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	<title>Bancroft this Week</title>
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	<pubDate>Sat May 9 12:38:48 2026 / +0000  GMT</pubDate>
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			<title>Croft Talk discusses religion</title>
			<link>https://www.bancroftthisweek.com/?p=6062</link>
			<pubDate>Sat May 9 12:38:48 2026 / +0000  GMT</pubDate>
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			<content-encoded><![CDATA[<img width="750" height="500" src="https://www.bancroftthisweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BcnOliv-004.jpg"/>
 <br><em>As moderator Barb Shaw throws out a question, Lynn Watson, Bill Kilpatrick, and Joey Shulman look over their choices for a response offered by "Cards Against Humanity" TONY PEARSON Special to This Week</em>

<strong>By Tony Pearson</strong>
<br /><br />A minister, a Jew, and an atheist walked in to the Village Playhouse …. 
<br /><brthat was the start of an evening of laughter at the latest ‘Croft Talk, which drew a large crowd last Tuesday. It started off with Rev. Lynn Watson conducting a late night dialogue with God on such issues as whether the call to love one's fellow humans extended to fundamentalists (answer: yes), gays (definitely yes), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (probably). Then she, Joey Shulman, and Bill Kilpatrick exchanged thoughts on the need for and nature of religious faith. 
Watson explained that her faith in God was based on ethical imperatives. 
<br><br “Jesus taught us how to live, and I try to follow his teachings – except when I'm playing hockey,” she stated. 
Shulman observed that his Judaism is as much or more of a culture than a religion, comparing it to Italian Catholicism. Speaking from his background in theatre, he observed that Judaism had “legs,” having lasted 5,000 years despite a number of critical reviews. He contended that his feeling of being a “Member of the Tribe” provided a life anchor. 
<br/><brkilpatrick simply stated that traditional religion did not provide him with logical answers to serious questions of the origin and nature of humanity; accordingly he was agnostic.
<br><brall agreed that the key to living a good life was trying to make a positive difference during our lives here. “Religion and philosophy must concern themselves less with specific beliefs and more with how we should live – about the need to try to make a better world,” was a statement that brought common agreement.
<br><brthen under the direction of moderator Barb Shaw, the trio got down to a serious of hilarious rounds of the notorious “Cards Against Humanity,” specially tailored for religious questions (and with the obscene and salacious responses edited out). 
<br><brshaw advanced questions like “How would you like to spend a weekend with Jesus,” which elicited the reply “At the cottage, where he could turn the water into wine, and show me how to walk on the water.” Also at issue were questions like “Is talking to God in your car a distracted driving offence?”
<br><brsumming up, Shulman emphasized the importance of inclusion rather than exclusion in the exercise of faith. Shaw ended the evening by expressing how lucky she felt to live in a community where people could laugh and be happy together regardless of creed or other considerations.
<br><brThe talk was sponsored by the United Church Outreach Committee.</brsumming></brshaw></brthen></brall></brkilpatrick></brthat>]]></content-encoded>
			<excerpt-encoded><![CDATA[A minister, a Jew, and an atheist walked in to the Village Playhouse …. ]]></excerpt-encoded>
			<wp-post_id>6062</wp-post_id>
			<wp-post_date>2016-04-07 10:00:55</wp-post_date>
			<wp-post_date_gmt>2016-04-07 14:00:55</wp-post_date_gmt>
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