The future of neo-Anabaptism
“We are not living in the 16th century, and whatever is called Anabaptism today inevitably looks and sounds quite different,” said Paul Martens during a recent talk entitled “Neo-Anabaptism is dead: Long live neo-Anabaptism” at the Menno Simons Centre in Vancouver. Hence “neo-Anabaptism” is a way of naming the connections between the past and present:…
Follow the money
What is the real cost of the things we buy? That’s the question I asked myself during Uprooted, a three-week learning tour for young adults through Mexico, Guatemala and Arizona that took place in May. Organized by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Alberta and MCC Saskatchewan, the tour looked at issues surrounding migration in Central America…
Disparaging ‘the Donald’ plays into his hand
“America is again ablaze with partisan divisiveness.” That’s how I started an article during the presidential campaign of 2012. But the days of Barack Obama battling Mitt Romney seem pedestrian compared to the current convergence of reality TV and reality. For my 2012 article I interviewed Gus Booth, pastor of Warroad Community Church in Minnesota, not…
Is climate change real?
A reader of this magazine sent an e-mail admonishing me not to associate our Mennonite faith with the “fear narrative” of climate change. He provided some links to seemingly credible people who refute the common global-warming argument. My impulse was to either delete or politely—or impolitely—sidestep it. Instead, I took it seriously. Some of you,…
Reconciliation requires an end to guilty white inhibition
The door to reconciliation is open further now than ever before in Canada. From Trudeau to church organizers I speak with, interest in improving relations between indigenous and non-indigenous people is far greater than even a few years ago. Yet most of the discussion leaves me feeling hollow. If we are to seize this moment,…
Witness workers’ concerns acknowledged
On behalf of the Future Directions Task Force I express sincere thanks for the thought and time you’ve put into the open letter received last week from Norm Dyck, Mennonite Church Canada’s Witness Council chair. (See an abridged version of the letter at “Witness workers bring forth concerns about ‘Future Directions.’ ”) The questions and concerns…
Stop hiding behind the jokes
During high-school band camp last fall, I was in a cabin with a bunch of teenage guys who discussed stereotypical teenage-guy things. They began talking about all the “b**ches” at school—relationship gossip, who’s got a better booty than who—things along those lines. I was uncomfortable with the lack of respect shown for our female classmates…
Will Trudeau boost Mennonite causes?
When a provincial election brought a wave of optimism to Manitoba—or at least parts of it—in 1999, a colleague said, “Yep, the reign of God should descend upon us any time now.” So what might the change in Ottawa mean for a few issues of particular concern to Mennonites with the Liberals in power and…
Does religion make people intolerant?
Predictably, CBC jumped on the story of presumed Bible Belt intolerance. The members of our smallish Southern Manitoba credit union voted down a merger with a larger Winnipeg-based credit union and the rumblings here were that the city credit union’s “sharia” mortgages did not align with “local values.” In a column entitled “Sickened by ‘Christian’ opposition,” Winkler…
The future of MCC
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has long been part of the DNA of the North American Anabaptist church, linking us to the world and providing a sense of relation to “the least of these.” It has served as an informal seminary, immersing thousands of us in realities that have enriched us and, in turn, enriched our…
