Issues, ethics, memory
By Dennis Gruending I return to Saskatchewan every summer to visit friends and relatives and usually I drop in at St. Peter's Abbey near Humboldt. I attended boarding school there in the 1960s and I retain a respect and fondness for the Benedictine monks. I spent several hours on my 2008 visit with Father Andrew... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan is poised for sale to the highest bidder, and shareholders, not to mention company executives, stand to stuff their pockets from a deal when and if it occurs. The company has spurned as inadequate an offer of $38.6-billion (U.S.) from an Australian-based giant called BHP Billiton and... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending I spent two days in Toronto on June 26-27 during the G20 summit of world political leaders. I was doing communications-related work for a peaceful rally and march organized by labour and citizens’ groups (including some churches) on Saturday. It was a day that was to turn nasty late in the afternoon... Continue Reading →
Normally there would be little reason to compare and contrast Karen Armstrong, a wildly popular writer on religion and Tim Flannery, the Australian palaeontologist and author. The random occasion to do so was their appearance within half an hour of each other recently at the Ottawa WritersFestival. Armstrong is a rarity, someone who has actually... Continue Reading →
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 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 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 →
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 →
I plan with this blog to explore the growing influence that religion is having upon politics and society in Canada and elsewhere. This relationship is not merely a topic of interest but rather it has an effect upon the lives of millions of people. There has been a perception among academics, journalists and other opinion... Continue Reading →
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