Religion

  • Personal, not private

    Personal, not private

    Ray Pennings

    February 23, 2012

    What was overlooked in much of the coverage, however, was what the policy demonstrated about our understanding (or lack thereof) of the connection between religion and the public good—and how that connection is often expressed through institutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    A few weeks back President Obama announced, and a few days later backtracked on, a policy requiring employers to pay for sterilization services and contraception (including the 'morning-after' pill considered by many pro-lifers to be a form of abortion) as ...

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  • Religion, and the CRTC's Paternalistic Leftover

    Religion, and the CRTC's Paternalistic Leftover

    Ray Pennings

    February 21, 2012

    Last week, the CRTC denied a request from Crossroads Television Systems (CTS) to amend its licence. Currently, Crossroads must provide at least 20 hours a week of "balanced programming" between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. CTS sought relief from that provision on economic grounds. It asked that its quota of "balance" be measured over the entire broadcast schedule rather than simply by prime time hours.

    Among the annoying foibles of our era is the tendency to forget the lessons of history. Even more annoying, however, is misusing them.

    Last week, the CRTC denied a request from Crossroads Telev...

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  • Vatican Foreign Policy Exposes Fault Lines Without, but also Within

    Vatican Foreign Policy Exposes Fault Lines Without, but also Within

    Robert Joustra

    February 17, 2012

    Vatican foreign policy has a unique position in the global economy: unlike other developed powers it has less of a stake in the maintenance of the financial architecture that led to crisis and disparity, and an increasing interest in reformation and renovation for the developing world. Catholics aren't as rich anymore, or not as rich as they used to be.

    The Vatican is caught between the rock of the rich and the hard place of the poor, and between the work of theology and political advocacy. Its ...

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  • Ignoring a Key Reason for the Decline of Unions

    Ignoring a Key Reason for the Decline of Unions

    Brian Dijkema

    February 16, 2012

    A discussion paper released by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications Energy and Paper Workers (CEP) suggests that unions are "fac[ing] an enormous and historic moment of truth." While Canadian unions are known for their overuse of hyperbole, the list of problems they themselves provide suggests the problem is genuine.

    Canada's unions are in trouble, but what is to be done?

    A discussion paper released by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications Energy and Paper Worke...

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  • Morning and midnight in Montreal

    Morning and midnight in Montreal

    Peter Stockland

    February 13, 2012

    So the crew at CBC Montreal's Daybreak deserve a break for missing a genuinely important discovery hidden in an otherwise banal report about a problem few knew existed and no one cares about anyway. Yet amid the, ummmm, utterly fascinating engineering details explaining precisely why the Metro is such a Hell pit, Daybreak's research turned up a clip from the early 1960s of then Mayor Jean Drapeau inaugurating the system.

    Even the best morning radio isn't meant to be the wakey-wakey equivalent of the evening CBC show Ideas, or similar thought-provoking programming.

    So the crew at CBC Montreal's Daybreak deserve a...

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  • The Vanity of Foxes

    The Vanity of Foxes

    Robert Joustra

    February 10, 2012

    Last fall, a stone's throw from Parliament Hill, Father Raymond de Souza made a case that launching journals, and writing and editing them, is the work of foxes. He didn't say foxes. But he did say it "requires a certain boldness of spirit. Another word for that is vanity. You can't be a columnist without being a little bit vain.

    Atop my bookshelf sits a stuffed hedgehog, in perpetual birthday euphoria, named Archilochus. Among the more fecund maxims of his namesake—a Greek poet of the seventh century B.C.—is the now famous: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big...

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  • The Repentance of Thieves and Murderers

    The Repentance of Thieves and Murderers

    Brian Dijkema

    February 9, 2012

    The long-time Cuban president is responsible for the dispossession of millions of dollars worth of land, cars, cash, and other material goods once held privately by Cubans. He is also responsible for the more heinous crime of dispossession of the dignity and lives of countless Cuban citizens. Hundreds of men and women endure squalid prison conditions because of his policies. Churches, trade unions, newspapers, political parties, free courts, and other green shoots of independence, pluralism, and liberty have been cut down to the nub or choked by Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and their geriatric posse of communist true believers. But rumour has it that Fidel is contemplating a return to his old faith. As with most news from Cuba, it's difficult to determine the veracity of these claims, but an Italian newspaper quotes his daughter Alina as saying, "Today he is more interested in the fate of his soul than the future of Cuba." Because while it might be true that he is more concerned for the state of his soul than for the future of Cuba, it is also true that a full reorientation of his soul towards God and his rejoining of God's church would be a tremendous development in the future of Cuba.

    Fidel Castro is a thief and a murderer. And he may be returning to Christianity.

    The long-time Cuban president is responsible for the dispossession of millions of dollars worth of land, cars, cash, and other material goods once held privately by Cuba...

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  • Change the record

    Change the record

    Ray Pennings

    February 8, 2012

    Officially, the meeting's purpose was "to re-connect with our Centre City faith-based organizations and to seek further feedback on The City's Centre City Plan." That plan, adopted by City Council in 2007, calls for the doubling of residential density in the downtown core, or 40,000 additional residents in the next thirty years. But it makes no mention and considers no consequences of the 26 faith institutions which currently are part of the city's downtown, as these two Cardus studies from 2010 and 2011 noted. Municipal consultations of this sort aren't typically well-attended, so officials were enthusiastically overwhelmed, although scrambling to accommodate, the assembled crowd. The evening began with a short formal presentation which combined into twenty minutes Municipal Planning 101, 125 years of Calgary official plans, and a summary of the most current Plan. I found it telling that the last long-range plan for the city core, approved in 1966, featured three priorities for the downtown: a walking mall (Stephen Avenue); a +15 system of walkways (the series of second level bridges which connects downtown office towers); and a C-Train system (the name given to Calgary's LRT transit). Anyone familiar with Calgary today will recognize these features, highlighting that while Official Plans never accurately predict the future, they have a powerful influence in shaping it.

    Last night, the City of Calgary convened a meeting with the city's faith communities. It's an inspiring case study on how Cardus tries to achieve its mission.

    Officially, the meeting's purpose was "to re-connect with our Centre City faith-based organ...

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  • Go Inquire About What is Written in this Book that has been Found

    Go Inquire About What is Written in this Book that has been Found

    Brian Dijkema

    January 18, 2012

    In the midst of this cleaning of cobwebs and repointing of masonry, the book of the law—the other cultural pillar of the people of Israel—is re-discovered. The accidental nature of the find reads like an event that occurs when one cleans the dusty attic of a grandparent who has stored odds and ends there for years. The king's secretary says, "The priest has given me a book" as if he hasn't a clue of its importance.

    There is a passage in the Old Testament book of Kings where the temple of God—the cultural centre of the people of Israel—is given a thorough cleaning and refurbishment after years of desecration and abuse.

    In the midst of this cleanin...

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  • How we think of religious freedom

    How we think of religious freedom

    Brian Dijkema

    January 12, 2012

    The irascible Gerald Caplan's article begins well. There is "much work for Canada to do" with regard to championing religious freedom. Caplan highlights a short list of religious persecutions, violence, and ignorance around the world, taking particular delight in a fight between monks wielding brooms in the church of the Nativity.

    Well, it didn't take long for articles about religion in the public square to make their way back into the news cycle. In the span of a week—in what must be the most bang for the buck ever seen by a government office with no staff, no structure, no plan, an...

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  • Beyond the Predictable

    Beyond the Predictable

    Ray Pennings

    January 4, 2012

    This is not to say such polls are meaningless. Canadians in an optimistic frame of mind are more likely to spend money and take risks than those in a pessimistic mood. Polls and predictions are significant not for the accuracy of what they say but for their effect on those who read them. When it comes to predicting what might shape the world in 2012, a wider lens is needed.

    After reading too many columns summarizing what was in 2011, predicting what might be in 2012, and explaining why the predictions made a year ago were not quite on the mark, I am more than ready to dismiss the entire exercise as a waste of energy. ...

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  • A Greeting Once Rich

    A Greeting Once Rich

    Peter Menzies

    December 23, 2011

    And it's not the Christians I'm worried about.

    I have been thinking a lot lately about the "war on Christmas" narrative that stems from the changes taking place in our culture. I'm moving towards the conclusion that the controversy is less illustrative of a declaration against something than it is a sur...

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  • Hope Against Those Who Have No Hope

    Hope Against Those Who Have No Hope

    Brian Dijkema

    December 22, 2011

    And while each of those deaths mean that scores of people around the world are bereaved, only a few deaths made it into the newspaper headlines this week. Three in particular—Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel, and Kim Jung-Il—have dominated the headlines.

    This week saw the demise of thousands of people around the world. The rough statistics, as I understand them, are that there are approximately 8.37 deaths per thousand people per year. That means that taking a very conservative world population of 6 billion...

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  • Living the Paradox

    Living the Paradox

    Ray Pennings

    December 21, 2011

    My wife and I recently attended the Calgary Philharmonic's presentation of Handel's Messiah. It was probably the twentieth or so time that we have attended a live performance, and the music is very familiar. But we both agreed that this particular rendition, under the direction of Baroque conductor Ivan Taurins, was perhaps the most compelling we have ever heard. I am no music critic, but the sometimes surprising places where the accompaniment was lighter than usual, allowing the voice to more dominantly carry the music, brought lyrical clarity to help me think about the words in ways I had not previously.

    He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: He hid not his face from shame and spitting.

     ...

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  • Veiled Interference in Freedom of Religion

    Veiled Interference in Freedom of Religion

    Ray Pennings

    December 14, 2011

    The issue is controversial, of course, due to the practice of certain Muslim women of wearing a niqab or burka in public. While Minister Kenney's edict sounds reasonable, as Peter Stockland noted in this space yesterday, the response of outrage to the announcement also sounds reasonable. Recognizing that freedom of religion is a greatly attacked freedom these days, I am usually inclined to bend over backwards to protect it, but here—in matters as basic to our citizenship as swearing public oaths, establishing identity, or witnessing at a trial—I think the state has a more reasonable argument, to ensure it functions properly. These essential processes in the state's functioning are part and parcel of the very package of freedoms that allow for the freedom of religion, which in my mind does allow for the wearing of religious head coverings on other occasions.

    For the record, I think Minister Jason Kenney is right in insisting that when taking the oath of citizenship, new Canadians are required to show their faces. He is quoted as saying, "The citizenship oath is a quintessentially public act. It is a public decl...

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  • The anvil on the cliff edge

    The anvil on the cliff edge

    Peter Stockland

    December 13, 2011

    The problem is, the response from Muslim women outraged by the edict seems just as reasonable. More, he said, the moment of swearing an oath to Canada requires a visible affirmation of the value of equality among all Canadians. In his eyes, and many Canadians would see it similarly, a veiled female face attests to the inequality of the woman who must live her life unseen by her fellow citizens.

    Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's edict ordering Muslim women to remove their veils while taking Canada's citizenship oath seem...

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  • The Joyful One

    The Joyful One

    Alissa Wilkinson

    December 12, 2011

    Why a pink candle for the third Sunday of Advent? Here's the beautiful reason.

    I discovered, as I was making sure I had my facts straight about the third Sunday of Advent, that it's known as the "joyful Sunday." Not only that: tradition dictates that the candle itself is pink, in contrast to the others, which are usually purple. (Now ...

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  • Another Evangelical Conspiracy, The Office of Religious Freedom

    Another Evangelical Conspiracy, The Office of Religious Freedom

    Robert Joustra

    December 9, 2011

    And of course there are plenty of reasons to be bitter at the government. Despite holding broad consultations (on the true breadth of which we have only their words of assurance), very little on this Office has been promoted or even talked about. There is, naturally, the indignation of religious communities and non-governmental associations that were not invited in these first rounds, upset partly because of the important appearance of inclusivity but mostly because they didn't get invited to the parties. This especially shouldn't surprise anyone at Amnesty International, given its recent and public exchanges with Minister Jason Kenney. Their invitation probably didn't get lost in the mail.

    The CBC seems to be alleging there is yet another evangelical conspiracy afoot, since Prime Minister Harper's government continues to disappoint conspiracy enth...

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  • Advent Peace

    Advent Peace

    Alissa Wilkinson

    December 5, 2011

    I was thinking about peace, especially the idea of "peace time"—that is, the time when there are no violent conflicts in which we're directly engaged.

    Yesterday was the second Sunday of Advent, and the candle we light that day stands for peace.

    I was thinking about peace, especially the idea of "peace time"—that is, the time when there are no violent conflicts in which we're directly engaged. To be...

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  • Foreign Affairs, Version 2.0?

    Foreign Affairs, Version 2.0?

    Robert Joustra

    November 25, 2011

    No longer. Moving Minister John Baird onto the Foreign Affairs file was a clear signal that the Conservative government was going to get more serious about foreign policy. If legacy issues weren't at stake, at least the prudential management of the slow, international economic collapse was bound to push this government global.

    At least, that's what The Mark is calling the political and bureaucratic churn on the Hill this Fall. For the Conservatives, foreign affairs has been a relatively straight forward series of policies in...

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  • Ireland and Quebec

    Ireland and Quebec

    Brian Dijkema

    November 24, 2011

    Clerical corruption and disastrous episcopal leadership have collided with rank political expediency and a rabidly anticlerical media to produce a perfect storm of ecclesiastical meltdown. The country whose constitution begins "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity . . ." is now thoroughly post-Christian.

    George Weigel has a fascinating article "On the Square" at First Things yesterday which surveys the the situation of the Catholic church in Ireland. In short, ...

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  • Brother Calvin

    Brother Calvin

    Ray Pennings

    November 15, 2011

    The handout described a 1985 encounter involving Farrakhan being transported on a wheel—"or what you would call an unidentified flying object"—to another planet, where the Honourable Elijah Muhammad told him about the plot and mandated him to warn the world. Farrakhan held a press conference, travelled to Tripoli to warn Gadhafi, and urged his followers to warn others.

    The day before Colonel Moammar Gadhafi was killed in Libya, I had a chat with a young man on an Ottawa street. This well-dressed fellow handed me a six-page, single-spaced "announcement" with the text of a 1989 missive by ...

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  • Is all foreign policy missiology?

    Is all foreign policy missiology?

    Robert Joustra

    November 9, 2011

    The secularization thesis was premature, though not impossible. It didn't just get the empirical data wrong, but it was based on a wrong-headed slate of assumptions. The most significant poor assumption is that secularism implies a morally and ontologically neutral way of understanding the world. So, then, I beg the question: is all foreign policy, all extension of statehood and state interests, really a kind of missiological projection of liberal moral order? Is liberal state building—schools, roads, markets—a work of conversion? Is, in fact, the work of secular foreign policy really not so secular at all, but a kind of evangelical mission to defend and transform the world into a Westphalian moral order? .

    God is back, or so the pundits say. The real question, though, is not whether or not God is back, by why we ever thought he went away.

    The secularization thesis was premature, though not impossible. It didn't just get the empirical data wrong, but it...

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