Blogs
March 24, 2008
Last week, the Mayor of Vancouver stood on the steps of a downtown Catholic church to make an imp...
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March 07, 2008
It seems the only time we hear about Canada’s Sikh community in the media is when there is ...
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March 24, 2008
Children being raised in a religious environment is a volatile issue, at least to anti-theists. A...
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March 04, 2008
In Ontario’s it’s often the little things that kick up the biggest fuss. This time, i...
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Tip:
This year, several significant religious and cultural events fall on the same
day. March 21 is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racism. In
the Christian tradition, this year it is also Good Friday where Christians
commemorate Christ’s passion and death on the cross to pay for the world’s
sins. Also this year, it is the Jewish holiday of Purim which celebrates
victory over an oppressive ruler as related in the Book of Ester. Hindus will
celebrate Holi on March 21 this year, which is a festival dedicated to Krishna.
Baha’is and Zoroastrians will celebrate New Years Day on March 21 (Naw Ruz and
Now Ruz). Finally, to cap off the significant events occuring on this day,
there will also be a full moon.
Article Details
Article Added On: July 02, 2004 - over 3 years ago
Title: God in the Marketplace 4
Author: Douglas Todd
Publication: Vancouver Sun
Publication Date: January 01, 2003 - over 5 years ago
Themes:
Religion and society
Abstract: It was the early '70s. It was a youth hostel. There was me, another guy and two attractive young women in a large shower room. Nobody flirted. Nobody got excited. But the shower experience set my image of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Netherlands forever: liberal, egalitarian, tolerant, matter-of-fact.
Description: The fourth in a series by Douglas Todd, first published in the Vancouver Sun
AMSTERDAM - The first and only time I showered naked with a female stranger was in this city of social experiments.
It was the early '70s. It was a youth hostel. There was me, another guy and two attractive young women in a large shower room. Nobody flirted. Nobody got excited. But the shower experience set my image of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Netherlands forever: liberal, egalitarian, tolerant, matter-of-fact.
I haven't heard whether co-ed showering still goes on in Dutch hostels, but as almost everyone knows the Netherlands has evolved into a country with remarkably open-minded approaches to sex, drugs, prostitution and euthanasia. Less well-known is its novel approach to religion.
The Netherlands' 16 million people -- who pack themselves behind an elaborate network of dikes in a country the size of Vancouver Island -- tend to find innovative solutions to problems. They've brought this knack to the tensions caused by religion.
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