Issues, ethics, memory
By Dennis Gruending  Citizens for Public Justice is an Ottawa-based church group with a difference. At a time when the word religion has come to be associated mainly with social conservatism, CPJ provides a Christian perspective regarding public policy debates on poverty, housing, aboriginal rights, immigration and the environment. At its annual meeting in Ottawa... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending The religious right in Canada is growing in power and influence but that development appears to be news to many political scientists and pundits. As mentioned in this space last week, I presented a paper on the religious right to a conference at the University of Western Ontario early in May (see... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Reverend Lois Wilson has described recent spiritual and cultural history in North America as follows: “The cups rattled in the 1960s and 70s. The cupboard doors fell off in the 80s. The kitchen door came off its hinges in the 90s. There was deep crack in front yard by 2000, and by 2006... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Hundreds of people participated in the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa on May 15th. Last year, the featured speaker Serge LeClerc described his personal journey from the depths of despair to personal salvation. He said that he was born to a teenaged single-parent, aboriginal mother, drifted into years of drugs, crime and... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Evangelical Protestants and Catholics have a history of mutual mistrust and suspicion but they are now engaged in a growing collaboration in the United States and Canada. Mark Noll, a Canadian religious historian who teaches at Notre Dame University in Indiana, published a book in 2005 called, Is the Reformation Over? Noll... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won election in Canada with a minority government just over two years ago. The vote of evangelical Christians and Catholics who attend church weekly was a deciding factor in that election. The question now is whether that was a blip or an emerging reality in Canadian political... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Reverend Charles McVety says that he has many friends among the Harper Conservatives who govern in Ottawa. This week he will testify before the Senate banking committee in support of legislation that he says occurred partly as a result of his lobbying. It would deny tax credits to films that the government... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending I spent several hours on a recent Saturday morning with 20 people at the Galilee Centre, set amid the woods along the Ottawa River at Arnprior, Ontario. We talked about the links between religious faith and public life. Much of the discussion was about how, unfortunately, the call to public involvement remains... Continue Reading →
Dennis Gruending recalls a 2008 visit to the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi. The museum was dated but the message profound
By Dennis Gruending I first posted to my Pulpit and Politics blog in November 2007 and am pleased that some of you have begun to make comments. A few of those were posted in the Comments section of the blog itself; others have arrived as messages sent to my email address dennis.gruending@sympatico.ca); and there have... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 