Issues, ethics, memory
By Dennis Gruending I mentioned in my last posting to Pulpit and Politics that I am leading an evening class this winter for the Ottawa Lay School of Theology. It’s called Faith and Public Life: Making the Connection. We met for our first class on Monday January 12 and it was perhaps not surprising, given... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending I’ll be leading an evening class for the Ottawa Lay School of Theology between January 12 and March 16 and I am inviting you to participate – either in person or from a distance. The course is called Faith and Public Life: Making the Connection, and we will examine how individuals and... Continue Reading →
 By Dennis Gruending Pulpit and Politics has won the 2008 Canadian Blog Award in the category of best Religious-Philosophy blog. Winners were decided on the basis of votes they received from readers, so thanks to those of you who voted. The Religious-Philosophy category was one of several in which awards were made. Others included Best... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending I have been posting to my Pulpit and Politics blog for just over a year now, 31 stories in all about the intersection between faith and public life. I was pleased to learn recently that Pulpit and Politics is a finalist for a 2008 Canadian Blog Award in the category of Best... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Douglas Roche reminds me of Emmett Hall. I published a biography in 1985 called Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical about the Supreme Court judge whose royal commission recommended Medicare for Canada in 1964. Hall was comfortable in the hallways of power but he was also a social reformer who used his position for... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Barrack Obama won the recent American presidential election handily over the Republican Senator John McCain. Exit polls also indicate that Obama hiked the Democrats’ standing among most religious groups, significantly in some cases and marginally in others. Catholics swung back to the Democrats after supporting George W. Bush over John Kerry in 2004. White... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending The electoral marathon between Barack Obama and John McCain has provided a unique opportunity to compare and contrast how Canadians and Americans approach religion and politics. What is striking about the American campaign is the extent to which religion intrudes into the political sphere. Obama and McCain made only one joint television... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending He would be called an icon if he was in business, sports or even politics but in the world that he inhabits 85-year-old peace activist Murray Thomson is just quietly and deeply respected. This night he speaks about militarism to a group of about 50 people at the modest Quakers House in... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending An exit poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid following the January 2006 Canadian election indicated that, outside of Quebec, people who attend regularly at evangelical churches were four times more likely to vote for the Conservatives than for Liberals or the New Democratic Party (NDP). This result was markedly different from that of Catholics... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Some Canadian churches are posing earnest but polite questions for candidates and parties in the 2008 election campaign while religious conservatives are denouncing Stephen Harper for betraying them on abortion. The statements and election kits prepared by the churches fall into three broad categories: those that focus on questions of social and... Continue Reading →
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