[1]
Healthy Sex Education
An editorial in the October issue of the Postgraduate Medical Association of the British Medical Association indicates that the effectiveness of sex education has been dangerously exaggerated by the media. Professor Trevor Stammers of St. George's Hospital Medical School in the UK suggests that enabling parents to be more involved in sex education is preferable to professionals taking over that role completely. Stammers notes that concentrating on preventing conception is treating a symptom rather than a cause. Studies indicate that much teenage sexual activity is part of a search for love and meaning, and may be a way of expressing anger or frustration, acting out, or a cry for attention. Stammers notes that deterrents of delayed first intercourse include high self-esteem, good performance and motivation in education, having a father at home, and sex-ed input from parents.
[2]Religious Freedom Infringement
A woman who was ordered to stop saying "Have a blessed day" at work has sued her company. Liz Anderson of USF Logistics in Indianapolis filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission Nov. 9. She has been with the company more than three years and was named office employee of the year in 1998, the Associated Press said. But in June her employers ordered her to stop telling coworkers to "Have a blessed day" or be fired. She agreed to stop, but now believes the order infringes on her religious freedom. "This was a religious practice of hers based on her Christianity," Kevin Betz, her attorney, said. Her employer must accommodate Anderson "so long as to do so is not an undue hardship to the business," he said.
Religion Today, November 11, 1999
Under Attack
Hindu zealots attacked Christians holding a prayer meeting in New Delhi, India. A mob of fifteen to forty people, including a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, destroyed Bibles and beat the Christians Nov. 13, the Associated Press said. "The mob, which may have had some BJP activists, disrupted the Bible-reading session and then attacked the gathering," district police commissioner Amod Kanth said. "All the injuries sustained in the attack are minor." Police arrested two of the attackers, who could face a seven-year sentence.
Religion Today, November 16, 1999
Burning the Midnight Oil
Dallas divorce lawyer Mike McCurley says that workaholism is one of the leading and most preventable causes of divorce in America. McCurley explains that devotion to work doesn't need to cause a marital divide, but couples are usually unequipped to break the patterns of negative behavior they learn over several years in a marriage.
McCurley, immediate past-president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, goes on to say that though men have historically been the offenders, he is starting to see more women workaholics coming through his office. He explains, " Once one member of the couple becomes frustrated, and it's usually the woman, she is so tired of her husband's workaholism that she doesn't have the energy or the inclination to save the marriage."
The key to preventing marital break-up due to workaholism: early intervention. McCurley concluded, "Even the first year of marriage isn't too soon to start recognizing and combating workaholic behavior. Everybody has to work late once in a while, but when those late nights become every night, and every weekend is spent in the office, it starts to erode a marriage."
Yahoo! Finance Business Wire, October 28, 1999
In the Beginning
About 45 percent of Americans believe that God created man "pretty much in his present form within the last 10,000 years," while 40 percent believe God guided the process of evolution during millions of years. Ten percent believe in Darwinist evolution without a divine plan.
Insight, May 10, 1999