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Internet Access
Kids ages 2-17 who use the Internet reported gaining access from the following sources:
• School only — 1%
• Mostly school, sometimes home — 1%
• Mostly home, sometimes school — 12%
• Home only — 85%
Do you know where your child goes on the Internet?
[2]USA TODAY
Safe Sex Lies
Proponents of the safe sex myth continue to lead children into a deadly trap of deception. According to recent reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration forced a condom manufacturer, Ansell Personal Products, to recall up to fifty-seven million condoms because of widespread reports of breakage. Safe sex advocates encourage condom usage, school nurses distribute condoms freely, young people use condoms with a false sense of security, and some of them contract AIDS and die.
Christians have the opportunity to save lives by urging their public school systems to teach abstinence only based curriculum. Abstinence until marriage is not only biblical, it alone is truly safe.
Anti-Christian Bias
A federal judge in October barred Alabama public schools from allowing vocal prayers or Bible devotions on school property.
But U.S. District Court Judge Ira DeMent said it was permissible for a student to give a brief thanks to "Deity for his or her academic success." He also said schools may use religious texts in an academic setting and students may wear religious symbols or clothing with religious messages.
DeMent's ruling extended previous orders he had issued striking down Alabama's 1993 school prayer law and rejecting Gov. Fob James' claim that the states, not the federal government or courts, can set their own laws on religious conduct in public places.
The judge also ordered that a monitor be named to oversee compliance with the DeKalb County schools, where it has been alleged that school prayers, Bible distribution, and student harassment of those not participating in the religious activity has been occurring.
Religion News Service
Ten Commandments
A Nashville man offered money to children if they could recite the Ten Commandments, and it has cost him $10,000.
According to reports in THE TENNESSEAN, George Kelley announced in July, '97 that he wanted to help improve America's moral climate by promoting the Ten Commandments with the promise of $10 to every child who could accurately quote them. As of November 2, he had mailed out about 900 checks, and spent an additional $100 on checks, postage, and printing. He is now looking for sponsors to continue the incentive.
Kelley, 70, said the campaign does more than teach kids right from wrong. "The beneficiary, besides their family, is the business community, I'm convinced," he said.
"In four or five years, those kids are going to be working, having their hands in the cash registers, and the business community will be wanting an honest employee. And they also don't want to be looking down the barrel of gun being held by a kid who didn't learn the Ten Commandments."
Healthy Habit
A study of more than 1,700 North Carolina adults by Duke University researchers found that those who attend religious services at least once a week have healthier immune systems than those who do not.
According to a report in the Charlotte Observer, October 21, 1997, the study measured blood samples for levels of interluken 6 and other substances that regulate immune and inflammatory responses. Researchers found that that those attending services were half as likely to have elevated levels of IL6.
Double Murder
A California abortionist has been charged with murder after puncturing the uterus of seventeen-year-old Sharon Hamption while performing an abortion. Bruce Steir ignored a nurse's warning that the woman needed medical attention and sent her home with her mother on over a two-hour drive. He allegedly left quickly after the abortion, complaining that he was late for a flight, even though Hampton was vomiting blood and in unstable condition.
Hampton died while riding home with her mother and three-year-old son.
In spite of Steir's extensive record of disciplinary actions related to abortion-related cases, and regardless of this alleged murder in which the district attorney claims Steir knew he had perforated the woman's uterus, he still receives pro-abortionist support. Shauna Heckert, executive director of the Feminist Women's Health Centers in several California cities, referred to Steir as "a wonderful doctor" who "is very dedicated … to helping women in their hour of need."
Citizen Issues Alert, November 5, 1997
Caring for Babies
About 60 percent of all children under age three are regularly cared for by someone other than a parent. Percentage of children with non-parent caregivers:
• Birth to 8 months – 48%
• 9 to 18 months – 59%
• 19 to 36 months – 66%
USA TODAY
Same-sex Marriages in Holland
A report by a committee of the Dutch parliament has voiced its support for same-sex marriages and adoption by gay couples.
"The majority of the committee believes that same-sex couples can only be afforded equal treatment if they are allowed to enter into civil marriage," the committee said in a report issued in October.
"These members do not view the new type of marriage as a break with tradition: after all, marriage has always been a flexible institution which has kept pace with social change," the report said.
Religion News Service
