title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: Several Holy Chalice relics are reported in the legend of Holy Grail, though not part of Catholic tradition. Of the existing chalices, only the (Holy Chalice of the Cathedral of Valencia) is recognized as a "historical relic" by the Vatican, although not as the actual chalice used at the Last Supper. Though not claiming the relic's authenticity, both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have venerated this chalice at the Cathedral of Valencia.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: The relics of the Passion presented at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris include a piece of the True Cross from Rome as delivered by Saint Helena, along with a Holy Nail and the Crown of Thorns. Saint John tells that, in the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Roman soldiers mocked Jesus by placing a thorny crown on his head (John 19:12). The crown is a circle of cane bundled together and held by gold threads. The thorns were attached to this braided circle, which measured in diameter. The seventy thorns were reportedly divided up between the Byzantine emperors and the Kings of France.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: The accounts of pilgrims to Jerusalem report the Crown of Thorns. In 409, Saint Paulinus of Nola states the Crown was kept in the basilica on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. In 570, Anthony the Martyr reports the Crown of Thorns in the Basilica of Zion. Around 575, Cassiodorus wrote, "Jerusalem has the Column, here, there is the Crown of Thorns!" Between the 7th and the 10th centuries, the Crown of Thorns was moved to the Byzantine emperors' chapel in Constantinople for safekeeping. In 1238, the Latin Emperor Baldwin II of Constantinople pawned the relics for credit to a Venetian bank.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: Saint Louis, the king of France redeemed the Crown from the Venetian Bank. On 10 August 1239, the king deposited 29 relics in Villeneuve-l'Archevêque. On 19 August 1239, the relics arrived in Paris. Wearing a simple tunic and with bare feet, the King placed the Crown of Thorns and other relics in the palace chapel in a structure he commissioned. During the French revolution, the relics were stored in the National Library. After the Concordat in 1801, the relics were given to the archbishop of Paris who placed them in the Cathedral treasury on 10 August 1806. Since then, these relics have been conserved by the canons of the Metropolitan Basilica Chapter, who are in charge of venerations, and guarded by the Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Napoleon I and Napoleon III each offered reliquaries for the crown of thorns. They were on display at Notre-Dame Cathedral during scheduled religious ceremonies, until a serious fire struck the cathedral on 15 April 2019.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: Many relics currently displayed result from the journey of Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, to Syria Palaestina in the 4th century. The authenticity of many of these relics is questioned. For instance, the Holy Nails brought back by Saint Helena, the "Catholic Encyclopedia" notes are problematic based on the number of claimed relics:


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: Many churches claim to have relics from the Crown of Thorns placed on the head of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: The Scala Sancta, the stairs from Pontius Pilate's praetorium, ascended by Jesus during his trial were also reportedly brought to Rome by Saint Helena of Constantinople in the 4th century.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: The Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Belgium, claims a specimen of Christ's blood on a cloth in a phial, given by Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century.


title: Relics associated with Jesus

text: Christian teaching states that Christ ascended into heaven corporeally. Therefore, the only parts of his body available for veneration are those obtained prior to the Ascension. At various points in history, a number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess the Holy Prepuce, Jesus' foreskin from his Circumcision; tears shed by Christ when mourning Lazarus; the blood of Christ shed during the crucifixion; a milk tooth that fell out of the mouth of Jesus at the age of 9; beard hair, head hair, Christ's nails. A section of the Holy Umbilical Cord believed to remain from the birth of Christ is currently in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Canadian Sikhs number nearly 800,000 people and account for 2.1% of Canada's population as of 2021, forming the country's fourth-largest and fastest-growing religious group. The largest Sikh populations in Canada are found in Ontario, followed by British Columbia and Alberta. As of the 2021 Census, more than half of Canada's Sikhs can be found in one of four cities: Brampton (163,260), Surrey (154,415), Calgary (49,465), and Abbotsford (38,395).


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Canada is home to the largest national Sikh proportion in the world (2.1%), and also has the second-largest Sikh population in the world, after India. British Columbia has the third-largest Sikh proportion (5.9%) amongst all global administrative divisions, behind only Punjab and Chandigarh in India. British Columbia, Manitoba, and Yukon hold the distinction of being three of the only four administrative divisions in the world with Sikhism as the second most followed religion among the population.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Kesur Singh, a Risaldar Major in the British India Army, is credited with being the first Sikh settler in Canada. He was amongst a group of Sikh officers who arrived in Vancouver on board "Empress of India" in 1897. They were on the way to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Sikhs found employment in laying the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in lumber mills and mines. Though they earned less than white workers, they made enough money to send some of it to India and make it possible for their relatives to immigrate to Canada.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: A notable moment in early Sikh history in Canada was in 1902 when settlers first arrived in Golden, British Columbia to work at the Columbia River Lumber Company. This was a theme amongst most early Punjabi Sikh settlers in Canada to find work in the agricultural and forestry sectors in British Columbia. Punjabi Sikhs became a prominent ethnic group within the sawmill workforce in British Columbia almost immediately after initial arrival to Canada.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The early settlers in Golden built the first Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) in Canada and North America in 1905, which would later be destroyed by fire in 1926. The second Gurdwara to be built in Canada was in 1908 in Kitsilano (Vancouver), aimed at serving a growing number of Punjabi Sikh settlers who worked at nearby sawmills along False Creek at the time. The Gurdwara would later close and be demolished in 1970, with the temple society relocating to the newly built Gurdwara on Ross Street, in South Vancouver.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: As a result, the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada today is the Gur Sikh Temple, located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Built in 1911, the temple was designated as a national historic site of Canada in 2002 and is the third-oldest Gurdwara in the country. Later, the fourth Gurdwara to be built Canada was established in 1912 in Victoria on Topaz Avenue, while the fifth soon was built at the Fraser Mills (Coquitlam) settlement in 1913, followed a few years later by the sixth at the Queensborough (New Westminster) settlement in 1919, and the seventh at the Paldi (Vancouver Island) settlement, also in 1919.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Early Sikh pioneers also settled in the Abbotsford area in 1905 and originally worked on farms and in the lumber industry. By 1906, there were about 1,500 Sikh workers living in Canada, among about 5,000 East Indians in total. Although most of the immigrants from South Asia at the time were Sikhs, local ignorance of Eastern religions led to them frequently being assumed to be Hindus. About 90% of these Sikhs lived in British Columbia. While Canadian politicians, missionaries, unions and the press were opposed to Asian workers British Columbia industrialists were short of labour and thus Sikhs were able to get an early foothold at the turn of the 20th century in British Columbia.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: As with the large numbers of Japanese and Chinese workers already present in Canada, many white workers resented those immigrants and directed their ill-will toward the Sikhs, who were easily recognized by their beards and turbans. Punjabis were accused of having a caste system, an idea that goes against the foundations of Sikhism. They were portrayed as being riddled with trachoma and as being unclean in general. To strengthen these racist characterizations, a song called "White Canada Forever" was created. All this eventually led to a boat of Sikhs arriving in Vancouver being sent to Victoria. In 1907, the year that Buckam Singh came to British Columbia from Punjab at the age of fourteen, Punjabis were forced to avoid the Anti-Oriental Riots of 1907 by staying indoors.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Most of the Sikhs in Canada in 1907 were retired British army veterans and their families. These Punjabis had proved themselves as loyal soldiers in the British colonies in Asia and Africa. However, the Canadian Government did not prevent the use of the illegal scare tactics being used to monitor immigration and prevent Sikhs from seeking employment, and this soon resulted in the cessation of all Indian immigration to Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier claimed that Indians were unsuited to life in the Canadian climate. However, in a letter to the viceroy, The Earl of Minto, Sir Wilfred voiced a different opinion, stating that the Chinese were the least adaptable to Canadian ways, whereas Sikhs, which he mistakenly referred to as Hindus, were the most adaptable. Nevertheless, 1,072 Sikhs left for California in 1907. In the same year, the Khalsa Diwan society was set up in Vancouver with branches in Abbotsford, New Westminster, Fraser Mills, Duncan Coombs and Ocean Falls.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1908, Indians were asked by the Canadian Government to leave Canada voluntarily and settle in British Honduras; it was stated that the "Mexican" climate would better suit Indians. A Sikh delegate was sent to what is now Belize and stayed in the British colony for some time before returning. Upon his return, he advised not only Sikhs, but also the members of other Indian religious groups, to decline the offer, maintaining that conditions in Latin America were unsuitable for Punjabis, although they might be more amenable to South Indians. In 1908, 1,710 Sikhs left British Columbia for California. The first plans to build a temple were made in 1908. After a property was acquired, the settlers carried lumber from a local mill on their backs up a hill to construct a gurdwara.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: William Lyon Mackenzie King (not yet the Canadian Prime Minister) visited London and Calcutta to express the Canadian view of Indian immigration. As a result, the Indian Government stopped advertising facilities and employment opportunities in North America. This invoked the provisions of Emigration act of 1883 which stopped Sikhs from leaving Canada. The Canadian Government passed two laws, one providing that an immigrant had to have 200 dollars, a steep increase from the previous requirement of 20 dollars, the other authorizing the Minister of the Interior to prohibit entry into Canada to people not arriving from their birth-country by continuous journey and through tickets purchased before leaving the country of their birth or citizenship. These laws were specifically directed at Punjabis and resulted in their population, which had exceeded 5,000 people in 1911, dropping to little more than 2,500.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Immigration Act, 1910 came under scrutiny when a party of 39 Indians, mostly Sikhs, arriving on a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, succeeded in obtaining "habeas corpus" against the immigration department's order of deportation. The Canadian Government then passed a law intended to keep labourers and artisans, whether skilled or unskilled, out of Canada by preventing them from landing at any dock in British Columbia. As Canadian immigration became stricter, more Indians, most of them Sikhs, travelled south to the United States of America.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Gur Sikh Temple opened on February 26, 1911; Sikhs and non-Sikhs from across British Columbia attended the ceremony and a local newspaper reported on the event. It was the third Gurdwara to open - after Golden (1905) and Kitsilano (1908) - not only in North America, but also anywhere in the world outside of South Asia, and as the oldest existing Gurdwara in Canada in the contemporary age has since become a national historical landmark and symbol, the only Gurdwara to have similar status outside India. The Khalsa Diwan Society subsequently built Gurdwaras in Vancouver and Victoria. The first and only Sikh settlement in Canada, Paldi, British Columbia was established as a mill town in 1916.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Though the objectives of the Khalsa Diwan Society were religious, educational and philanthropic, problems connected to immigration and racism loomed in its proceedings. Alongside the Sikh Diwan, other organizations were set up to counteract the policies of the immigration authorities. The United India League operated in Vancouver, and the Hindustani Association of the Pacific Coast opened in Portland, Oregon. Gurdwaras became storm centres of political activity. The Ghadar Party was founded in America in 1913 by Sikhs who had fled to California from British Columbia as a consequence of Canadian immigration rules. Despite originally being directed at the racism encountered by Sikhs in the Sacramento Valley and in Sacramento itself, it eventually moved to British Columbia. Thousands of Ghadar journals were published with some even being sent to India.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1908, a series of ordinances were passed by the federal government, by which Indian immigrants entering Canada had to have 200 Canadian dollars (vs. 25 for Europeans). They also had to arrive directly from the area of birth/nationality- even though there was no direct route between India and Canada. Because of this legislation, in 1914, a Japanese ship called Komagata Maru chartered by a Sikh businessman which sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver (with multiple stops) was not allowed to dock at the final port. The ship, which had 376 passengers (340 Sikhs), had to spend over 2 months offshore and only 20 former Canadian residents were allowed to disembark.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1914, Buckam Singh moved to Toronto. Also in 1914, Gurdit Singh Sandhu, from Sarhali, Amritsar, was a well-to-do businessman in Singapore who was aware of the problems that Punjabis were having in getting to Canada due to exclusion laws. He initially wanted to circumvent these laws by hiring a boat to sail from Calcutta to Vancouver. His aim was to help his compatriots whose journeys to Canada had been blocked. In order to achieve his goal, Gurdit Singh purchased the "Komagata Maru", a Japanese vessel. Gurdit Singh carried 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims, and 12 Hindus in his boat to Canada.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: When the ship arrived in Canada, it was not allowed to dock. The Conservative Premier of British Columbia, Richard McBride, issued a categorical statement that the passengers would not be allowed to disembark. Meanwhile, a "Shore Committee" had been formed with the participation of Hussain Rahim and Sohan Lal Pathak. Protest meetings were held in Canada and the USA. At one, held in Dominion Hall, Vancouver, it was resolved that if the passengers were not allowed off, Indo-Canadians should follow them back to India to start a rebellion (or Ghadar). The shore Committee raised $22,000 dollars as an instalment on chartering the ship. They also launched a test case legal battle in the name of Munshi Singh, one of the passengers. Further, the Khalsa Diwan Society (founded 1907 to manage Vancouver's gurudwara) offered to pay the 200 dollar admittance fee for every passenger, which was denied.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: On July 7, the full bench of the Supreme Court gave a unanimous judgment that under new Orders-In-Council it had no authority to interfere with the decisions of the Department of Immigration and Colonization. The Japanese captain was relieved of duty by the angry passengers, but the Canadian government ordered the harbour tug Sea Lion to push the ship out on its homeward journey. On July 19, the angry passengers mounted an attack. Next day the Vancouver newspaper The Sun reported: "Howling masses of Hindus showered policemen with lumps of coal and bricks... it was like standing underneath a coal chute".


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Komagata Maru arrived in Calcutta, India on September 26. Upon entry into the harbour, the ship was forced to stop by a British gunboat and with the passengers subsequently being placed under guard. The ship was then diverted approximately to Budge Budge, where the British intended to put them on a train bound for Punjab. The passengers wanted to stay in Calcutta, and marched on the city, but were forced to return to Budge Budge and re-board the ship. The passengers protested, some refusing to re-board, and the police opened fire, killing 20 and wounding nine others. This incident became known as the Budge Budge Riot. Gurdit Singh managed to escape and lived in hiding until 1922. He was urged by Mohandas Gandhi to give himself up as a true patriot. He was imprisoned for five years.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Buckam Singh enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the spring of 1915. Buckam Singh was one of the earliest known Sikhs living in Ontario at the time as well as one of only 9 Sikhs known to have served with Canadian troops in the First World War. Private Buckam Singh served with the 20th Canadian Infantry Battalion in the battlefields of Flanders during 1916. Here, Buckam Singh was wounded twice in battle and later received treatment at a hospital run by one of Canada's most famous soldier poets the Doctor Lt. Colonel John McCrae.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: While recovering from his wounds in England, Private Buckam Singh contracted tuberculosis and spent his final days in a Kitchener, Ontario military hospital, dying at age 25 in 1919. His grave in Kitchener is the only known First World War Sikh Canadian soldier's grave in Canada. Despite being forgotten for ninety years and never getting to see his family again, Buckam Singh is now being celebrated as not only a Sikh hero, but a Canadian hero.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Due to immigration restrictions, South Asians were not able to bring their relatives from India to Canada. Therefore, they resorted to illegal means to bring them to Canada. This was through the Washington-British Columbia border. When the Canadian Government became aware of the happenings along the borderline, they tightened immigration regulations and South Asian men who stayed even three days longer outside of Canada were denied entrance for violating the three-year limit.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1937, a controversy surfaced with there being almost three hundred illegal South Asian immigrants in BC. The case was investigated by the RCMP who had eventually solved the case. The Canadian government, however, decided to take this as an opportunity to negotiate with India and refused to deport illegal Sikh immigrants. In fact, the Canadian government pushed the Sikhs into gaining residency in Canada.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: During the 1940s, South Asians in Canada began to establish their livelihoods despite deep social and economic disturbances. Unemployment was common and the average British Columbian's wage had dropped over 20 percent. White employers were willing to accept Asian workers, this produced insecurities amongst the mainstream community of British Columbia. The result of this was a British Columbia minimum wage law, a law that was ultimately flawed. 25 percent of the employees would be paid 25 percent less and these were invariably Asians. South Asians continued to live under one roof and in extensive families; this support helped them during the Depression period.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1943, a twelve-man delegation including members of the Khalsa Diwan Society presented the case of South Asian voting rights to Premier Hart. They said that without the ability to vote, in Canada they were nothing more than second-class citizens. The Premier then made it so that South Asians in British Columbia that had fought in World War II would be granted voting rights, this law was passed in 1945. By 1947, all South Asians had the right to vote due to the Sikh Khalsa Diwan Society. In 1944, a Statistics Canada survey showed there to be 1756 Canadian Sikhs with 98% of them living in British Columbia, the initial major port of immigration for Canadian Sikhs.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: It was in the 1950s that major immigration to Ontario would start to occur. The celebration of the birth of Guru Nanak was first celebrated in 1954 after a group of Sikhs from England arrived because of the liberalization of the laws due to the acts of the Khalsa Diwan Society. The construction of many gurdwaras had an immense effect on the Sikh population in Ontario. Following the founding of the East Indian Welfare Association by Sikhs, the first ever Sikh was elected to a city council in Mission, B.C. It was reported the following year that there were 2148 Sikhs in Canada.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: A significant event in Sikh-Canadian history occurred in 1950 when 25 years after settling in Canada and nine years after moving to British Columbia from Toronto, Naranjan "Giani" Singh Grewall became the first Sikh individual in Canada and North America to be elected to public office after successfully running for a position on the board of commissioners in Mission, BC against six other candidates. Grewall was re-elected to the board of commissioners in 1952 and by 1954, was elected to become mayor of Mission.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: A millwright and union official, and known as a sportsman and humanitarian philanthropist as well as a lumberman, Grewall eventually established himself as one of the largest employers and most influential business leaders in the northern Fraser Valley, owned six sawmills and was active in community affairs serving on the boards or as chairman of a variety of organizations, and was instrumental in helping create Mission's municipal tree farm. With strong pro-labour beliefs despite his role as a mill-owner, after a scandal embroiled the provincial Ministry of Forestry under the-then Social Credit party government, he referred to holders of forest management licenses across British Columbia as "Timber Maharajahs", and cautioned that within a decade, three or four giant corporations would predominantly control the entire industry in the province, echoing similarities to the archaic zamindar system in South Asia. He later ran unsuccessfully for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the precursor of today's New Democratic Party) in the Dewdney riding in the provincial election of 1956.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: While by the 1950s, Sikh-Canadians had gained respect in business in British Columbia primarily for their work in owning sawmills and aiding the development of the provincial forestry industry, racism still existed especially in the upper echelons of society. As such, during the campaign period and in the aftermath of running for MLA in 1956, Grewall received personal threats, while the six mills he owned along with his house were all set ablaze by arsonists. One year later, on July 17, 1957, while on a business trip, he was suspiciously found dead in a Seattle motel, having been shot in the head. Grewall Street in Mission was named in his honour.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, tens of thousands of skilled Sikhs, some highly educated, settled across Canada, especially in the urban corridor from Toronto to Windsor. As their numbers grew, Sikhs established temporary "gurdwaras" in every major city eastward to Montréal, with the first gurdwara in Eastern Canada being made in 1965. These were followed in many instances by permanent gurdwaras and Sikh centres.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Most cities now have several gurdwaras, each reflecting slightly different religious views, social or political opinions. Through them, Sikhs now have access to a full set of public observances. Central among these are Sunday prayer services, and in many communities the prayers are followed by "langar" (a free meal) provided by members of the sangat (governing council of holy men) and the congregation. Near the end of the decade in 1979, the Canadian Sikhs, now more racially diverse, celebrated the 500th birthday of Guru Amar Das to mark the start of the annual Nagar Kirtan's, which would occur in Canada every year following. The Khalsa Diwan Society grew to a much larger amount during the immigration boom of this period. To celebrate the centennial birthday of the guru, the Khalsa Diwan Society purchased an adjoined building which included a school, museum, daycare and Gurdwara and named it after Guru Amar Das.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In the early 1980s, the Khalsa Diwan Society grew slightly more and built a sports complex. Canada would also have its first officially registered Sikh organization, the Federation of Sikh Societies of Canada in the early 1980s. In the months prior to Operation Blue Star, Sikh seats were granted to the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto. The launching of Operation Bluestar enraged many Sikhs in Canada, who had left their homeland long ago in search of better prospects.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1986, following the British Columbia provincial election, Moe Sihota became the first Sikh-Canadian to be elected to provincial parliament. Sihota, who was born in Duncan, British Columbia in 1955, ran as the NDP Candidate in the riding of Esquimalt-Port Renfrew two years after being involved in municipal politics, as he was elected as an Alderman for the city of Esquimalt in 1984.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Support in Canada for a separate Sikh state increased after India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, ordered an attack on the Sikh's holiest site in June 1984. The Indian army launched Operation Bluestar to evict Sikh leader Bhindranwale from occupying the Akal Takht inside the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhs. At least 5,000 Sikhs, many of whom were simply visiting, were killed in the attack over several days of terror by the Indian army. Some Sikhs wanted a separate nation based on religion, called Khalistan. Khalistanis would sometimes be met by opposition by some Indian nationalists and at the time this went generally unnoticed by the Canadian Government."


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In Vancouver, many Sikh protests occurred. Two Sikhs entered the Indian Consulate in Vancouver and smashed all pictures of Indira Gandhi. Later in the week, Sikh protesters by the hundreds blocked the entrance to the consulate, forcing it to close, then burned the Indian National Flag and an effigy of Indira Gandhi. They would spend the day chanting "Down With Gandhi" and "Gandhi is a Murderer" until the consulate had to agree to relay their demands to the Indian Government. Following their dispersion, the Sikhs spent the rest of the day mourning Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Bhindranwale had been declared a "terrorist" by the Indian government and had brought arms and ammunition while occupying a sacred place of worship, held sacred by all Indians, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, following which Operation Bluestar was launched.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Following the closure at the Indian Consulate in Vancouver, a Sikh youth damaged the consulate in Toronto. 700 Sikhs then protested in front of the Toronto consulate much like what had happened at the Vancouver consulate. At the Toronto consulate, Sikhs who had left Punjab and India for Canada, burned the Indian National Flag. Toronto Metropolitan Police Officers were recorded saying that the unity brought in Canada at this time was miraculous. 2500 Sikhs had marched in the city of Calgary following the march at the Toronto consulate.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montréal-London-Delhi-Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route was blown up in midair by a bomb in the coast of Ireland. In all, 329 people perished, among them 280 Canadian nationals, mostly of Indian birth or descent, and 22 Indian nationals. The attack was the deadliest act of aviation terrorism until the September 11 attacks in 2001.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The main suspects in the bombing were the members of a Sikh separatist group called the Babbar Khalsa and other related groups who were at the time agitating for a separate State based on religion called Khalistan in Punjab, India. In September 2007, the Canadian commission investigated reports, initially disclosed in the Indian investigative news magazine "Tehelka" that a hitherto unnamed person, Lakhbir Singh Rode had masterminded the explosions.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 1986, it was allowed by the Metro Toronto Police to have Sikhs wear turbans while on duty. Later that year, the Khalsa Credit Union was also established. In 1988, for the first time, the Canadian Parliament broached the topic of Operation Bluestar in regards to the Canadian Sikh population. In 1993, the Vancouver Punjabi Market was recognized as bilingual signs in English and Punjabi were established due to the high Sikh population in the area. In 1993, Sikhs were denied entry to the Royal Canadian Legion when invited to attend a Remembrance Day Parade. In 1995, the Canadian government officially recognized the Vaisakhi Nager Kirtan parade. Due to this, the civil unrest eventually began to fade as more and more cities outside of British Columbia and Ontario began to join in on the parades, including Montreal in 1998.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 2002, the Gur Sikh Temple was designated a national historic landmark by prime minister Jean Chrétien on July 26, 2002. It is the only gurdwara declared a national historic landmark outside of South Asia. In 2007 the temple was completely renovated and reopened. In 2011, the Gur Sikh Temple in Abbotsford celebrated its one-hundredth birthday. To celebrate, the Government of Canada is funding the building of a museum dedicated to Canadian Sikhism. During the anniversary celebration, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech to the Punjabi Community as to how the Gur Sikh Temple is a shrine to all immigrants into Canada, not just Sikh ones. 2011 was declared the Centennial year for Canadian Sikhs.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 2005, it was announced that Balwant Singh Rajoana would be hanged under the death penalty for the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on March 31 in Patiala. Balwant Singh Rajoana was considered a hero among many Sikh youths in Canada, who stated that upon death he would become a martyr. The announcement angered many Sikhs across the world. Many of these angered Sikhs were both Punjabi and converted from Canada, spurring civil unrest among Canadian Sikhs. The World Sikh Organization of Canada had called on the United Nations to try to make India abolish the death penalty and save Rajoana from death.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Upon the announcement, many Canadian Sikhs, regardless of race, took up Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag) and began to protest against the Indian government, and against the execution of Rajoana, in the city of Vancouver. Other protests happened worldwide in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand and even India itself. Following the release of Kishori Lal, a murderer who had decapitated three innocent Sikhs with a chopper knife, the announcement led Canadian Sikhs to believe that the Indian government was targeting Sikh people. In Canada, a large protest in Edmonton took place on March 25, six days prior to the pending execution. On the day before his impending execution, 5000 Sikhs walked in front of Parliament Hill in the capital city of Ottawa. That same day, an announcement was made that Rajoana's hanging would be stayed.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The protests had gained mixed reactions, with a majority of citizens not supporting the protests of the Sikhs, seeing them as people with an unjust cause. Many members of the Canadian Parliament supported the Sikh rallies and their protests against the death penalty in India. These politicians included, but were not limited to, Justin Trudeau, Parm Gill, Jasbir Sandhu, Wayne Marston, Don Davies, Kirsty Duncan and Jim Karygiannis. Around this time, a group of Skinheads called "Blood and Honour" would attack two Sikh men in Edmonton.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: To celebrate the 2012 Vaisakhi festival, the local Sikh community decided to sponsor a new Canadian Army Cadet Corps, which was being formed by the Department of National Defence. Whilst happening on April 13 in 2012, Vaisakhi was celebrated in Vancouver on April 14. The Vancouver Sun made their estimation of the Metro Vancouver Sikh population to be at 200,000 during an article about the 2012 Vaisakhi. The Vancouver Vaisakhi ended up attracting thousands of people as well as various politicians including BC Premier Christy Clark. At the April 21st Surrey Vaisakhi, the Sikh peoples demonstrated support for Rajoana through various posters, with large banners calling India the world's largest "Democracy". The response to the support was positive.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Around this time, Sikh comedians Jasmeet Singh (JusReign), and Lilly Singh (Superwoman) would gain international fame for their videos on YouTube.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In May 2012, the classic Victoria Gurdwara, which was once broken down, but later rebuilt, would experience its one hundredth anniversary. It was the second Gurdwara to celebrate one hundred years in Canada after the Gur Sikh Temple in the Sikhs' Centennial Year. The Gurdwara houses over 3000 people per month. It was then announced that Sikhs would be allowed to wear kirpans in Toronto courthouses. In June, a Khalsa School in Brampton would be vandalized by racists who would put up signs of the Ku Klux Klan and with swastikas.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: NDP Party Leader Thomas Mulcair would once again raise ire and tensions when he would bring up the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots. Mulcair would demand that a full investigation be put into the riots and those harmed be compensated. Soon after this statement, neo-Nazi gunman Wade Michael Page would commence a shooting at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, America, which would be described as a domestic terrorism act. Despite the fact that the shooting occurred outside of Canada, Canadian Sikhs would take full responsibility to spread the message of Sikhism, explain the religion, honour the dead and wounded as well as give their reactions to the shootings.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Indian Overseas Congress would request to the Akal Takht that all Khalistan symbols prevailing in Canadian gurdwaras be removed. They would go on to claim Pakistan funding Canadian efforts relating Khalistan and that Canadian politicians of Sikh heritage were turning militant, a claim that would immediately be denied.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Stephen Harper is pushing back at suggestions that Ottawa needs to do more about Sikh separatist activity in Canada, saying his government already keeps a sharp lookout for terrorist threats and that merely advocating for a Khalistan homeland in the Punjab is not a crime. He said violence and terrorism can't be confused with the right of Canadians to hold and promote their political views.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Following, on CKNW's Philip Till Show would feature Dave Foran, a man who would demand Canadian Sikhs to lose their religious aspects, namely turbans, beards, clothes and "waddling" while walking, claiming the features to make "real" Canadians "sick". Soon after, the Friends of the Sikh Cadet Corps would run into issues with the 3300 British Columbian Royal Army Cadet, over their choice of name. The resulting turmoil would put months and months of planning into disarray.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Sikhs of Canada would once again take solidarity and hospitality, much like they had done with the Rajoana situation, to support Daljit Singh Bittu and Kulbir Singh Barapind. The two had previously been arrested and abused on false charges, resulting in their most recent arrest to raise the ire of the Canadian Sikhs, who would go on to trash the policing forces in Punjab.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: 2013 was a monumental year for Sikhs as the April of that year was declared the Sikh Heritage Month by the Government of Ontario. In 2014, history was made when a park in Calgary was named after Harnam Singh Hari, the first Sikh settler who was able to successfully farm on fertile land in Alberta. This happened shortly after the announcement of Quebec's Charter of Values, which threatened the use of religious items at government workplaces. This Charter was opposed by the Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Christians, and Muslims whose symbols would be affected by the charter. In May 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Harjit Sajjan became the first Sikh to command a Canadian regiment, ironically it was the British Columbia Regiment (Duke Connaught's Own), which opposed the Komagata Maru a century prior. In 2015, the Surrey Nagar Kirtan was declared the largest parade of its kind outside of India. In August 2015, Corporal Tej Singh Aujla of the 39th Brigade Group, Royal Westminster Regiment became the first Sikh soldier to guard and watch over the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" at Canada's National War Memorial. In regards to the 2015 Canadian election, it was internationally noted that in over twelve constituencies Sikh politicians were riding against each other, a highlight of the successful integration of the Sikh populace as Canadian citizens. It was also noted that of these politicians, Martin Singh was a Caucasian convert to Sikhism and potentially the first "white" Sikh to run for a constituency in the federal elections.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In the 2015 Canadian election, twenty Sikh MPs were elected, the most ever. Of these, four Sikh MPs went on to become a part of the Cabinet of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This marked the first time the Cabinet of Canada had more Sikhs as ministers than the Cabinet of India. This disparity was acknowledged by Trudeau in March 2016. Of these MPs, Bardish Chagger ended up becoming the first Sikh woman to hold a post in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. Also, MP Lt. Col. (ret.) Harjit Singh Sajjan became the first Amritdhari Sikh to hold a Cabinet position since the Sikh Empire as Minister of National Defence. That same year, Punjabi became the third most spoken language of the Parliament of Canada. Concurrently, many Canadian Sikhs held solidarity with the protests of Sikhs in India following the sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib. Many Sikh organizations in Canada held discussions on how to address the situation in regards to Canada. Many Canadian Sikh youths took to Twitter to protest the sacrilege with the hashtag #SikhLivesMatter.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: On April 11, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that a formal apology for the Komagata Maru incident would finally be given after 102 years.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: On October 1, 2017, Jagmeet Singh, was elected leader of the federal New Democratic Party on the first ballot of that party's 2017 leadership race. Upon his election, Singh became the first Sikh and the first person of a visible minority group to be elected leader of a Canadian federal political party. Previously, Singh had also held the distinction of being the first turban-wearing Sikh to sit as a provincial legislator in Ontario.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Unlike in South Asia and India, Sikhs have formed the main religious group among the South Asian Canadian, Indo-Canadian, and Punjabi Canadian communities from the onset of first settlement in the late 19th century into the present-day. In India, Sikhs comprise 1.72% of the population, while Hindus make up the largest religious group at close to 79.8%.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Until the 1950s, Sikhs formed up to 95% of the entire South Asian Canadian population, declining to 31.5% of the total South Asian Canadian population by 1981. The Sikh proportion among the South Asian Canadian community declined further to 29.7% in 2001; in the same year, Sikhs represented 34% of the total Indo-Canadian population. In 2011, Sikhs made up 29.6% of the total South Asian Canadian population, a slight increase over the 2011 proportion of 28.5%.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: As of the 2021 Canadian census, there were 771,790 Sikh Canadians, forming 2.12% of the total population; the same census indicated that the vast majority (761,960 persons or 98.73%) of Sikh Canadians are of South Asian origin.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: According to the 1981 Canadian census, 1991 Canadian census, 2001 Canadian census, the 2011 Canadian census, and the 2021 Canadian census, the number of Sikhs living in each of the Canadian provinces and territories is as shown in the following table.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: British Columbia is home to the highest proportion of Sikhs in the country and also most of the longest established Sikh communities. Although Sikhs can be found in most towns and cities within the province - most are concentrated in the Lower Mainland.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Gur Sikh Temple is located in Abbotsford. It was the Sikh gurdwara building in North America that is still standing. In 1975 the Khalsa Diwan Society of Abbotsford separated from the parent organization in Vancouver, as the title of the Abbotsford gurdwara was transferred to the separated entity. The Abbotsford Sikhs wanted to have local control over their gurdwara.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Sikhism is the second largest religion in the Vancouver metropolitan area where they form 8.5% of the total population, according to the 2021 census.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In 2011 28,235 persons in the Abbotsford-Mission metropolitan area stated that they were of the Sikh religion, making up 16.9% of the population. Of all metropolitan areas in Canada, Abbotsford had the highest Sikh percentage in 2011. This was an increase over the 2001 census when 16,780 persons in the Abbotsford-Mission metropolitan area stated that they were of the Sikh religion.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: According to the 1991 census, subdivisions in British Columbia with the highest proportions of Sikhs included Fort St. James (21.6%), Quesnel (12.0%), Williams Lake (10.1%), Merritt (9.7%), Surrey (8.6%), Tahsis (8.3%), Golden (8.1%), Houston (7.0%), Abbotsford (6.2%), Lillooet (6.0%), Squamish (5.6%), and Terrace (5.4%).


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Subdivisions with the highest proportions of Sikhs in British Columbia as per the 2001 census included Surrey (16.3%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision C (15.1%), Abbotsford (13.4%), Squamish (11.2%), Cawston (10.6%), Fort St. James (10.3%), Delta (8.6%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision A (8.3%), Merritt (8.0%), Williams Lake (7.6%), Mackenzie (7.1%), Quesnel (7.1%), Houston (7.0%), Mission (5.1%), and New Westminster (5.1%).


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: According to the 2011 census, subdivisions in British Columbia with the highest proportions of Sikhs included Surrey (22.6%), Abbotsford (20.0%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision A (16.9%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision C (15.7%), Delta (10.6%), Cawston (10.1%), Mission (5.9%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision G (5.8%), Osoyoos (5.6%), Squamish (5.4%), and Oliver (5.2%).


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The city of Surrey, a suburb situated in the southeastern sector of the Metro Vancouver metropolitan area and the Metro Vancouver regional district, has the highest proportion of Sikhs in a subdivision in British Columbia, forming 27.5% of the population, as per the 2021 census. Within the city, Sikhs form a majority in the Newton and Whalley neighbourhoods. Surrey's Sikhs can be found in large numbers across the city, with the exception of South Surrey.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The city of Abbotsford, an exurb situated in the southwestern area of the Abbotsford-Mission metropolitan area and the Fraser Valley regional district, has the next-largest concentration of Sikhs in a subdivision in British Columbia, at 25.5% of the population, as per the 2021 census. According to the 2011 census, 16.3% of persons in Abbotsford self-identified as East Indian, and 2.3% as Punjabi. The west side of the city of Abbotsford specifically hosts a large Sikh community, forming over 60% of the population in some parts of the Clearbook and Townline Hill areas. Similar to New Westminster, the establishment of Abbotsford's Sikh community goes back generations to 1905.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Following Surrey (27.5%) and Abbotsford (25.5%), subdivisions in British Columbia with the highest proportions of Sikhs as per the 2021 census included Delta (17.9%), Cawston (16.3%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision A (15.9%), Okanagan-Similkameen Subdivision C (14.3%), Mission (8.1%), Oliver (7.6%), Squamish (5.4%), 100 Mile House (5.3%), and New Westminster (4.8%).


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In the city of Vancouver, Sikhs form over 30% of the population in the Sunset neighbourhood, with the traditional Punjabi Market being the epicentre of Vancouver's Sikh community.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Sikhs in the city of New Westminster can be found in the Queensborough area, where they are upwards of 30% of the population, and have lived since 1919.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The southern half of Oliver, BC, a small town in the Okanagan Valley, also has a Sikh population above 40%.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In Alberta, most of the province's Sikhs live in either Calgary or Edmonton. Although many are first or second generation immigrants, Sikhs have lived in Calgary since at least 1908. The majority of Sikhs in Calgary are concentrated in the Northeast section of the city. Sikhs form over 20% of the population in some Northeast Calgary neighbourhoods, particularly Martindale, Taradale, Coral Springs and Saddle Ridge. Most of Edmonton's Sikhs can be found in the Southeast section of the city, particularly The Meadows, and Mill Woods. In The Meadows neighbourhood of Edmonton, Sikhs form over 30% of the population of Silver Berry.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Sikh community in Manitoba is small at 0.9%, and largely concentrated in Winnipeg. Within Winnipeg, there are no established Sikh neighbourhoods, although The Maples and Mandalay West in the far north end of the city are over 10% Sikh.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Sikh communities are found in most cities and towns in Southern Ontario, while few are found living north of Barrie.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Greater Toronto Area is home to the second largest community of Sikhs in Canada, after the Vancouver-Abbotsford area of British Columbia. Sikhs in Toronto traditionally lived in the Rexdale neighbourhood of Etobicoke, and Armadale in Scarborough. An older established Sikh community can be found in Malton, Mississauga as well, where Sikhs form nearly 25% of the population. Over half of Ontario's Sikhs can be found in Brampton, where they account for 19% of the city's total population. While Sikhs can be found living in all parts of Brampton, they form upwards of 35% of the population in the neighbourhoods of Churchville, Springdale and Castlemore.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Quebec is home to a more educated, upper-middle class Sikh community. Virtually the entire Sikh population of Quebec is found in the Montreal area. In the Montreal area, working class Sikhs are found in Park Extension, while wealthier Sikh families can be found in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Vaudreuil-Dorion, and LaSalle, Quebec.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Since 2009, Sikh members of the Canadian Forces (CF) have attended the annual Sikh Remembrance Day service which is held at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario. This cemetery holds the only military grave in Canada belonging to a Sikh soldier, Private Buckham Singh who fought in World War I. In 2012, NCdt Tejvinder Toor, OCdt Saajandeep Sarai & OCdt Sarabjot Anand represented Royal Military College of Canada at the event in uniform.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Various Nagar Kirtan celebrations happen in Canada, with most starting in British Columbia. In British Columbia, various places celebrate the Nagar Kirtan, though it is mainly celebrated in the cities of Vancouver and Surrey. In Vancouver, the Nagar Kirtan, is used to celebrate the Visakhi and the birth of Khalsa. Various Canadian Sikhs, of various ethnic origins, are present in the parade, which usually happens on Easter Weekend. In Abbotsford, the celebration happens on Labour Day Weekend and is commemorated in the celebration of the Parkash Divas of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The parade in Abbotsford takes place near the Kalgidar Durbar.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Vaisakhi celebrations happen in both British Columbia and Ontario, with many including a Nagar Kirtan parade. In Ontario, the Vaisakhi celebrations are reported to get bigger and bigger in terms of festivities and attending populace every year. Many Sikh academies and institutes also participate in the Ontario parades, such as the Akal Academy Brampton. While the Nagar Kirtan in the Ontario Vaisakhi celebration starts at the Malton Gurudwara and ends at the Sikh Spiritual Centre, festivities go on until the Rexdale Gurudwara is reached, it is organized annually by the Ontario Gurdwara Committee. Nagar Kirtan parades also take place in Alberta. Both the cities of Calgary and Edmonton hold them around the May long weekend.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Punjabi is the native language of the Sikh faith; it is spoken commonly throughout both converts and Indo-Canadians. There is a large population of Sikh people in the city of Surrey; this has led to the availability of a course in the Punjabi language in the fifth grade using the British Columbia Punjabi Language Curriculum. In specific schools in the city of Abbotsford, the Punjabi language too is available as a course that can be taken following the fifth grade in elementary school levels. For Abbotsford, however, when the curriculum was suggested to a more mainstream stray of schools, controversy was brought up, despite Punjabi being Abbotsford's second largest language. Many comments brought up were those who stated that only English and French should be taught in the district and that the costs to parents would be high, as always these comments were believed to be racially driven due to other secondary languages being taught for free in the district.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: Various controversies have arisen involving the sacred Sikh dagger, the Kirpan. Most of these cases have taken place in the Canadian province of Quebec.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In February 2011, the Quebec National Assembly banned religious daggers, of which the kirpan was included. Upon the announcement, Canadian Sikh Liberal MP Navdeep Bains revealed his surprise and anger as he had worn the kirpan to the Supreme Court of Canada and the United States Congress without any trouble. The ban sparked a small debate amongst the Canadian Legislatures and news programs as well as backlash from the World Sikh Organization. Following this was a vote that the kirpan be banned from all parliamentary buildings including the House of Commons of Canada. The vote happened in favour of the kirpan, despite fierce opposition from the Bloc Québécois.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: In the 2006 Supreme Court of Canada decision of "Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite‑Bourgeoys" the court held that the banning of the kirpan in a school environment offended Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, nor could the limitation be upheld under s. 1 of the Charter, as per "R. v. Oakes". The issue started when a 12-year-old schoolboy dropped a 20 cm (8-inch) long kirpan in school. School staff and parents were very concerned, and the student was required to attend school under police supervision until the court decision was reached. In September 2008, Montreal police announced that a 13-year-old student would be charged after he allegedly threatened another student with his kirpan. However, while he was declared guilty of threatening his schoolmates, he was granted an absolute discharge for the crime on April 15, 2009.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The World Sikh Organization representative Jasbeer Singh, who had involvement in the Multani Kirpan case, represented the WSO who had called on the Calgary Telus Convention Center for an apology on another kirpan case. In the Calgary stadium, a Gurdas Mann concert in 2009 had to be shut down after Sikh ticket holders had refused to remove their kirpans. Jasbeer was reportedly furious due to the case having occurred after it was proven that the kirpan was allowed to legally be worn in public areas due to the Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys case. Concert promoter Nirmal Dhaliwal revealed his intent on suing the centre due to the lack of revenue brought by the case.


title: Sikhism in Canada

text: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police came under fire when they refused to let turbaned Canadian Sikh officers join their service. In doing so they had indefinitely banned all RCMP officers from wearing a turban, requiring them to wear the standard and traditional RCMP headdress. The ban was a result of the activism of a petition leader named Herman Bittner, who maintained that he was preserving history rather than discriminating. The ban was lifted in 1990 and turbaned Sikh officers were permitted to join the RCMP.


title: Concupiscence

text: Concupiscence (from Late Latin noun "concupiscentia", from the Latin verb "concupiscence", from "con-", "with", here an intensifier, + "cupi(d)-", "desiring" + "-escere", a verb-forming suffix denoting beginning of a process or state) is an ardent, usually sensual, longing. In Christianity, particularly in Roman Catholic and Lutheran theology, concupiscence is the tendency of humans to sin.


title: Concupiscence

text: There are nine occurrences of "concupiscence" in the Douay-Rheims Bible and three occurrences in the "King James Bible". It is also one of the English translations of the Koine Greek (ἐπιθυμία), which occurs 38 times in the New Testament.


title: Concupiscence

text: Involuntary sexual arousal is explored in the "Confessions" of Augustine, wherein he used the term "concupiscence" to refer to sinful lust.


title: Concupiscence

text: In Judaism, there is an early concept of "yetzer hara" (Hebrew: יצר הרע for "evil inclination"). This concept is the inclination of humanity at creation to do evil or violate the will of God. The "yetzer hara" is not the product of original sin as in Christian theology, but the tendency of humanity to misuse the natural survival needs of the physical body. Therefore, the natural need of the body for food becomes gluttony, the command to procreate becomes sexual sin, the demands of the body for rest become sloth, and so on.


title: Concupiscence

text: In Judaism, the "yetzer hara" is a natural part of God's creation, and God provides guidelines and commands to help us master this tendency. This doctrine was clarified in the Sifre around 200–350 CE. In Jewish doctrine, it is possible for humanity to overcome the "yetzer hara". Therefore, for the Jewish mindset, it is possible for humanity to choose good over evil, and it is the person's duty to choose good (see: Sifrei on Deuteronomy, P. Ekev 45, Kidd. 30b).


title: Concupiscence

text: Involuntary sexual arousal is explored in the "Confessions" of Augustine, wherein he used the term "concupiscence" to refer to sinful lust. He taught that Adam's sin is transmitted by concupiscence, or "hurtful desire", resulting in humanity becoming a "massa damnata" (mass of perdition, condemned crowd), with much enfeebled, though not destroyed, freedom of will. When Adam sinned, human nature was thenceforth transformed. Adam and Eve, via sexual reproduction, recreated human nature. Their descendants now live in sin, in the form of concupiscence, a term Augustine used in a metaphysical, not a psychological sense. Augustine insisted that concupiscence was not "a being" but a "bad quality", the privation of good or a wound. He admitted that sexual concupiscence ("libido") might have been present in the perfect human nature in paradise, and that only later it became disobedient to human will as a result of the first couple's disobedience to God's will in the original sin. In Augustine's view (termed "Realism"), all of humanity was really present in Adam when he sinned, and therefore all have sinned. Original sin, according to Augustine, consists of the guilt of Adam which all humans inherit.


title: Concupiscence

text: The main opposition came from a monk named Pelagius (354–420 or 440). His views became known as Pelagianism. Although the writings of Pelagius are no longer extant, the eight canons of the Council of Carthage (418) provided corrections to the perceived errors of the early Pelagians. From these corrections, there is a strong similarity between Pelagians and their Jewish counterparts on the concepts of concupiscence. Pelagianism gives mankind the ability to choose between good and evil within their created nature. While rejecting concupiscence, and embracing a concept similar to the "yetzer hara", these views rejected humanity's universal need for grace.


title: Concupiscence

text: The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that Adam and Eve were constituted in an original "state of holiness and justice" (CCC 375, 376 398), free from concupiscence (CCC 377). The preternatural state enjoyed by Adam and Eve afforded endowments with many prerogatives which, while pertaining to the natural order, were not due to human nature as such. Principal among these were a high degree of infused knowledge, bodily immortality and freedom from pain, and immunity from evil impulses or inclinations. In other words, the lower or animal nature in man was perfectly subject to the control of reason, and the will subject to God. Besides this, the Catholic Church teaches that our first parents were also endowed with sanctifying grace by which they were elevated to the supernatural order. By sinning, however, Adam lost this original "state", not only for himself but for all human beings (CCC 416).


title: Concupiscence

text: According to Catholic theology man has not lost his natural faculties: by the sin of Adam he has been deprived only of the Divine gifts to which his nature had no strict right: the complete mastery of his passions, exemption from death, sanctifying grace, and the vision of God in the next life. God the Father, whose gifts were not due to the human race, had the right to bestow them on such conditions as he wished and to make their conservation depend on the fidelity of the head of the family. A prince can confer a hereditary dignity on condition that the recipient remains loyal, and that, in case of his rebelling, this dignity shall be taken from him and in consequence from his descendants. It is not, however, intelligible that the prince, on account of a fault committed by a father, should order the hands and feet of all the descendants of the guilty man to be cut off immediately after their birth.


title: Concupiscence

text: As a result of original sin, according to Catholics, human nature has "not" been totally corrupted (as opposed to the teaching of Luther and Calvin); rather, human nature has only been weakened and wounded, subject to ignorance, suffering, the domination of death, and the inclination to sin and evil (CCC 405, 418). This inclination toward sin and evil is called "concupiscence" (CCC 405, 418). Baptism, CCC teaches, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God. The inclination toward sin and evil persists, however, and he must continue to struggle against concupiscence (CCC 2520).


title: Concupiscence

text: In this evolutionary era Catholic teaching on original sin focuses more on its results than on its origins. As Cardinal Ratzinger had intimated in 1981, and as Pope Benedict XVI clarified in 2008: "How did it happen? This remains obscure... Evil remains mysterious. It is presented as such in great images, as it is in chapter 3 of Genesis, with that scene of the two trees, of the serpent, of sinful man: a great image that makes us guess but cannot explain what is itself illogical."


title: Concupiscence

text: The Wesleyan-Arminian theology of the Methodist Churches, inclusive of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement, teaches that humans, though being born with original sin, can turn to God as a result of "prevenient grace" and do good; this prevenient grace convicts humans of the necessity of the new birth (first work of grace), through which he is justified (pardoned) and regenerated. After this, to willfully sin would be to fall from grace, though a person can be restored to fellowship with God through repentance. When the believer is entirely sanctified (second work of grace), his/her original sin is washed away. Methodist theology firstly distinguishes between original sin and actual sin:


title: Concupiscence

text: It further categorizes sin as being "sin proper" and "sin improper". Sins proper (or sin, properly so called) are those that are committed freely and willfully, which result in a loss of entire sanctification. Sins improper (or sin, improperly so called) are those in the "category of benign neglect, fruits of infirmity (forgetfulness, lack of knowledge, etc)". In traditional Methodist theology, these (improper) sins are not classified as sins, as explained by Wesley, "Such transgressions you may call sins, if you please: I do not, for the reasons above-mentioned." John Wesley explains the matter like this: "Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. Therefore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing else, if we speak properly. To strain the matter farther is only to make way for Calvinism. There may be ten thousand wandering thoughts, and forgetful intervals, without any breach of love, though not without transgressing the Adamic law. But Calvinists would fain confound these together. Let love fill your heart, and it is enough!"


title: Concupiscence

text: Although an entirely sanctified person is not free from temptation, "the entirely sanctified person does have the distinct advantage of a pure heart and the fullness of the Holy Spirit's presence to give strength in resisting temptation." If a person backslides through sin proper but later returns to God, he or she must repent and be entirely sanctified again, according to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.


title: Concupiscence

text: The primary difference between Catholic theology and Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican theologies on the issue of concupiscence is whether it can be classified as sin by its own nature. The Catholic Church teaches that while it is highly likely to cause sin, concupiscence is not sin itself. Rather, it is "the tinder for sin" which "cannot harm those who do not consent" (CCC 1264).


title: Concupiscence

text: This difference is intimately tied with the different traditions on original sin. Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican theology holds that the original nature of humanity was an innate tendency to good; the special relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed with God was due not to some supernatural gift, but to their own natures. Hence, in these traditions, the Fall was not the destruction of a supernatural gift, leaving humanity's nature to work unimpeded, but rather the corruption of that nature itself. Since the present nature of humans is corrupted from their original nature, it follows that it is not good, but rather evil (although some good may still remain). Thus, in these traditions, concupiscence is evil in itself. The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England state that "the Apostle doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin".


title: Concupiscence

text: By contrast, Roman Catholicism, while also maintaining that humanity's original nature is good (CCC 374), teaches that even after this gift was lost after the Fall, human nature still cannot be called evil, because it remains a natural creation of God. Despite the fact that humans sin, Catholic theology teaches that human nature itself is not the "cause" of sin, although once it comes into contact with sin it may produce more sin.


title: Concupiscence

text: Another reason for the differing views of Catholics with Lutherans, Reformed and Anglicans on concupiscence is their position on sin in general. The Magisterial Reformers taught that one can be guilty of sin even if it is not voluntary; the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church, by contrast, traditionally hold that one is guilty of sin only when the sin is voluntary. The Scholastics and magisterial reformers have different views on the issue of what is voluntary and what is not: the Catholic Scholastics considered the emotions of love, hate, like and dislike to be acts of will or choice, while the early Protestant reformers did not. By the Catholic position that one's attitudes are acts of will, sinful attitudes are voluntary. By the magisterial reformer view that these attitudes are involuntary, some sins are involuntary as well.


title: Concupiscence

text: Some denominations may relate concupiscence to "humanity's sinful nature" in order to distinguish it from particular sinful acts.


title: Concupiscence

text: Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century described two divisions of "sensuality": the "concupiscible" (pursuit/avoidance instincts) and the "irascible" (competition/aggression/defense instincts). With the former are associated the emotions of joy and sadness, love and hate, desire and ; with the latter, daring and fear, hope and despair, anger.


title: Concupiscence

text: Al-Ghazali in the 11th century discussed concupiscence from an Islamic perspective in his book "Kimiya-yi sa'ādat" ("The Alchemy of Happiness"), and also mentioned it in "The Deliverer from Error." In this book, amongst other things, he discusses how to reconcile the concupiscent and the irascible souls, balancing them to achieve happiness. Concupiscence is related to the term ""nafs"" in Arabic.


title: Time value of money

text: The time value of money is the widely accepted conjecture that there is greater benefit to receiving a sum of money now rather than an identical sum later. It may be seen as an implication of the later-developed concept of time preference.


title: Time value of money

text: The time value of money is among the factors considered when weighing the opportunity costs of spending rather than saving or investing money. As such, it is among the reasons why interest is paid or earned: interest, whether it is on a bank deposit or debt, compensates the depositor or lender for the loss of their use of their money. Investors are willing to forgo spending their money now only if they expect a favorable net return on their investment in the future, such that the increased value to be available later is sufficiently high to offset both the preference to spending money now and inflation (if present); see required rate of return.


title: Time value of money

text: The Talmud (~500 CE) recognizes the time value of money. In Tractate Makkos page 3a the Talmud discusses a case where witnesses falsely claimed that the term of a loan was 30 days when it was actually 10 years. The false witnesses must pay the difference of the value of the loan "in a situation where he would be required to give the money back (within) thirty days..., and that same sum in a situation where he would be required to give the money back (within) 10 years...The difference is the sum that the testimony of the (false) witnesses sought to have the borrower lose; therefore, it is the sum that they must pay."


title: Time value of money

text: In a typical case, the variables might be: a balance (the real or nominal value of a debt or a financial asset in terms of monetary units), a periodic rate of interest, the number of periods, and a series of cash flows. (In the case of a debt, cash flows are payments against principal and interest; in the case of a financial asset, these are contributions to or withdrawals from the balance.) More generally, the cash flows may not be periodic but may be specified individually. Any of these variables may be the independent variable (the sought-for answer) in a given problem. For example, one may know that: the interest is 0.5% per period (per month, say); the number of periods is 60 (months); the initial balance (of the debt, in this case) is 25,000 units; and the final balance is 0 units. The unknown variable may be the monthly payment that the borrower must pay.


title: Time value of money

text: For example, £100 invested for one year, earning 5% interest, will be worth £105 after one year; therefore, £100 paid now "and" £105 paid exactly one year later "both" have the same value to a recipient who expects 5% interest assuming that inflation would be zero percent. That is, £100 invested for one year at 5% interest has a "future value" of £105 under the assumption that inflation would be zero percent.


title: Time value of money

text: This principle allows for the valuation of a likely stream of income in the future, in such a way that annual incomes are discounted and then added together, thus providing a lump-sum "present value" of the entire income stream; all of the standard calculations for time value of money derive from the most basic algebraic expression for the present value of a future sum, "discounted" to the present by an amount equal to the time value of money. For example, the future value sum formula_1 to be received in one year is discounted at the rate of interest formula_2 to give the present value sum formula_3:


title: Time value of money

text: There are several basic equations that represent the equalities listed above. The solutions may be found using (in most cases) the formulas, a financial calculator or a spreadsheet. The formulas are programmed into most financial calculators and several spreadsheet functions (such as PV, FV, RATE, NPER, and PMT).


title: Time value of money

text: For any of the equations below, the formula may also be rearranged to determine one of the other unknowns. In the case of the standard annuity formula, there is no closed-form algebraic solution for the interest rate (although financial calculators and spreadsheet programs can readily determine solutions through rapid trial and error algorithms).


title: Time value of money

text: These equations are frequently combined for particular uses. For example, bonds can be readily priced using these equations. A typical coupon bond is composed of two types of payments: a stream of coupon payments similar to an annuity, and a lump-sum return of capital at the end of the bond's maturity—that is, a future payment. The two formulas can be combined to determine the present value of the bond.


title: Time value of money

text: An important note is that the interest rate "i" is the interest rate for the relevant period. For an annuity that makes one payment per year, "i" will be the annual interest rate. For an income or payment stream with a different payment schedule, the interest rate must be converted into the relevant periodic interest rate. For example, a monthly rate for a mortgage with monthly payments requires that the interest rate be divided by 12 (see the example below). See compound interest for details on converting between different periodic interest rates.


title: Time value of money

text: The rate of return in the calculations can be either the variable solved for, or a predefined variable that measures a discount rate, interest, inflation, rate of return, cost of equity, cost of debt or any number of other analogous concepts. The choice of the appropriate rate is critical to the exercise, and the use of an incorrect discount rate will make the results meaningless.


title: Time value of money

text: For calculations involving annuities, it must be decided whether the payments are made at the end of each period (known as an ordinary annuity), or at the beginning of each period (known as an annuity due). When using a financial calculator or a spreadsheet, it can usually be set for either calculation. The following formulas are for an ordinary annuity. For the answer for the present value of an annuity due, the PV of an ordinary annuity


title: Time value of money

text: The present value formula is the core formula for the time value of money; each of the other formulae is derived from this formula. For example, the annuity formula is the sum of a series of present value calculations.


title: Time value of money

text: The present value ("PV") formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for by numerical methods:


title: Time value of money

text: The cumulative present value of future cash flows can be calculated by summing the contributions of "FV", the value of cash flow at time "t":


title: Time value of money

text: Note that this series can be summed for a given value of "n", or when "n" is ∞. This is a very general formula, which leads to several important special cases given below.


title: Time value of money

text: In this case the cash flow values remain the same throughout the "n" periods. The present value of an annuity (PVA) formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for by numerical methods:


title: Time value of money

text: In this case each cash flow grows by a factor of (1+"g"). Similar to the formula for an annuity, the present value of a growing annuity (PVGA) uses the same variables with the addition of "g" as the rate of growth of the annuity (A is the annuity payment in the first period). This is a calculation that is rarely provided for on financial calculators.


title: Time value of money

text: A perpetuity is payments of a set amount of money that occur on a routine basis and continue forever. When "n" → ∞, the "PV" of a perpetuity (a perpetual annuity) formula becomes a simple division.


title: Time value of money

text: When the perpetual annuity payment grows at a fixed rate ("g", with "g" < "i") the value is determined according to the following formula, obtained by setting "n" to infinity in the earlier formula for a growing perpetuity:


title: Time value of money

text: In practice, there are few securities with precise characteristics, and the application of this valuation approach is subject to various qualifications and modifications. Most importantly, it is rare to find a growing perpetual annuity with fixed rates of growth and true perpetual cash flow generation. Despite these qualifications, the general approach may be used in valuations of real estate, equities, and other assets.


title: Time value of money

text: The future value (after "n" periods) of an annuity (FVA) formula has four variables, each of which can be solved for by numerical methods:


title: Time value of money

text: The future value (after "n" periods) of a growing annuity (FVA) formula has five variables, each of which can be solved for by numerical methods:


title: Time value of money

text: The following table summarizes the different formulas commonly used in calculating the time value of money. These values are often displayed in tables where the interest rate and time are specified.


title: Time value of money

text: The formula for the present value of a regular stream of future payments (an annuity) is derived from a sum of the formula for future value of a single future payment, as below, where "C" is the payment amount and "n" the period.


title: Time value of money

text: Note that this is a geometric series, with the initial value being "a" = "C", the multiplicative factor being 1 + "i", with "n" terms. Applying the formula for geometric series, we get


title: Time value of money

text: Another simple and intuitive way to derive the future value of an annuity is to consider an endowment, whose interest is paid as the annuity, and whose principal remains constant. The principal of this hypothetical endowment can be computed as that whose interest equals the annuity payment amount:


title: Time value of money

text: Note that no money enters or leaves the combined system of endowment principal + accumulated annuity payments, and thus the future value of this system can be computed simply via the future value formula:


title: Time value of money

text: Initially, before any payments, the present value of the system is just the endowment principal, formula_24. At the end, the future value is the endowment principal (which is the same) plus the future value of the total annuity payments (formula_25). Plugging this back into the equation:


title: Time value of money

text: Without showing the formal derivation here, the perpetuity formula is derived from the annuity formula. Specifically, the term:


title: Time value of money

text: can be seen to approach the value of 1 as "n" grows larger. At infinity, it is equal to 1, leaving formula_29 as the only term remaining.


title: Time value of money

text: Rates are sometimes converted into the continuous compound interest rate equivalent because the continuous equivalent is more convenient (for example, more easily differentiated). Each of the formulæ above may be restated in their continuous equivalents. For example, the present value at time 0 of a future payment at time t can be restated in the following way, where e is the base of the natural logarithm and r is the continuously compounded rate:


title: Time value of money

text: This can be generalized to discount rates that vary over time: instead of a constant discount rate "r," one uses a function of time "r"("t"). In that case the discount factor, and thus the present value, of a cash flow at time "T" is given by the integral of the continuously compounded rate "r"("t"):


title: Time value of money

text: Indeed, a key reason for using continuous compounding is to simplify the analysis of varying discount rates and to allow one to use the tools of calculus. Further, for interest accrued and capitalized overnight (hence compounded daily), continuous compounding is a close approximation for the actual daily compounding. More sophisticated analysis includes the use of differential equations, as detailed below.


title: Time value of money

text: Ordinary and partial differential equations (ODEs and PDEs) – equations involving derivatives and one (respectively, multiple) variables are ubiquitous in more advanced treatments of financial mathematics. While time value of money can be understood without using the framework of differential equations, the added sophistication sheds additional light on time value, and provides a simple introduction before considering more complicated and less familiar situations. This exposition follows .


title: Time value of money

text: The fundamental change that the differential equation perspective brings is that, rather than computing a "number" (the present value "now"), one computes a "function" (the present value now or at any point in "future"). This function may then be analyzed—how does its value change over time—or compared with other functions.


title: Time value of money

text: Formally, the statement that "value decreases over time" is given by defining the linear differential operator formula_37 as:


title: Time value of money

text: This states that values decreases (−) over time (∂) at the discount rate ("r"("t")). Applied to a function it yields:


title: Time value of money

text: For an instrument whose payment stream is described by "f"("t"), the value "V"("t") satisfies the inhomogeneous first-order ODE formula_40 ("inhomogeneous" is because one has "f" rather than 0, and "first-order" is because one has first derivatives but no higher derivatives) – this encodes the fact that when any cash flow occurs, the value of the instrument changes by the value of the cash flow (if you receive a £10 coupon, the remaining value decreases by exactly £10).


title: Time value of money

text: The standard technique tool in the analysis of ODEs is Green's functions, from which other solutions can be built. In terms of time value of money, the Green's function (for the time value ODE) is the value of a bond paying £1 at a single point in time "u" – the value of any other stream of cash flows can then be obtained by taking combinations of this basic cash flow. In mathematical terms, this instantaneous cash flow is modeled as a Dirac delta function formula_41


title: Time value of money

text: where "H" is the Heaviside step function – the notation "formula_43" is to emphasize that "u" is a "parameter" (fixed in any instance—the time when the cash flow will occur), while "t" is a "variable" (time). In other words, future cash flows are exponentially discounted (exp) by the sum (integral, formula_44) of the future discount rates (formula_45 for future, "r"("v") for discount rates), while past cash flows are worth 0 (formula_46), because they have already occurred. Note that the value "at" the moment of a cash flow is not well-defined – there is a discontinuity at that point, and one can use a convention (assume cash flows have already occurred, or not already occurred), or simply not define the value at that point.


title: Time value of money

text: Thus for a stream of cash flows "f"("u") ending by time "T" (which can be set to formula_50 for no time horizon) the value at time "t," formula_51 is given by combining the values of these individual cash flows:


title: Time value of money

text: This formalizes time value of money to future values of cash flows with varying discount rates, and is the basis of many formulas in financial mathematics, such as the Black–Scholes formula with varying interest rates.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Susan Ellen "Zoe" Lofgren ( ; born December 21, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Lofgren is in her 13th term in Congress, having been first elected in 1994. Lofgren has long served on the House Judiciary Committee, and has chaired the House Administration Committee since the beginning of the 116th Congress.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren was the 16th district's first female U.S. representative, before part of the district was redistricted into the 19th congressional district. The district covers much of Santa Clara County, including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and most of San Jose. Representing a district covering much of Silicon Valley, Lofgren has been noted for her activity in tech-related policy areas such as net neutrality and digital surveillance.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren was born in San Mateo, California, the daughter of Mary Violet, a school cafeteria employee, and Milton R. Lofgren, a beer truck driver. Her grandfather was Swedish. Lofgren attended Gunn High School (1966) in Palo Alto, and while in high school, Lofgren was a member of the Junior State of America, a student-run political debate, activism, and student governance organization. She earned her B.A. degree in political science from Stanford University in 1970 and her Juris Doctor degree from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1975.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: After graduating from Stanford, Lofgren worked as a House Judiciary Committee staffer for Congressman Don Edwards when the committee prepared articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon during the impeachment process against Nixon.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 1978, Lofgren married John Marshall Collins. Returning to San Jose, she worked in Don Edwards's district office while earning her J.D. degree. After two years as partner at a San Jose immigration law firm, she was elected to the board of San Jose City College. In 1981, she was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, representing downtown San Jose and nearby communities, where she served for 13 years.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 1994, Lofgren entered a six-way Democratic primary in what was then the 16th district, when Edwards retired after 32 years in Congress. The district, then as now, is a Democratic stronghold, and it was understood that whoever won the Democratic primary would be only the second person to represent this district since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th district from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993, the 16th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 19th since 2013). A decided underdog, she managed to defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery, by just over 1,100 votes. She breezed to victory in November, and has since been reelected with no substantive opposition.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: During the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections, Lofgren's campaign paid approximately $350,000 to two businesses her husband operates: Collins and Day and John Marshall Collins P.C. over a six-year period to support campaign efforts.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren chairs the 46-member California Democratic Congressional Delegation. She serves on the Judiciary Committee and chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. In 2007, she co-sponsored the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, which the ACLU characterized as "legislating against thought". In April 2011, she became the first member of Congress to call for federal investigation into the Secure Communities deportation program.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Beginning in 2009, Lofgren served as chair of the House Ethics Committee. In doing so, she presided over a rare sanction of censure, against longtime member Charles B. Rangel. In 2009, Lofgren was appointed and served as an impeachment manager in the impeachment trial of Judge Samuel B. Kent. In 2010, Lofgren was appointed and served as an impeachment manager (prosecutor) in the impeachment trial of Judge Thomas Porteous.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In the Stop Online Piracy Act House Judiciary Committee hearings, she defended the current state of the internet in opposition of the bill. She has also opposed the data retention requirements in the H.R. 1981 (the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011).


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In February 2013, Lofgren became one of the sponsors of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act to expedite open access to taxpayer-funded research.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In May 2016, Lofgren was publicly reprimanded during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after calling witness Gail Heriot of the United States Commission on Civil Rights an "ignorant bigot" because Heriot's written testimony before the hearing had suggested that calling oneself a female does not cause one to be a female. Following the oral warning from acting committee chairman Steve King, Lofgren responded, "I cannot allow that kind of bigotry to go into the record unchallenged".


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In January 2020, Lofgren was selected as one of seven impeachment managers who presented the impeachment case against President Donald Trump during his first trial before the United States Senate. This marked her third time serving as an impeachment manager.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren is pro-choice and has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization that advocates for abortion rights and tracks congressional records on the topic. In 2013, she was chosen as the lead House Democrat to argue against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would have banned abortions after the mother was 20 weeks pregnant. Lofgren said, "Passage of the bill is wrong. It's the wrong policy for the freedom of American women." She opposed the overturning of "Roe v. Wade", calling it "a bleak day" and vowing to keep abortion safe and accessible in California.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren, whose district covers much of Silicon Valley, has been noted for her activity in tech industry regulation and privacy policy. In 2012, she was one of two Democrats in Congress to oppose the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) then-ongoing antitrust probe of Google. Lofgren criticized the European Commission's decision to fine Google $2.7 billion in 2017 over alleged anti-competitive behavior, arguing that the fine was "unfair to the U.S. companies participating in European markets".


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 2013, in the wake of the prosecution and subsequent suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz (who used a script to download scholarly research articles in excess of what JSTOR terms of service allowed), Lofgren introduced a bill, "Aaron's Law" (, ) to exclude terms of service violations from the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and from the wire fraud statute. By May 2014, Aaron's Law had stalled in committee. Brian Knappenberger, author of a documentary on Swartz, alleges this occurred due to Oracle Corporation's financial interest in maintaining the status quo.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 2021, Lofgren opposed a series of bipartisan proposals aiming to "break up" Big Tech companies through antitrust enforcement. Alongside a group of other members of the California congressional delegation, she criticized the "antitrust package" due to concerns about its impact on the U.S. tech industry. Following allegations that Lofgren's opposition to antitrust measures were potentially influenced by her daughter's employment as a corporate counsel for Google, Lofgren was defended by colleagues Ro Khanna and Anna Eshoo, who called these criticisms "ad hominem attacks".


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 2022, Lofgren was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren has routinely voted for bills that would expand renewable energy investments. She believes that a clean energy infrastructure is required to curb the effects of climate change. In 2018, Lofgren co-sponsored the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act. In February 2019, she co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution (H.Res. 109).


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren is a member of the Medicare for All Caucus and co-sponsored the legislation introduced by Representative John Conyers in 2017. She rescinded her sponsorship of a similar bill introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal in 2019, arguing that the bill's two-year timeline was not feasible. Lofgren continues to support a public option for health insurance, and 2021 co-sponsored Jayapal's bill to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: Lofgren is a supporter of net neutrality policies to prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from engaging in data discrimination. In 2018, she signed a discharge petition to force a vote on net neutrality protections in Congress.


title: Zoe Lofgren

text: In 1978, Lofgren married John Marshall Collins, an attorney. The couple met at an election party. Lofgren's daughter, Sheila Collins, is a corporate counsel at Google.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Mark R. Hughes (January 1, 1956 – May 21, 2000) was an American businessman who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Herbalife International Ltd, a multi-level marketing company.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Hughes was born in La Mirada, California on January 1, 1956, the son of Stuard Hartman and Jo Ann Hughes. His parents divorced in 1970, when Mark was 14, and his mother retained custody of Mark.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: At this point, the family survived on welfare payments with Hughes' mother suffering from "emotional problems." She battled obesity and tension via amphetamines and sleeping pills. In the ninth grade Hughes dropped out of school and began using drugs himself. "I was a little delinquent," he says. "I got in trouble with the law." At 16, he was sent to CEDU High School, a private residential school for troubled youngsters in Running Springs, CA whose origins were associated with Synanon, a group founded in 1958 and later described as a cult. Part of Hughes' CEDU rehab required him to raise money by selling raffle tickets. Hughes became the school's best salesman. "The approval there was based on how much funds you raised," Hughes told People magazine in 1985. "There was a lot of pressure, and I wanted to be the best right away."


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Hughes was 19 years old and still working for CEDU when his mother died in her apartment of an accidental drug overdose on April 27, 1975. According to the autopsy report, several empty vials of prescription drugs were found beside her bed, and her doctor told the coroner she "was known to over-ingest her prescription drugs." Toxicological tests showed potentially lethal levels of the painkiller Darvon in her system.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Hughes began his career in 1976 at Seyforth Laboratories selling diet products. He spent three years there and was listed as one of the company's top 100 earners.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In 1976, after Seyforth Laboratories shut down, he joined Golden Youth, a direct-sales outfit that sells exercise equipment and weight-control products. When Golden Youth went out of business, Hughes decided to start his own operation.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In February 1980, aged 24, Hughes founded Los Angeles-based Herbalife International. It has since become one of the world's largest distributors of Herbalife products through multi-level marketing, with sales of about $3.5 billion in 2007 and 2.1 million Independent Distributors. Now in 95 countries and achieving record retail sales of $7.5 billion in 2013 according to company statements.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In the mid-1980s, Hughes was sued by the Food and Drug Administration, the California attorney general's office, and the state Department of Health, over what they said were false health claims about Herbalife products and the various schemes used to market them. Health agencies accused the company of violating labeling standards and using improper sales practices.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Regulators contended that the company was making medicinal claims. Medicines are regulated by the F.D.A., while nutritional supplements are not. Some health experts doubted the efficacy of Herbalife products, saying that in some instances they relied too heavily on laxatives and caffeine.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In March 1985, the California attorney general and the state Department of Health Services charged he and Herbalife with making "untrue or misleading" product claims—primarily involving the caffeine content of some Herbalife products—and operating an "endless chain marketing scheme."


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Prompted by complaints alleging that Herbalife product users had suffered illness and death, a U.S. Senate subcommittee called Hughes before a hearing in May. Referring to a panel of nutrition experts who had criticized Herbalife in testimony the previous day, he asked the senators, "If they're such experts in weight loss, why were they so fat?"


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: During the hearing, Hughes acknowledged that his own formal education stopped at the 9th grade. When asked during the hearing how he could be qualified to challenge leading medical experts, Hughes responded: "I defy anybody to be able to produce results as this company has."


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Hughes reached settlements with the regulatory agencies in 1986. To settle his problems with the state, Hughes agreed to pay $850,000. At the time, the California attorney general, John Van De Kamp, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal as saying it was the "largest settlement ever attained from a health products company."


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In 1979, Hughes met Kathryn Whiting, a former Miss Santa Monica, who would become his first wife. They divorced in 1984 and in the same year, he married Angela Mack, a Swedish former beauty queen.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In September 1987, Hughes married Suzan Schroder, a former actress, court reporter and Miss Petite U.S.A. In December 1991, Hughes' and his wife, Suzan Hughes, had his sole son, Alexander Reynolds "Alex" Hughes. Suzan filed for divorce from Hughes in September 1997.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: In February 1999, Hughes married Darcy LaPier, an American actress and model. Their marriage continued until his death the following year on May 21, 2000, at his home in Malibu, California.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Scott Carrier, of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, said final autopsy results found that Hughes, 44, had ingested a toxic combination of alcohol and Doxepin, an antidepressant he was taking to help him sleep. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.21.


title: Mark R. Hughes

text: Hughes' then 9-year-old son, Alexander "Alex" Hughes, was named sole beneficiary of his father's estate, estimated to be worth $400 million. Hughes's will stipulated that, until Alex turns 35, the bulk of his inheritance would be held in a trust managed by Jack Reynolds (Alex's paternal grandfather), attorney Conrad Klein, and Herbalife executive Christopher Pair. In 2006, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled to remove Reynolds from supervising a $35 million custodianship after finding that he violated multiple probate laws by ceding control to Klein and commingling Alex's personal assets with partnership accounts. Reynolds was suspended, but remained one of three trustees until 2013, when a judge in a separate lawsuit ordered the removal of all three for breaching the terms of the Trust by mismanaging the funds. After the removal, Alex chose Fidelity Investments to oversee the fund – a decision that was later reversed in a California Court of Appeal.