ChristianWeek

Faith groups on board for clean air
Catholic building nominated for environmental award A Catholic church is setting an example in the race for environmental sustainability, with the help of the non-profit group Faith and the Common Good. Faith and the Common Good is a national organization dedicated to facilitating religious groups to take action on social and environmental issues. The group recently launched a new initiative called “Greening Sacred Spaces” which encourages places of worship to become more eco-friendly by reducing green house gas (GHG) emissions and promoting energy conservation. read the full story>

Churches slow to address Canada's "birth dearth"

Canada’s churches seem largely unaware of the potentially serious consequences for their ministries of an aging population and consistently low birth rates.

But University of Prince Edward Island historian Ian Dowbiggin believes that is about to change. “Almost nobody in North America has paid attention to this issue, much less in the churches...until very, very recently,” he says.

“All of a sudden, we’ve got books coming out by social scientists [and] articles written in mainstream magazines and newspapers. So my suspicion is that as this begins to snowball, there will be church leaders who will be speaking out on this. It’s only a matter of time.”

read more>

Evangelicals ignoring rise of Islam, says Campolo

Most evangelical churches and missions seem to be ignoring their fundamental challenge of the future—a world where Islam is on the rise, says leading Christian sociologist Tony Campolo.

Several days after the American mid-term elections, Campolo spoke to pastors at the Montreal Mission Fest, offering several reflections on the political situation in his home country, but was quick to point out the ramifications on Christian ministries in the Middle East.

read more>

available in our PRINT EDITION

Christian lawyer wants Constitutional Forum

Iain Benson, executive director for the Centre for Cultural Renewal, witnessed before the House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights November 6 concerning the effects of the recent abolition of the Court Challenges Program (CCP).

Benson, challenging two representatives from the Canadian Bar Association and the CCP, says there is a lack of civil debate prior to judicial decisions that affect public policy, and the government should fund a Constitutional Forum. Rather than fund the biased Court Challenges Program which he says aimed at furthering “equality” litigation but denied applications by “traditional” interpreters of the Charter, the government should fund open debate.

Full story in our print edition>