C.S. Lewis contended that shame prevents us from doing good – perhaps even more so than vice. Shame causes us to shrink back and go small. Shame can also cause us to try and go big to validate ourselves –…
The Bell: How beauty sets us free
Category: Culture
The Bell: Stay-at-home girlfriends – rethinking home, work & partnership
The ‘stay-at-home girlfriend’ trend has become more than a TikTok aesthetic; it’s a flashpoint for bigger conversations about gender, money and identity in modern relationships. The trend, most popular between 2022 and 2024, features mostly childless Gen Z women who…
The Bell: A missing middle-ring of social relationships – the church can play a role
There is a missing middle-ring of social relationships, the ring of social relationships where we once learned to value one another in our differences. The church can play a role in this middle sphere of relationships. The church can be…
The Bell: Faith & AI – A Christian contribution to ethical AI
The promise and perils of artificial intelligence (AI) have captured a lot of attention in recent years. As a law professor who has recently been teaching and researching about this topic, I’ve learned a lot from reading a range of…
The Bell: Beholden to the Beholder
It’s that time of year. When I get up early to go to the gym, and as I drive, I can see the lovely tangerine glow behind Mount Baker in the Cascade Mountains. The sun is starting to come up,…
The Bell: When did I become ‘a person of colour?’
Our lives are permeated by colour. The sky is blue. The grass is green. Snow is white. We could not imagine a world that is monochrome. Even people are described as colours as some of us may recall the nursery…
Look for signs of ‘Inner Excellence’ during the Super Bowl
Are we still allowed to watch the Super Bowl? I imagine there might still be a few Canadians watching the big show, even though President Trump will be in attendance. And there is a very encouraging Canadian connection which might…
‘AI & Christianity’: strengthen the uniquely human role in relationship to AI
“Divine Wisdom is superior to artificial intelligence,” Canadian AI technologist Joanna Ng told watchers of the American Scientific Affiliation AI and Christianity live webcast during the organization’s Winter Symposium this past weekend. Rosalind Picard, founder and director of the Affective Computing…
BC Conservatives grapple with what it means to be a ‘big tent’ party
The BC Conservatives did really well in the recent election. But virtually all of their 44 MLAs are new to the party, and many are completely novice politicians. Thus there will be some trials and tribulations as they get their…
Renowned sculptor was drawn back from nihilism to Catholic Christian art
Michelangelo once described his artistic process by saying, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” World-renowned Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz made a similar observation in his keynote speech at this year’s Corpus Christi–St.…