Readers write: June 27, 2022 issue
Keep on keeping on After many years of supporting the withholding of military taxes and volunteering with Conscience Canada Peace Tax Trust Fund (CC), I have at last retired from the board. We have not yet achieved our goal: that it be legal in Canada for conscientious objectors (COs) to war to have their military…
Readers write: June 13, 2022 issue
Point: When words don’t make sense, conversation is at risk Re: “God didn’t create you wrong” feature, Feb. 21, page 4. The only challenge I have with the gender-identity conversation is the use of pronouns that, for most people, are plural, but are intended as singular by others. They/them/their, for me, doesn’t make sense in…
Readers write: May 30, 2022 issue
Creation-care article praised by reader Re: “ ‘All of a sudden there’s buds on the trees,’ ” May 2, page 16. This insightful article reveals a truth that has become increasingly recognized over the past years—that time spent outdoors improves learning by increasing the ability to be attentive and stay on task. This is particularly important at…
Readers write: May 16, 2022 issue
What to do about Vladimir Putin? Re: “Becoming the enemy you hate” column, April 18, page 13. The topic that Joshua Penfold highlights is at the very heart of the Anabaptist movement, which began in the 1500s. The Anabaptist leaders determined that the only way to stop the circle and cycle of “an eye for…
Readers write: May 2, 2022 issue
Ottawa citizen offers different view of life under the ‘freedom convoy’ Re: First letter of “Two views on the ‘freedom convoy,’ ” April 4, page 7. The letter from a Bible study group in St. Catharines, Ont., indicated how peaceful and lawful the “freedom convoy” was. They clearly did not hear the incessant honking of horns…
Readers write: April 18, 2022 issue
Reader objects to terms used in Canadian Mennonite In the last few years there has been a marked increase of “coded language” in Canadian Mennonite. By this I mean terms which have ideological implications beyond their dictionary meanings. For example, back in the 1950s and ’60s the buzzword was “change.” Everybody jumped on the bandwagon,…
Readers write: April 4, 2022 issue
Marriage is a spiritual union of soulmates Re: “God didn’t create you wrong,” Feb. 21, page 4. Nicolien Klassen Wiebe shows how Mennonite churches have been struggling with questions around the growing number of transgender and gender-diverse members in our congregations. One of the key issues is about marriage in the church. In the past…
Readers write: March 21, 2022 issue
A pastoral letter regarding Ukraine Beloved sisters and brothers in Ukraine: Today, war has come to your homeland. We grieve the danger, death and destruction that this plague brings. We stand in solidarity with you as persons of shared faith and hope. In our prayers we lift you to the sovereign God, who says, “Do…
Readers write: March 7, 2022 issue
Thank you for sharing Janzen tribute Re: “Simple wonder, peculiar generosity,” Jan. 24, page 4. I recall meeting Annie Janzen for the first time at an event hosted at/by Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg in the late ’60s or early ’70s. She struck me immediately as someone who was at once dedicated to simplicity,…
Readers write: February 21, 2022 issue
MC Canada executive ministers release statement on ‘freedom rallies’ The day after thousands of truckers and other protesters converged on Parliament Hill in late January to call for an end to COVID-19 mandates and other public health restrictions, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive ministers released a statement decrying the white nationalism being expressed at related protests…
