DashHouse.com

The Ontario government is asking for the public's views on whether or not to continue reciting the Lord's Prayer in the Legislature. CBC reports:

TORONTO - The Lord's Prayer and it's fate in the Ontario legislature set off a fresh round of debate Thursday after politicians quietly launched public consultation on whether the province should fall in line with other Canadian jurisdictions and strike the Christian tradition.

As an all-party committee prepares to hear from hundreds of faith groups, atheists, and members of the public, there is already a clear division between those who think opening the daily proceedings with the Lord's Prayer is outdated and those who consider it a vital Ontario tradition.

I belong to a group that's written to urge politicians to keep the Lord's Prayer in the legislature - a move that I'm struggling with.

Why ask politicians to pray the Lord's Prayer as a tradition? This seems to be the type of prayer that Jesus warned against in the same passage: insincere and for show. It invites our politicians to engage in hypocritical prayer, or at least rote prayer. I'd much rather see a moment of silence.

I'm not arguing for the removal of faith from public life, but I'm suggesting that we don't want people who aren't disciples forced to pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. Thoughts? Am I wrong?

Remember when Buddy was stolen last year? We got him back after a drive down to New York State. I thought we were crazy, but now I realize crazy is a relative term. Check out this story:

TORONTO/AM 640 TORONTO - How much would you pay to get your missing dog back? A Toronto man has been re-united with his chocolate lab, after offering up a 15-thousand dollar reward for the pooch.

"Huckleberry" was taken from outside a Yonge Street cafe on Saturday morning. He had been left there by a dog walker.

Owner Bert Clark spent the entire weekend blanketing the city with flyers in the hopes of finding the lost dog. He tells AM 640 Toronto News, he may even consider some sort of anti-theft device to make sure it does not happen again.

"Right now I'm thinking about all those sorts of things," says Clark. "I certainly would never leave him outside unattended ever again."

The dog was returned late Sunday night after police received a tip. Clark admits 15-thousand dollars is a lot of money, but says you can't put a price on a member of your family.

Anti-theft devices for a dog? $15,000 reward for a dog? The world has gone mad!

From the newswire:

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 5 /CNW/ - While writing their wish lists as the holiday season approaches, many Canadians have come to a frank conclusion: they really don't need - or even particularly want - anything this Christmas.

Ipsos Reid unwrapped the surprise findings after surveying 1,429 Canadians on behalf of World Vision Canada. Asked what they needed and wanted this Christmas, 77 per cent of Canadians said they didn't need anything, while only 36 per cent said there was something in particular they actually wanted.

One more reason to get involved with the Advent Conspiracy.

Some sobering statistics on internet pornography:

• 60% of all web-site visits are sexual in nature (MSNBC /Stanford/Duquesne study, Washington Times Jan. 26, 2000).
• According to Christianity Today the percentage of pastors who visited a porn site. 57% Never, 21% A few times a year, 9% Once in past year, 7% More than a year ago, and 6% Couple times a month or more.
• At least 200,000 Internet users are hooked on porn sites, X-rated chat rooms or other sexual materials online (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Associated Press [Online], Feb. 29, 2000).
• 51% of pastors admit that looking at internet pornography is their biggest temptation. (Christianity Today, December 2002)

It's one of those temptations that is common, and yet there's often a sense of shame in wanting to get help.

A great new resource is available, and is worth looking into as we head into the New Year. It's called Pure Online: 30 Days to Purity:

Found via

For those of you who think that Toronto is big and impersonal, this front-page story shows we're really just a big small town. Would a New York paper run this on the front page?

Rexdale's first microwave still cooking after 41 years

Eighty-three-year-old Rexdale resident Isabelle Cadel has literally nuked the competition by winning Panasonic Canada's oldest microwave in Canada contest.

Last month, Cadel sent in her application, which included a hand-drawn rendition of her nearly 41-year-old operational microwave, after spotting an advertisement for the nationwide Dinner, Design and 50,000 Dimes Challenge in The Etobicoke Guardian.

Amnesty International Canada - Urgent Action - Current Urgent Action:

Over 200 members of evangelical churches have been detained in a mass and coordinated crackdown by the Eritrean authorities in the capital, Asmara. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely because of their religious beliefs. They are at risk of torture.

They have not been charged with any offence and have not been brought before a court within 48 hours, as required by law. All are believed to be held in the 5 th Police Station, in Asmara.

The alert includes recommended actions. Please read and respond.

• Counterpoint to Pat Robertson: "God is not found in [the natural disaster], but in our response"
• Challies presents an alternate view: "What was a nagging suspicion was made startingly clear in the last year as we watched the tsunami devastate the East and in recent months, hurricanes devastate parts of America. And then this weekend John Piper quoted David Wells who said approximately the same thing: evangelicalism is simply inequipped to deal in a satisfactory way with the really difficult issues...We must answer in such a way that we acknowledge God's supremacy and sovereignty in all things and in a such a way that we do not let God off the hook, for as Mark Talbot taught on Saturday, God does not want to be let off the hook."
• Latest disaster tests stamina of donors. I remember people saying society had shifted to become more compassionate after the tsunami of last December. It's pretty easy to get back to normal life and forget. Lately I've been wondering how the rebuilding effort is going after the tsunami, and how many governments have honored financial commitments, but it's hard to find information.
• Ottawa to match quake donations.
• The Fellowship, my denomination, is channeling donations to TEAM. They seem to be doing a good job of partnering with other ministries - kudos to them.
• Red Cross and World Vision are accepting donations.

From National Post:

TORONTO (CP) - An Air France passenger jet skidded off the runway and burst into flames Tuesday while trying to land under stormy skies at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

I still remember a plane crashing years ago in the same area when I was a boy. So far it seems that everyone has survived this time.

45 minutes ago CFRB started reporting events in London that sounded similar to the attacks of a couple of weeks ago. They're now reporting that something happened, but it's not being treated as a "major incident".

I resisted commenting on the attacks of a couple of weeks ago because I really had nothing to add.

One of the unique things about London is that so many of us have been there. I'm in the process of getting my British passport and right of abode (if I can ever find a divorce certificate in South Africa from 40 years ago) and hope to live there one day. As JFK said, "Ich bin ein Berliner," I think a lot of us could say that we are Londoners.

Whatever is happening over there, my prayers are with them.