Magic Statistics

The collect for today, the Feast of St Andrew, Apostle and Martyr, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 10:9-21
The Gospel: St Matthew 4:18-22

More on St Andrew here.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports several incidents in which Christians in south and south-east India have been attacked and property damaged.

A Pentecostal church was doused with gasoline and set ablaze by radical Hindus.  The fire destroyed the doors before it was put out.

Hindu extremists attacked a Catholic school, damaged furnishings, and threatened to force the nuns to walk naked through the streets.

A gang of youths surrounded a house while the pastor was visiting.  They beat up the pastor and others praying inside.

Four pastors of an Assembly of God church were assaulted by Hindu militants so severely they were taken to hospital.  After the victims complained to police, the militants smashed equipment and damaged the church’s walls.

A pastor was asked to pray for a sick Hindu woman.  As he did so, the woman’s daughters accused him of trying to convert them by force.  The pastor was arrested and remains in jail awaiting trial.
 
Four girls asked a Pioneer Ministries worker to pray for them at their house.  Since he was on his way to a nearby prayer meeting, he agreed.  Later, the girls, abetted by a local Hindu group, went to local police and falsely accused the man of kidnapping and rape.

A meeting of Christians was broken up by a mob of Hindu political activists, who supposedly believed that the purpose of the gathering was evangelism.  A preacher and several others were beaten and their meeting place pillaged.

More details, including the names of the Christians and locations of the incidents, are posted here.

Everyone involved in these situations, together with their families and their churches, needs prayer.

Previous related posts:

• Hindu militants want conversions prohibited while they “re-convert” Christians
• Nationalist Hindus want Christian missionaries arrested
• Christian conversions present “grave threat to Hindu society”

The attack against women in the streets of Cairo on the Muslim feast day of Eid Al Fitr, 24 October 2006, spotlighted a problem that Egyptian authorities have tried to ignore: violence against and public sexual harassment of women is widespread in Egypt.  The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights has begun to collect women's testimonies of sexual abuse and harassment for presentation to the government.  Also, several female Egyptian bloggers have posted accounts of their experiences of molestation and abuse.

Police and public reactions to protests against public sexual harassment indicate there is a long way to go.

Two demonstrations against sexual harassment in the street have been held in Cairo near the site of the October attacks, on 9th and 14th November. Blogger Mademoiselle HH attended the demonstration on 9th November, and “got home in one piece and did not have to use either my pepper spray or my telescope baton which was a relief”. Her trepidation was understandable, given how women activists and journalists were treated during a protest against a referendum in May 2006 - sexually assaulted by supporters of the ruling party as police looked on, without intervening. Two excellent photo slideshows of the 9th November protest are on Flickr, by Nora Younis and by Nasser Nouri, a Reuters photographer.

On 14th November Magda Ally, Director of the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, led a demonstration, at which speakers called for the government to take action against sexual harassment in public spaces. The 50 protestors from The Street Is Ours were surrounded by hundreds of police and security services personnel, and were pushed away from the Metro Cinema, where the Eid al Fitr attacks began, into the Excelsior Cafe, where they remained for an hour. Foreign journalists complained to Reporters Sans Frontieres that they were being prevented from reporting on the protest, in the course of which eight activists were detained.

Mohamed Gamal, a blogger who witnessed the Eid al Fitr attacks and attended the 14th November protest, sums up in The Daily Star what many Egyptians are thinking:

“It is the duty of our government to provide security to all Egyptian citizens,” he says. “The security forces are only protecting the regime instead of the Egyptian people.”

Attempts to foster the public debate continue in the face of intimidation.

While the government of President Hosni Mubarak was crushing the protests, his wife Suzanne Mubarak was speaking in support of women’s rights at a meeting of the Arab Women’s Organisation in Bahrain.  Her husband should attend to the problems at home.

See also this post: “Facing down fear in Cairo”

Previous related posts:

• Do veils guard women against unwanted attention from men?
• Egyptian Christian girls kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam
• Islam permits wife-beating in some cultures but not others

Canadian writer and critic of fundamentalist Islam Irshad Manji asks “What is a ‘moderate’ Muslim?”  Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech raised the question, albeit unintentionally.  His discussion of the relationship between reason and faith included the now-infamous quotation from 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaelogus, stating that Islam is spread by violence, which is contrary to reason and therefore contrary to God’s nature.  Death threats from Muslims ensued.

Ms Manji defended the pope in a commentary on CBS News.

[A]s a faithful Muslim, I don’t believe the Pope needed to apologize.  We Muslims resent it when non-Muslims reduce the Quran to its most bloodthirsty passages. Why, I wondered, are we reducing the Pope’s speech to a mere few words?

Having now received some ominous e-mails from Muslim Americans, she quotes from two:

“You said that how Muslims are reacting to the Pope is like reducing the Quran to its most bloodthirsty passages. There is no such thing, Missy… You are looking for cheap publicity for your book and bashing Islam is the easiest way to get it nowadays. It used to be sleeping with the publisher, but for that you require looks. One more thing, if you are a Jew, you should not be ashamed of it."
. . .
“Do you blame the people who give you death threats? Or try to psychically harm you? I happen to agree with them. If you know how to talk to people, it will get you somewhere. If you don't, you will have many enemies…”

For such Muslims, concludes Ms Manji, the Quran is the perfect, unedited, unambiguous word of God, and therefore any criticism, however limited or nuanced, is forbidden.

Thus the central conundrum for us Muslims. If it’s an article of our faith that the Quran is the unfiltered declaration of God, then what makes moderate Muslims “moderate”?

For the great majority of Muslims, apparently, the Quran is above and beyond any possibility of critical thought.  Islam regards its holy book in a much more "fundamentalist" way than even the most literalist brand of Christianity regards the Bible.

Previous related posts:

• Does the Koran respect other religions?
• Is the Koran the Muslim Bible?

In its report on the controversial new book by Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, The Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights some of Dr Brooks’s more polemical comments:

"If liberals persist in their antipathy to religion," Mr. Brooks writes, "the Democrats will become not only the party of secularism, but also the party of uncharity."
. . .
"There is not one measurably significant way I have ever found in which religious people are not more charitable than nonreligious people," Mr. Brooks says. "The fact is, if it weren't for religious people in your community, the PTA would shut down."

Dr Brooks’s small but powerful volume presents evidence that religious believers who hold politically conservative views are more generous by any measure—charitable donations, volunteerism, blood donations, etc.—than politically liberal unbelievers.  He criticises Democratic leaders who downplay or even disdain the value of charitable works and says his purpose is not to celebrate the religious right, but to issue a call to action to liberals and leftists.

He also compares giving by the working poor and by households receiving welfare.  For households with the same income levels, welfare recipients give an average of one-third as much as the working poor.

Below are the charity map and the political map presented in the book and reproduced in the Chronicle of Philanthropy article.  On top is the charity map which highlights the 25 states that, in 2001, donated a share of income higher than the national average; the political map, beneath, highlights the states carried by President George W. Bush in 2004.  Of the states shaded on the 2001 charity map, all but one voted for Bush three years later.

The article also summarises Dr Brooks’s suggestions on how to increase charitable giving.

Earlier this year, the Pew Centre released a study showing that Republicans are happier than Democrats.  It identified several dimensions in which happiness differed between member of the two parties, but offered no specific reasons to account for the discrepancy.  Dr Brooks’s research sheds some light on that question, I think.

h/t: Arts & Letters Daily

Previous related posts:

• Religious conservatives donate far more than secular liberals
• More on compassionate conservatives
• Why are Republicans happier than Democrats?

Taking their inspiration from the successful campaign by New Life Church, a Roman Catholic parish in Grodno, Belarus, has announced a hunger strike to begin on 1 December if authorities do not permit construction of a new church building.  Parishioners have been waiting ten years for the government to approve the building project.

In October, New Life Church, a charismatic Protestant group in the capital of Minsk, launched a hunger strike to protest the government's decision to demolish their building.  The protest drew support from across Europe and was publicised around the world; within two weeks, a Belarusian court ordered the government to re-consider the situation.

On 24 November more than 100 members of the Catholic parish of Our Lady of Ostrobrama delivered an ultimatum to the offices of their local Regional Executive Committee. Having petitioned unsuccessfully to build a church in the city of Grodno [Hrodna] for nearly ten years, they intend to go on hunger strike if they do not receive official state permission by 1 December. While Grodno Regional Executive Committee chairman Vladimir Savchenko reportedly promised the Catholics that the authorities would soon grant the relevant permission, parish priest Fr Aleksandr Shemet told Nasha Niva newspaper that he remained sceptical: "Promises are promises and a written answer is a written answer. I was born in this country and have lived here long enough to know what promises are worth."

New Life's example appears to have inspired the Grodno parish. "We are grateful to the Protestants for giving us courage," Fr Aleksandr remarked. "We prayed for the hunger-strikers every day during their protest."

Since President Aleksandr Lukashenko won re-election last March, in a vote denounced as corrupt by international observers, controls on religious activity have been tightened. Belarusian Christians, who in the past have tended toward passive acceptance of official harassment, have started to assert their rights more openly.

[B]elievers appear to be questioning whether they can now square a passive position with the moral obligations of their faith.

In the wake of this year's presidential elections, the Evangelical Belarus Information Centre reported that on 20 March more than half of those demonstrating against the regime in central Minsk raised their hands when asked who would join in prayers for Belarus: "The next day almost everyone responded to the same request, and the day after that the majority of songs heard in the tent camp were Christian." Forum 18 has seen a photograph of one column of post-election demonstrators marching behind banners bearing New Testament verses: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for what is right" [Matthew 5:6] and "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" [1 Corinthians 3:17].

Of all European nations, Belarus imposes the most stringent restrictions on religious organisations and their activities.  Any unapproved activity is ipso facto illegal and liable to heavy fines.

Previous related posts:

• Belarusian court grants Christian church a new hearing
• Belarus: Europe’s most oppressively anti-religious nation

The oil sands project of northern Alberta has produced an economic explosion as has rarely been seen in world history.  It’s probably North America’s biggest resource boom since the Klondike gold rush of 1898, and it could permanently transform Canadian politics to boot.

Alberta’s oil and gas riches have not only showered prosperity on its 3.2m residents but are also causing a tectonic shift in Canada’s economic and political landscape.

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, oilsands extraction and processing projects valued at C$60bn ($53bn, £27bn, €40bn) are on the way over the next five years. The rush has produced an economic bonanza: Alberta’s growth rate, adjusted for inflation, is expected to reach 7 per cent this year. That is far above the 1.7 per cent projected for Ontario, the industrial heartland where manufacturers have been hit by bad times in the Detroit-based automotive industry and a strong Canadian dollar – itself buoyed by the oilsands boom.

Unemployment in Alberta has fallen to 3 per cent; jobs are available for just about everyone able and willing to work. So many from Newfoundland have been moving west in search of jobs that Air Canada operates a “Newfie Express” linking Fort McMurray, the centre of oilsands activity, to St John’s, almost 4,000km to the east.

Growth in western Canada is shifting political power.  For the first time, Alberta and British Columbia have a combined population higher than that of Quebec, and will therefore be entitled to more federal MPs come the next redistribution of seats.

Alberta has reaped huge economic benefits, but has not saved as much of its oil revenue as have such other oil-rich areas as Alaska and Norway.  Rapid growth has also imposed costs on the environment.

The impact of oil and gas development and urban sprawl on the environment has also come under scrutiny. Dave Poulton, executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in Calgary, cites a shrinking caribou population, an “unproven but perceived” fall in grizzly bear numbers and extensive damage by off-road vehicles to the slopes of the Rockies. Among the worries is the oilsands projects’ appetite for water: about four barrels of water are required to extract a single barrel of oil.

Concerned groups, including some in the oil industry, suggest the province develop a better long-term fiscal plan and constrain development to proceed in a more orderly fashion.

Previous related posts:

• Alberta’s economy strongest ever in Canadian history
• Ontario heading toward recession?
• BC and Alberta to form united economic powerhouse
• BC economy recovering from NDP 1990s slump

The date was 25 March 2001.  “Things Have Changed” from the film Wonder Boys was nominated for Best Original Song, but Bob wouldn’t think of interrupting the Never Ending Tour to appear in person to sing it.  So, Hollywood had to settle for a performance via satellite from Sydney, Australia.  This is one of Dylan’s more obscure songs, but I think it’s brilliant.  Dark and foreboding, cynical and humourous, it has many wonderful lines.  This one’s my favourite: “Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too”.

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There's a woman on my lap and she's drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin's eyes
I'm looking up into the sapphire tinted skies
I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train

Bridge #1:
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose

Chorus
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

This place ain't doing me any good
I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons do the jitterbug rag
Ain't no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove

Bridge #2
Lot of water under the bridge, Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through

(chorus)

I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand

Bridge #3
Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheel barrow and wheeling her down the street

(chorus)

I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

Bridge #4
Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I'm not that eager to make a mistake

(chorus)

Copyright ©1999 Special Rider Music

When Dylan won the Oscar, his first words were “Oh, good God, this is amazing”.  He also said of “Things Have Changed”, “it’s a song that doesn’t pussyfoot around or turn a blind eye to human nature”.  That’s true of a lot of Dylan songs.

The lyrics are copied from BobDylan.com but, for the Oscar performance, he omitted the lines from "This place ain't doing me any good" through Bridge #2 (so he left out my favourite line).   I'd imagine that was due to time constraints.  The original music video, with all the words, can be viewed here.

h/t: Expecting Rain.

Previous related post: Bob Dylan: “Saved”

So says Dr Thomas Stuttaford, long-time health columnist for The Times of London.  He was around when contraceptive services were first introduced in Britain’s National Health Service back in the 1970s.  At the time, he recalls, British doctors were horrified that the preferred method of “contraception” in Eastern Europe was abortion.

Although we were prepared to accept that an occasional abortion had fewer physical or emotional consequences for the mother than did a full-term pregnancy, any abortion carried out as the result of a D and C, a scraping of the uterus, carried with it the risk of infection and subsequent infertility.

Our anxiety was that repeated abortions would result in an unacceptable chance that the woman would become infertile as the result of pelvic inflammatory disease. Probably the greater worry was that repeated abortions trivialised the importance of pregnancy by legitimising the destruction of foetuses at will.

Nothing he has learned since then has changed his view.  Yet Britain is moving toward accepting abortion as a method of preventing live birth as the abortifacient drug mifepristone (RU486) becomes more widely utilised.  Dr Stuttaford believes that will have harmful effects on women’s physical and psychological health.

Dr Stuttaford’s column is accompanied by a chart showing that, of British women who have had an abortion in recent years, almost one-third have had previous abortions. 

Previous related posts:

• British MP undeterred by death threats from pro-abortionists
• Abortion: Risk factor for “major depressive illness”
• Abortion: Risk factor for breast cancer