The meaning of martyrdom: Ways to bear witness
2013/10/11 Leave a comment
On martyrdom in various religions.
The meaning of martyrdom: Ways to bear witness | The Economist.
British Columbians grow more wary of other religions, interfaith marriages
2013/10/10 1 Comment
The respective rates of “comfort” with interfaith marriage are not surprising:
- 66% comfortable with Christians
- 53% comfortable with Buddhists
- 40% comfortable with Jews
- 36% comfortable with Hindus
- 28% comfortable with Sikhs
- 17% comfortable with Muslims
The article would have benefitted from actual intermarriage rates compared to attitudes, as overall intermarriage rates have generally increased, albeit from a small base.
Attitudes are not limited to the “mainstream;” as the article notes, many within communities also want their children to marry from within the community, either to preserve their faith, pass it on to children, or at least theoretically have fewer compatibility issues.
Douglas Todd: British Columbians grow more wary of other religions, interfaith marriages.
France slides right on immigration
2013/10/10 Leave a comment
The continuing slide to the right in France’s immigration and integration policies, likely to be counterproductive in a country that has largely failed in integration.
What seems lost on the republicans, however, is that as coercion takes the place of persuasion, young Muslims are showing even greater fervour for their faith than their parents. But with a population of five million Muslims expected to near seven million in a decade or so, few politicians appear willing to defy public opinion by abandoning the stick for the carrot….
As Dominique Reynié, director of the Foundation for Political Innovation, observed in Le Monde: “Twenty years ago, Valls’s remarks on the Roma would have come from [Front National founder] Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 2010, president Sarkozy’s remarks were shocking. In 2013, worse language emanates from the Socialist Interior Minister. Almost 80 per cent of French voters agree with him. President Hollande shows his de facto support. It is a testimony to the rightward slide of the [political] landscape. All of France is hardening.”
Pluralism accommodated: Canada’s religion, state relationship
2013/10/08 Leave a comment
An interesting overview from a former military chaplain on how Canada, and the military, have addressed multiculturalism and pluralism from a faith perspective. Silent on the recent cuts to the chaplain program that disproportionate hit on non-Christian religions.
With decades of real life experience in peace, peacekeeping, and war, the chaplain branch has developed a strong expertise in religion/state affairs. The focus of the chaplain is service to all members and their families. Chaplains provide services that include pastoral counselling, advocacy, the promotion of spiritual wellbeing, and facilitating the faith requirements of everyone. In order to provide leadership to the Canadian military and to complete their mission in operational theatres, commanding officers turn to chaplains for their understanding of ethics, deep-seated conflict, and world religions. Chaplains work together in effective teams regardless of their gender, rank, sexual orientation, creed, or cultural background. This is a group of religious professionals who are long past any effort to proselytize people from one faith group to another, acknowledging such activity as arrogant and ineffective. To ensure the highest quality of service the chaplain branch has a sophisticated training program for their vocation, an advanced system of professional oversight, internal monitoring/promotion of well-being of chaplains, a code of ethics, long-term planning mechanisms, and well-designed accessible manuals.
Pluralism accommodated: Canada’s religion, state relationship | hilltimes.com.
Le dérapage intégriste de Charles Taylor | Le Devoir
2013/10/08 Leave a comment
This opinion piece suggests that UN and international organization staff have more of a common mindset – secularism – than Canadian and other societies. The international organization elite may be more uniform than they think. Interesting.
Not to mention the unique focus on Muslim fundamentalism, not other religions.
Why Ottawa’s right to procrastinate on the values charter – The Globe and Mail
2013/10/07 Leave a comment
Tom Flanagan on the Quebec values charter and why one needs to let the internal QC debate take its course, which will likely end up reasonably. A stronger position in favour of provincial, rather than individual rights than many.
Given the tenor of QC debates to date, and just how poorly the proposed Charter has been received, he is largely right, although it was necessary for all federal politicians to lay down some markers.
Why Ottawa’s right to procrastinate on the values charter – The Globe and Mail.
The Promise and Peril of Pope Francis – NYTimes.com
2013/10/07 2 Comments
An interesting reflection by Ross Douthat of the NY Times on religion in the West, how the centre is “hollowing out,” with the more orthodox, traditional or conservative tendencies becoming relatively stronger. Some interesting longer-term implications for many religions:
But the test of his [Pope Francis’] approach will ultimately be a practical one. Will the church grow or stagnate under his leadership? Will his style just win casual admirers, or will it gain converts, inspire vocations, create saints? Will it actually change the world, or just give the worldly another excuse to close their ears to the church’s moral message?
I’m sorry, but we have to talk about the barbarism of modern Islamist terrorism – Telegraph Blogs
2013/10/07 Leave a comment
Hard to argue against this harsh critique of modern Islamic-inspired terrorism and the weakness of relativism in condemning it for what it is: senseless, aimless, barbaric violence.
What we have today, uniquely in human history, is a terrorism that seems myopically focused on killing as many people as possible and which has no clear political goals and no stated territorial aims. The question is, why? It is not moral masturbation to ask this question or to point out the peculiarity and perversity of modern Islamist violence. My penny’s worth is that this terrorism speaks to a profound crisis of politics and of morality. Where earlier terrorist groups were restrained both by their desire to appear as rational political actors with a clear goal in mind and by basic moral rules of human behaviour – meaning their violence was often bloody, yes, but rarely focused narrowly on committing mass murder – today’s Islamist terrorists appear to float free of normal political rules and moral compunctions. This is what is so infuriating about the BBC’s refusal to call these groups terrorists – because if anything, and historically speaking, even the term terrorist might be too good for them.
I’m sorry, but we have to talk about the barbarism of modern Islamist terrorism – Telegraph Blogs.
Canadian anti-Muslim sentiment is rising, disturbing new poll reveals – Macleans.ca
2013/10/04 Leave a comment
Another in a series of polls that demonstrates discomfort with Islam, not entirely unexpected given the number of domestic and international stories on terror-related incidents, plus the normal discomfort with more recent waves of immigration.
And not surprisingly, while the hijab is largely accepted in English Canada (65%), in Quebec the figures are reversed (63% oppose allowing public servants to wear the hijab). But opinions converge less on the niqab than I would have thought; while 90% in Quebec would not allow the niqab in public sector workplaces, only 62% shared that view in English Canada. I suspect should a co-worker show up in a niqab in English Canada, the reaction would be less tolerant.
How to immigrate to Canada if you’re a polygamist
2013/10/02 Leave a comment
While there is a policy rationale for the allowing people to “regularize” their marriage, and I can imagine the complex policy and legal discussions that led to this policy, I tend to be with Gillis on this.
… sharp eyes will notice a contradiction between these guidelines and longstanding immigration policy in Canada. Polygamy is considered a crime in Canada. Criminality is supposed to exclude you from eligibility for residency. As Kurland put it in an email to me this morning: “Who lets the CIC choose the sections of Canada’s Criminal Code to ignore?”
Evidently, the policy recognizes the legality of polygamy in some countries, such as Jordan, Iraq and Syria, allowing for people to adjust their living arrangements so they comply with Canadian law. Our flexibility is this regard is remarkable: children from marriages other than the applicant’s first, for instance, can come along as dependents to Canada, provided the other parent confirms they were not abducted.
Depending on your outlook, I guess this all makes us either sophisticated, cosmopolitan and nuanced—or credulous to a fault.
Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote
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Multicultural Meanderings 