World Family Policy Center Newsletter

Don S. Browning, M.A., Ph.D. ,University of Chicago

Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Ethics and the Social Sciences, the Divinity School

Don Browning has interests in the relation of religious thought to the social sciences, specifically in the way theological ethics may employ sociology, psychology, and the social scientific study of religion. A student of psychology, he has special interests in psychoanalysis, self-psychology, object-relations theory, and evolutionary psychology, and has written on the cultural, theological, and ethical analysis of the modern psychologies. An interest in issues and methods in practical theology led to his work, A Fundamental Practical Theology: With Descriptive and Strategic Proposals. As Director of the Lilly Project on Religion, Culture, and the Family, Professor Browning is now working on issues pertaining to the shape and future of the postmodern family. He has co-authored From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate. He is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

(Retired from teaching, Winter 2002)

"Critical Familism, Civil Society, and the Law," Religion and Culture Web Forum, June 2003.

Dr. Browning’s contact information can be located at: http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/browning.shtml

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FEATURED NEWS ARTICLES

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1. Parents experience less emotional stress than non parents

ABC News video clip tells results of survey

by John McKenzie, ABC News correspondent based in New York where he specializes in medical science reporting for "World News with Charles Gibson."

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=4802081

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2. ENDA would force Christians to 'kowtow' to homosexual, transgendered employees

Jim Brown, OneNewsNow.com,

October 30, 2007

The head of a conservative lobbying group warns that a homosexual employment bill pending in the U.S. House will "silence of people of faith" and be a "litigation nightmare."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) may hold a vote this week on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seeks to make it illegal for employers to make decisions on hiring, firing, promoting, or paying an employee based on "actual or perceived sexual orientation." Last week, a vote on the measure was delayed due to squabbling among some Democrats and homosexual activists over whether to include in the bill special protections based on "gender identity and expression."

Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition says Democrats are likely to bring ENDA up for a vote without allowing an amendment that deals with "gender identity."

"Barney Frank is a homosexual congressman who is infighting with homosexual grassroots groups about what the language should say. Should they include the term 'gender identity' or not. And gender identity is someone that has a sex change or a drag queen, all those kinds of things. But what they're not telling people is that it actually is included in the bill under the term 'perceived,'" she says.

According to Lafferty, the term "perceived" will do two things in the bill.

"It actually will give will give homosexuals and trans-genders greater protection than that's provided for African-Americans and Hispanics under the civil rights act," she explains. "The second thing that 'perceived' does is it actually does cover trans-genders and other folks. Traditional Values Coalition has been talking about the 30 orientations that the American Psychiatric Organization says exists, and that is what's going to be opening up with this term 'perceived.'"

To read entire article:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/10/tvc_enda_would_force_christian.php

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3. UN Study: Sex-Selection Abortions Wreaking Havoc on Nepal, Vietnam

by Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com, October 29, 2007

New York, NY-- China and India have displayed the kind of social problems sex-selection abortions and infanticides of girl babies can produce. Both nations have seen an increase in prostitution and sex trafficking and have a bachelor society where crime is rampant. A new United Nations report says Nepal and Vietnam have the same problems.

Because the two nations also have social mores that favor boy babies over girls, they are now facing problematic gender ratios.

The UN Population Fund, which conducted the study, urged both nations to begin public education programs to improve respect and care for girls.

The report found that, as is the case in China and India, access to abortions and ultrasounds has produced high numbers of sex-selection abortions where girls are targeted with death.

The societal views have also produced a phenomenon of girl abandonment and the mortality rates for girls in Nepal and Vietnam is much higher.

UNFPA said Nepal and Vietnam are poised to follow their Asian neighbors, as India already has a male-female ratio as high as 120 to 100 in some areas and China has that rate nationwide.

"Life could become harder for many girls and women outnumbered by males, as pressures to conform and comply increases," the study said.

As fewer girls are born and fewer women reach their teenage and adult years, men are having a harder time finding partners and that is leading to increased rates of crime, prostitution and sex trafficking.

The UN said researchers in Nepal and Vietnam have found "pervasive son preference and acceptance of the notion that couples without sons might choose to avoid bearing daughters."

"Vietnam is in almost the same situation now as China was 10 years ago," the study said and it predicted that Vietnam's gender ratio would become "seriously imbalanced" within a decade.

To read entire article:

http://www.lifenews.com/int503.html

Related Article: Missouri Task Force Studies Effects of Abortion

by Jennifer Mesko, CitizenLink, October 30, 2007

Governor wants evidence of harm to women, society.

The Governor's Task Force on the Impact of Abortion on Women will examine the physical, emotional, social and economic effects of abortion on Missouri women. Republican Gov. Matt Blunt launched the effort last week.

Cindy Province, co-founder of the Center for Bioethics and Culture-Missouri, was asked by Blunt's administration to help recruit task-force members. She said the task force intends to look for "truthful, honest information" from researchers about the procedure's effects on women.

"We're trying to get good evidence about the effect of abortion on women and make decisions about what the state can do to help women who find themselves in the situation of an unplanned pregnancy," she told The Associated Press.

Blunt said at a recent press conference that he will begin the task force with the "presumption that abortion has a negative impact on Missouri children, Missouri women, Missouri men, because it's harmful to society."

To read entire article:

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000005812.cfm

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4. More parents setting limits on TV

By Cheryl Wetzstein

Washington Times, November 1, 2007

American parents are more likely to set rules about television viewing for their children than they were a decade ago, a new federal report says.

In addition, more parents are reading to their young children and encouraging their older children to take lessons in music, dance, language, computers or religion, the Census Bureau said in its new report, "A Child's Day: 2004."

"It seems that parents are more involved with their kids than they were 10 years ago," bureau analyst Jane Dye said yesterday.

The Census Bureau issued its first "snapshot" on children"s experiences while growing up with its 2001 report, "A Child"s Day: Home, School and Play." That report used data collected in 1994.

From 1994 to 2004, the biggest change in children"s family life was with television rules, Ms. Dye said.

In 1994, for instance, only 54 percent of families with preschoolers set rules on what programs can be watched, for how long and when. By 2004, the number of families with TV rules jumped to 68 percent.

Parents were more restrictive with their older children, too, with 71 percent setting TV rules for elementary-school-age children and 47 percent setting TV rules for teens.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, sees several reasons why more parents would monitor TV viewing more closely.

Parents have a heightened awareness that TV diverts children from playing and other physical activities, he said. They also are becoming more aware of what's being shown on TV, he said, adding that there's an "outpouring of complaints" about graphic violence, profanity and sexual situations.

In addition, he said, parents are unhappy that television is airing salacious material, such as graphic promotions for adult shows, earlier in the day when children will see them, and "making more overt marketing attempts" to young children.

To read entire article:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NATION/111010041/1001

Related Article: TV Raises Blood Pressure in Obese Kids

NewsMax.com, October 31, 2007 8:03 AM

Watching too much television may not only help make children fat, it may also raise their blood pressure, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They found obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were three times more likely to have high blood pressure than children who watched less than two hours a day.

"There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children," Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Many studies have found a strong link between watching TV and obesity, but this is the first study to show a link between TV and blood pressure in obese children and teens, the researchers wrote.

Obesity in children is on the rise, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. And high blood pressure in children has been rising in right along with obesity rates.

The problem is often undiagnosed in children, and if undetected, high blood pressure can quietly damage the organs, especially the kidneys.

Schwimmer worked with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of South Alabama. They studied 546 children and teens aged 4 to 17 seen at weight management clinics from 2003 to 2005.

To read entire article:

http://newsmax.com/us/TV_kids_blood_pressure/2007/10/31/45430.html

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COMING EVENTS

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NINTH WORLD FAMILY POLICY FORUM

July 7 - 9, 2008

Provo, Utah

Sponsored by the World Family Policy Center, Brigham Young University. Participation and attendance at the Forum is by invitation only. For further information, contact Sarah Stewart 801-422-5192

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Note: The Featured Articles 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 (www.worldfamilypolicy.org)

J. Reuben Clark Law School

Brigham Young University

Acting Managing Director: A. Scott Loveless

Newsletter Editors: Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg

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