Father Raymond J. De Souza suggested this week in his National Post column that 'open' secularism won't help Quebec. I agree. It also won't help the rest of Canada. The difficulty with the Bouchard-Taylor Report on reasonable accomodation of minorities in Quebec is that it includes both freedom of conscience and religion and neutrality of the State in its definition of open secularism. How can you both foster religious expression and be neutral to it? What the report ends up doing is suggesting that some civil servants should avoid wearing religious symbols at work in deference to neutrality while other public spaces like schools should continue promoting particular religious expression. It all gets a bit complicated, to say the least.

This conversation brings me back to one of my core beliefs about living together in Canada. The best and most productive conversations are those that genuinely engage real convictions. Nobody lives a "neutral" life. So let's start talking about our convictions and stop acting as if only some people have them.

I'm writing this blog in my van, parked on Main Street between appointments. The free wireless Internet connection from the adjacent Chinese "all you can eat for $8.25" Buffet lets me effortlessly create and publish my thoughts. There's a surreal sense about this experience in small-town Manitoba. Literally millions of Chinese in Sichuan province are without cuisine and a whole lot more today as a result of a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake earlier this week. The fact is that advancements in technology have privileged me with the ability to communicate with you and also allow me to be aware of far more in God's world than I know what to do with.

An email this week from a GodTalk listener asked the question again, is God in control?! It's a good question, and it comes up at least as often as our wireless and cable networks let us know that 10's of thousands have died yet again in a cyclone, earthquake or famine. The question wouldn't be so difficult if I was God, but of course I'm not, so the question gets posed to me because I have the supposed audacity to believe that capital "g" God actually exists. To believe in gods is fairly easy - anyone can believe in a non-authoritative entity of their own making. But to believe in "G"od is a whole other matter. My response to the listener's question is this: Let's ask another question - do you find God to be trustworthy? I may not be able to understand everything that goes on in this world and I may not be able to understand the ways of a Creator, but do I find the living God trustworthy? In other words, can I "hang in there" with God because of what I have come to know, even when some things don't make mortal sense to me?

I have a humble confidence in capital "g" God, far more confidence than believing in a god of my own making.

Saturday, May 3 at 7pm, Greg "the rocknroll preacher" Glatz will play lead guitar with the Royal Unruh Band in an effort to support inner-city kids through Urban Potential. Winnipeg personalities Larry Updike and Brian Barkley from CJOB's morning show will host the event.

Every Sunday night I sit in the newsroom for an hour before our show and listen to the police scanner blurting out the sad, sordid and sickening story of life in the city. What makes it onto the news is more of the same.

I invite you to click on the photograph to see a different story. A story of potential, promise and possibility. Patty Boge (offthepagephotography) took the photos. She has done what few do - humanize rather than humiliate those who live in our inner cities. Look at the photos, look at them carefully...then tell me about who lives in our inner city.

I wish I could take credit for the headline, but I must attribute it to Edmonton Sun columnist, Mindelle Jacobs, and her April 9 editorial. While her column focuses primarily on the polygamous commune in Bountiful, B.C., I'm convinced her sentiments resonate with people universally. This week alone in our backyard, we've got a radical rabbi hiding out in Canada being wanted by Israeli police in a bizarre child torture case, and a Boston priest pleading guilty to stalking Conan O'Brien.

Aside from the serious problem of how media headlines tend to vilify entire religious communities through the misuse of broad-sweeping labels ("rabbi", "priest"), an even deeper concern is how religious wingnuts come to be! What is it that precipitates these bizarre phenomenons of truth, lies and cruelty?

As I read these stories, I wonder if Mindelle would include me in her assessment of religious wingnuts. I am a person of profound convictions, I believe that God is alive and created the universe, I believe that my beliefs should shape my behaviors and I hope that they do. So where's the line between conviction and crazy?

We'll talk alot more about this question on the radio show Sunday night, for now, here are a couple responses.

The difference between conviction and crazy is this:

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On March 18, AFP news lead with the headline, "Philippines warns 'crucifixion bad for health'". Not only are present day live crucifixions bad for your health, they are also completely and utterly pointless. These literal re-enactments of Jesus' crucifixion reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the original historical event and its spiritual consequence. Christy Kenneally, host of a new documentary series called Decoding Christianity was present in the Philippines and stood close enough to the scene to be splattered by blood. When he joined us on Good Friday, March 21, on the GodTalk radio show, my stomach turned as he described what he had experienced.

In the hours and days following the interview I have thought many times about the extent to which humans will go to make good on their sense of wrong. Driving 6-inch spikes through your bare hands is one way in which people attempt to absolve themselves. While this truly is a great act of devotion, it tragically reflects devotion to humanity's attempts at making things right, rather than God's offer of forgiveness. Jesus was nailed to a Cross exactly so that I would never have to do the same. Of course, believing that and accepting that demands I confront my ego. And that, for many, seems a greater challenge than the pain of literal crucifixion.

When you run a contest, there's always someone who walks away with the "stuff" and others who are left with nothing. By definition there are always winners and losers. Winners, we are told, are very happy because they won a lot of stuff, losers are sad because they walked away with no stuff. The Great Canadian Neighbour Contest would be no exception to this basic tenet of how the world turns.

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