This past weekend I was in Ottawa for a consultation on religious freedom sponsored by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. It was organized by Janet Epp Buckingham, who spoke at Redeemer's graduation last May. We met at Trinity Western University's Laurentian Leadership Centre, a beautiful old building built in 1909 and used for many years by the now defunct Laurentian Club. Representatives of Trinity Western, the EFC, the Salvation Army, the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools and Redeemer (of course) were in attendance. Discussions revolved around the institutional manifestations of religious freedom, a principle generally interpreted in narrowly individualistic fashion in Canadian jurisprudence. A plurality of people present were lawyers by profession or had at least some legal training. There was one journalist and one seminary student. Two academic political theorists were in attendence, including yours truly. The first evening three of us set forth the way our own christian traditions have historically related Christianity to politics. John von Heyking, of the University of Lethbridge, described the Lutheran approach. I recounted the Reformed Calvinist perspective. Buckingham defended an Anabaptist/Baptist viewpoint.
Easily the high point of the weekend was a visit to the home of my dear friends, Eric and Bertina Hogeterp and their two young sons. Eric is a 1993 graduate of Redeemer, where he majored in (what else?) political science. He is now research assistant for Rob Merrifield, member of Parliament for Yellowhead in Alberta. After dinner, Eric took me to visit his office in the old Justice Building.
Government of Canada
The following morning I took a long walk around the buildings on Parliament Hill and through the adjacent neighbourhoods to the south. While strolling, I saw the embassies of Iran, Hungary, Nigeria, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and the British High Commission. The Iranian embassy is right across from the Laurentian Centre.
Then back to the train station and home to Hamilton.
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