March 2009 National Updates

March 5, 2009

Church attendance makes life richer: studies
FROM happier marriages, to giving more generously of their time and money, to better grades at school: the list of scientific studies showing that regular churchgoers lead richer lives continues to grow.

Controversial church loses charitable status
A HAMILTON, Ontario church that has been accused of cult-like activity had its charitable status revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) last month, but insists it did no wrong.

OttawaWatch: Five groups a-meetin'
THIS WEEK is like the fifth day of Christmas, of 12 days' fame, around The Hill, as five different groups have arranged meetings with clusters of MPs of various persuasions.

Quick news
• This is not a divorce!
• This is not marriage
• 500 Graces in music video
• more

National print news
• Evolution
• Anglican schism over same-sex blessings
• Bountiful and the polygamy trial
• more

March 13, 2009

Kings sets biblical soap opera in the present day -- sort of
THE BIBLICAL story of David and Saul is so full of drama, so rife with personal and political intrigue, it's a wonder no one has ever turned it into a long-running TV series before.

'More Than Gold' Olympic outreach launched
"WHAT a wonderful way to announce More Than Gold to the world!" enthused Jack O'Halloran.

OttawaWatch: Courting evangelicals
PRESS GALLERY colleague Brian Lilley, who provides Parliament Hill news and analysis to the influential CFRB group of radio stations across Canada, has a most interesting blog post, this week.

Quick news
• EFC raises concerns about Orissa
• Toronto students support school in northern Ontario
• Fair Trade - one month challenge
• more

National print news
• Embryonic stem cell research funding
• Buddhism
• Islam, anti-Semitism and the West
• more

March 19, 2009

Christians unite to deter Olympics sex traffickers
AS Christians prepare to welcome the athletes and spectators who will be coming to Vancouver and Whistler from across the globe to attend the 2010 Winter Olympics next February, there is one group of potential visitors...

Ottawa conference links social justice, strong families
CONNECTING the dots between social justice and strong families was a major exercise at a meeting staged March 12 within the figurative shadow of Parliament Hill.

OttawaWatch: The science minister's faith
THERE HAS been some buzz, this week, over Science Minister Gary Goodyear's declining to tell Globe and Mail reporter Anne Mcilroy whether he believed in evolution.

Quick news
• Catholics and evangelicals agree; governments don't
• Turning words into ploughshares
• She had to fight hard to get in
• more

National print news
• Pro-God and anti-God bus ads
• Multi-faith prayer service for the victims of last Thursday's helicopter crash
• Anti-Semitism
• more

March 26, 2009

Edmontonians take a stand for life during Lent
EDMONTON -- People on fire for an important cause have not been driven away by freezing temperatures.

OttawaWatch: Freedom, log jams and oil giants
FREEDOM books, mediatory log jam removals and a possible oil-giant merger, are all grist for the mill in this week's view from the Ottawa perch.

Quick news
• Christian men can jump
• Evangelicals, Catholics jump into court case
• Thanks on behalf of the persecuted
• more

National print news
• Sister Carmelina Tarantino
• Science minister Gary Goodyear
• Bountiful and the polygamy trial
• more