Le Parti Moustique.

    The Parti Quebecois used to stand for something. These days it seems to take its policy cues from mosquitoes. Its preferred method of governance is to buzz loudly, annoy anyone within range, suck the life out of Quebec, cause welts across the country, and l...

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  • Conrad Black and Crossing Toward Truth

    At our Cardus Convivium dinner last week in Calgary, where Black was the marquee attraction, he asserted, responding to a question, his innocence in the criminal case brought against him by the U.S. government. Just as stoutly, he insisted, digressing while answering a different question from Father de Souza, that his ill fortune be placed in proper context. He said:

    Conrad Black refuses to play the victim.

    At our Cardus Convivium dinner last week in Calgary, where Black was the marquee attraction, he asserted, responding to a question, his innocence in the criminal case brought against him by the U.S. gov...

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  • Contemplating "Realness"

    It is the rare being who can be fulfilled by the Descartian notion "I think, therefore I am".  Throughout time, we have chosen to see our image reflected via our possessions or our achievements. For my friend, her "realness" is inextricably linked to freedom. The freedom to live life on her own schedule, to walk without assistance, to make her own tea and toast.

    Her words have been on my mind since I saw her at breakfast. Seated on the verandah of her retirement home, in between sips of tea and nibbles of toast, she uttered a phrase that I had heard from her many times before: "I just want to be a real perso...

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  • A Goose on a Roof

    Not that she was fetishistically attentive to physical safety. On the contrary. Her nickname was Mimi Dreamie, earned from her habit of inhabiting imaginary spaces while running full tilt into very real trees and other large, hard, plainly visible objects. On a particular occasion in Calgary, we were running through the neighborhood of Elbow Park and I was cajoling her to try to keep an even pace when I realized she had stopped in her tracks at a street corner half a block behind me.

    My daughter was not quite yet an adolescent when she taught me the importance of running with eyes wide open.

    Not that she was fetishistically attentive to physical safety. On the contrary. Her nickname was Mimi Dreamie, earned from her habit of inha...

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  • Can Ethics be Taught?

    But if trust in our economic system cannot be created by legislation and regulation, then how is it created? As the conversation continued, the role of other institutions came into focus. The role of business schools in teaching ethics was especially highlighted. But again, the contradiction quickly became evident.

    Last week, Cardus sponsored a conversation involving Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Rotman School of Business Dean Roger Martin and Convivium Editor Father Raymond de Souza on the subject of "Banking, Trust, and the Culture of Capitalism." All ...

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  • Reasonable Accommodation in Reverse

    It is time, therefore, for religious communities to take a hard look at reasonable accommodation in reverse: not just as a "rights" flag to wave from our foxholes, but as a productive push for social and cultural conversation, and accommodation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Religious freedom is making bigger and bigger waves in the stormy seas of Canadian politics of late. It's not just that an Ambassador was appointed in February, although that's a fair hat tip to certain concerned constituencies. There also seems to be a ris...

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  • Three Cheers for Motion 382

    As I've said elsewhere, the measure of efforts like the Office of Religious Freedom will be not just the work of religious freedom, important as that is, but the inroads it can make into cultivating religious literacy generally in foreign affairs. If it's God's Century, as the academics and the pundits say, we have a lot of catching up to do.

    In the world of parliamentary business, motions of commitment and encouragement can get lost under the weight of debate and controversy surrounding more binding efforts. But in politics, governance culture can be everything, and yesterday in the House of Co...

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  • A Quiet Battle in an Echo-ocracy

    "Help is needed to support a young girl who was recently rescued from human traffickers. She was bought and sold into the sex trade for nine years. Now she is free. She needs food, clothing, shelter, medicine, counseling, and rehabilitation. We would also like to provide her, when she is ready, funds for education courses to help her restore her life.

    As Ottawa's echo-ocracy worked itself into stage five incoherence over a backbench MP's motion on sex-selection abortion, the following words quietly appeared on another MP's website:

    "Help is needed to support a young girl who was recently ...

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