IMAM DR. ZIJAD DELIC SHARES HIS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE AND PRAYER
TO MY CHRISTIAN SISTERS AND BROTHERS
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

Peace be with you all;
God Almighty in the Qur’an, in the Chapter Ali ‘Imran (the family of Imran), states: “(And remember!) When the angels said: “O Mary! Behold, God gives you the glad tidings of a son through a word from Him; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to Lord.” ) 3:45)
In the spirit …

Today there are words frequently used like winning, greatness, defeating, nuclear power
They have become popular words, words that have become populist words
Creating a culture in which only the strong and powerful are victorious
A world in which there can only be a few winners and the rest are losers
Do lives matter? Black lives, immigrant lives, refugee lives, lives of poverty, homeless lives.
All calling for respect, all calling for compassion, all calling to be sisters and brothers
To find in our human nature the impulse to transcend our egos and our selfishness
To dethrone …

BILL 62 NIQAB (FAITH) IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE
Imam Dr. Ziyad Delic

Is Bill 62 a toxic discourse? It makes the Muslim community think one more time about the Niqab and Niqabi women’s place in Quebec/Canada from a Canadian human rights perspective and the freedom of religion in Canada.
The Supreme Court ruled that freedom of religion is not dependent on religious rulings or dogma and freedom protects all sincerely held religious beliefs and practices regardless of whether they are sanctioned in jurisprudence or not. The3 exception is when there are security concerns.
The …

MY GOD! BILL 62 OPENS OLD DOORS

Father John Walsh
The old doers that are open and people ae walking through are the doors of scepticism, intolerance, the relativism of diversity, and the door that leads to awkwardness. The use of the Niqab leads many non-Muslims to be sceptical about the arguments used by Muslims to justify the wearing of Niqab by Muslim women. The scepticism arises because the Niqab is not essential to the faith of Islam and is optional for Muslim to wear or not wear. Those who decide to …

THE HAPPIEST DAY
Rabbi Michael Whitman

Dear John,
Your presence at Kol Nidre is a presence of love, and proof of the possibility of reconciliation after even the deepest rupture.
The historical precedent for Yom Kippur, according to the Bible, is the day Moses returned from the top of Mt. Sinai with the second set of stone tablets, upon which were engraved the Ten Commandments – a replacement for the tablets Moses smashed in the aftermath of our terrible sin of the Golden Calf.
Moses’ appearance with the new tablets on the tenth day of …

QUESTIONING MY FAITH ON KOL NIDRE AND YOM KIPPUR
FATHER JOHN WALSH
Qol Nidre is one service I attend every year. Yom Kippur is my High Holiday. For more years than I can remember, I look forward to hear my friend, the Cantor, Gideon Zellermyer. Gideon’s voice is heard on Leonard Cohen’s last album, You Want It Darker. His voice is a delight to my ears but it enters my heart to question my faith as a Christian. Qol nidre, meaning all vows, is a prayer to release …

IN THE MEETING
Father John Walsh

In our North American culture, generally speaking, we distance ourselves from people who are different. When we distance ourselves from others we make them invisible. They don’t exist. We no longer have to think about them or do anything to interrelate with them. They are illusions. We are able to say or do whatever we want about them because they are not people, they don’t have feelings.
Then one of these non-people enters our lives and becomes a person. At first there is hesitancy. What are we …

CAN A LARGE FIRE BE PUT OUT BY A SPOONFUL OF WATER?
Rabbi Michael Whitman

Anti-Semitism is not new, and in recent years it has become gradually more virulent. But in the last few weeks and months it seems to be in a dangerous new phase – it feels different somehow, even more volatile.
For centuries, we have been debating and analyzing the causes of Anti-Semitism. And after studying this for years, I haven’t heard anything more conclusive or persuasive than the insight of Theodor Herzl, who said in 1897:
“We have sincerely tried …

CANADA — A CHRISTIAN NATION?
Father John Walsh

Canada was considered a Christian nation until somewhere around fifty or so years ago. The change was rather abrupt in parts of the country, more especially in “Catholic” Quebec. Throughout Canada statutory holidays and religious holydays were scheduled on the feasts on the Christian calendar. The “Quiet Revolution” in Quebec, beginning in the 1960s, was also the time of a world-wide cultural revolution towards liberal democracies and secular societies. Religion was no longer part of the public square but was privatized and relegated to …

BEING CANADIAN
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

“The most notable distinction between living and unanimated things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing.” – John Dewey, an American philosopher and educational reformer
This year, 2017, Canadians proudly celebrate 150s grand anniversary of our nation! In the last 22 years, since my landing on shores of Canada, I have witnessed Canada evolving, changing for the …