Magic Statistics

A new research project has found that Canadians living in cities in the Atlantic provinces tend to rate their quality of life higher than do Canadians in other cities.  Of the top ten cities, five are in Eastern Canada.

According to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canadians are most likely to be satisfied with the quality of life in places like Saint John, Moncton, N.B., and Charlottetown, all of which placed in the top five of a survey of 18 Canadian cities.
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[K]nowing your neighbours - and trusting those around you - is a key reason why a city like Saint John tops the list, said John Helliwell, a University of British Columbia economist who led the research project.

Prof Helliwell also noted a negative correlation between prevailing affluence and level of life satisfaction.  Residents of Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto had lower quality of life ratings and lower levels of trust.  He attributed the latter to rapid growth through in-migration.

Helliwell said the findings suggest that cities with a static population and deep roots are happier places.

In view of my hopes and plans for change of residence next year, I am happy to hear that Eastern Canadians are generally satisfied with their community life.  (Of course, I’ll be a new resident and therefore likely to reduce overall trust and quality of life.)

Note: The study was carried out by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, which appears to have no information about the project at their website.  This blog post is based entirely on the CBC news story, which see for the list of the top 10 Canadian cities.

The third day of anti-Christian violence in Orissa, India, began early this morning with arson attacks on eleven more churches and prayer houses.  The Global Council of Indian Christians reports that hundreds of homes belonging to Christians were set afire, killing at least three believers.

A Hindu mob burned down the house of a prominent local Christian leader, Radhakant Nayak, who is also a member of the upper house of India’s parliament.

The Associated Press reports that Christians have retaliated by torching houses belonging to Hindus.

Police-imposed curfews appear to be ineffective in stemming the fighting.

Christian and Hindu organizations blamed each other for sparking the latest violence.

The fundamentalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, or World Hindu Council) accused Christians of trying to attack one its leaders, 80-year-old Laxmanananda Saraswati, and said the clashes began when Saraswati's followers prevented the attack.

However the All India Christian Council (AICC), a coalition of Christian denominations and groups, said in a letter sent to Indian President Pratibha Patil on Christmas Day that Saraswati's vehicle had been attacked after an earlier clash instigated by local Hindus opposing a Christmas event.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Balasore (Orissa), Msgr Thomas Thiruthalil, says much of the blame for the tense situation between Christians and Hindus lies with the state’s anti-conversion law.

The widespread violence that marred Christmas Day in Orissa tarnishes India’s image as a democratic and secular nation. Fundamentalist forces are bent on threatening and terrorising Christians in a state like Orissa where Christians are a poor and marginalised minority. In this state the Church is endlessly accused of converting non Christians and Swami Saraswati, who was behind yesterday’s violence, is a leader of the anti-conversion movement.
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Ostensibly adopted to protect people from forced conversions, the aforementioned Act has really been a legislative tool to prevent people from exercising their freedom of religion and freedom of thought. This and other laws can be easily manipulated by Hindu fundamentalists becoming “legal” tools to act violently against religious minorities by falsely charging them with all kinds of foul deeds.

Nevertheless, continues Msgr Thiruthalil, the church has always grown during times of persecution and he looks for the same now.

Orissa’s anti-conversion law requires everyone wishing to change religion to obtain police permission.

Previous related posts:

• Pope Benedict: Martyrdom is “an act of love”
• “Worst ever Christmas” for Christians in Orissa, India
• Hindu extremists acting more like Islamic jihadists all the time
• Christians denounced for offering “moral comfort” to suffering Indians
• Christian conversions present “grave threat to Hindu society”

Newsweek recently suggested that Pakistan is the most dangerous country on earth.  Today’s assassination of the courageous Benazir Bhutto confirms that.  The Economist reports:

Horrifying millions of frightened Pakistanis, Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the country’s biggest political party, was assassinated on Thursday December 27th. Her attacker fired gunshots into her car as she was leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, then exploded a suicide bomb. At least 15 of Miss Bhutto’s followers were also killed.

Con Coughlin, writing in London’s Daily Telegraph, thinks her murder will damage Pakistan’s fragile partnership with the West against Islamist extremism.

The murder of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi not only strikes a hammer blow against Pakistan's painful attempts to restore democratic rule. It also marks a significant victory for Islamic hardliners who want to destroy Islamabad's uneasy alliance, but crucial, with the West.
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Writing shortly before she left London for Pakistan, Miss Bhutto declared her commitment to "the reconciliation of the values of Islam and the West and prescription for a moderate, modern Islam that marginalises extremists, returns the military from politics to their barracks, treats all citizens and especially women equally and selects its leaders by free and fair elections."

Obviously, Islamic extremists would not find that agenda endearing.

Jihadist terrorists have been trying to eliminate her since she returned to her home country in October.  The forces of hate and evil finally got her.

Previous related posts:

• Benazir Bhutto calls for protection of Christians
• Pakistan takes pressure off the Taliban
• British think tank links Pakistan to terrorists

The collect for today, the Feast of St John the Evangelist, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St John 1:1-10
The Gospel: St John 21:19-25

More on St John here.

Artwork: Giotto di Bondone, St. John the Evangelist, c.1320, Tempera on panel, Musée Jacquemart-André, Chaalis.