Manitobans weigh in on Premier's call for new prayer for Manitoba legislature

 

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew wants to create a new prayer to open sessions of the Manitoba legislature — one that reflects and includes the views of Manitobans of all faiths, as well as atheists.

To do that, he plans to set up a roundtable to consult Manitobans about what kind of prayer they’d like to see prayed before the province’s MLAs get down to business.

If a small online sample of 56 people last week is any indication, what most Manitobans want is no prayer at all. That was the feeling of 71 per cent of those who offered their opinion about the premier’s idea.

 

Meanwhile, faith leaders in the province think it might be best to either have a variety of different prayers—no one prayer could satisfy everyone—or just a moment of silence.

 

Read more about what people think in my April 20 Free Press column.

Photo above: John Woods, Canadian Press 

Why a Mennonite pastor stopped wearing a cross, replacing it with a Pride flag

For years, Jamie Arpin-Ricci, a Mennonite pastor in Winnipeg, wore a cross around his neck as a symbol of his faith. But then one morning last year he put it in a bedside drawer and decided never to wear it again. Instead, he replaced it with a Pride flag pin.

What caused him to stop wearing his cross for a Pride pin? “As a queer activist, I was also increasingly aware of how triggering Christian symbology and language could be to people traumatized by the church for their sexual orientation and/or gender identity,” he said.

 

But it wasn’t only his concern for queer people that caused him to remove it. Arpin-Ricci also thought about Indigenous people, many of whom suffered as children in church-run residential schools where crosses would often be found on the walls or worn around the necks of abusers.

“Now my daily ritual includes putting the pin onto my shirt or jacket with the same care and intentionality that I once reserved for the cross,” he said. “It was an important decision for me, one that I feel absolutely no regret over.”

Read about Arpin-Ricci’s thoughts on no longer wearing a cross, and how it has become a challenging symbol for others (especially some indigenous people), in my latest Free Press column.

 

You can also read his full essay on taking off his cross in favour of a Pride pin here.

Beyond heaven and Hell: Many Canadians believe in the afterlife, but what do they mean by that?

A growing number of Canadians are leaving religion behind. But when it comes to the afterlife, many continue to believe in it. But what do they mean by that? That’s the question scholars who study religion are asking after the release of an Angus Reid/Cardus poll showing that 60 percent of Canadians either believe there is an afterlife, or think it exists.

As one scholar put it: "When people say they believe in life after death, we need to know more than yes or no. They may mean that bodies decompose and become a different kind of energy. This too is life after death, in their view.”

Read about it in my latest column in the Free Press.

Image from Forbes Magazine.