The War Against Holiday Diversity
They call it the War on Christmas, but in reality it is just an opportunity for a few people to get apoplectic, or is it apocalyptic, about the fact that…
religion
Religious Tolerance on the Decline
Quebec’s Bill 21 which bans public teachers, police officers, government lawyers and other authority figures from wearing religious symbols at work has met vigorous criticism. Its critics claim it violates…
Left by the pope with a choice between glory to God and death to the carbon tax, what will Jason do?
Turns out you really can’t serve God and Mammon! Who knew? Tout le monde Conservative Alberta was reeling over the weekend at Friday’s news from Rome that Pope Francis, leader…
Time To Clear The Room With A Talk About Faith And God (Or My Lack Thereof)
I am about to break a rule. My Father always told me that bringing up religion or politics is great way to clear a room. Time to test that theory.…
Christmas – Whose Holiday is it Anyway
It is time for the annual discussions about the “War on Christmas” and putting “Christ Back in Christmas”, but whose holiday is it anyway. The Christians claim it as theirs…
Searching for Justice and Equality in Ancient Times
One of the classes I’m teaching these days is a secular Bible study class. I treat the Bible like a work of literature. We discuss the different historical periods and…
Reflections on Easter Sunday, 2018: There really is a war against Christianity … it’s being waged by Christians
PHOTOS: Easter Sunday shoppers at West Edmonton Mall. Is nothing sacred? Well, actually, something is: The Almighty Market, god of Canada’s state religion. Below: A brass idol to the Market…
Nellie McClung and the challenge of history
Up until a few weeks ago, if I was asked my impression of Nellie McClung I probably would have said “oh, she was that suffragette, right? The one people say…
What Christmas Means To Me. Again.
It's Christmas Day in Canada. Where I live and where I'm going everything is covered with a blanket of fresh snow, as it should be in the Great White North.And…
Losing Our Hubris, Or The Truth, According To George Carlin
Religious belief can be a marvelous thing, It can give strength in times of trouble, comfort in times of grief, and direction in times of confusion. It can also be…
New NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh battles racism in Canadian politics with love
Jagmeet Singh, a martial artist, Sikh lawyer, and newly-elected leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP), uses love to challenge racism, Islamophobia and white supremacy in Canadian politics and society.…
Prayer isn’t stopping the violence
An acerbic piece in Maclean’s Magazine from June had the title “America’s mass delusion.” The subtitle read, “Surprisingly, the strategy of praying to God is not stopping the mass shootings…
The Dude, the Tao and the Dharma
I suppose it all began with Benjamin Hoff. Hoff was one of the first contemporary writers to attempt to distill Taoism in a lighthearted form for Westerners when he wrote…
To Block a Pipeline Nuns Built a Chapel
For me, religion usually doesn’t come to mind when thinking about how to stop pipelines. Luckily the idea to use religious places came to the mind of some nuns. In…
Can peaceful grassroots activism stop the white supremacist movement’s embrace of violence?
The threat of white supremacist terrorism is a constant in U.S. history, writes Shane Burley, author of the forthcoming book, Fascism Today: What It Is and How We End It.…
Gospel By Gaslight
If gaslighting is “a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or members of a group, hoping to make targets question their own…
The Religious Left – Mathew 22:21
It is the evening of Thursday February 16th and at midnight I will begin the celebration of my 3rd decade on this planet. While I look to the future with…
The Religious Left – Mathew 22:21
It is the evening of Thursday February 16th and at midnight I will begin the celebration of my 3rd decade on this planet. While I look to the future with…
How to put Christ back in Christmas: It starts with Christians pressing ‘Reset’
ILLUSTRATIONS: Santa Claus … not Jesus. Below: Karl Marx (not mentioned in the story) … also not Santa Claus. Jesus Christ (quoted at length) … not Santa Claus either. This…