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Faith and Politics

For CPJ, our faith calls us beyond apathy or powerlessness. It calls us to a faith that opens us to our common humanity, our calling to love God by loving our neighbour also in our political life together.

So together, we have donned the perspective of public justice. It is a vision which helps us not to be lured into false dichotomies, or black and white positions when they are not necessary. We see the need for healing steps to be taken. Real people are suffering real hardships that concrete policies and prophetic vision can alleviate. That’s the call of public justice, the calling from God for government, government which Romans 13 says is “for our good.” Justice for all – an economy of care – the joining together of all circles of society for the well-being of all and for the common good – that is public justice.

The end of this chapter

CPJ's Joe Gunn,  Rebekah Sears, and Trixie Ling at the 2010 AGMIt’s hard to believe that my year at CPJ is coming to an end! It has been a busy year at CPJ with many events, meetings, paper launches, conferences and much more. I want to take a moment to reflect back on the past year, especially some of the highlights. Read more »

The commission of hope

Three crosses and the LightHope came into this broken world, with a message of love and justice, when Jesus Christ was born at Christmas, but it did not end there. Hope remained and became even more powerful through Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter. Conquering sin, death and injustice, Jesus’ resurrection represents new birth, redemption of creation, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. With this renewed sense of hope at Easter comes a renewed call to promote love and justice, bringing hope into our churches, communities and nations. Read more »

What’s God got to do with it? Faith and politics at the Cabinet table

Cabinet minister Gary Goodyear recently made headlines for refusing to state his beliefs on evolution. The response highlighted the uncertainty with which many Canadians approach the topic of faith and politics. Some Canadians believe that faith has no place in politics; others believe that politics is a power struggle in which people of religion must seek to impose their religious values on others. These are both problematic propositions. Faith cannot be separated from politics, but people of all faiths have a responsibility to engage in respectful, dialogue-based politics that practice public justice and seek the common good. Read more »

Loving Thy Neighbour: A Biblical Call to End Poverty

Poverty is an unnecessary injustice, for God created a world with abundant resources to use for sustaining healthy and dignified lives. The cause of poverty does not lie in the availability of resources and capital, but in the scarcity of practices such as stewardship and neighbourly love. Read more »

Faith and Diversity in the Public Realm: An Ongoing Dialogue

How can the rights of religious groups to live out their beliefs be respected while also ensuring protection for individual rights? What is the place of faith in public life? How do we accommodate diversity while still maintaining common values? Some of these questions were addressed last Tuesday, October 28th, when CPJ hosted a lecture by Dr. Jonathan Chaplin at the Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in Toronto. Read more »

The inspiring life of an 'everyday' saint

Lorraine Land’s review of Dorothy Day: Champion of the Poor by Elaine Murray Stone. Read more »

Igniting a revolution of hope

Henni Helleman’s review of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope by Brian D. McLaren. Read more »

A practical manual for peace finding

Jim Joosse reviews Finding Peace by Jean Vanier. Read more »

A faithful, meditative, strong voice for peace

Joe Gunn’s review of Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The authorized biography of Desmond Tutu by John Allen. Read more »

Public Justice: A Christian Calling

In this June 2008 sermon presented by CPJ policy analyst Chandra Pasma at Emmanuel Reformed Church in Whitby, Ontario, Chandra explores the biblical calling to public justice and shares what that looks like in practice by looking at the issue of poverty in Canada. She challenges us to become involved in the fight against poverty and in a lifelong journey of public justice, beginning with just one step. Read more »

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