Religion

  • Advent Hope

    Corporately, we try to apply justice, responsibility, freedom, dignity, and community to the issues of today.

    A think tank that works from 2,000 years of Christian social thought spends most of its time on theoretical concepts. Corporately, we try to apply justice, responsibility, freedom, dignity, and community to the issues of today.

    The good news is, we s...

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  • Jumping out of the Private-Public Box

    In a recent column, Andrew Coyne made the case that MP Michael Chong’s recent bill in Canadian federal parliament appropriately seeks to regulate the internal affairs of a political party. And I grant Coyne's point: political parties are by definition political, and therefore the appropriate object of legislation governing political matters.

    "These are not church groups we are talking about. Political parties are not purely private organizations, of the kind who wish only to remain private, separate and apart from the public square. They are well-oiled machines for combat in the arena ...

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  • Seeking Empty Stomachs

    So, to those who prefer a calm stomach to one churned by the useless product of the day, allow me to offer an ancient prescription.

    There is nothing like a mass orgy of consumption to turn the stomach. And now that “Black Friday” has made its way into Canada, we’re in for regular bouts of November nausea.

    So, to those who prefer a calm stomach to one churned by the useless produc...

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  • Simon Says: Faith is Great for Business

    Max Weber credited the Protestant ethic with giving rise to capitalism. Now it sometimes seems as if it is the Buddhist ethic that is keeping capitalism going. The Protestants stressed rational calculation and self-restraint. The Buddhists stress the importance of "mindfulness"—taking time out from the hurly-burly of daily activities to relax and meditate. In today's corporate world you are more likely to hear about mindfulness than self-restraint. 

    When I read the headline "Western Capitalism is Looking for Inspiration in Eastern Mysticism" in The Economist...

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  • The Upside-Down Moral Economy

    Toronto mayor Rob Ford promised to end the gravy train at city hall, but no one imagined a train wreck like this.

    Editor's note: This piece was originally published on the blog of Phil Reinders: Squinch.net. Reinders is the senior pastor of Knox Presbyterian Church, Toronto, and author of Seeking...

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  • Allies or Enemies? I don't buy it

    Versions of this story continue to play out every day, and it seems as though Christians are obligated to land in one of two categories: allies or enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Many years ago, when I was president of a Christian student club at a secular school, a young man came through the door. He had a smattering of thoughtful questions for the group of friends in the room, but I could tell that something bigger was on his mind...

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  • After the Scrutiny, What Good Remains?

    But institutions of faith are hardly unique in showing concern about their employees' off-duty conduct, or their students' sexual behaviours. And employees (or students) at such institutions are hardly the only ones who agree to restrictions on their personal autonomy.

    Considerable ink has been spilled and breath expended over whether or not faith-based institutions (Loyola High School; Trinity Western ...

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  • Rasouli Case a Win for Patient Rights and Beliefs—And Cause for Concern

    The case dealt with the issue of consent to medical treatment and, in particular, whether or not doctors require consent from a patient's substitute decision maker to remove a patient—in this case, Hassan Rasouli—from life support when the doctor believes such support is futile. I acted as counsel to The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, one of the interveners in the case.

    Today, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Cuthbertson v. Raso...

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  • Pomp and Pluralism

    omp, pageantry, press, parliament, pandemonium! Throne speeches might be light on actual content, but they never fail to show that our political institutions—for all their failures—are worthy of respect and reflection.

    Pomp, pageantry, press, parliament, pandemonium! Throne speeches might be light on actual content, but they never fail to show that our political institutions—for all their failures—are worthy of respect and reflection.

    The pundits have had their say...

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  • Wendell Berry: Seeing the Earth as Sacrament

    Yet it would be years that I was first introduced to a writer who undertook the task of clearly articulating how a love of the creation could inform and be informed by a love of the creation and its Creator. This Kentucky farmer and man of letters, Wendell Berry, made real for me the complex interplay of religion, literature, and agriculture in informing a holistic way of life—in other words, towards shalom.

    In the Christian community in which I grew up, the common approach to the environmental movement was to see everyone involved in it as a left-wing, tree-hugging, pot-smoking, nature-worshipping, hippie wannabe...

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  • Diminishing Religion

    In presenting their initial cases, there was a surface amount of overlap between the two arguments. Both speakers (there were others on the panel, too, but I will narrow my summary) agreed that civic literacy required that students have an awareness of the various religions they will encounter in a multicultural society.

    Last week, as my colleague Peter made note of yesterday, McGill University hosted a conference prompted by the...

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  • What's Under the Hat

    And with a single word, the Queen's Counsel who has made his legal reputation lecturing in the country's law schools and arguing before the Supreme Court reduced the op-ed, talk show, and water cooler verbiage poured out over the Charter to so much mush. That he did, though his delivery of the overview while dressed in full kilted Scottish regalia hinted that something broader and deeper was in the works.

    [caption id="attachment_2427" align="aligncenter" width="236" caption="Photo: Peter Stockland"] ...

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  • Assisted Suicide for All?

    "Medical aid in dying." If that sounds like a euphemism, rest assured that it is. Bill 52 hearings are going on at Quebec's National Assembly from September 17 to October 10. The bill hopes to protect vulnerable people from pressure to die using four criteria. Patients must be of full age and "capable of giving consent to care." Secondly, their illness must be "incurable" and "serious." Thirdly, they must "suffer from an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability." And finally, they must be in "constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain, which cannot be relieved in a manner the person deems tolerable."

    Editor's Note: This article was originally published last week by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. Reprinted by kind permission. Follow the IMFC on ...

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  • Too Soon to Tell?

    I recalled this quote last Friday while listening to Dr. David Bebbington, the renowned University of Stirling historian. He was demonstrating how the role of religion in history is frequently miscast. Through a historical survey (grossly reduced here), he outlined how the seventeenth century is often defined by politics, the eighteenth by philosophy, the nineteenth by social reform, and the twentieth (in Britain, focusing especially on Ireland) by religious wars.

    Legend has it that Chinese Premier Chou En Lai, when asked if the French Revolution two hundred years earlier had been a success, told President Nixon in 1972 that it was too soon to tell.

    ...

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  • Christians in the Middle East: More than "Leaseholders"?

    But will Christian response repeat errors of the twentieth century, or aim instead for a more productive movement?

    The violence that has befallen Christians in Egypt is a crisis that threatens the most important bastion of the faith in the region. It falls on the heels of crises that have forced massive emigration of Christians from Iraq and the Palestinian territories ...

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  • A Double-Edged Sword

    Montreal itself—a beautiful and wealthy city—is in the heart of the province in Canada working hardest to move religion out of the public square and box it well into the private sphere.

    As I write this, I'm sitting in the McGill Faculty club in Montreal. McGill, of course, is the heart of the old evangelical establishment in Quebec, and it has plenty of wood paneling, paintings of men with mutton chops, and lovely crown molding to show for...

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  • Experiencing Every Square Inch of God's Theater

    Calvin described this world, moved by God's providence, as theatrum gloriae. For him, every aspect of life from work to worship and from art to technology bears the potential to glorify God (Institutes, 1.11.12). Creation is depicted as a platform for God's glory (1.14.20) or a "dazzling theater" (1.5.8; 2.6.1), displaying God's glorious works. Calvin viewed the first commandment as making it unlawful to steal "even a particle from this glory" (2.8.16). Such comments support Lloyd-Jones' later claim that for Calvin "the great central and all-important truth was the sovereignty of God and God's glory."What makes the theater image powerful?  It's the interaction between performers and audience. Every performance is unique as the audience responds to the actors who in turn are affected by the response. The lively dynamism shapes the experience.

    Last week's Comment interview reminded me of why I prefer John Calvin's metaphor of the world as the theater of God's glo...

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  • At Least Quebec Is Honest About It

    The most recent volley is from the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The OHRC is updating its policy on "creed," which has generally been considered to prevent discrimination on the basis of religion.

    "Separation of church and state" is an American concept, intended to protect the state from religious interference. It's not technically applicable in the Canadian context. But might it be time for religious institutions in this country to adopt the concept...

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  • Two Postcards from Canada's Switzerland

    A) Wisdom from friend and Convivium magazine contributor Alisha Ruiss: B) A recent walkabout reflects my building sense of bewilderment:

    Two postcards from Canada's Switzerland, where "neutrality" now means the Québec government will employ its monopoly on the use of force to knock all hats off all heads almost equally.

    A) Wisdom from friend and Convivium magazine con...

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  • Be Not Afraid: Prophecy in War-Time

    While fear may seem the only option, Doug Sikkema reflects on the work and life of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who used his last words to urge against being afraid.

    This article was first published in 2013 during the Syrian conflicts.

    If you've been sucked into the 24-hour news cycle lately, or ever, it might seem that fear and hopelessness are ...

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  • What Lies Beneath Public Discourse

    Yet we should be wary of the notion that legislation on scarves, stars, or crosses is the only place where questions of religion matter. There are many more aspects of political discourse and policy making that relate to people's deepest convictions.

    The Quebec government's infamous new "charter of values" has placed religion at the centre of our national political discourse. Even the proposed charter is dangerous and annoying, it shows...

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  • Talking Hell in Public

    I would be surprised if the social media commentators thought through the literal or theological implications of their hell references. They were simply using a cultural shorthand metaphor to communicate disgust at the indescribable crimes Castro committed. I share that disgust. However, the repeated reference to hell was jolting and made me wonder when, if at all, is it appropriate to talk about hell in public.

    Checking my social media feed last Wednesday morning was startling. "Hell's gates are opening" and "may he rot in hell" were just two of several similarly themed status updates. News had just broken of the suicide death of ...

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  • 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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