I'm not a poet, not a politician, not an actor, not a student, not an anarchist and don't pick up every fashionable cause that lands within my reach. But I am a Christian. And it is my faith that leads me to have severe reservations about globalization and the lack of fair trade, which seems a likely consequence.

Earlier this year the sordid culture of death found another hero. Marcel Tremblay killed himself in Ottawa, after announcing that he wished to "die with dignity". One of the many tragedies of this event was that dignity was the very last thing with which the 78-year-old man died.

We've all been supremely generous over the suffering in southern Asia and the tragedy has moved individual and government alike. So let's all go a little further and be just a little more generous. Let's insist that our governments forgive Third World debt.

The Supreme Court opinion on gay marriage delivered in December is only one chapter in the long history of the issue in this country. Fundamental arguments aside, what is so surprising is how self-congratulatory people have been because the ruling claims to respect freedom of religion. In other words, we have been assured that clergy who refuse to marry gay couples will not face pressure or prosecution.

It really is extraordinary how little most media people know about the Christian faith and its adherents. The period since the election in the United States has been a disgrace for journalism. Especially for Canadian journalism. Especially for liberal Canadian journalism. Unable to tolerate losing in the game of democracy, left-leaning pundits decided to blame the participants. Welcome to the hellish world of The Christian Right.