Questions of right and wrong, meaning, purpose, and direction have always fascinated me. I am especially interested in how and why people have developed so many different ways of approaching life and questions of ultimate meaning. In other words, I’ve always had a keen interest in religion, my own and that of others—not to mention the absence of religion among many people.

My research interests have taken two directions. The first is “religion and identity,” in other words, how do people integrate religion into their sense of who they are and what they should be doing. This means that religion will intersect with other poles of identity, such as gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, as well as sexual identity and orientation. I have had the privilege of working with a number of brilliant scholars on questions of religion and identity in Canada. The most important of these projects was the Religion and Ethnicity in Canada project, a three-book volume that looked at Christianity, the minority religious traditions, and Indigenous spirituality. I have also done research on religious intolerance and discrimination, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

This research has important implications for public policy. Consequently, I have served as a consultant on religion and multiculturalism to the Canadian government’s Multiculturalism and Human Rights Program. I have also worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on its policy on protecting religious freedom.

The second research direction looks at religious responses to evil in the modern world. Modernity is a unique social order that has brought unprecedented power and prosperity to millions of people. However, it has also introduced uniquely dangerous forms of harm, such as totalitarianism, genocide, total war (including the possibility of nuclear war), and environmental destruction.  I look at religious thinkers who have confronted the dark side of modernity by going back to the roots of their traditions. These thinkers, I argue, end up rethinking and redefining the fundamental beliefs, values, practices, and forms of community-building of their respective traditions in light of the dangers of the modern world. They also conclude that sometimes it is their own tradition that contributes to the harm and call for spiritual revival and reform. My work as Editor of (and sometimes writer for) the Ecumenist has been especially rewarding in this field of research.

My research always serves to inform my classroom teaching. I teach in the area of religious diversity in Canada and contribute to the Laurier-Waterloo PhD program in Religious Diversity in North America. I am amazed at how much the religious landscape of Canada has changed over the course of my life. In the 1960s, Canada was a “Christian country” with few members of other religions. Now, many Canadians have become secular, and immigration has given us many more members of other faiths, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Islam. I also teach a popular course called Evil, in which I look at religious responses to the unique forms of evil in the modern world.

Grants

Internal

St. Jerome’s University Faculty Research Grant. The Challenge of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination to Multiculturalism in Canada (2015-2016)
St. Jerome's University Faculty Research Grant. Evil in the Thought of Gregory Baum (2010-2011)
St. Jerome’s University Faculty Research Grant. The Changing Role of the Chaplaincy in the Canadian Military (2005-2006)
St. Jerome’s University Faculty Research Grant. Who Teaches What? World Religions in Canadian Classrooms (2002-2003)
Special One-Time SSHRC Special Institutional Grant (2000-2001)

External

Research contract taken as grant. Citizenship and Immigration Canada report on Christianity and Citizenship (October 2010-March 2011)
Research contract taken as grant. Multiculturalism and Human Rights Branch of Citizenship and Immigration Canada for report on Research Themes on Multiculturalism (2008-2010)
Research contract taken as grant. Multiculturalism and Human Rights Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage for a report entitled, “Secularization and the Separation of Church and State in Canada.”  (July 2007-March 2008)
Research contract taken as grant. Multiculturalism and Human Rights Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage for a report entitled “Religion, Human Rights, and Multiculturalism in Canada: The Challenge of Religious Discrimination and Intolerance.” (January-March 2007)
Grant (co-applicant with Paul Bramadat, University of Victoria), Metropolis Project, Citizenship and Immigration Canada for the Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada project (Fall 2005)
Grant (co-applicant with Paul Bramadat, University of Victoria). Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Department of Canadian Heritage for a two-book project on religion and ethnicity in Canada (2004-2006)

Fellowships

Visiting Fellow, Centre interdisciplinaire de recherché sur la citoyenneté et les minorités, Université d’Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario (October 2018)
Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia (February 2016)
Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia (January 2012)