Massey Ethics Series – Beyond Sacred Walls: The Role of Faith and Religion in Public Affairs
In North America, different religious values are competing to influence an increasingly secular society. Is faith a private matter? What influence does religion have on public affairs? Should religious institutions seek to shape the wider culture? Should the state—as is happening in Quebec—limit the role of religion in the public sphere? And what does the separation of church (or religion) and state mean in practice today?
Our panel will offer thoughtful and timely insights into these questions, featuring Alexa Gilmour, MPP; Rev. Dr. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, Vicar of St. George’s Grange Park; and Armaan Fallahi, Junior Fellow at Massey College.
Please join us in person or on Massey College’s YouTube channel during the live event, or watch the recording afterward.
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Speakers
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Tyler Wigg-StevensonTyler Wigg-Stevenson is the Vicar of St. George’s Grange Park, a church plant of St. Paul’s Bloor Street, where he also serves as Associate Priest and Director of the Ministry Apprenticeship Program. He holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School; his Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College dealt with the early Christian origins of secularity. Tyler is the author of several books, including the award-winning The World Is Not Ours to Save, and had a prior career in faith-based advocacy for nuclear disarmament. He and his wife, Natalie, a theologian, live in Toronto’s east end with their three young daughters.
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Armaan Fallahi
Armaan Fallahi is a Junior Fellow at Massey College and an MD-PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, where his work focuses on neuroscience, mental health, and the social responsibilities of medicine. His academic and public engagement interests lie at the intersection of faith, ethics, and philosophy, particularly how religious values shape moral reasoning, advocacy, and policy in pluralistic societies. Armaan has been involved in student leadership and ethics-focused dialogues at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Chapel Royal of Massey College, and the Interfaith Dialogue Committee of the Junior Fellows. He brings a perspective grounded in scientific training, lived religious experience as a Muslim, and engagement with global political contexts.
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Alexa Gilmour
Rev. Alexa Gilmour, D.Min, is a minister with the United Church of Canada and an elected member of the Provincial Legislature, representing Parkdale—High Park. As a minister and politician, she lives at the intersection of faith and public policy. Her career has focused on community engagement and coalition building in an effort to break down silos and invite neighbours into mutual aid and advocacy. She has received awards and recognition for her work from all levels of government and civil society. Her writing has been featured in Broadview Magazine, and she has a book chapter called “Public Witness in the Local Congregation,” in For the Sake of the Common Good: Essays in Honour of Lois M Wilson.
