“You’re free to go.” Beautiful words to the ears of a prisoner. Or are they? Freedom does, in fact, raise weighty questions for the newly released offender: Where will I go? How will I get money to live? Who will…
NOLA: No One Leaves (prison) Alone
Category: Justice
Freedom of religion under attack in some challenges to proposed TWU law school
Trinity Western University (TWU) president Bob Kuhn says the ongoing opposition by many in the legal community to its planned law school makes him question how much freedom evangelical Christians really have to express their faith in public. Much of…
CBC panel showed ‘God talk’ can be respectful
Janet Epp Buckingham, author of Fighting Over God: A Legal and Political History of Religious Freedom in Canada, was on CBC’s Sunday Edition in a special public forum to discuss the role of religion in Canadian civic discourse and public policy. Listen here. I was…
Why I am proud to be a chaplain for the Portland Hotel Society
A funny thing happened on Sunday at church. I had been scheduled for a month to read the scriptures, and I felt a slight chill when I discovered the passage was John 12:1-11. This is the story of Mary anointing…
Good news for proposed law school at Trinity Western University
Trinity Western University (TWU) received not one but two pieces of good news this week, in its quest to develop a School of Law at the Langley campus. On Monday, December 16, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC)…
Chinese human rights writer inspired by ‘heroic Christians’
“Every inch of soil beneath my feet was red, shining under the frail winter sun, as if it had been soaked in blood.” (Liao Yiwu, while trekking a narrow mountain path in Yunnan.) God is Red is a collection of 18 loosely…
Ironic message at BC Liquor Stores: ‘Every baby deserves a healthy start’
Last week Friday my wife and I were expecting guests for dinner so, while I was out running a few errands, I stopped at the local liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine. Working for a non-profit organization…
Humble yourselves, listen to survivors – barriers can be overcome
I was getting desperate. It was the last of four days at the Montreal Truth and Reconciliation Commission meetings (in April). Sorrow, despair, hope, anger, defeat, defiance and confusion washed over me like waves buffeting a message bottle destined for the…
Full house awaits Romeo Dallaire at BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast
This year’s British Columbia Leadership Prayer Breakfast, set for next Friday (May 16) at Vancouver’s Hyatt Regency Hotel, is officially sold out; nearly 1,000 will be in attendance. But people wanting to hear and see Senator Romeo Dallaire – an…
Discussing the proper relationship between law and Christian faith
Religious freedom is enshrined in both American and Canadian constitutions, and the separation of church and state is highly valued (see related article, Canadian society needs to find ways to respect religious diversity – and rights). This often makes for…