Should Tax Money Go to Religious Groups?
[This is a lightly edited version of a post that first appeared on the “Context with Lorna Dueck” website.] One hears murmurs,...
How to End “Working Poverty” in Canada
[The following is a re-posting from my weblog “On Second Thought” posted weekly on ContextwithLornaDueck.com] There should be no such...
Pay for Part-Time Teaching
A friend writes: I’m a full time pastor, but teach a couple of courses at small Christian colleges/seminaries. How do I begin to think...
Big Decisions and Our Biggest Concerns
A friend has asked recently about whether he and his wife ought to keep possession of a luxurious cottage they inherited in lake country....
St. Petersburg: Monuments to Egotism
Page through Alan Bullock’s biography of Adolf Hitler or or Li Zhishui’s reminiscences of Mao Zedong and you will need no further...
On Honoraria for Pastors in Weddings
Today, two e-mails on exactly the same issue from two pastors in the United States, one from the Midwest and one from Texas: Pastor #1:...
One of These Things Is Not Supposed to Be Like the Others
Having spent considerable effort demonstrating that American evangelicals are not as bad as some people (including prominent American...
Why I Can Recommend You Buy Lots of My Books for Christmas
I’ve written seven books to date, on quite a range of subjects: evangelicalism in Canada, the problem of God and evil, defending (and...
“Hey, Great Talk! Can I Have Your Notes and PowerPoint Slides?” (Revised Version)
UPDATE: Apparently some friends have misunderstood what I was trying to say here, and I can see why they would, so I’ve rewritten it. The...
Time to Get Out the Cheque-Book Again
Here is the link to my latest Faith Today column, which considers how many Christian organizations have weathered (or not) the recent...
Why Pay Someone Just to Make Art?
Two people stand before two canvases. Both are painting. One deserves to be paid, the other doesn’t. Why? This article is a particularly...
Don't "Expect a Miracle"
Amid the many lessons people are drawing from the financial crisis we’re all enduring, one lesson emerges as particularly poignant: Don’t...
Fair Payment for Speakers
What does your church pay for visiting preachers or camp speakers or conference leaders? What does your organization pay for theological...
Opportunity and Responsibility in the Financial Crisis
North American Christianity faces twin crises these days. The first is a leadership crisis, and the second is a funding crisis. There...
Everything Up in (Holy) Smoke
“I wonder what would happen,” reflects author Mark Alan Powell, “if we collected the offering on Sunday morning, set the plates on the...
By Their Honoraria Ye Shall Know Them
(A number of friends have asked me to make this article–published originally in the Canadian journal ChristianWeek–available in this...
Deferred gratification or deferred tithing?
A friend writes as follows: “In a recent discussion I brought up the idea of students being in debt, and wondered what kind of...