VIOLENT SPEECH LEADS TO VIOLENT ACTIONS
By Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

Pope Francis, a wise Pope, while on route to the Philippines, was speaking about the Paris attacks and he defended freedom of speech/expression. However, he also said there are limits and that “you can’t make a toy out of the religions of others.” He defended freedom of expression as a fundamental human right and that there was also the duty to speak one’s mind for the sake of the common good, “without offending.” He said that “you cannot provoke and you …

KNOWING OUR FAITH
By Father John Walsh

We are living in an information age. The average newscast is made up of hundreds of messages and we are expected to pay attention to each one. Marshall McLuhan was insightful when he said, we are suffering from information overload. How many commercials on TV are repeated three of four times during the same show? Advertisers are trying to get our attention but too much, too many times, and finally we give in or we simply give up. We turn off the TV or change …

ARE FRIENDSHIPS POSSIBLE?
By Father John Walsh

We seem to pass each other like ships in the middle of the night. We might notice other people but we seldom stop and become engaged with the person. In today’s culture friendship seems to be onerous, almost a burden. It may be true that if you have three friends you are a very lucky person; the rest of the people you know are acquaintances. We avoid making friends because we already are weighed down by the demands of the one friend or three we …

“MY” MESSENGER MUHAMMAD WAS THE MESSENGER OF EASE
By Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

The Faithful scrutinize the past to find spiritual lessons from great people who speak directly to the contemporary conditions of their lives. We are in need of such inspirations today. More than ever we need to tell their stories.
1445 years ago, in the city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, Muhammad (pbuh) was born. Muslims believe that he is the last Messenger of God and that he left a legacy of spiritual lessons that have reached the farthest corners of …

THIS IS CHRISTMAS, LET’S LEARN THE DIGNITY OF DIFFERENCE
By: Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz

Quebec has come a long way since last Christmas. A year ago, we were mired in the ugly debate over the so-called “charter of values”, a proposed ban on religious symbols in government jobs that divided the province. Members of religious minorities like myself felt we were being singled out by this proposed law.
In the beginning of December last year, the city of Cote Saint Luc protested the Charter by inviting a Priest to light a Christmas tree and …