The first week in November was chock-full of faith in public life events.
Tuesday afternoon I was privileged to be part of a small group of leaders, from different faith communities in Ottawa, who met privately with Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye from Kaduna, Nigeria. These two former militia leaders, who had placed bounties on one another’s heads, each found the way of peace as key to their spiritual traditions (Islam and Christianity) and then found peace with each other. Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye have been the subject of two documentaries – “The Imam and the Pastor” and “An African Answer” – and are dreaming the big dream of an international interfaith movement for peace that focuses on the foundations for peace and civility that are found in the sacred texts of all of the world’s major religions.
I have a particular interest in Nigeria, having visited there in June to meet with and provide aid to Christians displaced by the continuing violence in Kaduna, most recently following elections in April of this year. Ashafa and Wuye have also published a book, “The Pastor and the Imam: Responding to Conflict,” which I anticipate reading.
Following on the book theme, Wednesday night I attended two book launches. First, former Dean of the House of Commons and NDP MP Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg-Bird’s Hill; Winnipeg-Transcona; and, Elmwood-Transcona) spoke and signed at Ottawa’s downtown Chapters. Reverend Blaikie, a United Church Minister and Director of the University of Winnipeg’s Knowles-Woodsworth Centre for Theology and Public Policy, has published a memoir and historical reflection on the Christian left in his book “The Blaikie Report: An Insider’s Look at Faith and Politics.” I haven’t read the book yet, but look forward to exploring the Christian roots of the NDP and reading the personal anecdotes. Bill Blaikie has a good sense of history and humour. He was consistently a generous point of contact for The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s conversations with the NDP and its leaders.
Leaving Chapters, I headed for Southwestern United Church in Ottawa for the launch of former NDP MP Dennis Gruending’s (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar) “Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life.” Gruending is a prolific writer, with this his seventh book. He is also a former CBC reporter, former director of communications for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and an active commentator in his blog of the same name, Pulpit and Politics. Gruending sent an advance copy of his book to the EFC, so this one I’ve read.
Gruending readily acknowledges that attention being given the Christian right in 21st century Canadian politics has eclipsed that given the Christian left and, like Blaikie, writes to remind of the presence of the biblically informed political left. With no apologies for his perspective from the Christian and political left, Gruending has edited a collection of his blogs into an informative read on the influence of religion in contemporary Canadian politics (with a nod to the outside our country situation near the end of the book). A bonus of the Pulpit and Politics launch was that Blaikie also attended and, along with Gruending, engaged in an interesting and entertaining question and answer session.
One certainly has to appreciate that biblical principles flow into policies of Canada’s political right, centre and left; none of which has an exclusive claim to voters in any of the Christian camps – Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical or Mainline – as recent voting patterns have shown. Certainly, the measurable shift in the Roman Catholic, Evangelical and Mainline communities has contributed to the transition from a Liberal to Conservative federal government.
The existence of Christian right, centre and left leads to the final event of faith in public life from the week that was. Widely reported in the media was MP Dean Del Mastro’s (Peterborough) comment about MP Justin Trudeau’s (Papineau) invitation to address students from six Peterborough area Catholic high schools. Self-proclaimed media referees have been critical of both MPs, either fuming that Mr. Del Mastro has attacked Mr. Trudeau’s faith inappropriately or that Mr. Trudeau deserved to be challenged for a failure to adhere to tenets of his faith in his public policy engagement on select issues. Given that Mr. Del Mastro is also Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister some have speculated about Prime Minister Harper’s (Calgary Southwest) role in the news item.
First, all of the MPs referenced in discussion of the Del Mastro/Trudeau news item are decent men. Second, I agree with Preston Manning (former MP, Calgary Southwest) that MPs personal and experiential foundations for decision making, including their faith perspective, are best made public knowledge to assist voters in making an informed decision. Mr. Manning did not hide his personal faith from that awareness, nor did he flaunt it. In that regard, I also agree with Tommy Douglas (former MP, Weyburn; Burnaby-Coquitlam; and, Nanaimo-Cowichan-The Islands) that faith not be used as a political tool.
It’s no secret that the Liberal Party, to which Mr. Trudeau belongs, has in the past made negative public statements about the faith beliefs of the leaders and candidates of other parties. In fact, I’m not sure any political party has been immune from commenting on the personal beliefs or ideologies of their competitors when they have perceived advantage in doing so.
Having had Mr. Trudeau speak previously, it seems sensible that the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board might have him return if they found him to be an inspirational speaker on the chosen topic. It also seems sensible that if they would like a Roman Catholic MP whose faith has led him on a journey to another part of the political spectrum then MP Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast), Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, is a good speaker to inspire youth.
The inspiration of one’s religious beliefs can lead in a variety of directions in public life. Two men of different faith expressions find themselves in pursuit of religious – and world – peace. Two other men inspired by Christian principles – one educated in the Roman Catholic tradition and the other in the United Church of Canada – engage in public service and unintentionally launch their written reflections from the political left on the same evening. Two more find themselves engaged in a public conversation about differences in understanding and application of faith in public life. It’s hoped that such conversations can be engaged freely and openly with a mediatorial media rather than an editorial media. Civility is the first step to peace.