Religion and spending: Prudent but not puritan | The Economist

2014/12/09 Leave a comment

Interesting study by Vince Showers, a US finance professor, on the spending patterns of the religious (no breakdown by religion):

After using a lot of fancy statistical tools, they came up with some expected findings, and some rather unexpected ones. Households “with a strong commitment to faith”— demonstrated by higher spending on religious activities—are less likely to be weighed down by excessive mortgage outgoings or loan payments for cars. Compared with other households, they are more likely to be home owners but their property tax burden tends to be less—suggesting that “some moderation in [the] selection of home in terms of extravagance or location….”

Devout households seem keener on mitigating risk and therefore spend more on life insurance and health insurance; they lay out less on alcohol and tobacco and more on domestic appliances, including cooking utensils. Such homely behaviour is most heavily correlated with religious belief in the American South and Midwest, which are also the regions with “the most conservative interpretation of scripture,” Mr Showers notes, in an article in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. (The research more-or-less conflates the term “religious” with “Christian” or “Judeo-Christian” which in the American context is only a smallish distortion.)

But religious families do allow themselves some earthly pleasures. Indeed, they are if anything a little more likely than other households to spend spare money on clothing or jewellery, although the amount each household splurges on jewellery is a bit less. Some of that jewellery, of course, might be devotional: silver crosses or stars of David. They are as likely as anybody else to be spending money on child support or alimony—a proxy for failed marriages—and they are as inclined as other folk to incur interest payments on credit cards.

Religion and spending: Prudent but not puritan | The Economist.

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UK: Theresa May cancels family’s British citizenship

2014/12/09 Leave a comment

Revocation for dual nationals, born in Britain:

A British-born man and his three grown-up sons have been stripped of their citizenship by Theresa May, the Home Secretary over alleged terrorism links.

The 51-year-old man, who was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and his London-born sons, who are all in their twenties, had their British nationality rescinded two years ago while they were out of the country.

Mrs May’s decision was upheld by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) but now the father, who can only be identified as ‘S1’, has claimed they are “innocent of all the allegations”.

They are now living in Pakistan, where S1s parents were born.

S1 admitted his daughter had travelled to Syria with a jihadist but he told the Sunday Times newspaper that she did so without his knowledge.

The father said he and his sons had been unfairly accused of supporting terrorism because of his daughter’s actions.

In a ruling from 2012, Siac heard S1 and his sons – known as T1, U1 and V1 – were linked with al-Qaeda.

Theresa May cancels family’s British citizenship – Telegraph.

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ISIS fighter from Ottawa appears in video threatening Canada with attacks ‘where it hurts you the most’

2014/12/09 Leave a comment

The latest ISIS recruitment video, starring John Maguire from Ottawa (see earlier profile on Maguire’s troubled past in  Ottawa jihadi seeking ‘martyrdom’ with ISIS in Syria | Ottawa Citizen):

“It follows quite closely to the theme of a variety of videos aimed at Western audiences, like the video aimed at French Muslims a few weeks ago,” said Professor Amarnath Amarasingam of the Dalhousie University Resilience Research Centre, who is studying Canadian foreign fighters.

“The interrelated themes are of course ones of religious obligation: if a caliphate has been established and Muslims have been persecuted by the state you are living in, you are required to leave the state you are living in. The risk of staying is hellfire. Maguire’s video is similar to the video aimed at French Muslims, asking a simple question: what are you waiting for?”

The video refers repeatedly to the October killings of two Canadian Forces members in Quebec and Ottawa by men who had adopted Islamist extremist beliefs. It said the attacks were a “direct response” to Canada’s military role in Iraq.

“The more bombs you drop on our people, the more Muslims will realize and understand that today, waging jihad against the West and its allies around the world is beyond a shadow of the doubt a religious obligation binding upon every Muslim.”

ISIS fighter from Ottawa appears in video threatening Canada with attacks ‘where it hurts you the most’.

John Maguire, Ottawa man fighting for ISIS, urges attacks on Canadian targets in video

And good in-depth reporting on deradicalization programs in Germany and Denmark in the Globe:

 Reversing radicalization through anti-terror ‘psychological warfare’ 

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Douglas Todd: Let’s feel free to be religious at Christmas

2014/12/09 Leave a comment

Douglas Todd on the annual ‘War on Christmas’ ritual, and the need for greater public recognition of faith:

Instead of inadvertently silencing Christian and other religious people, then, let’s truly recognize this is a pluralistic country, with many faiths and secular world views.

That means encouraging the expression of virtually all world views, religious and secular, in the public square. (And also being open to criticism of them.)

When it comes to publicly recognizing Christmas along with other festivals, however, the trickiest part is pragmatic.

Statistics Canada says two-thirds of Canadians consider themselves Christian, a one-quarter consider themselves non-religious and the rest following other faiths.

It would be more than awkward to have vacation days to mark the festivals of every faith, no matter how small their membership. Chaos could reign, especially in workplaces. But other gestures can make possible diverse expressions.

Given the ethno-cultural and religious fragmentation in Canada, it’s conceivable a decorated Christmas tree display could have a unifying influence in this country.

After all, I could name countless atheists who merrily put up Christmas trees. Sikhs often do the same thing. And Muslims tell me they love Christmas lights and the focus on Jesus and Mary, since they’re important to Muslim tradition. Hindus and Buddhists, too, are pretty relaxed about spiritual diversity.

Indeed, even though B.C. has one of the world’s highest ratios of religious eclecticism and foreign-born residents, an Insights West poll last year found that British Columbians prefer to say “Merry Christmas” by a 10-to-one margin over “Happy Holidays.”

These British Columbians appear aware that, when a North American travels to a predominantly Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto or Muslim country, the citizens are not going to be apologizing for public expressions of their long-held customs.

Similarly, if we take the spirituality and tradition out of Canadian Christmas, we’ll just end up with commercialism and Jingle Bells triteness.

Douglas Todd: Let’s feel free to be religious at Christmas.

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457 Syrian refugees resettled in Canada, but pledge was for 1,300

2014/12/08 Leave a comment

Sharp contrast between the Minister’s statements and the reality. Other countries (e.g., Sweden, with over 30,000) have done much better.

Not exactly inspiring and in keeping with best of the Canadian tradition (e.g. the Vietnamese boat people):

The document says that as of Nov. 13, 457 Syrian refugees have landed in Canada. That number includes 163 refugees sponsored by private groups and 294 sponsored by the government.

Alexander has repeatedly said more than 1,150 Syrians “have received Canada’s protection” in response to questions both inside and outside the House of Commons.

Groups working with refugees in Canada have said that figure is misleading as it likely includes Syrians who have arrived in Canada on their own and claimed asylum.

They have urged Alexander to do more to increase the number of refugees being resettled in Canada. So far, the government has only committed to 1,300 by the end of 2014.

That promise was made in July 2013 by Jason Kenney, who was then the immigration minister. Refugee sponsorship groups have warned for months the promise would be difficult to keep, given delays that already existed in processing applications.

The newly released document says the first privately sponsored refugee to land in Canada under the government’s promise only arrived in March of this year.   Another figure though, suggests there is a large number of Syrians who want to come to Canada as refugees.  It states that the immigration department received 2,343 applications for privately sponsored refugees from October 2013 to September 2014.

“It is important to note that the scale and scope of the Syrian refugee crisis will not be solved by resettlement alone,” the document said, echoing statements made by Alexander.

457 Syrian refugees resettled in Canada, but pledge was for 1,300 – Politics – CBC News.

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Myth-busting: Immigrants Drive Down School Rankings – New Canadian Media – NCM

2014/12/08 Leave a comment

Charles Ungerleider on educational outcomes and immigrants.

Surprising that no mention made of the OECD PISA studies, which show the Canadian education system does relatively well in educational outcomes for immigrant kids:

While it is true that immigrant students have lower levels of print literacy upon entering school, the differences between them and their non-immigrant peers is reduced over time with good instruction and exposure to positive English language role models. However, immigrant students often perform as well or better in mathematics and science than their Canadian-born peers. If school rankings take into account performance in a variety of subjects, the performance of immigrant students should not diminish the overall ranking of the school.

It is interesting that the reverse is not true. More advantaged children do not suffer from being in a school where most of the children are poor. This is likely a consequence of the very strong influence that having advantaged parents confers as well as living in communities that are relatively more advantaged. In other words, affluence appears to be a protective factor for advantaged learners.

Socio-economic segregation is another story.  A concentration of low-income students will have a negative effect on a school’s rankings just as the concentration of high income students will have a beneficial effect. As you have probably inferred, I do not have much interest in or regard for school rankings.  But I have a very strong interest in encouraging school boards to ensure that school boundaries do not separate groups on socio-economic lines.

Myth-busting: Immigrants Drive Down School Rankings – New Canadian Media – NCM.

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Those old terrorist tendencies – 19th Century

2014/12/08 Leave a comment

Valid points, reminder that extremism, terrorism and radicalization have long been with us, with just the particular ‘flavour’ being different:

It helps us understand lone terror improvisers of today to look at their forebears in the mass, as provided by the forgotten history of the 19th century. Certainly, it reminds us that our time is just a great deal less violent. And it suggests that Islam is more or less an excuse, a convenient outlet for revolutionary fervour. But the main lesson we instinctively know already: that the trick is not to let terror take hold of us, to maintain our democratic temperament in the face of what are essentially accidents.

Those old terrorist tendencies.

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Denmark’s jihadist rehab: school, sport and Islam

2014/12/08 Leave a comment

More on the Danish approach (see earlier post Denmark tries a soft-handed approach to returned Islamist fighters, sending them to therapy, not jail):

Belying its reputation as a harmonious, wealthy country, Denmark has the second largest number of foreign fighters in Syria relative to its size among Western nations, behind only Belgium, according to an estimate by The Economist magazine.

The young men Mads works with grew up in places like the sprawling Gellerupparken, a dreary housing estate where four out of five are from immigrant homes.

With its graffiti, crumbling concrete and broken glass it is a far cry from Denmark’s wealthy image — and only a short walk from Grimhøj mosque, which has gained notoriety for refusing to denounce the ultra-radical Islamic State (Isis).

This may help explain why in a city like Aarhus, with just 324,000 residents, as many as 30 people have gone to fight in Syria.

At least 100 Danes have taken part in Syria’s bloody civil war, according to estimates by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET). At least 16 have been killed, and roughly 50 have returned home.

Faced with this challenge, Denmark is offering rehabilitation programmes to would-be fighters — and most controversially of all, even helps those returning from Syria.

A young man who came back from Syria was “shaken” and had seen things “that weren’t quite normal for a regular young Danish guy,” Mads said. The two started out by talking about football. But the real objective was to prevent him from returning to Syria, and to motivate him to finish his education.

“Those were our primary targets, and they succeeded,” Mads said, with a hint of pride.

It is part of a two-pronged approach — slapping travel bans on radicalised youths and jailing them if they break them, but also investing in preventive measures.

Denmarks jihadist rehab: school, sport and Islam – The Local.

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Stephen Harper thanks Muslims for condemning recent soldier attacks

2014/12/08 Leave a comment

Overdue but welcome:

Harper told a Toronto-area Muslim event last night that non-Muslim Canadians needed to hear from their Muslim neighbours that Islam is a force for peace and not something to be feared.

Its believed to be Harper s first public words of support for Canadian Muslims following the attacks.

….Some Muslims criticized Harper for not publicly stating his support for Canadian Muslims in the wake of the attacks.

Stephen Harper thanks Muslims for condemning recent soldier attacks – Politics – CBC News.

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Information commissioner pleads poverty, Tory MPs say raise fees

2014/12/06 Leave a comment

The debate over Access to Info fees:

But Legault said charging fees is contrary to the governments touted open government policy, which calls for free access to government information, such as the 200,000 data sets it has now posted online.

She also said it often costs the government more to process fees than they are worth, and that any two-tier or three-tier fee system would simply add complications to the system. It would also require public servants to inquire about the motivation of requesters and the use to which they would put the information, both anathema to modern freedom of information principles.

Conservative MP Joan Crockatt asked Legault to be more open-minded about how fees might help solve the budget crunch. “The solution is in plain sight,” she said, referring to higher fees. “You have a garden growing outside your window.… You can look at cuts or grow your pie.”

Money from access to information fees currently goes into general revenues, not to the information commissioners office, and there is no fee charged to file a complaint with Legault’s office. She recently reported to Parliament that she no longer has any room to manoeuvre in her budget, and that a simple computer-server failure could halt operations for lack of funds to replace it.

I do not have a problem with a doubling of fees and indexing them to inflation (i.e., from $5 to $10).

But given that fees go into general revenues, not the Information Commissioner, this would have to be matched with an increase in her budget.

With hopefully more fulsome government compliance …

Information commissioner pleads poverty, Tory MPs say raise fees – Politics – CBC News.

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