Issues, ethics, memory
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 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 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 →
By Dennis Gruending Broadcaster Steve Paikan will moderate an English language election debate among the leaders of Canada’s five political parties on Thursday, October 2. He says that networks in the debate consortium settled on 10 questions to be asked. I have questions to pose about the election and I am sure that you do... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Policy wonks may think that elections are about issues but linguist and political commentator George Lakoff says they’re all about cultural metaphors and stereotypes. The Republicans are proven masters at shifting focus away from issues and toward potent metaphors framed in a conservative way and with “family values†at their centre. In... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending Bill Janzen, the respected face and voice of the Mennonite Central Committee Canada office in Ottawa, is retiring at the end of July after 33 years. Janzen has been a quiet but significant presence, working with politicians of all stripes, with civil servants and with a variety of church and secular organizations... Continue Reading →
By Dennis Gruending A war of words has erupted around Dr. Henry Morgentaler’s appointment to the Order of Canada on July 1st. Some have hailed him as a hero to women while others brand him as a murderer for his role in developing freestanding abortion clinics. The Prime Minister has taken the unprecedented step of... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 