Magic Statistics

“I accept no responsibility for statistics, which are a form of magic beyond my comprehension.” — Robertson Davies

September 23rd, 2007 at 5:18 pm

Lessons in depravity

School children in Britain, and most other places in the Western world, are receiving instruction that is not only demonstrably ineffective but arguably depraved.  It’s called sex education. Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens writes:

Far earlier than you might think, children everywhere are being subjected to indoctrination and exposed to material which within living memory would have been considered to be pornography.

The official reason for this is that the material will reduce under-age pregnancy, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases.

Yet, in the decades since the condom-waving, pill-prescribing sex maniacs infiltrated the schools of Britain, all these things have increased, and show every sign of continuing to do so.
. . .
So in a society where we get into a frenzy about paedophilia, the Government pays teachers to talk dirty to children.

Sex education in school boasts a track record of proven failure.

Well, let's take just one of their own targets, stated in 1976. They said they planned to reduce by half the number of abortions in England and Wales.

Well, after ten years of condoms, clinics and "sex education", the yearly number of abortions in England and Wales had actually gone up by tens of thousands. Illegitimate births, meanwhile had doubled.

Such dismal failure would spell doom for any private-sector venture.  In the public sector, however, the funding never ends.  Indeed, as is so often the case in government, when policy fails, the response is to throw more money.

Mr Hitchens recommends a history of sex education in the UK entitled Lessons In Depravity by former public health official Dr E.S. Williams.   It’s on sale at Amazon UK for £6.40.

In related news, British Columbia schools have begun compulsory pro-homosexual instruction, as a result of an order from the BC Human Rights Commission.  Watch for more home schooling of BC students.

Previous related posts:

Print This Post Print This Post
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:41 pm

Anglican Essentials Canada has another blogger

That would be me.  The folks at Anglican Essentials Canada wanted to increase the frequency of posting at their blog, so they decided to ask me to join the intrepid and thought-provoking Peter Lillington as an AEC blogger.  (Quality, depth of insight, and sound judgment apparently did not figure in that decision.)

Thanks for the vote of confidence.  My first post at AEC is an item posted here a few days ago, “Ottawa Diocese to consider motion at odds with General Synod decision”.

Peter also runs the Anglican prophecy blog The Age To Come.

Print This Post Print This Post
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:08 pm

What happened to Christian Canada?

Dr Mark NollThat’s the title of a 60-page booklet by historian Mark Noll (at right) published earlier this year by Regent College Publishing.  Dr Noll examines the decline in Canada’s religious conscience and church attachment that has occurred during the past fifty years.  Ted Byfield reports a few statistics from the booklet.

In 1961, only one half of 1% of Canadians told census takers they were not attached to any religious body. The figure rose to 4.3 % in 1971 and 16.2% in 2001.

After the Second World War, 67% of Canadians told Gallup they had been in a church or synagogue over the previous seven days. By 1990 this figure had fallen by nearly two thirds to 23%. Gallup says it's now less than 20%.

Another case in point: The decline of the United Church of Canada, now one of the most liberal denominations in all of Christendom.  Its membership peaked at over one million during the 1960s, but has now fallen to below 600,000.

The United Church, created in the 1920s by the union of the Methodists, Congregationalists and most Presbyterians, sought to combine the socialistic reforms of the social gospel with the spiritual message of evangelicalism. . . .  When the government itself legislated the social gospel, the church was left with no message at all.

“What Happened to Christian Canada?”  can be ordered directly from Regent College Bookstore via this page, where it is listed for C$7.95.  An audio CD of a public lecture by Dr Noll on the same topic can be ordered here for C$9.00.

You almost certainly won’t find these items on the shelves of your local bookstore.

After 27 years at Wheaton College, Mark Noll, one of America’s leading religious historians, joined the history department at Notre Dame University in early 2006.

Previous related posts:

Print This Post Print This Post
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:22 pm

Divorce linked with future care for elderly parents

A new study of thousands of American parents aged 50 and older has found that, compared to parents who did not divorce, divorced parents receive less care from their grown children.

For better or worse, baby boomers approach retirement with more complex marital histories than previous generations. Temple University researcher Adam Davey, Ph.D. has found the impact of these events — divorces, widowhood, and remarriage — can predict if a child will provide more involved care in the future.

A divorce may have happened over 30 years ago, but the changes it caused can have a long lasting effect for the child into adulthood, Davey said.

More specifically, divorce predicted an adult child would be less of involved with day-to-day assistance later in life for the aging parent. These activities include the child helping the parent maintain chores in the home.

The study also found that step-children are only half as likely as biological children to provide support to parents.

h/t: MercatorNet

Previous related posts:

Print This Post Print This Post
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:00 am

The Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity

The collect for today, the 16th Sunday after Trinity, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

O Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 3:13-21
The Gospel: St Luke 7:11-17

Print This Post Print This Post
|