Muslims in Toronto welcome start of Ramadan and season of giving
Muslims in Toronto and around the world are welcoming Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, charity and community gatherings.
Each sunset, worshippers will come together to break their fast at a meal called iftar, including at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Canada's headquarters in Mississauga, where staff and volunteers will be providing thousands of free meals to people in their community, whether they're Muslim, or non-Muslim.
"Everyone else prepares kind of for big milestones throughout their year. For us, Ramadan is our kind of Super Bowl in the time we prepare the most for," said Dalia Hashim, ISNA Canada's youth, outreach and public affairs manager.
Many Muslim organizations step up their charity work at this time, motivated by the way fasting reminds them of the plight of those less fortunate.
Every year, the International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF) holds an iftar fundraiser for aid to Gaza.
This year, that effort is especially important given the opportunity to deliver supplies amid the Israel-Hamas war and frigid winter conditions in the region, says IDRF's chief operating officer Nabil Ali.
"I'm going into Ramadan motivated with knowing that we have the ability to to make a difference by ensuring that plates are full and cups have water in them — and that's that's our goal," he said.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A ‘meaningful step forward'
Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people takes many forms. Some are very noticeable, like Pope Francis coming to Canada to apologize for the Roman Catholic Church's involvement in residential schools. But it also happens in quieter ways, like how the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, or Oblates, made the personnel files of 140 priests who worked at residential schools in Quebec, Ontario and western Canada available to survivors, their families and communities. They did it through the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), located here in Winnipeg. In a joint statement, the NCTR and the Oblates — their formal name now is OMI Lacombe Canada — announced late last month that those files are now more easily accessible to the public. Eric Gay / The Associated Press files Surrounded by Grand Chiefs, Pope Francis reads his statement of apology at Maskwacis, the former Ermineskin Residential School, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alta. 'It's a significant step forward,' said Raymond Frogner, head of archives and senior director of research at the NCTR. 'It gets us one step closer to a complete understanding of the residential school system.' In an interview, Frogner said when he arrived at the NCTR he discovered a lot of information about the children who attended the schools — but very little about the priests and sisters who operated them. Adding the personnel files of the Oblate priests to the NCTR's collection puts more of a human face on the story 'that is too often only institutional,' he said. 'We were missing that part. The story was incomplete without it.' The released files are predominantly reports from priests to their superiors about life at the schools, along with some personal correspondence and other information. In addition to helping survivors, Indigenous communities and researchers have a fuller picture of life at the schools, the files could also be a resource for those who are searching for children who never came home. 'We are creating a central source to examine, understand and heal from one of the longest serving and least understood colonial social programs in the history of the country,' Frogner said. Before the scanned files came to the NCTR, they were available on a limited basis as original documents in archives in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. Now that they are scanned and in one location — work paid for by the Oblates — they are easier to access. Father Ken Thorson is the provincial, or executive director, for OMI Lacombe. 'We weren't trying to hide them,' he said of the files that were in those provincial archives. 'But as archival documents, they could only be viewed by specialists due to their fragile nature. Some of them are over 100 years old.' 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We want to do what we can to help towards healing.' Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. In addition to the personnel files, the Oblates have also released to the NCTR the scans of the daily logs, called codices, of the Oblate communities involved with the schools — something they also paid for. By paying for the scanning and making all these records more accessible, the Order hopes to 'contribute to the healing for Indigenous people,' Thorson said, adding that releasing the files is the right thing to do. 'We have an obligation to tell the truth,' he said, adding it is also in keeping with 'who we profess to be as Christians.' The Oblates began involvement in residential schools in 1884. Altogether, they operated 48 of the 139 schools recognized in the 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. In 1991, they apologized for the order's involvement in the residential school system. faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Vancouver Sun
4 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Islam growing, Christianity slipping as share of world population, survey finds
While Christians remained the world's largest religious group at the end of the decade that ended in 2020, Christianity's growth did not keep up with global population increase. But Islam – the world's fastest-growing major religion – increased its share of the world population, as did the religiously unaffiliated, the Pew Research Center found in a report released Monday. Even as the overall number of Christians – counted as one group, across denominations – continued to climb to 2.3 billion, the religion's share of the world's population decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8 per cent, a falloff driven in large part by disaffiliation. The Muslim population, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6 per cent, according to the report, which examined changes in religious demographics through an analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period,' said Pew's Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report. 'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion.' The report attributed the growth in Islam to a younger Muslim population – with an average age of about 24, as opposed to a global average age among non-Muslims of about 33 as of 2020 – along with higher fertility rates in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation as compared with other religions, including Christianity. 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave,' Hackett said. The largest share of Christians – about 31 per cent – can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. Previously, Europe was home to the largest number of Christians in the world. 'And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa,' Hackett said, 'as well as the aging, lower fertility and disaffiliation going on in Europe.' Religion switching – seen in high numbers among Christians – contributed to the global rise of unaffiliated people, the report found. Nearly a quarter of the world's population did not identify with a religion in 2020 (24.2 per cent), as opposed to 23.3 per cent in 2010. Researchers previously predicted the unaffiliated population would shrink because of older age and fewer people having children, Hackett said. However, people leaving religion, and especially departing Christianity, has led to the increase of the population, Hackett said. The world's biggest unaffiliated population is estimated to be in China: 1.3 billion people, out of 1.4 billion, followed by the United States, with 101 million disaffiliated out of 331.5 million, and Japan, with 73 million out of 126.3 million. In China, it is common for people to have religious beliefs, but only 10 per cent of the population formally identify with a particular denomination or religion, the Pew Research Center reported in 2023. In a similar way, the new report measures the self-described affiliations of people around the world and may not capture the nuances and fullness of complex and evolving identities. Many people hold religious or spiritual beliefs or attend worship services but eschew formal labels. Another group that underwent significant a loss in population were Buddhists, the only religion that had fewer members in 2020 (324 million) than in 2010 (343 million); this was due to disaffiliation and a low birth rate. Those who identified as Hindu and Jewish maintained rates steady with the world's population, the report found. 'Sometimes we hear rumors of religious revival, and it's certainly possible that in particular places religion could grow,' Hackett said. 'But in this careful 10-year study that we've done, the broad trend is that in many places people are moving away from religion.' Based on patterns of religion switching and differences in age and fertility, Hackett estimated that the 'movement towards convergence' between Christians and Muslims will continue, with Islam set to grow to become the world's largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift. 'The next step of our ongoing work in this project will be to do some demographic population projections to provide new estimates of sort of exactly when they might converge,' Hackett said. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Edmonton Journal
4 days ago
- Edmonton Journal
Islam growing, Christianity slipping as share of world population, survey finds
Article content While Christians remained the world's largest religious group at the end of the decade that ended in 2020, Christianity's growth did not keep up with global population increase. But Islam – the world's fastest-growing major religion – increased its share of the world population, as did the religiously unaffiliated, the Pew Research Center found in a report released Monday. Article content Even as the overall number of Christians – counted as one group, across denominations – continued to climb to 2.3 billion, the religion's share of the world's population decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 28.8 per cent, a falloff driven in large part by disaffiliation. The Muslim population, on the other hand, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 25.6 per cent, according to the report, which examined changes in religious demographics through an analysis of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. 'It's just striking that there was such dramatic change in a 10-year period,' said Pew's Conrad Hackett, the lead author of the report. 'During this time, the Muslim and Christian populations grew closer in size. Muslims grew faster than any other major religion.' The report attributed the growth in Islam to a younger Muslim population – with an average age of about 24, as opposed to a global average age among non-Muslims of about 33 as of 2020 – along with higher fertility rates in some areas and lower rates of disaffiliation as compared with other religions, including Christianity. Article content 'Among young adults, for every person around the world who becomes Christian, there are three people who are raised Christian who leave,' Hackett said. The largest share of Christians – about 31 per cent – can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. Previously, Europe was home to the largest number of Christians in the world. 'And that's the result of high fertility, youthfulness and rapid growth in general of sub-Saharan Africa,' Hackett said, 'as well as the aging, lower fertility and disaffiliation going on in Europe.' Religion switching – seen in high numbers among Christians – contributed to the global rise of unaffiliated people, the report found. Nearly a quarter of the world's population did not identify with a religion in 2020 (24.2 per cent), as opposed to 23.3 per cent in 2010. Researchers previously predicted the unaffiliated population would shrink because of older age and fewer people having children, Hackett said. However, people leaving religion, and especially departing Christianity, has led to the increase of the population, Hackett said. Article content The world's biggest unaffiliated population is estimated to be in China: 1.3 billion people, out of 1.4 billion, followed by the United States, with 101 million disaffiliated out of 331.5 million, and Japan, with 73 million out of 126.3 million. In China, it is common for people to have religious beliefs, but only 10 per cent of the population formally identify with a particular denomination or religion, the Pew Research Center reported in 2023. In a similar way, the new report measures the self-described affiliations of people around the world and may not capture the nuances and fullness of complex and evolving identities. Many people hold religious or spiritual beliefs or attend worship services but eschew formal labels. Another group that underwent significant a loss in population were Buddhists, the only religion that had fewer members in 2020 (324 million) than in 2010 (343 million); this was due to disaffiliation and a low birth rate. Those who identified as Hindu and Jewish maintained rates steady with the world's population, the report found. Latest National Stories
