Praying in Schiphol airport
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Praying in Schiphol airport

“The Qur’an is a masterpiece of language,” my tour guide says, her face radiant. “It’s a miracle.” “I experienced some of that beauty,” I say shyly. “I memorized al-Fatihah.” “You memorized al-Fatihah?” I don’t blame her incredulity. I had cold called a mosque in downtown Oshawa, and my tour guide was the founder’s wife. She…

Freedom of Religion and the Rule of Law
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Freedom of Religion and the Rule of Law

In February 14’s issue I wrote about how some politicians define “freedom” as the ability personally to do what you want (like disobeying masks and vaccine mandates) while also being able to restrict what other people do (like teaching about race in school). Since that column appeared, many new rights-restrictive bills have appeared in US…

Rights at Risk
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Rights at Risk

It wasn’t too long ago that the government of Pauline Marois introduced the Charter of Values in the legislature (Bill 60), which would have prevented public employees from wearing conspicuous religious symbols.

The Faith of France
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The Faith of France

The world watched in horror as the Cathedral of Notre-Dame went up in smoke in Paris and my thoughts drifted back to my visit to the City of Lights at age 20. The student tour that I was on visited eight countries in the space of eight weeks, with tiny Liechtenstein possibly making for a ninth.

Defend the persecuted church

Defend the persecuted church

It is not exaggeration to say that what Christians are facing in most Muslim-majority countries at the moment is the most pernicious example of religious persecution since the Holocaust.

Working the foundations

Working the foundations

If our goal is to understand and witness to our Muslim neighbours so that God can change their hearts, perhaps the best approach is simply to journey with them back into their sacred texts and their history. Love them enough to learn, as it were, and let God work on their foundations.

#JeSuisRelational

#JeSuisRelational

Your Muslim neighbour, whose name you can never remember, enters the park and shoos his kids towards the swings. He sits. You chat. When the conversation shifts to religion, you sense a certain opportunity, and ask him some questions about him and his faith. He does the same. Some time passes. Both families’ children gather at the grownups’ feet to listen and learn.

Q: If Christianity is the only true religion, why do other religions have a belief in the afterlife?

Q: If Christianity is the only true religion, why do other religions have a belief in the afterlife?

As it turns out, belief in the after-life is rather widespread. It goes back to the oldest known literature. The epic of Gilgamesh is an exploration of the possibility of life after death. Ancient

Permitted to learn
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Permitted to learn

Before that Talib boarded her school bus and shot her in the forehead, she was already blogging against the Taliban’s systematic oppression of girls’ education. All through her painful recovery, through death threats and intimidation, she was not silenced. Even now, trying to quantify the importance of her ongoing advocacy and obvious success is daunting: the Nobel Prize looks small by comparison.