Magic Statistics

Syracuse University Professor Arthur Brooks examines recent survey data on personal happiness and attitudes about freedom and finds a strong positive correlation between being free and being happy.

[O]ver the past three decades, the nationwide General Social Survey (GSS)—undertaken approximately every two years by researchers at the National Opinion Research Center—has been one of the only repeated surveys to ask people about their happiness and has therefore been used in many happiness studies.

In 2000, the GSS also asked adult Americans about their attitudes about freedom. About 70 percent of the respondents said that they were “completely free” or “very free,” and another 25 percent said that they were “moderately free.” Further, about 70 percent thought that Americans in general were completely or very free.

Perhaps such results are not surprising in the United States. But the GSS also revealed that people who said that they felt completely or very free were twice as likely to say that they were very happy about their lives as those who felt only a moderate degree of freedom, not much, or none at all. Even when holding income, sex, education, race, religion, politics, and family status constant, we find that people who felt free were about 18 percentage points more likely than others to say that they were very happy.

Also, combining findings from the 2002 International Social Survey with a measure of economic liberty shows that nations with more economic freedom are likely to have more citizens reporting high levels of happiness than are nations with little economic freedom.

Dr Brooks argues that religious tolerance is correlated with personal happiness and that many Americans find happiness through religious faith.

When asked in the 2000 GSS about the experiences that made them feel the most free, about 11 percent of adults put religious and spiritual experiences at the top of the list. And these people were more likely than those mentioning any other experience to say that they were very happy.

Dr Brooks holds the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business and Government Policy at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

Previous related posts:

• Faith in government suppresses charitable giving
• Is Canada “a nation of cheapskates”?
• More on compassionate conservatives
• Religious conservatives donate far more than secular liberals

The Bureau of Statistics, Government of Yukon, has launched a spiffy new website.  I’m told it’s been months in the making.  It’s clean and well-organised, with all the latest information linked from the front page.  How convenient.  Check it out!

In the right sidebar are links to a mind-boggling array of fascinatin’ statistics: demographic, economic, social, etc.  The statistical archives contain important historical information, including one of my favourites: Baby Names, 1999-2003.

The only black spot in the entire site is found near the bottom of this page, linked from the home page as “Services: How we can help”.  The third photo on that page shows a particularly obnoxious creep who was allowed to masquerade as a member of the public.  Oh, puh-leese!

I do have one question: Why are sizes of pdf documents specified to three decimal places, e.g., "1507.515 KB"?  Seems a bit of overkill, but I guess that’s the kind of thing statisticians like to do.

The council of the Anglican Church Grammar School (colloquially known as "Churchie"), Brisbane, Australia, supports the headmaster’s decision to prohibit students from bringing homosexual partners to a school formal next month.

Up to eight students had wanted to take boyfriends and raised the issue with a senior staff member, who passed the request to Churchie headmaster Jonathan Hensman.

At the time Mr Hensman said it was not appropriate for students to take a same-sex partner because escorting a young woman to a formal was part of the boys' education.
. . .
A brief statement posted on the Churchie website yesterday said the council "strongly supported the headmaster's position on the school's education programs in social settings".

Australian Anglican Primate Phillip Aspinall is school council president.  He says he took no part in the discussions but is already on record supporting the ban.

The decision seems appropriate in view of the motto posted at the school’s homepage: “Making of Men”.

h/t: Australian Politics

Good news: The recently passed omnibus crime bill came into effect today.  One of its provisions makes it illegal for adults to have sex with a minor under the age of 16.  The previous age of consent was 14.

The Tackling Violent Crime Act raises the legal age of sexual consent in Canada to 16 from 14, the first time it has been raised since 1892.

But the law includes a "close-in-age exception," meaning 14- and 15-year-olds can have sex with someone who is less than five years older.

The Tories said they raised the age, in part, to deal with internet predators. The new law puts Canada's age of consent in line with those in Britain, Australia and most of the United States.

Among many other benefits, this change could provide a basis on which to charge predatory polygamists at Bountiful.  Such relationships often involve young girls who are pressured into marrying much older men.

Previous related posts:

• Why doesn’t BC prosecute polygamists?
• Judge issues wake-up call with Bountiful custody decision
• Bill to raise age of consent in Canada dies as Parliament prorogued

Try New Buffalo Bob's Man-Sized Texas-Style Communion Wafers!

Muslim students at a university in Jharkhand state, India, ran amok in protest of a question on a post-graduate history examination.  They claimed the question insulted Mohammed.  That’s one way to get out of writing a test.

Muslim students at the Ranchi University turned violent over a question that was asked in their MA History exam.

Students allege that the question was an insult to Prophet Mohammad as it refers to the Prophet as a 'businessman' and a 'raider' in his early days.

Police had to arrest several students and use batons to disperse the mob, who then rampaged along Ranchi’s main street, forcing shops to close.  Predictably, the student leader complained of police brutality and demanded the arrest of those who wrote the question.

It is disappointing that the authorities are taking that nonsense seriously.  The university cancelled the test and passed the buck, claiming that the exam was set by another university.  The state’s chief minister groveled to local Muslim organisations and directed the university’s vice chancellor to launch an inquiry.  And it was done.

In supporting Maclean’s magazine against Mohammed Elmasry and his sock puppets, The National Post Editorial Board risks another human rights complaint.

Is it a human rights violation to apply the Yiddish term “chutzpah” to the group of Muslim lawyers trying to sue Maclean’s magazine in various human rights venues for printing the “Islamophobic” opinions of contributor Mark Steyn? We hope not: No English word we can think of suits the complainants better.

The Post gets off another zinger here:

Only a handful of left-wing radicals — including Jack Layton, whose letter of support was read out by Mr. Joseph at yesterday’s press conference — are defending the CIC-Maclean’s fight as a natural, acceptable event in a mature democratic civilization. It can only be a matter of time before they get together and form some George Galloway-style group called Leftists Against Press Freedom (they can call themselves the LAPF-Dogs).

"LAPF-Dogs"? Doesn’t that violate the human rights of canines?

Previous related post: Leftie makes up a new right: “the right to equal amplification of free expression”

The collect for today, Ascension-Day, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continuously dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 1:1-11
The Gospel: St Mark 16:14-20

Artwork: Rembrandt, The Ascension, 1636, Oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.