Search results for: abuse

The McCarrick Report: The Vatican Owns Up To Enabling Abuse

The McCarrick Report: The Vatican Owns Up To Enabling Abuse November 10, 2020 by Mary Pezzulo WN: The article highlighted is powerful! It also points to exponential pain, horror, and abuse of those reporting their abuse by priests–by the wider Church which gaslighted/gaslights/revictimized/revictimizes victims beyond imagining . . . One reads and weeps all over […]

Former New York Times reporter slams grand jury report on clerical abuse

Former New York Times reporter slams grand jury report on clerical abuse Jan 11, 2019 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Accountability Opinion   photo above: Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania speaks at a news conference in the state Capitol after legislation to respond to a landmark grand jury report accusing hundreds of Roman […]

Why the Vatican continues to struggle with sex abuse scandals

by Chico Harlan August 12 at 6:53 PM Email the author photo above: Members of Chile’s bishops conference, Luis Fernando Ramos Perez and Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, give a news conference at the Vatican in May. (LUCA PRIZIA/AFP/Getty Images) WN: Pope Francis by all accounts is faltering on this, rather than robustly pursuing justice in all […]

Pope Francis’ blind spot on sexual abuse

Jan 25, 2018 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Opinion photo above: Pope Francis talks with Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, left, as they arrive for a consistory at the Vatican on Feb. 13, 2015. (Courtesy of Reuters/Tony Gentile) WN: Given so many cover-ups of the horror of sexual abuse by priests, Pope Francis on down […]

Francis’ commitment to abuse survivors in question

Jan 23, 2018 by NCR Editorial Staff Accountability Opinion photo above: Pope Francis listens to a question from a journalist aboard his flight from Lima, Peru, to Rome Jan. 21. (CNS/Paul Haring) WN: This is a blunt and powerful Editorial. One wonders: What is it about (especially?) men in power that blinds us about getting […]

“A Continuous War Mentality”: Richard Falk on Israel’s Human Rights Abuses

Written by C. J. Polychroniou and Lily Sage By C.J. Polychroniou and Lily Sage, Truthout | Interview photo above: Israel Defense Forces operating in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, July, 2014. (Photo: Israel Defense Forces) WN: Israel to Palestine is the United States to the entire world: a brutal (mini-)Empire that is deeply committed to […]

Tomgram: Ann Jones, Donald Trump Has the Traits of a Wife Abuser and Women Know It

Posted by Ann Jones at 8:01am, June 14, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch There are two other articles I’ve posted about Trump’s bullying ways here: Bully, and here: Bully Trump. There is a related article about Donald Trump and potential running mate Newt Gingrich here. an excerpt: In fact, Donald J. Trump perfectly fits […]

Reconciliation–WN Contribution to:

illustration above: The rescue by (Anabaptist) Dirk Willems. Engraving by Jan Luiken in Martyrs Mirror, v. 2, p. 387 of Dutch edition. Scan provided by Mennonite Library and Archives WN: Reconciliation is a key term in the New Testament. The article excerpted below was written in 1989 at the invitation of The Mennonite Encyclopedia (Volume […]

Re-issuing: How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God

by Brendan O’Connor August 8, 2017 WN: I decided to republish this article of seven years ago. The supreme haughty superiority of Christians who just know all the massive, irrefutable science about human-caused climate change — as the massive scientific support for the Darwinian theory of evolution — are all a big hoax, “because the […]

Rwanda Dispatches May 18 to July 12, 2018

At 30 years on to this day, April 7, 2024, the Rwanda Genocide broke out, that saw more than 1 million Rwandans murdered. CBC did the interview you see below. 30 years after Rwandan genocide, Roméo Dallaire feels ‘rage’ amid global crises | Watch (msn.com) Roméo Dallaire led the UN’s peacekeeping mission when more than […]

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020, 356 pages WN: This is one of the few times I also posted a book review to this Blog. This is a highly disturbing–and informative–book. In an interview with Religion […]

Extensive Commentary On: What white Christian support for Trump reveals about systemic racism

By Robert P. Jones | November 12, 2020 WN: Beyond tragic the pullquote to the right, this means four-fifths of American white evangelical Christians subscribe to “heresy” (an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth—Merriam-Webster). And this not limited to America! And many religious white non-evangelicals (Catholics, mainline Protestants, other faith members, etc.) also are […]

Commentary On: How can I reconcile the good and evil of Jean Vanier?

Colleen Dulle photo above: Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, is pictured in a Feb. 17, 2015, photo. (CNS photo/courtesy Jean Vanier Association)  WN: What does one do with this revelation of a man almost universally considered a saint? My mind goes to: what, in the end is the difference between Vanier and (dare I […]

The Great Sumas Lake Heist: A Guilty Little Secret in Plain Sight

Sumas Lake until a century ago covered about 10% of the Fraser Valley’s fertile farmland. Then it was ‘disappeared.’ Whatever happened? And what to do about it? NOTE: There are several footnotes that add related material to the article, that for some may be of interest. NOTE 2:It was exactly a year ago that the […]

Focus On: Mapping Militarism 2020

by David Swanson May 6, 2020 WN: The article highlighted below represents a brilliant and multiplex presentation of the worldwide realities of the premier world blight of militarism. One could call it the Ultimate Virus, the Unremitting Pandemic–that few even recognize for the Monstrous World Nightmare it is. The other day I was forwarded an […]

Inside the CIA’s secret Kabul base, burned out and abandoned in haste

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul Sun 3 Oct 2021 image above: The burnt-out remains of cars, minibuses and armoured vehicles at the CIA secret base. Photograph: Emma Graham-Harrison/The Observer WN: Sick beyond description! An excerpt: [su_dropcap]T[/su_dropcap]he cars, minibuses and armoured vehicles that the CIA used to run its shadow war in Afghanistan had been lined up and incinerated beyond […]

Commentary on: “The Invention of Thanksgiving”

By Philip Deloria November 18, 2019 image above: The Indians who joined the mistrustful Pilgrims, Wampanoag tradition suggests, were honoring a mutual-defense pact. Illustration by Rui Tenreiro WN: If the article highlighted below shocks the reader, I suggest gently that you have grown up on a different planet . . . It is a story […]

What is “Evangelical” Theology?

November 4, 2019 by Scot McKnight WN: In my book review of Kristin Kobes du Mez’ outstanding Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, I write: In essence therefore, being “conservative evangelical” “is as much about culture as it is about theology.” (p. 9) And therein lies its […]

Interaction With “The CIA: 70 Years of Organized Crime”

September 22, 2017 by Douglas Valentine – Lars Schall photo above by Tom Thai | CC BY 2.0 WN: Welcome to America the Beautiful. As kids, my brothers and I loved the highlighted song, as sung by George Beverly Shea–who performed in front of more people than any other singer in history. We played it […]

Legacy of Shame:

October 19, 2021 by Kenn Orphan photo above: Photograph Source: Reagan White House Photographs – Public Domain WN: Saint Augustine recounts this story of Empire: The king asked the fellow, “What is your idea, in infesting the sea?” And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, “the same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because […]

They Went to Bible College to Deepen Their Faith.

Becca Andrews September 30, 2021 photo above: yelp.com WN: The article highlighted below begins with Megan Wohlers telling her story of abuse, and ends with these understated words from her: And that’s not how Jesus would have acted. I added October 24, 2021 almost an identical story, only from Jerry Falwell’s (Founder) Liberty University. His […]

Josh McDowell steps back from ministry after controversial remarks on black families

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter September 23, 2021 photo above: Josh McDowell speaks at Talbot Chapel at Biola University in California on January 21, 2020. | YouTube/Biola University WN: Meanwhile, 82 years and 150 books in, Christian “intellectual” McDowell has finally learned something about Black History in America? Thank God we’re never too old […]

How America Fractured Into Four Parts

By George Packer July/August 2021 Issue The Atlantic image above: Lucy Jones WN: Wow! The essay is stunning as it is brilliant. At least read my excerpts below. Better though, purchase the book it is excerpted/adapted from: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. It challenges understanding about America’s past and present place in […]

9/11 was a test:

Essay by Carlos Lozada Illustration above: by Patrik Svensson Sept. 3, 2021 WN: Below are excerpts from an outstanding essay by a Pulitzer Prizer winner for criticism in 2019. But the last lines, though intended to be hopeful, ring perversely hollow–especially given what one can read on this website about the horrors of American Expansionism/Exceptionalism/Empire: […]

Cuomo investigation returns spotlight to workplace harassment

By Julia Manchester – 08/08/21 WN: This continues to be tragic for women. We read: “The real root of the issue is this extremely large gap of power between people who are most frequently being harmed in the workplace, who are often times not working in professional jobs, who are people who are making minimum […]

Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire

SEARCH and ARCHIVES options are at the bottom of all website pages. The website is dedicated to: The Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire.     More on Empire below. PLEASE NOTE: the Sitemap. There is also a list of all Book Reviews separately, and alongside each post. You may search the Blog too. Please consider […]

This entire country is haunted

By Alicia Elliott July 12, 2021 photo above: The Mohawk Institute Residential School, referred to by former students as ‘the Mush Hole’ (Photograph by Alex Jacobs-Blum) WN: This statement from the article highlighted below haunts me: These acts were done on behalf of every non-Indigenous family who proudly calls themselves Canadians, because this is what […]

Haiti’s fate is intertwined with the U.S.

By Ishaan Tharoor with Claire Parker  Email photo above: A man speaks on the phone next to a mural in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami on July 8. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) WN: Haiti is a made-in-France-and-America tragedy . . . Please see Egberto Willies on this: My wife Esther and I visited there in 1991, […]

The war inside the Canadian Armed Forces

By Marie-Danielle Smith July 8, 2021 illustration above: by Anna Minzhulina WN: Military. Police. Prisons.1 All are rife with abuse within. As the article states: The Canadian Armed Forces, as an institution, has a necessarily coercive culture. Leaders must have a high degree of authority and control over their subordinates in order for the military […]

John A. Macdonald can wait

By Stephen Maher June 7, 2021 photo above: Shoes sit in front of the Parliament buildings during a ceremony on June 3, 2021 in Ottawa (Adrian Wyld/CP)  WN: It is the human condition that historians from within a culture generally silence any contrary narrative that might put into a negative light the moral rectitude of […]

Canada’s Solitary Confinement Deemed “Torture”:

WN: Please consider signing the petition begun today. After nearly fifty years of work in Canada’s Criminal Justice System, and seeing personally and professionally how prisons in general, solitary confinement in particular, often do irrevocable harm to their keep, it seemed appropriate to use this platform for the petition. All statements are supported in the […]

Why Canada’s special forces ‘shadow army’ is still fighting ISIS

By Adnan R. Khan May 11, 2021 photo above: Spec Ops Magazine WN: In short, Canada’s Special Operations Regiment (CSOR), are a bunch of trained hitmen. There is no declared war Canada is in1. Testimonials are ubiquitous that intelligence gathered by CSOR and others by its very nature is often faulty, frequently manipulated, at best […]

Joe Biden’s War Powers:

Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill April 28 2021 Recording: Go to website and listen to Joe Biden’s War Powers 2021-04-28·36 min. Transcript excerpts below. illustration above: Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism by Joel Andreas. WN: In the end, Joe Biden’s devout Catholicism, his profound empathy from personal tragedy, his commitment to the welfare […]

Trump’s Secret Rules for Drone Strikes Outside War Zones Are Disclosed

By Charlie Savage May 1, 2021 photo above: Targeted killings away from conventional war zones have been a central feature of the sprawling war on terrorism, raising legal and policy questions that remain in flux. Credit… Janis Laizans/Reuters WN: Of course the use of drones–as any aerial bombing–invariably murders civilians–often vast numbers. Two classic studies […]

Empire Politician:

The new president’s paper trail reveals a man who has often betrayed his own bedrock principles. Jeremy Scahill April 28 2021 WN: The article highlighted pulls no punches in underscoring Biden’s war-hawk and pro-police brutality policies over a lifetime as a politician. He–as anyone–still may change! But not his brutal record, as laid out in […]

Opinion: Prolonged solitary confinement is torture. It’s time for all states to ban it.

Opinion by Tammie Gregg and Donna Lieberman April 28, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. PDT image above: Julie Lai for The Washington Post WN: My wife Esther and I felt uniquely fortunate to have attended the Conference below: CURE International Conference Costa Rica 2017 Over 40 prison reform advocates representing a dozen countries participated in CURE’s 7th […]

Houses of hate:

Dangerous, racist and falling apart. By nearly every metric, the nation’s penal system is not just failing, it’s making things worse. By Justin Ling February 28, 2021 photo above: Medium security range at Stony Mountain Institution in Stony Mountain, Manitoba (Correctional Services Canada/Flickr) WN: The article highlighted does not sugar-coat the reality: Canadian prisons (and […]

The Useful Idiot:

02/28/2021 By S.V. Dáte, HuffPost US illustration above: Rebecca Zisser/HuffPost; Photo: Getty WN: I can only add: I have two close relatives who belong to that cast of Deplorables highlighted below. That is agonizingly incredible!. . . Sigh. . . excerpts: The following is excerpted from “The Useful Idiot: How Donald Trump Killed the Republican […]

There Is No Christian Case for Trump

January 30, 2020 Peter Wehner Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC photo above: President Trump speaking to evangelical supporters in Miami, Florida on January 3, 2020.Eva Marie Uzcategui / Reuters WN: There are multiple reasons for critiquing “Christian” behaviour in America. Especially egregious is white Evangelical embrace of Trump. In this […]

This Valentine’s Day, Celebrate Love as Growth and Liberation

By adrienne maree brown, Truthout Published February 14, 2021 photo above: Participants take part in an event organized by Love & Protect to lift up the names and celebrate the lives of Black women and girls who have been killed by state violence at Rekia’s Tree in Douglass Park, Chicago, on June 13, 2018. Sarah-ji […]

AOC’s Stirring Call to Reject Insurrection Amnesia

Going against Republicans, the media, and some on the left, the New York representative makes the case for accountability. By Jeet Heer Twitter February 3, 2021 photo above: uproxx.com WN: Amen! excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]O[/su_dropcap]n Monday night, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke on a live video on her Instagram page about her fears during […]

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity.

Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity. By Christine Mungai, Truthout Part of the Series: Religion’s Role in the Struggle for Justice December 16, 2020 photo above: howafrica.com WN: This is the central theme of this website! A significant portion of what follows is from the previous highlighted part. There is […]

GOD IS NOT GREAT: How Religion Poisons Everything

Christopher Hitchens, Toronto: Emblem Editions, 2008, 307 pp. WN: With such a claim in the title, Hitchins’ treatise invariably tells us far more about the author than his subject. His brother Peter’s book fills in the details: The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith. To be sure: any humanist with a modicum […]

RCMP Perpetuates Misogynistic, Homophobic And Racist Culture: Report

11/19/2020 By Samantha Beattie photo above: Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS WN: My short response to the current Commissioner: She does not know (or admit knowing) and does not care to know (more); so there will be no external review–and no systemic change–unless imposed and done independently of police and prison personnel. Then who will implement […]

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election?

Trump’s Politics Fractured My Family. Where Do We Go After The Election? I’m a Democrat, they’re Republicans. Healing the political divide will be America’s next challenge. Updated 11/13/2020 By Jenn Merritt, Special To HuffPost     WN: The article highlighted below holds special sadness for me, given a similar concern in our family with some […]

Gustavo Gutiérrez and the preferential option for the poor

Nov 8, 2011 by John Dear Blog | On the Road to Peace WN: What can one say? The highlighted article is deeply humbling. I could have cited the entire article, so full of wisdom and insight–and great challenge! As well, the overwhelming opposite juxtaposition leaps out in light of the just-released McCarrick Report: The […]

No. I will not meet you halfway. You must change.

MindMatter Saturday November 07, 2020 photo above: Politico WN: I suppose the highlighted article could best be summed up: There is no compromise with evil. I’ve posted the opening paragraphs. The rest is also simply great! excerpt: Dear Trump supporter, Let’s make a deal.  I will not accuse you of being evil as Satan or […]

Tomgram: Ariel Dorfman, Trump’s Divine Fate

Posted by Ariel Dorfman  October 22, 2020. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. WN: In a word: brilliant! More so: incredibly legitimate! Trump like other (would-be) tinpot despots, is a Self turned downwards on a (seeming) endless spiral of Evildoing that also seems to know no bounds. But if every saint has a past, every sinner […]

The World Order That Donald Trump Revealed

When it comes to foreign policy, the president’s most important characteristic is not amorality or a lack of curiosity; it is naïveté. Story by Tom McTague and Peter Nicholas Photo illustrations by Rohan Hande October 20, 2020 Global WN: This analysis is fascinating and insightful. While one celebrates America’s loss of hegemonic power, its sting […]

Life Under the Bomb Means a Life of Resistance

Published on Thursday, August 06, 2020 by Common Dreams by Rev. John Dear photo above: “Our message over the years has been simple and urgent: Nuclear weapons have totally failed us. They don’t make us safer; they don’t provide jobs; they don’t make us more secure—these are age-old lies. Instead they bankrupt us, economically and […]

An Open Letter To Joe Biden

Dear Mr. Biden. If I might be so bold, I wonder about connecting some dots at this incredible kairos moment of U.S. and world history. I was moved by your empathetic videoed message to the Floyd family during the funeral service in Houston. You have deeply suffered multiple losses as this article sensitively points out: […]

Voices Rock Medicine Women Physicians’ Choir

A Toronto-Based Choir of Women Physicians singing “Rise Again” by Leon Dubinsky WN: The first video below is so inspiring–and beautifully sung; full of hope! Further: a beloved Spiritual Director/Singer/Songwriter in Mission BC, Cathy AJ Hardy, has written and performed a powerful song in relation to working with women in abusive relationships; drawn from experience. […]

“Nothing” bishop gets frank on married priests, Vatican under Francis

“Nothing” bishop gets frank on married priests, Vatican under Francis Feb 19, 2020 by Joshua J. McElwee photo above: Bishop John Michael Botean of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George’s in Canton, Ohio, returns to his seat after receiving Communion as bishops of the Eastern Catholic churches in the U.S. concelebrate a Divine Liturgy […]

Freedom, Valor, Love: On Snowden’s Permanent Record

November 20, 2019 by Michelle Renee Matisons WN: Former Canadian Member of Parliament Chuck Strahl once remonstrated at a workshop when I had the temerity, as facilitator, to suggest that the United States was hardly a democracy… It most decidedly is not, and has never been. Then again, as Astra Taylor argues in Democracy May […]

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package

Progressives Rebel as House Hands Trump War Spending Package By Mike Ludwig, Truthout December 12, 2019 WN: And this is the “Land of the Free and Defender of worldwide Human Rights?!” The sheer obscenity of such military spending is exponentially staggering. The country since inception, and astronomically beyond comparison with any other State in world […]

When the Facts Are Not Debatable

The House’s two charges against Trump get right to the point, are easy to prove, and precisely describe the threat the president poses to American democracy. December 11, 2019 Kim Wehle Professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law photo above: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters WN: As a non-lawyer and Canadian, I find the […]

Punishment and Prison Bibliography

Patrick S. O’Donnell WN: This is an outstanding Bibliography! The author explains: From 2000-2015, I was an adjunct instructor in the Department of Philosophy at Santa Barbara City College. If you click on the above name, you will discover links to several other Bibliographies–and so very much more! Including (clickables): 138  Papers 6  Teaching Documents One may […]

America’s Arms Sales Addiction

November 17, 2019 The 50-Year History of U.S. Dominance of the Middle Eastern Arms Trade By William D. Hartung Honestly, if a single corporate entity controlled three-quarters of the global market in a product, you’d call it a monopoly, right? Well, in 2011, that was the situation of the United States when it came to […]

The Exposure of the Republican Party

The Exposure of the Republican Party The GOP will not be a great or good party until those who lead it straighten their backbone. November 13, 2019 Peter Wehner Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC photo above: Pool / Reuters WN: This rings so true. When unchecked hubris and unbridled greed […]

Scheer, Who Is Toast, Should Have Listened to Preston Manning

To win, Tories must chuck their leader and Harper’s old playbook. Michael Harris Today | TheTyee.ca Michael Harris, a Tyee contributing editor, is a highly awarded journalist and documentary maker. Author of Party of One, the bestselling exposé of the Harper government, his investigations have sparked four commissions of inquiry. photo above: Manning saw the potential of […]

Harry Nigh started groundbreaking sex-offender support group

The Circles of Support and Accountability model has spread worldwide By Julie McGonegal October 22, 2019 WN: Last week in Canmore Alberta, CoSA Canada held a celebration of 25 years of work with sex offenders returning to the community, and deemed high risk to reoffend. We had a small reception Wednesday October 16 in the […]

Beyond Impeachment: Remove This Regime from Below

October 1, 2019 by Paul Street photo above: White House – Public Domain WN: This is a powerful broadside against the Ultimate Bad Guy on the Planet: the Evil Empire of the United States of America! The vehemence is found not only in the colourful language, but even in the typos . . . Mr. […]

Donald Trump Is Finished

Sep 30, 2019 TD originals Bill Blum photo above: President Donald Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence at left, takes part in an Armed Forces event at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., on Monday. (Evan Vucci / AP) WN: Of all the vile presidents I have lived through, Trump is clearly the worst: as I […]

Everything You Need to Know About Pregnancy and Drugs

Mother-Fetus Connection WN: This amazing site is a mother-lode of information about mothers and substance use. I will add a Canadian site if there is such. From the site: The profound connection between mother and fetus is deeper than most think. While mother and child don’t share blood, the placenta provides a connection between the […]

Imperialist Made Crisis of Migrants and Refugees

For the last 18 years, since the new era of war and occupation began, there has been no end to the war, violence, and economic devastation imposed on people around the world by imperialist governments like the U.S., Canada, and the countries of the European Union Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Common Dreams […]

How Can We Celebrate “Freedom” While Kids Are in Concentration Camps?

How Can We Celebrate “Freedom” While Kids Are in Concentration Camps? By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Published July 4, 2019 photo above: Pro tip, flag-waver: Your July Fourth “freedom” narrative is a bald-faced lie.Lauren Walker / Truthout WN: And damned if anyone out there for the most part cares!… I have a close relative who […]

Kids Locked In Cages Aren’t So Sure You’re Actually “Pro-Life”

Benjamin L. Corey July 1, 2019   WN: Of course, the persons addressed in the article highlighted below in the end are neither “pro-life” nor “Christian”. They have always happily supported bombing the hell out of whatever perceived enemy of the month America is targeting “now” (and that is anyone/state not bowing to its hegemony […]

Good Friday Sermon and Easter Sermon, 2017 by Randy Klassen

Good Friday Sermon and Easter Sermon, 2017 by Randy Klassen photo above: Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem WN: Randy Klassen is an esteemed member of the CoSA Canada Board, and past National Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee Canada. That position and others were sadly eliminated due to financial restructuring at MCCC […]

What’s the Problem with Masculinity?

What’s the Problem with Masculinity? Meeting Pablo Escobar’s brother turned out to be one of the more disappointing moments of my life. In Medellin, Colombia, you can go to the Escobar house. In fact, there’s a whole tourism industry that’s sprouted up around Escobar and the old cartel. January 19, 2019 by Mark Manson WN: […]

Good Riddance to Cultural Christianity

Good Riddance to Cultural Christianity April 19, 2019| nones, Religious Right, voluntary association photo above: Pat Robertson speaks at the Road to Victory event at the Christian Coalition Conference September 19, 1998 in Washington, DC (Richard Ellis / Alamy Stock Photo). WN: Of course, “cultural Christianity” is ever part of Christian expression in all eras, […]

John Walton’s Finest?

John Walton’s Finest? February 25, 2019 by Scot McKnight WN: John Walton (often with a co-author, including his son, J. Harvey Walton — as in this case) has been producing amazing publications on Hebrew Bible interpretation in the context of the Ancient Near East. One such explains his approach well: Ancient Near Eastern Thought and […]

Nova Scotia Chocolatier Peace by Chocolate Pledges To Hire 50 Refugees By 2022

Nova Scotia Chocolatier Peace by Chocolate Pledges To Hire 50 Refugees By 2022 The now-famous company will also mentor 10 refugee startups over the next few years. Holly McKenzie-Sutter Canadian Press photo above: Andrew Vaughan/CP — Assam Hadhad, a Syrian refugee, displays a tray of chocolates at Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish, N.S. on Sept. […]

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER) Step Toward Fascism?

Is Trump’s National Emergency (ANOTHER)1 Step Toward Fascism? By Mark Bray, Truthout February 15, 2019 photo above: VALENCIA, SPAIN – MARCH 19, 2017: Photo with blurred background Ninot sculpture representing of Donald Trump placing a brick on the wall with mexico   WN: The article highlighted is a balanced response to the question above. excerpts: […]

The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years

The case for capping all prison sentences at 20 years America’s prison sentences are far too long. It’s time to do something about it. By German Lopez; @germanrlopez; german.lopez@vox.com Feb 12, 2019, 7:30am EST image above: Christina Animashaun/Vox WN: The article highlighted is eminently reasonable, the evidence-based research solid, the way forward worldwide hopeful in […]

Why Poverty Is Like a Disease

Why Poverty Is Like a Disease Emerging science is putting the lie to American meritocracy. By Christian H. Cooper April 20, 2017 WN: Deeply embedded in the right-of-centre in my experience is the profound myth of meritocracy. Wherever it has taken root, it is a false narrative… We do well to heed the wisdom in […]

American Psychological Association links ‘masculinity ideology’ to homophobia, misogyny

American Psychological Association links ‘masculinity ideology’ to homophobia, misogyny For the first time in its 127-year history, the APA has issued guidelines to help psychologists specifically address the issues of men and boys. photo above: vintag.es Jan. 8, 2019, 3:28 PM PST By Tim Fitzsimons WN: The article is about powerful, hopeful moves by Gillette […]

Tucker Carlson has sparked the most interesting debate in conservative politics

Tucker Carlson has sparked the most interesting debate in conservative politics “All I’m saying is don’t act like the way things are is somehow ordained by God.” By Jane Coastonjane.coaston@vox.com Jan 10, 2019, 5:00am EST   photo above: Tucker Carlson, host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, in his Fox News Channel studio in New York on […]

Evangelicals, Let’s Talk About Violence Against Women

Evangelicals, Let’s Talk About Violence Against Women October 4, 2018 by Kristin Du Mez photo above: Kavanaugh Family at the The White House – courtesy Wikimedia Commons WN: When half of all white evangelicals think Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed even if Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault are true. (An NPR/PBS NewHour/Marist poll […]

Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, Will China Be the Next Global Hegemon?

Beijing’s Bid for Global Power in the Age of Trump “America First” Versus China’s Strategy of the Four Continents By Alfred W. McCoy image above: Visual Capitalist, from “The world’s top economy: the US vs China in five charts” WN: As usual, Dr. McCoy’s trenchant analysis proves compelling, sage, hugely informed, and immensely helpful. Trump’s […]

Willow Creek, Your Time Is Now

August 6, 2018 by Scot McKnight 68 Comments photo above: Pat Baranowski was the executive assistant to the Rev. Bill Hybels at the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., one of the largest megachurches in the country. CreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times WN: What can one add — that is not […]

How Martin Luther Paved the Way for Donald Trump

To understand why evangelicals support the president, look to the first Protestant. By Michael Massing April 19, 2018 illustration above by Sabine Formane WN: This article draws a fascinating direct line from Martin Luther in the early 16th century to Donald Trump in the 21st. There is likewise a fascinating/tragic direct line to be drawn […]

Jesus Was Not White. Here Is Why Recognizing That Matters

Newsweek Newsweek Europe 2018-03-31   by: Robyn J. Whitaker photo above: © Provided by IBT Media (UK) Depictions of Jesus WN: Racial bias is overwhelmingly problematic in Western Christianity. Change must surely start with the “most radical of all” proposals according to the article highlighted, “if we were more mindful that the person Christians celebrate […]

The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya’s Women-Only Village

WN: These are fascinating stories of Kenyan villages where women are in charge. You may notice they are a tad biased against men… One wonders why… Just as of course one cannot imagine why there is bias against white men who have the “burden” to “take care”of their “lesser brethren” when all they offer is […]

The Doctrine of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and American Exceptionalism

Posted on July 21, 2015 by christian hegemony Challenging Christian Hegemony Practical tools for recognizing and resisting Christian dominance WN: Every time I read an essay so well presented as that highlighted below (and so beyond tragic!), as a committed follower of Jesus, I know that I don’t have to wear the blame, but I […]

A Better Man

WN: This is a riveting film about a former couple who meet up 20 years after the male subjected his partner to horrific violence in their relationship, before she finally, after two years, breaks away. It is brilliantly edited, and offers great hope and insight to women who are abused, as well as huge challenge […]

Submission to BC Government’s consultation on cannabis regulation

CULTURE, JUSTICE by Archbishop Michael Miller • November 9, 2017 WN: The issue of cannabis legalization internationally is well summarized here. A breakdown of jurisdictions internationally in relation to cannabis and other drugs is found here, and a comprehensive worldwide chart is found here. Archbishop Miller is incorrect about Canada’s being “only the second country in the world, to […]

Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race

For years, racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists, but a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society Listen to the audio version of this long read Tuesday 30 May 2017 05.30 BST (Last modified on Wednesday 31 May 2017 […]

‘Shades of 1933 Germany’: Trump’s Hostile Rally Prompts Third Reich Comparisons

Former British ambassador expresses shock at president’s rhetoric as U.N. panel issues warning on Charlottesville response Published on Wednesday, August 23, 2017 by Common Dreams WN: Things begin to become genuinely scary. Especially in light of a former Trump advisor who warned of armed insurrection if Trump is impeached. Lord, have mercy. In the wake […]

Church program offers hope to released sex offenders

CATHOLIC VANCOUVER JUL 17, 2017 BY AGNIESZKA KRAWCZYNSKI photo above: Maureen Donegan heads the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s prison ministry, including the COSA program for released sex offenders. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic) WN: I had the good fortune for many years of helping lead CoSA with Maureen Donegan. I also am fortunate to now serve on […]

Now Is The Time For Prophetic Moral Action

Published on Monday, July 17, 2017 by Red Letter Christians photo above: arrest of Rev. Barber. “It’s time,” writes Rev. Barber, “for those of us who are called to proclaim and embody God’s Word to put on our clerical robes, take up our holy books, and speak truth in the public square.” by Rev. Dr. […]

Doctrine of Discovery Task Force – Christian Reformed Church of North America

WN: There are so many in dominant North American culture who simply deny any relevance in the past treatment of indigenous peoples to North American realities of today. At least, if acknowledged, they say that nothing can be done about it, and that indigenous peoples should just “get over it, and move on”. They usually […]

Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington

Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington The notorious US spy agencies invented this monster, first with the Stuxnet virus against Iran—but then they lost control over it. By William Greider JUNE 30, 2017 WN: Of course, the United States has never been the “peacekeeper that upholds the world’s higher values”, as […]

‘Death row nun’ explains why she does it

Sister Prejean tells prisoners they’re worth more than their crimes By Agnieszka Krawczynski of The B.C. Catholic Wednesday, 10 May 2017 11:56p photo above: Sister Helen Prejean meets Joel Ivany, the director of the Vancouver Opera’s performance of Dead Man Walking, in Vancouver April 29. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic) WN: Canada abolished the death […]

Select Bibliography of Key Restorative Justice Works

Select Bibliography of Key Restorative Justice Works Compiled by Wayne Northey WN: Today, I updated a bibliography, especially weighted towards theological and generally academic works, that I have appreciated. Compilation of this list began decades ago. I think most are still discoverable, the links current. It is copied below, and there is a link to […]

Video: “Trump Won’t Be Cancelling World War 3 After All”. #StandDownMrTrump

Mr Trump is a liar, a hypocrite and a fool By StormCloudsGathering Global Research, April 15, 2017 stormcloudsgathering.com WN: It is a towering truism in relation to Trump, that “one should never trust a liar.” If only it were that simple, and we could all go to bed tonight with full assurance that the world is safe […]

You’re Fired! The Unemployable Trump Administration

February 23, 2017 Dana Snitzky Longreads photo above: British (Canadians) burn White House in War of 1812. (Metaphorically, would that Trudeau and Company do the same now! Then again, Trump the Arsonist is working hard on that project himself! “Give a man enough rope…”) an excerpt: The second takeaway is that Donald Trump is made […]

Donald Trump Intentionally Lies to Us

He has no mandate. That fact has so unhinged Trump that he is shaming himself and his office by promulgating obvious lies. Picture above: President-elect Trump calls on a reporter during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) By John Nichols January 24, […]

For Abolition: Prisons and Police Are More Than Brutality, They’re State Terror

Saturday, 12 November 2016 00:00 By Frank Castro, The Hampton Institute | News Analysis photo above: Jobs For Felons Hub; Edited: LW / TO This is an incredibly powerful assessment of “state terror” in arguably the most oppressive democracy of recent times: the United States of America. The author’s analysis rings true at every turn: […]

Nasty Women: Donald Trump, the Greatest Victim in the History of the World

Tomgram: Ann Jones, Donald Trump’s Open Carry | TomDispatch By Ann Jones an excerpt: Donald Trump grabbed a new lifeline. Speaking at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 15th, he raised a hand as if to take an oath and declared: “I am a victim!” The great business tycoon, the one and only […]

Donald Trump’s Campaign Has Been Vile and Offensive—and We Should Thank Him for That

How Trump stopped the gaslighting of America. By Matthew Arnold October 26 9:07 photo above: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, October 10, 2016, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci) an excerpt: It’s quite possible that a decade from now, we’ll look back on Donald Trump’s norms-transgressing, concession-refusing […]

Buying sex is a crime – though you’d never know it in BC

by Flyn Ritchie October 21, 2016 photo above: Gwendoline Allison was one of several speakers at an October 18 press conference / rally which urged the police and government to enforce Bill C-36. an excerpt: Two years ago the federal government passed Bill C-36, which made the purchase of sex illegal. So far, however, no […]

How America became a 1% society | The Guardian

Since 1980, the economy has continued to grow impressively, but most of the benefits have migrated to the top. Bill Moyers asks why. Monday 12 September 2016 17.50 BST photo above: idiamonds.blogspot.com The article linked with excerpts below, is incredibly compelling, in the direction of what is ultimately paramount in living our lives: love of neighbour. […]

North Korea accused of ‘maniacal recklessness’ after new nuclear test

US Geological Survey records 5.3 seismic event at ground level near nuclear test site Friday 9 September 2016 Martin Farrer and agencies WN: The grand irony is ever there: the US and the Western  world accuse North Korea of “maniacal recklessness” (indeed, absolutely accurately), and we read in the article linked below that “the United […]

The Revenge of Roger’s Angels

How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media. September 2, 2016 7:30 a.m. By Gabriel Sherman photo above: Wesley Mann/AUGUST: Roger Ailes. WN: There is something profoundly disturbing, but in no way surprising, about Roger Ailes, who recently was fired from Fox News, after his decades-long harassment and abuse […]

Ex-Seattle Police Chief Condemns Systemic Police Racism Dating Back to Slave Patrols

Thursday, 14 July 2016 00:00 By Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now! | Video Interview an excerpt: On Wednesday, President Obama met at the White House with law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders. President Obama hosted the meeting one week after the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and […]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

image above: Traumaline1 June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month. To learn more about PTSD and how it affects victims of child abuse and domestic violence, please visit PTSD.

Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, Justice for Torturers?

Posted by Rebecca Gordon at 7:25am, June 7, 2016. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch. photo above: A composite showing some of the torture images from US military, among 198 photographs released in February. Photograph: Department of Defense (See: torture photos) an excerpt: In other words, one of the leading legal opponents of everything the war […]

US Officials Responsible for Torture Should Be Prosecuted Under Nuremberg Protocols

photo above: Congressional Republicans surround President George W. Bush as he signs the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, in Washington, October 26, 2005. (Stephen Crowley / The New York Times) The article by Rebecca Gordon is an excerpt from the foreward of her […]

Mr. Harper, But Emperor Bush Has Nothing on At All!!!

By Wayne Northey Stephen Harper is a scary man. He is at best sycophant, at worst dupe, of the confidence racket called American Foreign Policy. There is a growing collection of articles on my computer about American Empire and “Emperor” George W. Bush. The assortment exceeds to the point of crescendo journalist Serge Schmemann’s agonizing […]

Canadian Federal Candidates Questions: June 2004

Two questions that never received a response during election year 2004 . . . Mr. Warawa, the Conservative Party of Canada in its earlier incarnations was committed to upholding victims rights, and opposing criminal behaviour. According to The Langley Advance, February, 2004: [Stephen] Harper clearly accepted a connection between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11, […]

True Christian Spirituality

An excerpt: It seems that we Christians always have had difficulty keeping together Christian points of tension. Whether the two natures of Christ, our will and God’s choice, faith and works, etc., we tend almost invariably towards extremes. Likewise on the issue of spirituality. I was raised in a conservative evangelical church tradition. The spirituality […]

The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice – Christianity

WN: This paper was jointly written by Pierre Allard and me. It arose from a book publication by the same title as above (minus “Christianity”). The actual paper as it appeared in the book in part may be found here. The paper as I believe sent to the publisher’s is below. An excerpt: Introduction “It […]

“A Great Irony of History”: The Cross and Peace

WN: There is a similar paper on this site. This was the original. Exactly a week before I was to deliver this to a Regent College class of first year students in a “World Christianity” course (April 8, 2007 was the day of the lecture, at the invitation of Loren Wilkinson), Dean Davey declared to […]

Politics and Religion in the Thought of Ivan Illich

WN: This paper is on David Cayley’s website here. You may read about David Cayley here. David has broadcast and written about Ivan Illich numerous times. He is currently (2015) working on yet another book on him. (Update: published in 2021 and clickable.) An excerpt: One could say a lot more about the segregation of […]

Christians! – Don’t You Just Love to Hate ‘Em?

image above: turnbacktogod.com WN: I might not have written this today… But there is irony in the piece, and some names could be updated to fit similar current circumstances… An excerpt: I’m glad in our apoplectic politically correct world it’s still open season on Christians. Jews, Aboriginals, Blacks, etc. – not a chance! But Christians! […]

Christianity and the Subversion of Just About Everything!

April 16, 2017 WN: This essay was initially written in the 1980’s while I was preparing a sermon on Romans 13. My “aha” moment is that described in the excerpt below. I’ve never seen this elsewhere in biblical scholarship. Someday a New Testament scholar may tell me it really is not good exegesis. But until […]

The Biblical Revelation of the Cross

A Bible Study of the Atonement of Jesus Christ – the Righteous Servant, Norman McIlwain, Oak Wood Publishing House, 2006 Reviewed by Phil Groom Why did Jesus die? It’s a simple enough question at first glance: he was crucified. That’s what happens: crucifixion kills. But for Christians, as well as for anyone else who wants […]

Restorative Justice

  NOTE: Some of what follows is excerpted from Chapter One of Justice That Transforms: Volume 1 WN: From a Canadian vantage point, Dr. Herman Bianchi, a Dutch criminologist, is one of the three “grandfathers” (if one must use that term) chronologically of Restorative Justice, together with Mark Yantzi and Dave Worth, the first and longstanding […]