World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News
relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume 4 Issue 31 - August 18, 2005
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Quote of the Day: “According to James
Madison, often referred to
as the father of
the Constitution: 'We have staked the whole
future of American
civilization not upon the power of the
government--far
from it. We have staked the future of all of our
political
institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern
ourselves according
to the Ten Commandments of God.'”
— Russ Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians,
New Hampshire:Plymouth
Foundation, 1984, p. 361)."
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Articles:
1. Conference Takes Abstinence Message to the Heart of
Hollywood
Related
Article - More Morality in the Media: Ministry Celebrates, Encourages Fidelity
2.
Child porn rising on Web
3. More
homes in U.S. go solo
4. Pulling of 'Prayer' Posters in Classroom Results in
1st Amendment Lawsuit
5. Settlement Vindicates Use of Historical Religious
Documents in Classroom
6.
Museum exhibits a creationist viewpoint
7.
Three generations, one home
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1. Conference Takes Abstinence Message to
the Heart of Hollywood
By Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
August 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - Abstinence Clearinghouse president
Leslee Unruh says she is really excited by the outpouring of support for the
Ninth International Abstinence Leadership Conference that took place this past
weekend. The theme, taken from the conference locale this year, was
"Abstinence Takes on Hollywood."
The August 4-6 event brought some 1,000
"abstinence until marriage" educators together in Tinseltown, along
with participants from more than 100 countries around the world. Also, Unruh
notes, the conference featured a number of movie industry personalities as
speakers -- individuals committed to promoting clean, positive family
entertainment.
Abstinence Takes on Hollywood included "some
great keynote speakers, Hollywood producers, who are trying very hard to bring
wholesome movies to all of America," the Clearinghouse spokeswoman says.
Also, she adds, it had "some great youth speakers, movie stars, people in
the media industry, films and some new exhibits."
In keeping with the theme, Unruh points out that the
youth arm of the conference has been involved in a petition drive aimed at
encouraging movie makers to stop producing films with irresponsible sexual
content. She says this year's conference included "a youth track and a
faith-based track" and involved young abstinence advocates in a campaign
"petitioning the producers of Hollywood to clean up the smut."
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/82005e.asp
Related Article - More Morality in the
Media: Ministry Celebrates, Encourages Fidelity
By AFA Journal
August 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - Stand F.I.R.M. is a new ministry with
its roots in "It's You," a love song written and recorded by Troy
Johnson, former Motown and RCA recording artist.
Johnson's song celebrates marital fidelity, the basis
for the F.I.R.M. acronym standing for Fidelity Initiative – Restore Marriage.
"We believe this movement is going to spark a
fidelity reformation in this country," said Mark Molzen of SA
Entertainment, a Scottsdale, Arizona, company committed to producing powerful
music with a positive message.
After recording two albums, Johnson took an extended
break from music, beginning in the early 1990s. He returned to secular music
with his 2005 self-titled CD which includes "It's You." The project
was inspired by his wife Denise. Johnson's desire to be involved in ministry
led him to be a co-founder of Stand F.I.R.M.
Lyrics in Johnson's song include, "I don't need
to roam, I've got a good thing right at home. Baby, it's you." His style
is described as a smooth R&B sound.
The Stand F.I.R.M. kick-off event occurred last week
in Little Rock, Arkansas, and featured music by Johnson along with popular
contemporary Christian artists the Katinas. In addition, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee, NBA stars A.C. Green and Allan Houston, and NFL greats Steve Young
and Darryl Green were on hand to address the crowd.
This is the entire article as found on Agape
Press:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/162005f.asp
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2. Child porn rising on Web
Internet exploitation of children is prompting action
in US and abroad.
By Ron Scherer
The Christian Science Monitor
August 18, 2005
NEW YORK – Despite highly publicized arrests,
law-enforcement officials say that the sexual exploitation of children on the
Internet is growing dramatically.
Over the past four years, the number of reports of
child pornography sites to the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC) has grown by almost 400 percent. Law-enforcement officials are
particularly disturbed by the increased number of commercial sites that offer
photos of exploited children in return for a credit-card number. Those fighting
child porn say it has become a global multibillion-dollar industry.
"We are encountering staggering proportions of
violators or offenders we would have never imagined years ago," says Ray
Smith, who oversees child exploitation investigations by the United States
Postal Inspection Service. "It is an exploding problem worldwide, and
particularly in the US," adds Ernie Allen, president of NCMEC.
Efforts to stem the upsurge are taking place on
multiple fronts. At the G-8 summit in Scotland last month, officials said that
Interpol, an international police organization, is putting together a global
database of offenders and victims. And this week, 3,000 law-enforcement
officials from around the US are meeting in Dallas to discuss ways to attack
Internet crimes against children.
To read entire article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0818/p01s01-stct.html
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3.
More homes in U.S. go solo
By Cheryl Wetzstein
The Washington Times
August 17, 2005
Single-adult households have displaced two-parent
families with children as the most common kind of U.S. household, the Census
Bureau reported yesterday.
The change demonstrates "the growing
complexity" of American households, researchers said in a new report,
"Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000."
"It's breathtaking how many people still think
that the 'mom, pop and two kids' is the majority of households," said
Peter Francese, the founder of American Demographics magazine.
Nuclear-family households -- two married parents and a
child -- were the most common as recently as 1990, when there were 25 million
such households.
But by 2000, nuclear-family households fell to second
place, both because there were almost a half-million fewer of these type of
homes and because the number of single-adult households surged past 27 million.
Married households without children remained the third
most common, with 20 million in 1990 and 22 million in 2000.
Mr. Francese, who has studied U.S. demographic trends
for 35 years, said single-adult households are continuing to grow and might
even hit 34 million by the 2010 census.
This is because people are most likely to live alone
"at either end of the life cycle" -- in youth or as senior citizens
-- he said, and baby boomers are just starting to move into their 60s.
The sex disparity -- more women live alone than men --
is also likely to continue, he said. Women are most likely to live alone
because of the death or divorce of a partner. Already, among those 65 or older,
there are 6 million more women than men.
In contrast, he said, men are most likely to live
alone if they've never married, and both widowers and divorced men are likely
to find a partner.
To read entire article:
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050817-123759-7286r.htm
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4.
Pulling of 'Prayer' Posters in Classroom Results
in 1st Amendment Lawsuit
By Jim Brown
August 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - A public high school in Virginia is
being sued for removing prayer-themed posters from a Christian teacher's
classroom wall while he was out sick for several days last fall.
A poster promoting the National Day of Prayer and
depicting George Washington praying at Valley Forge, and a picture of President
George W. Bush praying were among the items school officials confiscated from
Spanish teacher William Lee's classroom at Tabb High School in Yorktown. Even a
small cross in a display about a former student was cut out with scissors and
thrown away by the school while Lee was out.
Lee's attorney, John Whitehead with The Rutherford
Institute, says York County school officials wrongly claim the prayer posters
violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
"The problem with most school officials is they
forget that there are other rights that are in the Bill of Rights that
counterbalance the so-called separation of church and state," the attorney
says, "and that's our rights to free speech, freedom of religion, [and] to
be treated equally under the law."
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/162005a.asp
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5. Settlement Vindicates Use of Historical Religious
Documents in Classroom
By Jim Brown
August 17, 2005
(AgapePress) - A settlement has been reached in a case
involving a California elementary school teacher who was barred from
distributing American history documents because they contained references to
God and religion.
The Alliance Defense Fund and the Cupertino School
District have reached a settlement in which the district has agreed to no
longer censor teacher Steven Williams because he is a Christian. Officials at
Stevens Creek Elementary had prohibited Williams from providing fifth-grade
students with supplemental readings such as William Penn's Frame of Government
and excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.
Williams' attorney, Kevin Theriot, says the district
has agreed Williams did not violate school policy when he handed out the
materials. Theriot says he is hopeful that school officials now understand that
religion can be discussed in schools.
"And, incidentally, the school district also
agreed that teachers can talk about religion in schools, even their religious
beliefs that they may subscribe to, as long as it's done objectively and as
long as the teachers are not trying to convert students to their particular
religious beliefs," the attorney explains.
Prior to the settlement, school officials had argued
that Williams was attempting to proselytize students with the handouts. Now,
says the attorney, his client is pleased with settlement. "Mr. Williams is
satisfied that they are going to follow their policy [and] that there's not
going to be any prohibition on him talking about religious things or
distributing documents like the Declaration of Independence or William Penn's
Frame of Government," he says.
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/172005a.asp
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6. Museum exhibits a creationist
viewpoint
By Lisa Anderson Tribune
Aug 7, 2005
Tucked into a leafy fold of the Ozark Mountains, a new
dinosaur museum boldly goes where few museums have gone before--deep into the
pages of Genesis.
ADVERTISEMENT
At first glance, with its research-quality replicas
and lush dioramas of prehistoric Earth, the Museum of Earth History, which
opened in April in this Victorian spa town, may seem like any other facility
devoted to dinosaurs and fossils. But with exhibits aligned with the Bible's
six days of creation, it also is emblematic of the increasing volume in the
national debate over how evolution should be taught in public schools and the
emboldening of those who oppose or question evolution.
At issue, in state legislatures, school boards,
museums and other cultural institutions across the country, is whether
evolution, Charles Darwin's widely accepted theory that all life descended from
common ancestors and developed through natural selection and random mutation,
should be presented alone or in conjunction with alternative explanations.
Most visitors to the Museum of Earth History prefer
the explanation in Genesis. And that is exactly what the museum, a joint
project of the non-profit, Oklahoma-based Creation Truth Foundation and Eureka
Springs' Great Passion Play outdoor Bible theme park, offers.
To read entire article:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20050807/ts_chicagotrib/museumexhibitsacreationistviewpoint
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7.
Three generations, one home
Growth rate doubles for dwellings with grandparents,
parents, and kids - bucking independent-living trend.
By Sara B. Miller |
The Christian Science Monitor
August 22, 2005
PITTSBURGH – Households brimming with three
generations call up images of an era when the more hands a family had, the
better its chance of survival.
But for Jessica Lawrence, a separated mother of two,
it's just as imperative now. Childcare costs, monthly rent for her Pittsburgh
apartment, and electric bills were swallowing her pay from a retail job.
"I put it off to the point where I couldn't keep
going anymore," Ms. Lawrence says. So she moved her kids in with her
parents, joining millions of Americans returning to multigenerational living.
The number of American households with three or more generations living under
the same roof rose 38 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to a new report from
the United States Census Bureau.
Multigenerational households still represent a small
percentage of US living arrangements. But the increase - more than double the
growth of US households overall - shows that many Americans are starting to
reverse the long-term pattern of living independently, experts say.
Both the longevity of seniors and their desire to live
in age-integrated communities plays a role in multigenerational living. Many
times unmarried mothers will move back with their parents. Immigration from
countries where the cultural norm is to live with extended families is also a
factor.
But many experts say it is a trend that, even with
positive byproducts, is driven in large part by financial strain.
To read entire article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0822/p02s01-ussc.html
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Note: The preceding
article excerpts are highlights of current events and
do not necessarily
represent the views of the World Family Policy Center
or Brigham Young
University.
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Newsletter created
and distributed by:
World Family Policy
Center
J. Reuben Clark Law
School
Brigham Young
University
Managing
Director: Richard Wilkins
Executive Director: A. Scott Loveless
Newsletter Editors:
Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg
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