Former Religious Freedom Ambassador embarks on new Cardus role

Andrew Bennett’s three-year term ended in late March
By Deborah Gyapong
OTTAWA (CCN)

Former Religious Freedom Ambassador Andrew Bennett urged Canadians to courageously express their religious faith at the May 19 launch of Cardus’s Faith in Canada 150.

Speaking at the new Cardus offices in Ottawa that will form the hub for the wide-ranging nationwide project honouring religious faith as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary next year, Bennett said faithful people “can feel so buffeted and unsteady when confronted by the deep changes in our society that run profoundly counter to the truth that we profess.”

“Often our instinct is to shrink back, or to feel that little can be done,” said Bennett. “This is not the posture of the faithful, regardless of which religious tradition we follow.”

“We must recall and reaffirm the centrality of our faith in our lives and in the lives of the majority of Canadians both past and present who built this country and continue to labour in building communities founded upon truth, upon charity, and upon justice,” Bennett said.

Bennett’s three-year term as Religious Freedom Ambassador ended in late March and he is staying on with Global Affairs Canada until June to help with the transition to the new Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion (OHRFI), headed by Richard Arbeiter as Director General.

Bennett has taken on a volunteer role with the Cardus think tank as a senior fellow and Chair of the Cabinet of Canadians for Cardus’s Faith in Canada 150 program, an ambitious national project that aims to tell the faith stories of Canada, host events and celebrations across the country, and build a network of faith leaders across Canada.

“As we launch Faith in Canada 150 let us reaffirm the centrality of religious faith in Canadian history and in the lives of so many Canadians today,” Bennett said.

He urged the rejection of the “post-Englightenment myth” that religious belief and practices are private matters “best kept out of the public realm.”

“This is historically inaccurate,” he said. “It is theologically wrong. And, above all, it robs from our fellow citizens the ability to actively participate in what can be tens of thousands of conversations, encounters, friendships, and transformative actions that will strengthen our country.”

Bennett affirmed the right of religious believers to speak up “honestly and out of deep respect for our often profoundly different beliefs.” He pointed to the professions of variety of faiths, Christian and non-Christian that have contributed to Canadian society through education, healthcare and helping the poor.

Cardus also officially launched Cardus Family, the former Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, that merged with Cardus at the end of last year.At the opening of its new offices May 18, Cardus president Michael Van Pelt spoke of the importance of understanding the “condition” and “vibrancy of the ideas that animate our actions.”

Van Pelt listed some of the questions Cardus actively engages such as what makes a good city; do economic markets need a moral foundation to function; what is the state’s role in educating children; what does legalized euthanasia do to notion s of human dignity; what is a family; and does an activist judiciary build a better legal system?

In addition to its various research projects, Cardus publishes the magazines Convivium and Comment. Headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario, the Ottawa office is the think tank’s first satellite office.