Issues, ethics, memory
by Dennis Gruending The Ottawa-based National House of Prayer (NHOP) is organizing a National Prayer Sunday for our government and its leaders on June 29. You may not have heard of the NHOP or its prayer list so I will take a brief look at both. You may be surprised – but first a brief... Continue Reading →
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 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 The Economist magazine in a recent edition published a special 18-page section called In God's name: A special report on religion and public life. Editor John Micklethwait said in an accompanying interview, "In the 20th century people, particularly among the elites, tended to think that religion was disappearing. That obviously hasn't happened."... Continue Reading →
Each year the Rotary Club sponsors Adventures in Citizenship, a program where high school students drawn from across Canada spend time in Ottawa to see how our government works. I participated on a panel of former MPs speaking to 200 students and I talked to them about dreams they might have of one day sitting in... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 