Hope and optimism
Christmas is the season when we talk about how the birth of the baby Jesus brings hope. Hope implies some sort of betterment to come. So Jesus is our hope. But hope for the future is a crucial question for many people in these days of political polarization, rising global inequality, global ecological degradation and…
Confronting a drastic future
It’s been a month since Greta Thunberg—the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden—came to my town for a climate rally. The Edmonton reception was decidedly mixed. One reception was evidenced by around 10,000 people who gathered at the Alberta legislature. Most were young people, since her main message is that global environmental change, including a changing…
Informed ethics
A man saw the title of the book I was reading with my morning coffee. It was something religious-sounding, so he engaged me about faith. Eventually he asked what I did, and I said I teach at the nearby Christian university. I teach sociology. “Oh, sociology?” he said. “Then you can’t really be a Christian.”…
