May 2009 National Updates

May 7, 2009

Canucks coach loves the pressure
"I LOVE the playoffs," Ryan Walter enthuses. "It's my favourite time of year."

Christian bookstores find success by trying something new
CLOSE TO three dozen Canadian Christian bookstores have closed in the past twelve months, but that didn't stop Larry Willard and two of his partners from officially opening a large new store in Toronto over the weekend.

OttawaWatch: Sex-trading and the Olympics
NEXT FEBRUARY'S Winter Olympics, in British Columbia, have Winnipeg area MP Joy Smith working long hours. The objective of her labours is the passage of her private members' bill calling for mandatory minimum sentences for human trafficking offences.

Quick news
• Christian Channel gets Youngren owner
• Ed replaces Dave
• He hopes to make a major difference
• more

National print news
• Alberta's human rights legislation
• "Human rights" tribunals and commissions
• Maclean's magazine poll on inter-religious attitudes
• more

May 14, 2009

Vancouver Anglicans go to court
ANGLICANS in the Diocese of New Westminster are scheduled to go to court May 23 in a case that could determine the shape of Canadian Anglicanism.

Telling stories out of church
ONE OF the loveliest things that human beings do is tell stories to each other," says Rudy Wiebe.

OttawaWatch: A week of moral miscellany
THERE WAS no lack of choice for the coverage of interesting events around The Hill this week. The story we chose to follow concerned the activities of the Canadian Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada around The Hill

Quick news
• The world as evangelicals see it
• Ottawa as the churches see it
• Calgary as the street church sees it
• more

National print news
• The Pope, the Middle East, and his visit there
• Catholics and Catholicism
• The March for Life
• more

May 21, 2009

Prison from a Christian perspective
IN A COUNTRY racked by escalating gang violence, there is a new focus on law enforcement and longer prison sentences. But Christians working in the field say prisons are not necessarily the answer.

TWU in the fight of its life
TRINITY WESTERN University president Jonathan Raymond believes there "really is a very bright tomorrow for the university" -- despite the very serious challenges it faces today.

OttawaWatch: Agility and Stability
IN TODAY'S and next week's OttawaWatch, I want to provide some further analysis on the concept of centre-right power-sharing, consensus, collaboration, or whatever is the most appropriate term.

Quick news
• Big wheels stuck in tar sands
• Something we can do without
• Take a turn in Ottawa
• more

National print news
• The Pope's visit to the Middle East
• Abortion and euthanasia
• Angels & Demons
• more

May 28, 2009

A fair representation of new evangelicals
IN A NATION that often pays little attention to religion, an hour-long television documentary has shone a spotlight on "a different kind of church."

Ecumenical prayers for Afghanistan mark CCC 65th anniversary
OTTAWA -- The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) marked its 65th anniversary May 14 with an ecumenical prayer service for Afghanistan at Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica.

OttawaWatch: A brief BC history
LAST WEEK, we were left with the fond wish that, by whatever means, Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff would be able to consider being collaborators, rather than competitors.

Quick news
• 100 year old crusader on CBC
• Threats to the young and the old
• Healing the sick in Sudan
• more

National print news
• Alberta's classroom opt-out law
• The polygamy court case
• Islam and the West
• more