Interim writer, Andrew Lawton, Laying Down the Lawton By Andrew Lawton Just as every business is essential if you rely on it to feed your family, church is essential if you rely on it to feed your soul. These are not radical, or even novel, ideas, yet they remain controversial in the face of lawmakers seeking to shut things – [...]
Interim writer, Andrew Lawton, Laying Down the Lawton By Andrew Lawton This column started out as a friendly Twitter exchange with my editor. I felt it important to shift it to this space for two reasons: Firstly, he said it “would make a good column,” which seems like useful advice to heed from the man who signs my paycheque; secondly, [...]
For all the post-election hand-wringing about whether social conservatism was, in the words of Peter MacKay, the “stinking albatross” that cost Andrew Scheer Canada’s premiership in 2019, the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership race revealed, once again, that social conservatives are an invaluable and inexorable part of the country’s conservative movement. While a self-described “pro-choice candidate,” Erin O’Toole emerged as the victor; [...]
Andrew Lawton Australian wildfires. A global pandemic. Murder hornets (if you don’t know, don’t ask). Could a revolution be next among 2020’s offerings? I don’t, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t changing. After a police officer was filmed with his knee on George Floyd’s neck during an arrest in Minneapolis – an arrest that proved fatal for Floyd – a [...]
"Separation of church and state!” “Canada is a secular country!” “We can’t let religion dictate policy!” I’m sure we’ve all heard variations of these, if not the phrases verbatim, at various points in our lives. Indeed, the mere suggestion that a course of action may have a moral element seems to trigger knee-jerk reactions along these veins. There’s some truth to them, [...]
Laying Down the Lawton Even though I was raised with the teaching that “patience is a virtue,” it’s taken a pandemic to truly understand why that is. Let me confess from the outset I’m not a patient person. While I take on the occasional tedious task (such as the jigsaw puzzles my wife and I have enjoyed in lockdown) I [...]
Laying Down the Lawton with Andrew Lawton " I can’t talk right now; I’m at church,” I told my mother when she called me up on a Sunday morning in March. I wasn’t lying, though admittedly I could have been a bit clearer. I was actually sitting upright in my bed, watching a streaming video of my pastor preaching about [...]
Laying Down the Lawton That self-righteous moral superiority that has become so synonymous with Justin Trudeau’s brand appears to end at the Canadian border. On a swing through Africa in February, Trudeau won the support of Senegal in Canada’s bid for a United Nations Security Council seat. The west African nation’s vote came at the expense of the image that [...]
Laying Down the Lawton For a couple of weeks in January, Canadians were invited to share their thoughts on assisted suicide with the federal government. The “online public consultation” confirms what most people already knew – that the federal government would be revisiting the laws around assisted dying. While social conservatives no doubt leapt at the opportunity to get involved, [...]
Andrew Lawton I’ve seen more doctors in my life than I can count, yet never once have I felt the need to see a gynecologist. And why would I? I don’t think I’m oversharing to say that I lack the parts that any respectable gynecologist would be comfortable working on. So does Jessica Yaniv, the transgender individual who has catapulted [...]
Laying down the Lawton - Andrew Lawton A rookie Alberta MLA is taking a stand for healthcare practitioners’ conscience rights. The organization that’s supposed to be standing up for the rights of doctors is, bizarrely, fighting him on it. Dan Williams, a United Conservative Party MLA for Peace River, introduced a private member’s bill in early November that would amend [...]
Laying Down the Lawton Andrew Lawton It’s hard to recall an election in which social issues were brought to the surface as often as they were in this year’s federal election. Of course, this didn’t come from social conservatives, but rather from scads of progressive politicians trying to embarrass and humiliate Conservative candidates for holding the apparently unconscionable belief that, [...]
Andrew Lawton It’s difficult to imagine a lot less worthy of compassion than politicians, by and large. Much as politics may sap the humanity out of some, they’re people nonetheless – with the same messy histories that the rest of us have. I found myself mildly sympathetic with Justin Trudeau when news broke of his penchant for donning blackface for much [...]
Andrew Lawton If something is false, you don’t need to censor it. If it’s true, you shouldn’t. Nevertheless, there’s an inclination from those less confident about their beliefs to shut away uncomfortable truths things they can’t or don’t want to explain. Graphic abortion imagery forces viewers to confront the reality of abortion, which is why so many people want these [...]
Laying Down the Lawton Never doubt a group of politicians’ ability to find a cure that’s worse than the problem it is attempting to solve. This is truer than ever when it comes to the government’s efforts to curb online hate. Wishing to combat bigotry is a noble endeavour, but it isn’t the role of the state. Certainly not at [...]