At twelve years old, I became acutely aware of how my family’s approach to religion diverged from that of my peers at my Christian school and church. The defining moment was when a Catholic friend visited and remarked on a unique feature in our home: A photo of Jesus facing[Read More…]
Tag: Religion
The raw, ubiquitous power of body horror
Mild spoilers ahead for Raw and Saint Maud With weak plot lines, underdeveloped characters, and often cliché moralistic endings—such as the least-likely-to-survive character ending up as the final girl—slasher films serve one purpose: To disgust. Films like the cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and constant rehashings of Evil Dead[Read More…]
Carving fish in the sand
Every time I’m in the lecture hall analyzing a poem, I’m of two minds. On the one hand, as an English student, I am thinking of the poem as a critic would—sifting and weighing the words. But on the other hand, I am reading as a Christian, conscious of every[Read More…]
No, I will not curb my enthusiasm
I always freeze up whenever I’m asked to describe myself. From introducing myself at the beginning of each elementary school year to writing college essays in high school, I consistently clam up in confusion when forced to encompass myself in a short paragraph. While basically everyone I know has experienced[Read More…]
Quebec’s new program takes an ignorant course
On Oct. 24, the Quebec government unveiled a new education program called Culture and Citizenship in Quebec (CCQ). The new course will take the place of the previous Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) program. Intended to broaden student engagement with Quebec values, the program is currently undergoing a curriculum drafting[Read More…]
HSA webinar explores historical interconnections of race, religion, and resistance
The McGill History Students’ Association (HSA) and the McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL) hosted a panel on March 18 that explored the interconnections between faith, race, and recent racial justice movements. The webinar was moderated by HSA Vice-President (VP) Academic and U4 Arts student Ffion Hughes, and[Read More…]
Bill 21 is guilty as charged
The Quebec Superior Court began hearing testimony on Nov. 2 in a civil case against Bill 21, a 2019 policy that prohibits certain public sector employees from wearing religious symbols in the workplace. Although the plaintiffs contend that the Bill violates certain fundamental rights protected under the Canadian Charter of[Read More…]
Experts discuss the intersection of religion and climate activism
Montreal’s Council for Research on Religion (CREOR-M) hosted its first Colloquium on Religion and Climate Change in the Birks building. The event, held on Sept. 20, aimed to bring together McGill scholars from different fields to discuss how understanding faith can recontextualize the movement for climate justice. According to Claire[Read More…]
Bill 21 promotes hatred, not secularism
Organized by a collective called “Coalition Inclusion Quebec,” over 400 people took part in the latest of many recent protests against the highly controversial Bill 21 on May 5. Those present at the demonstration linked arms around Montreal’s courthouse to demonstrate their opposition to the bill. Introduced by the Coalition[Read More…]
Pork before synagogue: Growing up at a cultural crossroads
Born in Queens, my mom was raised in Westchester county, New York, a predominantly-Jewish area surrounded by fellow first and second-generation Ashkenazi relatives. Meanwhile, my Arkansas-born father was growing up with Methodist parents who have deep southern roots and distant Scottish ancestry. So, when they married in 1992, a strange[Read More…]