An American friend asked me if Canadians were watching the Supreme Court nomination process Brett M. Kavanaugh in September. The answer was yes, I said. Partly because, living so close to the U.S., news about...
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It was big news in Canada when the Supreme Court denied an appeal by Trinity Western University to have a decision against its law school overturned because of the university’s stance against...
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In 2016, shortly after being elected president of Mennonite World Review Inc., I reached out to Barth Hauge and Tobi Thiessen, board chairs of The Mennonite and Canadian Mennonite. I wanted to see if they were...
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My American friends have been apologizing for how their president is behaving on the international stage — castigating Canada, undermining NATO, praising dictators, starting trade wars. “This is not who we...
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A new book is out on the state of the church in Canada. The picture it paints is pretty grim. Called Leaving Christianity: Changing Allegiances in Canada Since 1945, the book by professors Brian Clarke and...
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Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2008, Canada has been wrestling with the legacy of its residential school system for indigenous children. The topic has fueled discussion in the...
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Earlier this year, the British government created a new portfolio called the Minister for Loneliness. The idea arose out of research that found about 9 million Britons are lonely. More than a third of older...
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Although I am Canadian, I’m a bit of a U.S. Civil War buff. For a long time I’ve been fascinated by that terrible war — how it started, the military strategies and campaigns, the lives of ordinary...
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“Why are evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics overrepresented among those who experience higher levels of guilt, regret and uncertainty in the face of impending death?” That’s a question a...
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“Everyone needs a home — where families are safe and secure, where their basic needs are met, where they can come and go freely, and where they can imagine a future.” That’s the way a new campaign...
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Here in Canada, as in the United States, one of the biggest issues dividing the church is homosexuality. Churches are leaving Mennonite Church Canada over it. In British Columbia, I was told that as many as a...
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He was known as southern Africa’s Billy Graham. His name was Nicholas Bhengu, and he was an evangelist with the Assemblies of God in South Africa from the 1940s until his death in 1985. During his ministry,...
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One and a half billion dollars. That’s how much the places of worship are worth in Winnipeg, Man., where I live. That figure comes from what is called the “halo effect,” the value of the social,...
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A new survey is out about Canadians and religion, and it reveals some interesting things. The survey by Canadian pollster Angus Reid found that 21 percent of Canadians identify as religiously committed; 30...
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“I have three things I’d like to say today,” said American author Tony Campolo to a crowd at the 1982 interdenominational Spring Harvest church conference in England. “First, while you...
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This year is Canada’s 150th anniversary. The government will host celebrations to mark the country’s heritage, cultural diversity, citizenship, social contract, respect for pluralism, official languages...
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Like many churchgoers, I grew up with a steady diet of sermons about the parables of Jesus — stories about things like lost sheep, coins and sons; Good Samaritans and unforgiving servants; mustard seeds and...
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Last fall, researchers from two Ontario universities set out to discover why mainline churches in Canada are dying. Of the 22 Anglican, United, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches they surveyed, all in Ontario,...
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Are we on the verge of a spiritual renewal in North America — a renewal that might save our planet? That’s the question that comes to me after reading about the pipeline protest at the Standing Rock Sioux...
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More bad news in the world of Christian print magazines in Canada: In September, two of the country’s most venerable publications shut down: the Presbyterian Record, after 140 years, and the Western Catholic...
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