Broadview Magazine

Broadview is a Canadian magazine that explores both national and global topics related to spirituality, social justice, and ethical living, along with insights from the United Church of Canada. Previously known as the United Church Observer, the magazine underwent a rebranding to become Broadview in April 2019. It has a paid circulation of 30,000 copies, which are available through subscriptions and newsstands. Broadview and its website, Broadview.org, are managed by Observer Publications Inc., a non-profit organization.

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A hitchhiker’s guide to the future of The United Church of Canada

1 week ago | broadview.org | Pieta Woolley

In 1996, Ralph Milton, then president of the B.C. Conference of the United Church, turned to the theme of death for his final speech at the annual meeting. He quoted from a poem by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas whose refrain runs, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” But Milton didn’t rage against it. Nope. He advised us to just “go gentle” into that good night. In other words, die, church, die. I was 21 at the time, attending the meeting as a youth delegate. The church was my life.
The Nicene Creed is turning 1,700 years old. Does it still matter?

2 weeks ago | broadview.org | Alanna Mitchell

The First Council of Nicaea was a months-long council of Christian bishops in the city of Nicaea, in what is now Turkey, in 325 C.E. The seminal council, which Roman emperor Constantine I convened, brought together leaders from across Christendom to find agreement on basic doctrinal matters. The council upheld the divinity of Jesus Christ and adopted the original Nicene Creed, a profession of faith that is still used in churches around the world.
A mother explores the stories we tell about our origins

4 weeks ago | broadview.org | Chantal Braganza

The idea of an origin had a romance to it before you were born. When I was your age, it was the easiest language I had with both of your grandparents. Stories about where they came from, and therefore stories about where I came from; a series of steps originating from two points on nearly opposite sides of the globe and landing in a little three-bedroom house at the edge of a brand-new suburban development west of Toronto. An explanation for our presence there, an unquestioned talisman.
The surprising science behind miracles

1 month ago | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

Pope Francis was known to be a keen saint-maker, having canonized 942 new saints during his papacy — far surpassing his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II, who canonized 45 and 482 saints respectively. One of his last official acts before he died was to advance the causes of several candidates for sainthood.
How a bold church merger shaped Canada 100 years ago

1 month ago | broadview.org | Jocelyn Bell

It started with a compromise. One hundred years ago, three Christian denominations — Methodists, Congregationalists and most Presbyterians — along with members of the church union movement, came together to form the United Church. Church union was more than a quarter century in the making, and its realization was a long way from guaranteed. But on June 10, 1925, before a gathering of more than 7,600 at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto, The United Church of Canada was declared into being.
‘God’s disappointment will still motivate some of us’

1 month ago | broadview.org | Erin Pepler

Very Rev. Bruce McLeod was the 25th moderator of The United Church of Canada from 1972 to 1974 and later served as commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission as well as director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Erin Pepler sat down with McLeod, now 96, at his home in Guelph, Ont., to discuss faith, social justice, and using disappointment as motivation in challenging times. Erin Pepler: You were involved in interfaith relations and community outreach for decades.
Faith leaders react to Pope Francis’s death

1 month ago | broadview.org | Emma Prestwich

This week, people around the world are mourning the death of Pope Francis. The pope died on Monday, April 21 at his Vatican residence after suffering a stroke and subsequent heart failure. He had previously been hospitalized for a respiratory infection that turned into double pneumonia. He was 88. Here is a roundup of what Canadian and international faith leaders and organizations have said about his life and legacy. The United Church of CanadaModerator Rt. Rev.
3 churches on the Canada/U.S. border grapple with political tensions

1 month ago | broadview.org | Kate Spencer

Canada and the United States are divided along many lines, but among the haziest of those lines are the geographic ones. We’re very close, our two countries. Many communities straddle borders, with family and friends on both sides. Since the election of Donald Trump, that closeness has been strained — talks of Canada becoming the 51st state, tariffs and the heightening of dismaying political rhetoric whose potential consequences are unknown.
Elon Musk’s X has become a disinformation machine. We’re leaving it.

2 months ago | broadview.org | Jocelyn Bell

Remember when Elon Musk was just your friendly neighbourhood rocket-launching, electric-car-making billionaire? Or even further back to when Twitter offered a revolutionary and democratic free flow of news and ideas? Me too. But ever since Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X, he appears to have embraced his alter-ego as the dark lord of thought control. Devoted X users soon noticed a spike in disinformation and far-right rage farming.
Broadview Magazine

2 months ago | broadview.org | Alanna Mitchell

Religious leaders have been arguing for centuries about the correct date of Easter. Complexities revolve, in part, around how humans tell time. Historically, we measured the passage of months according to the phases of the moon. But we measure daylight hours and the movement from summer to winter according to Earth’s orbit around the sun. The calculation of Easter’s date relies on a combination of lunar and solar methods of telling time.