* TOP HOMOSEXUAL ORGANIZATION COMES CLEAN: "HIV IS A GAY DISEASE." - In a public statement last Friday, Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, rattled the homosexual activist community by joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pro-family organizations and a growing number of homosexual activists willing to admit that homosexual behavior is both extremely high-risk and primarily responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Addressing the topic of AIDS, Foreman drastically deviated from the "gay" lobby’s party line by admitting, "Internally, when these numbers come out, the ‘established’ gay community seems to have a collective shrug as if this isn’t our problem. Folks, with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi-sexual, we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that."

A little over a year ago, Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Gay and Lesbian Center, similarly shocked the "gay" community by stating that, "HIV is a Gay Disease. Own it. End it."

Foreman’s admission comes on the heels of a letter from Matt Barber, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Policy Director for Cultural Issues, inviting Foreman and other homosexual activists to work together in discouraging homosexuals from engaging in the high-risk behaviors that researchers recently determined are responsible for the epidemic spread of a potentially deadly strain of staph infection among certain segments of the "gay" community. The CDC has acknowledged that many of those same high-risk behaviors, such as male-male anal sex, are chiefly responsible for spreading HIV/AIDS.

Matt Barber addressed Foreman’s admission: "It’s extremely encouraging to see Matt Foreman, a homosexual activist who has for so long been in denial about the dangers of the lifestyle he has promoted, publicly coming to terms with the undeniable perils of that lifestyle."

"I only hope he will now stop promoting homosexual conduct and push for other liberal elites, especially those running our public schools, to do the same. Educators must truthfully address the ‘gay’ lifestyle’s potentially deadly consequences."

"It’s criminally reckless for the National Education Association and liberal educators to put political correctness and a deceptive political agenda above the lives, health and well-being of America’s children. The evidence is there for all to see. ‘Gayness’ is not about ‘who you are,’ it’s about ‘what you do.’ The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has now, in effect, acknowledged that reality. Their honesty is refreshing and unexpected," concluded Barber.
(Concerned Women For America, 14 Feb 2008) (to index)

* AMERICANS CHANGE FAITHS AT RISING RATE, REPORT FINDS - More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, according to a new survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The report, titled "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," depicts a highly fluid and diverse national religious life. If shifts among Protestant denominations are included, then it appears that 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations.

The report shows, for example, that every religion is losing and gaining members, but that the Roman Catholic Church "has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes." The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. More than 16 percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country's fourth largest "religious group."

Detailing the nature of religious affiliation — who has the numbers, the education, the money — signals who could hold sway over the country's political and cultural life, said John Green, an author of the report who is a senior fellow on religion and American politics at Pew.

Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University, echoed that view. "Religion is the single most important factor that drives American belief attitudes and behaviours," said Mr. Lindsay, who had read the Pew report. "It is a powerful indicator of where America will end up on politics, culture, family life. If you want to understand America, you have to understand religion in America."

The rise of the unaffiliated does not mean that Americans are becoming less religious, however. Contrary to assumptions that most of the unaffiliated are atheists or agnostics, most described their religion "as nothing in particular". Pew researchers said that later projects would delve more deeply into the beliefs and practices of the unaffiliated and would try to determine if they remain so as they age.

While the unaffiliated have been growing, Protestantism has been declining, the survey found. In the 1970s, Protestants accounted for about two-thirds of the population. The Pew survey found they now make up about 51 percent. Evangelical Christians account for a slim majority of Protestants, and those who leave one evangelical denomination usually move to another, rather than to mainline churches.

To Prof. Stephen Prothero, large numbers of Americans leaving organized religion and large numbers still embracing the fervor of evangelical Christianity point to the same desires.

"The trend is toward more personal religion, and evangelicals offer that," said Mr. Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, who explained that evangelical churches tailor many of their activities for youth. "Those losing out are offering impersonal religion and those winning are offering a smaller scale: mega-churches succeed not because they are mega but because they have smaller ministries inside."
(New York Times, 25 Feb 2008) (to index)

* CHINA ARRESTS DOZENS OF CHRISTIANS, INCLUDING CHILDREN - A group of 70 Christians remained detained Tuesday, March 4, in China’s Henan Province, some two weeks after security forces raided a Bible training meeting, while some three children in Xinjiang Province were also arrested for their involvement in Christian activities, fellow believers said.

Hundreds of believers attended the gathering in Henan’s Shangqiu City on February 12, when over 20 policemen attacked the meeting, said US-based advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA).

The group added that some 80 believers were taken away in over 10 police cars. While 10 Christians were later released, the others remain behind bars on charges of "using a cult to violate law enforcement," the group explained. There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials.

"Twenty of them are detained in a detention center, while 50 are held in prison, including 39 women, and 11 men," the group said. CAA claimed that police also confiscated blankets, food, air conditioners and furniture from the home of Xue Weimin, where the Bible meeting took place.

Elsewhere in China, police in Huocheng County of Xinjiang Province re-arrested three minors, just days after detaining them for their involvement in Christian activities. They will serve 15 days in a Xinyuan detention center, CAA said.

Their names were not immediately released.

The latest incidents have been linked by human rights groups to a wider crackdown on especially evangelical Christians and house churches ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games later this year. Chinese officials have reportedly expressed concerns that Christians will use the event to spread Christianity or to draw world attention for religious rights issues.
(Worthy News, 5 Mar 2008) (to index)