Magic Statistics

The Quebec Human Rights Commission has ordered Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital to pay $10,000 to an ambulance driver who brought non-kosher food into the kosher cafeteria and was ordered out after refusing to leave.  The Commission ruled that the hospital failed to provide reasonable accommodation.

Plaintiff Yvon Verrault claims that he was never told the hospital has a non-kosher eating area, but hospital management says that he was so informed.

He also said that he was “surprised and shocked” when the cafeteria manager asked him to leave and then “very humiliated” when hospital security escorted him out.  Quelle surprise!  A Jewish hospital has a kosher cafeteria.  Go figure.

The Quebec Human Rights Commission ruled the hospital’s expulsion of Yvon Verreault deprived him of his right to privacy and freedom of religion.

This baffles me.  How much privacy can one expect in a hospital cafeteria?  And how was Verrault’s freedom of religion compromised, unless he is claiming that objecting to his violation of kosher rules was really subtle pressure to convert to Judaism.

Mr Verrault is not completely satisfied with the ruling, however.  In his view, it doesn’t go far enough.

“The real struggle is to permit everyone to be able to eat what they want in a public place”.

I demand the right to fill my face wherever, whenever, and with whatever I deem fit.  The mind boggles.

A search of the Quebec Human Rights Commission’s website failed to turn up the text of the ruling.

The Canadian Jewish Congress hopes the hospital will appeal the ruling.  I hope so, too.

Father Piero Gheddo has been a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) since 1953.  He believes that the threat presented by Islam cannot be met through economic and political measures.  Islam must be confronted at a deeper level, for its challenge is most importantly and fundamentally cultural and spiritual.

Muslims admire Western technology but disdain Western decadence, which they see reflected in abortion, suicide, homosexual “marriage”, and lack of children.  So, Muslims are convinced they can improve the West by imposing Islamic teaching.

The West should understand what the challenge is. And it is not doing this so far: it is facing terrorism through military, economic, political, juridical and diplomatic means and it never thinks about the crisis in our society that is immoral, untenable. It never says: we must change. We must return to Jesus, become aware that immorality is a central issue.
. . .
Even Islam misses Jesus Christ. For example, the sense of forgiveness is missing. In Indonesia, in Sumatra, there are many ethnic groups. They are all Muslims but every so often there is an inter-tribal conflict. The government sends a pacification committee to stop it, made up of five authoritative people including at least two Christians (usually a Catholic and a Protestant). I asked the reason for this decision in a Muslim country. “Because you have a sense of forgiveness, of bringing peace,” the Internal Affairs Minister replied. “For us Muslims, revenge is sacred.” This is why a Christian speaking about peace is credible, but a Muslim is not.

Fr Gheddo has a home page here, but it is entirely in Italian.

Previous related post: Islamic extremism poses greatest threat to Western culture

As part of a series of comments leading up the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod 2007, Archdeacon Jim Boyles provides background information on the governance review begun in 2004.  Why yet another review of ACC governance?  The first of several factors listed is disappearing Anglicans.

A significant decline in Anglican population.

In 1971, over 30 years ago there were 2,543,000 Anglicans according the Canadian Census. In 2001, there were 2,036,000, a decrease of 20%.
In 1971 there were 1,109,000 members on parish rolls. In 2001 there were 641,845, a decrease of 42%.
In 1969 there were 253,000 identifiable givers. In 1999 there were 227,000, a decrease of 10%.

In the past 35 years the numbers have fallen, but there has been little change in the governing structures of the church, both at the national level and in dioceses. In fact, in many parishes, in dioceses and at General Synod, volunteer and professional time spent in governance tasks means that front-line ministry and mission work is weaker than it could be.

There are more active bishops now than in 1971, and there are more members of General Synod now than in 1971.

First of all, Census counts do not provide pertinent information in this context.  In a previous discussion of ACC decline, I wrote:

The ACC has failed to attract the children and grandchildren of older Anglicans. Given that many of these potential younger Anglicans were, in all probability, baptised in the ACC, one might say they have voted with their feet: they walked away from the Anglican Church of Canada. That scenario would also account for the fact that over 2 million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican to the Census. As infants, they were baptised Anglican and may have attended for several years, but as adults they have had little or no contact with the church.

The most recent figures for members and givers refer to 2001—six years ago—and haven't been updated since 2005.  It also seems odd that no counts are cited for bishops or GS members.  When is the ACC going to hire a statistician?

Let's see:  Relying on six-year-old numbers, General Synod will receive "an initial response" from a governance committee that's been at work for almost three years with a view to initiating a church-wide "conversation" that will be hashed out further at General Synod 2010.  I hope the church survives that long.

I can't help thinking that, if the ACC were a private business organisation, it would have either gone broke or been the object of a hostile takeover years ago.

I also can't help thinking it's a shame that the ACC is faced with severe budget cuts and downsizing its governance structure in order to stay afloat.  Here's a suggestion from a humble pew warmer: Why not try a renewed emphasis on preaching the unvarnished gospel of Christ?  It seems to have facilitated church growth in the past.

Previous related posts:

• The Anglican Church of Canada needs a statistician
• Anglican Church of Canada finally confronting losses
• Anglican decline not due to falling birth rate
• Anglican Church of Canada on the road to extinction