Do I look fat in these photographs?

I have the opposite problem to the anorexic: I feel slimmer than I actually am.

Bummer.

Paul Lauzon took these as we both attended a most interesting event yesterday. Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl spoke about faith and the public square to a gathering sponsored by the Canadian Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship (EFC) of Canada.

Mr. Stahl spoke of a double standard.

"You never hear complaints about the role of atheists in the public square," he said.

He said is it predictable for questions to come up on whether Christians have too much influence, usually around the time of the National Prayer Breakfast or March for Life.

Simply because Christians are there, they are suspected of having undue influence, he said. It would be hard to imagine a similar list of atheists or humanists.

When people talk about faith in the public square, it is really Christianity in the hot seat, he said.

Then the unabashed evangelical cabinet minister gave an excellent talk about how as a Christian he must not hide his faith, but at the same time he must not use his position as a bully pulpit to force it on others, or to legislate his faith perspective. At the same time, he should not be required to separate his faith from the job he does. "It's part of who I am, or if I'm honest, who I try to be," he said.

"Christians should be the first ones to reach out and help others and the last ones to legislate from their faith perspective," he said.

"Jesus broke a lot of hearts when he made it clear he was not here to establish his kingdom here on earth," he said.

Jesus showed us how to love sacrificially, he did not try to legislate, browbeat or force people into his kingdom.

And I loved this: he said, "The Christian is not a utopian like Marx, Lenin or Mao."

The end doesn't justify the means when it comes to killing some people for some manmade endgame.

He said he must represent all the people in his riding, not only his fellow Christian believers.

"This is not a theocracy and Christians don't want one," he said.

Amen! to that.

He also said that good policy will resonate with people of all faiths. BTW, he explained that everyone has faith of some sort, including atheists and humanists. Why should their faith position be the only one acceptable in the public square?

The picture at the top shows the matronly Deborah Gyapong with Chuck Strahl in the middle and EFC senior legal counsel and vice president Don Hutchinson.