* CWA SAYS STUDY DEBUNKING ABSTINENCE IS FLAWED -
A just-released report claims that abstinence programs are ineffective. Mathematica Policy
Research, Inc., is a Washington-based think tank that blatantly states that their research
is conducted in order to "support decisions" about "social policy
problems." Clearly, their report on abstinence programs is timed to affect funding.
Their findings are flawed and raise questions in two separate areas.
First, the findings about abstinence programs are based on a flawed
design. The Mathematica study targeted children who were in abstinence programs from ages
9-11. Those children were not evaluated until five years later. The targeted children were
too young to absorb the abstinence message, and there was no follow-up to the original
abstinence message. This basic flaw in the study design invalidates any findings in the
report.
Second, the real issue is the values that are taught in the
programs. Abstinence programs teach teens the value of abstaining from sex at least
through high school. Ninety percent of parents agree with this message. Abstinence
programs teach teens that sex should be reserved for marriage. Again, 90 percent of
parents support this message. Finally, abstinence programs teach teens that sex involves
commitment, love and intimacy; qualities most likely to be present within marriage.
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned
Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, stated, "The left sees no difference
between their message and ours, but there are major differences. Comprehensive sex
education is not values based. Yet, sex involves values - especially the values of
commitment, love and intimacy. If values are omitted, the teaching implies that casual
teen sex has no lasting consequences as long as the teens use a condom."
Crouse added, "Comprehensive sex education programs teach that
casual sex is 'no big deal.' That myth has caused sexually transmitted diseases to
skyrocket among the nation's teens. That myth has aided in making drugs for depression the
most prescribed medicine for teens. That myth has increased teen suicide as well as
alcohol and drug abuse. The consequences of casual sex have been disastrous for the
nation's teenagers. Only since the broader implementation of abstinence programs have we
seen a downturn in sexual activity, teen births and teen abortions. There are now 15
evaluations documenting the effectiveness of abstinence education. This new study by
Mathematica holds no water in the wake of the overwhelming evidence that abstinence
education produces positive results." (Concerned Women for America, 13 April 2007) (to index)
* IGNORANCE IS BLISS WHEN IT COMES TO MANY OPPONENTS
OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN - A student at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has provided
more evidence for why there needs to be events like the "Darwin v. Design"
conference on college campuses. In the campus newspaper, anthropology student Ben Wells
offers a jeremiad against the purported evils of Discovery Institute and intelligent
design. Unfortunately, his article is so incredibly off-base that all he ends up doing is
displaying his complete ignorance of the topic. The problem for many critics of
intelligent design is that they are so sure they are right, they don't bother to read the
people they are denouncing. As a result, they end up attacking a straw man rather than
refuting the actual claims made by ID proponents.
That is why one gets such comments as:
"... this [Discovery] Institute, which is on our campus, this
weekend does not seek to debate ideas in an academic, scientific or even rational
setting... The claims they make, claims based purely on religious or supernatural grounds,
can NOT be tested in the material world."
They allege that the Discovery Institute "does not seek to
debate ideas in an academic, scientific or even rational setting." That must be why
the Discovery Institute invited the biology, geological sciences, and anthropology
departments at the SMU to send representatives to share the platform and present their
objections to intelligent design. (They declined.)
As for the assertion that the claims made by ID proponents are
"based purely on religious or supernatural grounds": Michael Behe (a practicing
biochemist) devotes most of his book Darwin's Black Box to detailing the intricate
biochemical evidence of design; Jay Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez (the latter a
practicing astronomer) go into such detail about the cosmological data supporting design
in "The Privileged Planet"; and philosopher of science Stephen Meyer presents in
such detail the empirical evidence relating to the development of new genetic information
in his peer-reviewed biology journal article on "The Origin of Biological Information
and the Higher Taxonomic Categories." Observational evidence supplies one of the
foundations of the design inference in nature.
(EvolutionNews.org, April 2007) (to
index)
* JESUS TOMB FILM SCHOLARS BACKTRACK - Several
prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests
that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial
cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the
odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth, a
new study on the fallout from the popular documentary shows.
The dramatic clarifications, compiled by epigrapher Stephen Pfann of
the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem in a paper titled "Cracks in the
Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support," come
two months after the screening of The Lost Tomb of Christ that attracted widespread public
interest, despite the concomitant scholarly ridicule.
The film, made by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and
Emmy-winning Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, prompted major criticism from both a
leading Israeli archeologist involved in the original dig at the site as well as Christian
leaders, who were angered over the documentary's contradictions of main tenets of
Christianity.
But now, even some of the scholars who were interviewed for and
appeared in the film are questioning some of its basic claims.
The most startling change of opinion featured in the 16-page paper
is that of University of Toronto statistician Professor Andrey Feuerverger, who stated
those 600 to one odds in the film. Feuerverger now says that these referred to the
probability of a cluster of such names appearing together.
Israeli archeologists have said that the similarity of the names
found inscribed on the ossuaries in the cave to the members of Jesus's family was
coincidental, since many of those names were commonplace in the first century CE.
Shimon Gibson, who was part of the team that excavated the tomb two
and half decades ago and who appeared in the film, is quoted in Pfann's report as saying
he doubted the site was the tomb of Jesus and his family. (Jerusalem Post, 11 April 2007) (to index)
* POLAND PRO-LIFE LEADERSHIP RESPONDS TO EU COURT
FORCING RESTITUTION FOR DENIED ABORTION - A woman who had been denied an abortion in
Poland had sought and won damages against the Polish government in the European Court of
Human Rights.
The decision, say pro-life leaders, is another effort by European
ideologues to pressure Poland to admit to the existence of a "right" to
abortion.
Ewa Kowalewska, President of the Forum of Polish Women, called the
Court's decision, "the greatest legal curiosum in court history of the European
Council."
The court ordered the Polish government to pay 36-year-old Alicja
Tysiac the equivalent of $38,500 Can., upholding her claim that she had been discriminated
against by being refused an abortion by doctors and the Polish courts.
Kowalewska said the Court has effectively declared that
"refusal to kill a child breaches provisions of Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms." She called it "a precedent opening doors
to deem abortion as a 'human right'."
Tysiac claimed, and the Court upheld, that her visual condition was
exacerbated by the continuation of pregnancy. Doctors, however, while they declared her
"significantly disabled," concluded that her condition was not serious enough to
warrant the death of her unborn child.
Kowalewska said that the decision ignores Polish law and effectively
pits the Court of Human Rights against the right to life. In the Tysiac case, no medical
specialist, either gynaecologist, or oculist, qualified her state of health for abortion
under Polish law.
Poland allows abortion in cases where pregnancy is due to rape;
where there is a medical threat to the mother and for eugenic purposes in cases where the
child is "severely" disabled.
Tysiac later revealed the broader political motive for her suit at a
news conference in Warsaw where she said that abortion should be a woman's choice.
"Every woman should decide herself whether she wants to have
the baby or not and the government should not mix into that at all," Tysiac said.
Her suit claimed the existence of a "right to abortion,"
saying that Poland lacked a "procedural and regulatory framework…to enable a
pregnant woman to assert her right to a therapeutic abortion, thus rendering that right
ineffective."
Poland has been under heavy pressure from the European Union, the
United Nations and various NGO's to further loosen restrictions on abortion to bring the
strongly Catholic and pro-life country more in line with other secularized European
countries.
Kowalewska said, "We ask the European Court of Human Rights who
is going to assert the rights of the child of Alicja Tysiac, who survived only thanks to
the honesty of Polish physicians?"
(LifeSite, 21 March 2007) (to index)
* PERSECUTION ON THE INCREASE IN INDIA -
Persecution of Christians appears to be increasing in scope and intensity in India. During
one recent 24-hour period, Gospel for Asia correspondents reported three serious incidents
of persecution that clearly demonstrate the increased boldness of anti-Christian
extremists in the country.
"As the Nazis in Germany believed that the Jewish race must be
eradicated - which led to the brutal killing of 6 million innocent Jewish people, the
Hindu religion's extremists are determined to do all they can to hurt those who believe
and follow Christ," said GFA President K.P. Yohannan. "These minority extremists
don't represent India nor the sentiments of the Hindu majority of the land."
These extremists consistently accuse Christians of forcibly
converting people to Christianity. The extremists say that Christians use
"allurement" to convince people to receive Jesus as their Savior. This is often
the accusation when the conversion comes after a healing. However, in most cases, the
people come to the missionaries requesting prayer for healing.
The extremists are very concerned about the growing number of people
leaving the Hindu religion, which is viewed by many as the official religion of India.
Many people say that "to be Indian is to be Hindu." Leaders in the
anti-Christian movement contend they are simply maintaining a cohesive Indian society by
ensuring that Hinduism remains the country's chief religion.
No matter the reason, these recent reports of persecution are clear
indicators that preaching the Gospel and following Christ are dangerous propositions for
the people of India.
- On March 26, about 40 anti-Christian extremists attacked a group
of 15 students who live and study in a Gospel for Asia-related home Bible school in
Punjab, in northwest India. The 40 extremists, who are all reported to be teenagers, beat
up the students. Thirteen of the students fled to a nearby GFA-affiliated church, and two
ran back to their homes to escape the extremists.
- Gospel for Asia missionary Prakash Ramteki was attacked on March
18 as he walked home from a nearby village where he had been ministering to the people.
Prakesh's attackers accused him of forcibly converting the people to Christianity. He
sustained injuries to his head and hands, and was hospitalized following the attack.
The attackers also stole Prakesh's cell phone and Bible, and warned
him never to return to the village. Prakesh must return to that village because he pastors
a church there. Each week he conducts Sunday services, and stays in the village Monday to
conduct a Bible study and visit people in the area.
GFA leaders in that area ask for prayer specifically for Prakesh,
that he would recover from his injuries, and that God would provide all his needs and
bless his ministry abundantly.
"We cannot be silent nor ignore what is happening to our
brothers and sisters in the body of Christ in India," Yohannan said. "We must
pray and fast for God to intervene and bring about a heart change and give boldness to His
people to love and proclaim the Good News in the midst of persecution."
Gospel for Asia is a mission organization involved in evangelism and
church planting in Asia's unreached regions. Currently Gospel for Asia supports more than
16,000 church planters in 10 countries of South Asia. On average, these missionaries
establish approximately 10 fellowships every day among unreached villages and people
groups. Gospel for Asia is also committed to training native missionaries. The
organization's 54 Bible colleges are preparing nearly 9,000 students to become full-time
church planters. (ChristianNewsWire, 5 April 2007) (to index)
