Religion's Impact on Canada

The Mark Radio ep.15: Does religion still have the same gravitas in Canada's public sphere?

Scientists at the Ventor Institute in San Diego announced last week that they have successfully created life in a laboratory. It's a synthetic cell that self-replicates and could be the most symbolic transition from society's faith in religion to its faith in science and technology.

In our age of rapid progress and evolving innovation, science seems to be explaining the mysteries, the magic and the miracles of the universe. Combine that with the scandal-ridden Catholic Church, and society's increasingly secular worldview, and it could explain the dropping numbers of younger people taking part in traditional religion. A recent Pew study found that one in four people between the ages of 18 and 29 are unaffiliated with any particular faith. That figure has doubled since the 1970s.

But the transition is by no means complete. Religion is entrenched in our history, our culture and our ideas.

So how can we reconcile the differences of a faith in the rational and a faith in the irrational? And by moving towards science, are we losing a vital part of ourselves?

In this week's episode of The Mark Radio, host Chris Mitchell talks with three thinkers on the ways religion influences Canadian society and how its influence is changing in the scientific age.

First up, John Von Heyking, professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, and editor of Civil Religion in Political Thought talks about how much influence religion has over Canadian politics.

Next, Margaret Somerville, director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University, on why secularism and religion are two sides of the same coin.

Also on the show is Mohamed Elmasry, founding president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, on why free speech should not include hate speech.

(Run-time: 30 minutes.)