The murder of six Muslims at prayer in Quebec City in January 2017, and the wounding of five others shows that toxic language can have lethal consequences
Slayings in Quebec mosque, words are weapons too
Racism in the Canadian election, suppressing our better angels
The main issue in the Canadian election was supposed to be who could best manage the economy. Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims that it's he, and warns that other political parties will run deficits and raise taxes. Of course, Harper ran six deficits in a row. Apparently, he runs good deficits but it would be... Continue Reading →
Charles Taylor on Muslims in Canada
The celebrated Canadian political philosopher Charles Taylor made headlines recently when he said that the prime minister’s critical comments about Muslim women wearing the niqab (a partial face covering) were both “dumb” and a boon for terrorist recruiters such as the Islamic State. Taylor’s point was that the prime minister is fuelling anti-Muslim sentiment and... Continue Reading →
Manning Centre talkfest showcases “vapid conservatism”
Preston Manning fancies himself a big thinker and his recent networking conference in Ottawa was billed as an intellectual event for the conservative movement. But National Post columnist Andrew Coyne got it right in his column -- the Manning conference was “vapid”. The Harper government has swallowed the movement and rather than talking policy the... Continue Reading →
Christians, Jews, Muslims plan Ottawa colloquium
Theologian Hans Kung once said that there will be no peace among nations until there is peace among the world’s religions and there will be no peace without dialogue. The three Abrahamic faith groups in Ottawa – Christian, Jewish and Muslim – have taken that advice to heart. On November 10, 2013 the three groups... Continue Reading →
Mar Musa cleric Paolo Dall’Oglio tours Canada
Rev. Paolo Dall’Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest who spent decades restoring the ancient Mar Musa monastery in Syria, has taken the unusual step of touring Canada to call for action that would prevent the Assad regime from killing even more of its own people. While in Ottawa recently, he was quoted as saying, “The international... Continue Reading →
Christians fear regime change in Syria
The Scottish writer William Dalrymple says that Syria has been a kind of oasis for Christians in the Middle East. But Syrian Christians are now faced with a painful choice. They can offer support to a brutal dictatorship that, generally, has protected them but has killed 5,000 of its citizens since calls for change and... Continue Reading →
Izzeldin Abuelaish and Remembrance Day
Although I have attended Remembrance Day ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa in the past, in 2009 I decided to support a smaller event whose theme was peace and reconciliation. On November 10 I was one of about three hundred people who heard an agonizingly sad but ultimately hopeful speech by Dr.... Continue Reading →
Conservative pundits diminish Breivik’s Norwegian victims
By Dennis Gruending On July 22, Norwegian extremist Anders Breivik set off a car bomb in downtown Oslo that killed eight people. Then, dressed as a policeman, he traveled to a nearby small island and used a semi-automatic rifle to massacre 77 members of the Labour Party's youth wing who were attending a summer camp.... Continue Reading →
Election 2011, political and religious polarization
By Dennis Gruending Stephen Harper won his long-coveted majority government in the 2011 federal election, receiving just under 40 per cent of the votes cast by the approximately 60 per cent of eligible Canadians who bothered to show up. An exit poll of 36,000 voters conducted by the Ipsos Reid company on May 2 yielded... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 