Gord Evans
11th September 2006, 12:45 PM (12:45)
There is a new book out:
For Canada's Sake, by Gary Miedema (the re-making of Canada in the 1960s)
This is what ChristianityToday has to say about it:
What Happened to Religion in Canada?
How our neighbor to the north lost its faith.
Reviewed by Mark Noll | posted 09/11/2006 09:30 a.m.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/global/images/spacer.gif
Into the 1960s, Canada was a markedly more religious country than the United States, with a higher percentage of church attendance and a stronger place for Christianity in public life. In that decade, however, things began to change, and in a hurry.
Gary Miedema's carefully researched book explores and explains those rapid changes. By studying the place of religion in celebrations of Canada's 100th birthday (July 1, 1967) and at the World Exposition in Montreal that same year, Miedema shows how elite and many ordinary Canadians had come to look differently at their nation.
No longer did particular identities such as Catholic and Protestant, or French and English, matter most. Rather, the new unifying ideal was a hope that by embracing pluralism and diversity, national unity would flourish.
This effort both reflected and stimulated a large-scale reordering of public life, including the recent legislation that has legalized gay marriage throughout the nation.
Miedema's tone is low-key, but he nonetheless offers much to ponder—especially on how the national effort to combat religious discrimination led to extensive discrimination against sharply focused religious groups (often evangelicals) and on how an ideology of pluralism has succeeded only partially in creating a strong sense of Canadian identity.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ctmag/features/info.html#permission) for reprint information.
September 2006, Vol. 50, No. 9, Page 126
Is there a message, here, to other nations claiming to be "Christian", or have "Christian roots"?
Oh, BTW, the book retails for only $70. What is it with Christian materials (books, CDs, DVDs)? Why can't they be more affordable??
For Canada's Sake:
Public Religion,
Centennial Celebrations,
and the Re-making
of Canada
in the 1960s (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0773528776/christianitytoda)
by Gary R. Miedema
McGill-Queen's
308 pp.; $70.00
For Canada's Sake, by Gary Miedema (the re-making of Canada in the 1960s)
This is what ChristianityToday has to say about it:
What Happened to Religion in Canada?
How our neighbor to the north lost its faith.
Reviewed by Mark Noll | posted 09/11/2006 09:30 a.m.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/global/images/spacer.gif
Into the 1960s, Canada was a markedly more religious country than the United States, with a higher percentage of church attendance and a stronger place for Christianity in public life. In that decade, however, things began to change, and in a hurry.
Gary Miedema's carefully researched book explores and explains those rapid changes. By studying the place of religion in celebrations of Canada's 100th birthday (July 1, 1967) and at the World Exposition in Montreal that same year, Miedema shows how elite and many ordinary Canadians had come to look differently at their nation.
No longer did particular identities such as Catholic and Protestant, or French and English, matter most. Rather, the new unifying ideal was a hope that by embracing pluralism and diversity, national unity would flourish.
This effort both reflected and stimulated a large-scale reordering of public life, including the recent legislation that has legalized gay marriage throughout the nation.
Miedema's tone is low-key, but he nonetheless offers much to ponder—especially on how the national effort to combat religious discrimination led to extensive discrimination against sharply focused religious groups (often evangelicals) and on how an ideology of pluralism has succeeded only partially in creating a strong sense of Canadian identity.
Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ctmag/features/info.html#permission) for reprint information.
September 2006, Vol. 50, No. 9, Page 126
Is there a message, here, to other nations claiming to be "Christian", or have "Christian roots"?
Oh, BTW, the book retails for only $70. What is it with Christian materials (books, CDs, DVDs)? Why can't they be more affordable??
For Canada's Sake:
Public Religion,
Centennial Celebrations,
and the Re-making
of Canada
in the 1960s (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0773528776/christianitytoda)
by Gary R. Miedema
McGill-Queen's
308 pp.; $70.00