Issues, ethics, memory
By Dennis Gruending It’s been a good month for the religious right in Ottawa. The Hill Times newspaper reports that Stephen Harper has promoted religious conservatives to two senior positions in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – the government’s political nerve centre. Darrel Reid, Harper’s former director of policy, becomes his deputy chief of staff.... 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 Two summers ago a young friend of mine encountered a youth rally one day while working near Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa. The event was called The Cry and its speakers denounced contemporary Canada but supported the government of Israel. Faytene Kryskow, one of the organizers, later told an evangelical publication, "There was a sense... Continue Reading →
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 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 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 When Donald Rumsfeld left the Bush Cabinet, he quickly found a new job at Hoover Institution, one of dozens of powerful and wealthy right-wing think tanks (such as the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute and American Enterprise Institute) that wield tremendous influence in US politics. Canada’s best-known counterpart is the Fraser Institute,... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 