CBS Rejects Gay Dating Site Ad During Super Bowl

After days of deliberation, CBS has elected not to air an ad from a gay dating site during next week's Super Bowl.

A rep for the network tells Pop Tarts that ManCrunch.com's "Playing for the Same Team," an ad featuring two men kissing, failed to meet CBS' broadcasting standards.

“CBS Standards and Practices has reviewed your proposed Super Bowl ad and concluded that the creative is not within the Network’s Broadcast Standards for Super Bowl Sunday,” the official rejection letter stated. “Moreover, our Sales Department has had difficulty verifying your organization’s credit status.”

The commercial shows two men excitedly watching the game, before their hands brush as they both reach into a bowl of chips. Seconds later, the two begin making out.

SLIDESHOW: Click here to see famous banned Super Bowl ads.

Executives from the site argue that CBS' decision has more to do with discrimination than it does with any credit status issue, as they offered to pay a cash advance to finance the ad.

“We are very disappointed that in 2010 such discrimination is happening especially given the fact that Focus on the Family is allowed to promote their way of life during the Super Bowl,” the rep said. “We're calling on every same-sex advocacy group to petition CBS and let them know this discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated.”

But a rep for CBS said they had no record of the cash advance offer.

"After reviewing the ad - which is entirely commercial in nature - our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot,” added the CBS spokesperson. “As always, we are open to working with the client on alternative submissions."

Link to watch the Banned Commercial

Click to read original article from Fox News

Rifqa Bary’s Parents Reject Resolution

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  Muslim parents of an Ohio girl who ran away from home claiming she feared harm for becoming a Christian have rejected a deal meant to resolve the conflict with counseling.
Mohamed and Aysha Bary of New Albany in suburban Columbus withdrew their consent in a court filing Thursday that alleges misrepresentation in the plan approved Jan. 19.
The Barys and their daughter, 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, had agreed she would stay in foster care and they would undergo counseling instead of going to trial to determine where the girl should live.
The Barys now allege that Franklin County Children Services are permitting Rifqa to communicate with a Florida pastor and his wife who helped her run away last summer.
A Florida law enforcement investigation conducted after the girl fled Ohio found no credible threats to the girl.

Click to read original article at Fox News

Christians in Egypt fear for their lives after converting from Islam

January 26, 2010 - 11:41 AM

| by: Dana Lewis

Egyptian Maher El-Gowhary and his 15 year old daughter Dina never pray twice at the same church, never stay longer than a month in any one apartment.  They are constantly under threat, always on the run because they converted to Christianity in a largely Muslim country.

Maher and Dina nervously agreed to meet us at a Church in Cairo. The priest at the Church said he feared problems from the Egyptian authorities and while he agreed to have us watch his Sunday mass, the Priest  declined to speak to us about what is happening in Egypt and to the El-Gowhary's.

They tell their story out of fear and desperation.  Born Muslims they chose to convert to the Christian Church after both claim they had religious visions.

Now Maher says "Muslims try to kill us,  and will kill us if they find us."

Several religious fatwas have been issued for "spilling his blood" after Maher asked an Egyptian Court to legally recognize his conversion, so he can one day be buried as a Christian and so his daughter won't be forced into a marriage by her Muslim mother.

The court ruled a legal conversion to Christianity would threaten public order.  His lawyer told us it's a dangerous double standard because in Egypt a Christian can convert to the Muslim faith in a week, but a Muslim cannot convert to the Christian faith.

Ten percent of Egypt is Christian, largely the Coptic Christians who increasingly say they face daunting discrimination and even death.

We had to hide our camera as we followed the El-Gowhary's because we were told if the authorities discovered we were preparing our story we would be arrested.

Religious tensions are running high in Egypt.

On January 6th, the Coptic Christmas eve, three Muslim men sprayed gunfire at a Church in Upper Egypt killing six Christians and wounding up to a dozen more.  Christians rioted the next day and the area is still closed to outsiders including the press.

Human rights activist Hussein Bahjet say's Egypt has the potential to become like Lebanon because of growing sectarian violence.

"Civil strife that could engulf the country" Bahjet says.

The U.S. State Department reports respect of religious freedom in Egypt is declining, Christians are denied Government jobs, Priests are threatened and harassed, Christians are increasingly attacks in what State describes as "a climate of impunity that encourages violence."

In some cases authorities turn a blind eye to attacks on Christians, in other cases there is evidence police sparked the attacks.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been largely silent about the problem, but this week he spoke out saying Egyptians must up-root "fanaticism and sectarianism, which threatens the unit of our nation."

Dina has written a letter to President Obama which has been published on Christian websites.  She has been pulled out of school. She has only a blue jean jacket to stay warm and little food to eat.  Her letter was a desperate plea.  "I wrote that we are a minority Christian Community treated very badly and I want to tell President Obama to tell the Egyptian Government to treat us well."

Click to read full article at

Fox News

Atheist Group Attacks Mother Teresa

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A prominent atheist organization in America is attacking Mother Teresa as unworthy of being honored with a memorial stamp, as the U.S. Postal Service has announced.

In fact, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is advocating that its constituents "vote with your pocketbook, and boycott these stamps."

The group also suggests, "If this choice of a polarizing Roman Catholic figurehead or the Post Office's flagrant violation of its own policy distresses you, let the Post Office know (by mail or e-mail) … Or make this the subject of an educational letter to the editor, or simply use this opportunity to enlighten friends and colleagues about the darker side of Mother Teresa's religious activism."

The Pacific Justice Institute, which engages in battles regularly on behalf of civil rights and the nation's Christian heritage, immediately launched its own campaign urging support for the stamp.

"We didn't want theirs to be the only letters," Matthew McReynolds, the organization's associate counsel, told WND.

"Just when you think the atheists and anti-religionists have run out of things to complain about, they attack Mother Teresa, one of the great role models of the last century," said PJI President Brad Dacus. "We are encouraging anyone who has been inspired by Mother Teresa to join us in writing letters of appreciation to the U.S. Postal Service to counter the ridiculous complaints they are receiving from the FFRF."

The Postal Service announced plans for the Mother Teresa stamp along with stamps honoring Katharine Hepburn, Negro Leagues Baseball and Cowboys of the Silver Screen.

The agency noted Mother Teresa "received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work."

"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years. Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations," the USPS announcement said.

The description continued:

Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje in what is now [Albania]. Drawn to the religious life as a young girl, she left her home at the age of 18 to serve as a Roman Catholic missionary in India. "By then I realized my vocation was towards the poor," she later said. "From then on, I have never had the least doubt of my decision." Having adopted the name of Sister Mary Teresa, she arrived in India in 1929 and underwent initial training in religious life at a convent in Darjeeling, north of Calcutta. Two years later, she took temporary vows as a nun before transferring to a convent in Calcutta. She became known as Mother Teresa in 1937, when she took her final vows.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said there's "plenty" wrong with the honor.

"It is against … postal regulations to 'honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs,'" the group said.

"Mother Teresa … is a bad fit to appear on a stamp based on other postal criteria. The fact that Pres. Clinton made her an honorary citizen in 1996 gets around one obvious objection, but criterion No. 6 also should have been a stumbling block: 'Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor fraternal, political, sectarian, or service/charitable organizations,'" said the foundation.

"The organization she ran and was inextricably identified with, Missionaries of Charity, was both sectarian (Roman Catholic) and a service/charitable organization," the group said.

"Here's another objection: Mother Teresa used almost every public occasion, including her acceptance speech for the Nobel prize, to promote Roman Catholic dogma, especially its antiabortion ideology," the group said. "Even during her Nobel acceptance, the nun delivered a gratuitous tirade against abortion."

The organization called Mother Teresa's address "a disturbing, befogged religious rant."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation had no such objections to the honor for Hepburn, a prominent atheist. In fact, the group said a better purchase option would be the stamp honoring Hepburn, who told the Ladies' Home Journal in 1991, "I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people."

Pacific Justice, however, noted organizations such as the Universal Society for Hinduism have called the Mother Teresa stamp an honor to all of India.

The Postal Service said the stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa painted by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs, Colo.

The agency said when the 1979 Nobel was awarded, she accepted it, "in the name of the poor, the hungry, the sick and the lonely." She convinced organizers to donate to the needy money normally used to fund an awards banquet.

"Well respected worldwide, she successfully urged many of the world's business and political leaders to give their time and resources to help those in need. President Ronald Reagan presented Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, the same year she began work on behalf of AIDS sufferers in the U.S. and other countries. In 1997, Congress awarded Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal for her 'outstanding and enduring contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities,'" the Postal Service recited.

She died in Calcutta in 1997 and is buried there.

Pacific Justice Institute said it has clashed with the FFRF before.

Click to read full article at

World Net Daily

Somali Extremist Group threatens to attack Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Al-Shabaab, a hard-line Somali rebel group that is on the U.S. government's terror watch list, has threatened to attack neighboring Kenya, according to an online audio recording.

On an Al-Shabaab Web site, men chant in Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya, saying, "We will reach Nairobi. When we arrive, we will hit until we kill." A taped message in Arabic follows, thought to be by Abu Zubeyr, Al-Shabaab's commander in Somalia. The speaker of the message threatens those he calls infidels, throughout the world.

It would not be the first threat by Al-Shabaab toward Kenya. Many analysts say Kenya is vulnerable to attack by the Islamic group, which is trying to overthrow the weak transitional government.

The threat follows heightened tensions between the Kenyan government and Somalis living in Kenya over the past month. Kenya recently rounded up and arrested several hundred Somali immigrants and refugees living in a mostly Somali neighborhood. And earlier this month, Muslim protesters clashed with police after Friday prayers, leading to one death and extensive property damage.

Muslim human-rights groups in Kenya have called for protests in support of cleric Abdulah Ibrahim el-Faisal, whom Kenya declared an unwanted person and deported earlier this month. The Jamaican-born Muslim cleric was previously jailed in Britain for inciting murder and racial hatred. But Kenya's efforts to deport him failed. He was then arrested on return to Kenya, further outraging some Muslim leaders.

Alfred Mutua, Kenya's government spokesman, has since said that el-Faisal has successfully been deported. However, the government has given mixed signals as to whether he has actually left.

Click to read original article from CNN.com

_____________________________________

JMC Ministries Response

written by Miranda Caverley

Kenya is very close to our hearts because we have friends who are missionaries working over there. Jim and Alice Vanderhoof have been missionaries to Kenya for over 20 years now.  They work with World Gospel Mission to reach out to the people of Kenya. There son Nate Vanderhoof is one of our bestfriends and also ministry partner. Please keep Jim and Alice in your prayers that the Lord continues to protect them and their ministry work in Kenya.

To Learn More about Jim and Alice Vanderhoof’s work in Kenya Click on the Link Below

Jim and Alice Vanderhoof

at World Gospel Mission.com

Haiti orphanages being targeted for theft as people struggle to survive in the aftermath of quake

(CNN) -- Haiti's orphanages have become targets for people desperate for food, water and medical supplies in the aftermath of the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

On Wednesday night, Maison de Lumiere, an orphanage caring for 50 orphans, came under attack from a group of 20 armed men, aid workers told the Joint Council on International Children's Services.

A neighboring orphanage sheltering about 135 children has been robbed several times over the past few days, they said.

Meanwhile, aid workers said a third orphanage caring for 17 orphans reported that townspeople are trespassing and tapping into the water supply that is reserved for the children.

"It was calm at first, but the situation is getting more desperate," said David Beck, pastor at Child Hope International, the nonprofit that oversees Maison de Lumiere. No shots were fired in the attack on the orphanage, and security guards were able to drive off the marauders, he said. But one orphanage worker was hit in the head with a rock, he said.

"If people think you have food, then they will come after it," Beck said. The orphanage is rationing what food and water it does have, he said.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, and experienced high rates of poverty and disease even before the quake. The quake has made the situation far more desperate.

Looting is becoming a big concern for the orphanages as fear and frustration mount and help is slow to arrive, said Tom DiFilipo of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, a U.S.-based advocacy group for children in need of families.

To protect the children, some orphanages are on lock-down, according to volunteers working with the relief agencies.

"When bringing in supplies to an orphanage, you can only bring in a day or two day's worth," said DiFilipo. "If you bring more than that, the locals come in."

This week's raids are included on a growing list of difficulties facing orphanages that is being compiled by the Joint Council on International Children's Services. DiFilipo said he expects the challenges of food, medical aid and security to continue affecting the orphanages for weeks.

For every Haitian orphan brought to safety in the United States and elsewhere, thousands more are left behind to face the primitive conditions resulting from last week's earthquake. There is no accurate count of how many orphanages have experienced looting and other attacks.

Since the quake, the Joint Council on International Children's Services has received dozens of phone calls, text messages and e-mails from orphanages reporting problems ranging from food shortages to security threats.

The agency is in touch with about 50 orphanages in Haiti and the reports are updated daily. The group is also working with members of Congress, the Red Cross and other aid agencies to relay the messages.

Before the quake, Haiti had 380,000 orphans, according to UNICEF. It is still too early to determine how many children were orphaned by the quake.

The people of Haiti have grown desperate for food, water and assistance since the quake decimated the capital last week, toppling buildings, cutting power, contaminating water supplies and ravaging roads.

The conditions for children in Haiti are bleak, aid officials said. Orphans are sleeping outside or in makeshift tents. Facilities are running low on food, water and medical supplies. Some orphanages have already reported deaths.

Click to read full article at CNN.com

TV and Video Games linked to Children Getting Rickets in the UK

AP

Studies show the incidence of rickets, a disease previously linked with poverty or malnutrition, is increasing -- and may be due to computer gaming and TV.

The hours children spend indoors playing computer games or watching television may be to blame for a resurgence of rickets, The Times of London revealed Friday.

Scientists say that rickets is becoming "disturbingly common" among British children. The disease is caused by chronic vitamin D deficiencies, which can be triggered by long periods out of natural sunlight and a poor diet.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, Professor Simon Pearce and Dr. Tim Cheetham, of Newcastle University, called for milk and other food products to be supplemented with vitamin D in an attempt to counteract the problem.

Vitamin D is produced naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight, and is also found in a small number of foods, including oily fish, liver and egg yolks.

Recent studies show that the incidence of rickets, a disease previously linked with poverty in Victorian Britain or malnutrition in the developing world, is increasing. More than 20 new cases are discovered every year in the northern England city of Newcastle alone.

Children with rickets do not grow properly and can develop bow legs.

Dr. Cheetham, a senior lecturer in pediatric endocrinology, added: "I am dismayed by the increasing numbers of children we are treating with this entirely preventable condition. Fifty years ago many children would have been given regular doses of cod liver oil, but this practice has all but died out."

For more on this story, see The Times of London.

Local Ohio Missionaries to Haiti Hit hard by Earthquake

Patti Cunningham, of Portsmouth, and her adopted son, Jude, watch the devastation in Jude’s home country of Haiti unfold Friday on CNN. Jude was in Portsmouth for his adoptive father’s funeral when the massive earthquake hit.

posted January 17, 2010

Jude Isaac watched on CNN, along with the rest of the world, as his home in Haiti fell apart following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Port-au-Prince Tuesday. If he hadn’t been in Portsmouth for his adoptive father’s funeral, he too may have been buried by the quake that has already killed an estimated 50,000 people.
Jude, 21, was born in Haiti. His mother died when he was very young and his father couldn’t care for him. He was living on the streets, alone, when he was 8 years old, eating whatever he could catch or find.
“When I was on the streets, I started praying that I would find new parents,” Jude said.
He said God answered his prayers when Patti and Randy Cunningham, of Portsmouth, found him in 1997.
“My church group at the time, Christ Community Church — we were going on a short-term mission trip to build a church and I was asked to go on it. I talked my whole family into going,” Patti Cunningham said.
With her was her husband, and their children, Jared and Lindsey, along with a foreign exchange student living with them from Germany. The family was in Haiti from Dec. 26, 1997, until Jan. 3, 1998. They were so taken by the country, the family raised money and in July 1998, they went back and established duel residency between the U.S. and Haiti. While there, they helped start a medical clinic, feeding programs, and have created six churches — each with a primary school.
“Starvation is the second highest killer in Haiti right now; right behind waterborne diseases,” Patti said.
Since their first visit, Randy has spent more and more time in Haiti, with Jude, while Patti stayed in Portsmouth, visiting occasionally.
“(Randy) was afraid, because of the dangers. He had been shot at three times, and had been robbed at gunpoint once. So he was afraid for me to be there,” she said. “The crime rate has gone up. When we first went over there, there was never robberies or anything like that against Americans. Now there’s kidnapping and stuff like that, and it’s desperation.”
The Cunninghams didn’t know Jude was homeless, and he didn’t come to live with the family until he was 10 years old. The adoption process in Haiti is long and tedious. Patti said their paperwork had been destroyed or lost three times, and corruption slows the process even further. There are always people standing outside offices waiting to be bribed to go inside and push paperwork through the system — and sometimes they’ll just take the money and disappear, Jude said.
“Everybody there does what they need to do, because when other people are having different problems than you, you’re really not going to find anyone there to help you with your problems when they got their own problems to care about. Nothing ever changes, and if there is a change it probably gets worse,” he said.
The adoption took so long, in fact, that they still had not completed it by the time Jude was 16, and at that age, he was removed from the program.
Randy passed away in Haiti on Dec. 29, hours after returning from Portsmouth where he and Jude spent Christmas with their family. Jude was issued a six-month visa to visit the U.S. for his father’s funeral in Portsmouth, and he was with Patti when they heard news of the earthquake Tuesday evening.
“Someone called me and told me there was an earthquake, and I turned on CNN and ...,” Patti paused to fight back her tears. “It was just devastating. A lot of people had nothing before, but now they don’t even have hope because businesses are gone and that means jobs are gone. There’s already a shortage of food and water and it’s only going to get worse because the big water companies were in Port-au-Prince, so the water is going to be contaminated.”
Though he lived with Randy in Montrouis, about 90 minutes from Port-au-Prince where the quake hit, Jude said he and Randy probably would have been in town that day for their feeding programs. He said he’s glad he avoided the disaster, but still worries about friends left behind.
“They live more out on the coast, but sometimes they go into town to get stuff done, and I couldn’t get a hold of them to see if they’re OK. I haven’t been able to get through because all the phone companies are down and no electric,” he said. “I have a feeling that they’re fine because they live out on the coast, but the thought of not being able to get a hold of them and hear what is going on, or know that people are OK (scares me).”
Patti said the best thing anyone can do now is to donate to one of the many relief programs available. The American Red Cross has programs available, and more information about donations and private offers of assistance can also be found on the U.S. State Department’s Web site, at http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/earthquake/index.htm.
“Today, our thoughts and prayers remain with everyone in Haiti, as well as the family and friends of Haitians here in the United States who may be in search of loved ones or grieving a loss,” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Friday. “We know that many Ohioans are looking for ways they can financially assist with the relief efforts in Haiti. We are encouraging Ohioans to donate what they can afford to help the families who are struggling and without essential needs as a result of this catastrophe. The compassion and charity of Ohioans can go a long way toward helping Haitians who may be left with next to nothing.”
Indeed, that compassion can go a long way; and every penny counts.
The average family income in Haiti is 3,200 Haitian dollars a year. That’s equal to only about 400 U.S. dollars, Patti said. Sending only $20 to Haitian relief programs is like sending 5 percent of the average income in Haiti. Sometimes we think $20 isn’t enough to make a difference, but imagine how much it might help you if, during a crisis, someone handed you 5-percent of your annual income.
Patti said she was happy to see such a global response to the disaster, but her biggest concern is that the hype will settle in a few months and assistance will dry up while Haiti still needs it. She remembers the way Haiti was quickly forgotten after one of the major hurricanes that have struck the area almost yearly.
“The (President Bill) Clinton Administration, they helped more than anybody I’ve ever seen. Haiti got a lot of help from the U.S., but it seems like the country doesn’t change,” Patti said.
Thursday, President Barack Obama committed $100 million toward Haitian relief efforts. The World Bank also issued $100 million, and Britain sent $10 million. Patti said she hopes the money can be used to help rebuild infrastructure for safer buildings, electricity and clean water.
“This is a turning point. That’s what we’re all praying for,” she said.

Click to read original article from the
Portsmouth Daily Times

____________________________________

JMC Ministries Response

written by Miranda Caverley

This article was posted on January 17, 2010 and we just today were given a copy of the that days paper with this article in it by Martha Berell.  She is a  good friend and fellow ministry partner of Patti Cunningham . Martha gave us one of the few copies of the paper she had left and told us that the article was also posted online. 

If you follow JMC Ministries you will know that we are close friends to the Cunningham family and Randy’s death really hit us hard.  We are always sharing about Patti and Randy’s ministry that they not only do in Haiti but also Jamaica and Uganda. The devastation in Haiti really hit us hard because just 7 days before the earthquake hit their soon Jude was able to come to the U.S for Randy’s funeral and like the article said Jude may have been injured or even killed in the quake had he not been able to the emergency VISA to come to the U.S.

To learn more about Patti and Randy’s ministry visit Kingdom Builders International Myspace pager at

http://www.myspace.com/kingdom_builders_intl

To the entire Cunningham Family you are in our thoughts and prayers.  We thank you for the work you do to reach out to those in need in Haiti, Jamaica and Uganda

 

How The U.S. Coast Guard is helping in Haiti

JMC Ministries Response

written by Miranda Caverley

As the wife of a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard not many people know all the Coast Guard does to not only keep America Safe, but also how they give relief and help during disasters. During Hurricane Katrina the Coast Guard played a huge role in rescuing people who were trapped on the roofs of homes and also delivering Aid.

Please remember our military personnel  as they continue to help the people of Haiti.

Harrison Ford Talks About the Decline of Good Hollywood Roles

The Hollywood mega-star says if you want a quality role these days, you have to go out and make the movie yourself.

Veteran actor Harrison Ford has only made a handful of movies over the last few years, and it's not because he no longer loves acting – it’s just that according to him – Hollywood isn't producing any quality material.

“I grew up in a system where the studios spent a lot of money on the development of stories and ideas and bought books and they really developed the scripts. That doesn’t happen anymore,” Ford told Tarts. “Now, if you want good material you have to develop it for yourself or have a hand in the process. I have been determined to do that over the past few years.”

Ford took matters into his own hands by signing on as executive producer for the new fact-based drama “Extraordinary Measures,”  where he plays an unconventional scientist that sets out to develop a cure for Pompe disease alongside John and Aileen Crowley (Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell), whose young children are inflicted with the rare degenerative disorder.

“I was looking to develop material for myself,” Ford added. “I saw an opportunity to tell a very positive human story and the opportunity to craft for myself a part different to what I’ve normally done and a different genre.”

However the 67-year-old “Indiana Jones” star certainly isn’t the first to be dismayed by the caliber of Hollywood roles these days. In fact, it seems to be quite a hot topic, among both male and female actors.

“Where are the roles for the female experience from that (strong, admirable) point of view for the young college girls, mothers and grandmothers? A lot of actresses I speak to find the same thing,” actress Jessica Biel recently told us. “We're all scrambling for it when something good comes out that actually has a good female character.”

Click to read original article at Fox News

___________________________________

JMC Ministries Response

written by Miranda Caverley

For years now and even decades we have seen the decline in good wholesome family films.  Many movies even some PG rated ones have started to have risqué’ subjects and material in their films.  What was rated R  back in the 80’s and even 90’s is now considered PG-13 today which means teenagers are seeing more and more sex, violence, drugs and practically anything that is immoral. 

The fact that actors are now complaining that there are no good roles anymore is quite over do.  Harrison Ford is right that if you want a good movie/role you have to make it yourself.  That is why so many independent films, directors, producers etc. are popping up all over the place. Take the movie Fireproof for example That was made by a Church. A church people! Because they wanted to make films that were good family films with a message.  Hollywood use to make movies like that back in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s. 

But now there are hardly any.  I will say there are still some but like Jessica Beil said in the article.  There are so little good roles out there that when one comes available everyone is jumping on it.  When is directors, producers, and the movie companies going to realize people are getting tired and want change! 

We need more people like the Church that produced Fireproof to rise up and say no more! That they want to see good wholesome family films again that bring families back together not tear them apart.

Churches in UK to watch 3 minute warning video about the Equality Bill this Sunday

MEDIA ADVISORY, Jan. 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- Churches across the UK will interrupt their worship this Sunday to watch a three- minute warning video about the Equality Bill, which is due to be voted on in the House of Commons the following day.
Christian Concern for our Nation believes the Bill is the biggest state intervention into people's private expression of their faith since the Reformation.
Director Andrea Minichiello-Williams will tell Christians that if the Bill goes through, their church could not advertise for a "Christian youth worker", but just a "youth worker". The role of worship leader, often pivotal in any church, could no longer be restricted to Christians.
Andrea Minichiello Williams commented, "Christians and Churches across this nation need to be aware that this Bill has enormous implications for their day- to-day functioning. If it is passed in its present form, the Equality Bill will result in churches and Christian organisations having to recruit people to key positions who are unsympathetic to the need to reflect Christ and to worship Him through their work. That will in turn affect the way in which Jesus Christ is perceived by those served by the Church and its ministries."
The video can be watched on YouTube and the Christian Concern for our Nation website. Christians will also be urged to sign David Skinner's anti-Equality Bill petition on the No 10 Downing St website, which again can be accessed via www.ccfon.org.

Click to read original article at Christian News Wire

6.1 After Shock Hits Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- A strong aftershock rocked Haiti on Wednesday morning just as much-needed medical aid was set to reach the earthquake-ravaged nation.

The 6.1-magnitude aftershock was about 6.2 miles deep, with an epicenter about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It rattled people struggling to recover from the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that walloped the impoverished country January 12, killing at least 72,000 people.

Such a strong tremor can pose significant danger in a nation where damaged buildings are teetering precariously. The aftershock was the strongest to hit Haiti since last week's original quake, the USGS said.

The largest aftershock before Wednesday was magnitude 5.9, the agency said.

Click to read Full Article at CNN.com

Rifqa Bary To Stay in Foster Care until her 18th Birthday

JMC Ministries Response

Written by Miranda Caverley

This has been a story we here at JMC Ministries has been following since day 1.  We have even included it into our JMC LIVE Show.  Because this hits home to us. Rifqa lives just 1 hour away from us.  She has been in our prayers since this ordeal has begun. We are so happy to see that she will stay in Foster Care until she is an adult. 

We know what she claims that she will be killed is true.  Because we have heard many testimonies of Muslims who after converting to Christianity or any other religion for that matter. Were forced to flee from their family and sometimes even go into hiding to keep from being murdered.

Solar Powered Audio Bibles Head to Haiti to give Hope to those suffering from the Devastation

Posted January 18, 2010

Faith Comes By Hearing, the world's foremost Audio Bible ministry, is responding to this crisis by providing faith, hope and love through God's Word in audio.

"We already have 600 Proclaimers on their way through our ministry partner, Convoy of Hope," said Jon Wilke, the ministry's spokesperson. "These portable, solar-powered Audio Bibles will be given to local pastors so people can hear God's Word in their own language--Haitian Creole."

"There is an immediate need for 3,000 Proclaimers. We want to equip those short-term groups, disaster relief teams, church teams and ministries with the Word of God in a format people can use," he said.

Right now, Haitians are afraid to go inside whatever is left of their homes. They are fearful of aftershocks or further collapse. Masses of people are sitting outside, on the curbs and under homemade shelters. Peoples' houses are crumbled, their families are shattered and they are living in ruins.

"Haitians will need that long-term hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy," said Wilke.

Churches can get involved by providing funding for more Proclaimers or by incorporating these Audio Bibles into their short-term trips. Learn more at www.FaithComesByHearing.com or by calling 800-545-6552.

"Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and for those who are mobilizing to meet the tremendous needs that are impacting thousands of people," Wilke said.

Click To Read Full Article from

Christian News Wire

Abortion Clinic in Ohio Closes It’s Doors For Good

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Jan. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- After 34 years in the abortion business, the Mahoning Women's Center in Youngstown, Ohio, permanently closed its doors on January 12, 2010. The owner has retired and the building will be sold. The closure leaves the community of Youngstown abortion-free.

"This is such great news for the people of Ohio and all Americans. It means that lives will be saved," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "We know from experience that when abortion clinics close, many women who would otherwise have opted for abortion will instead happily keep their babies or release them for adoption."
The closure follows a well-documented national trend. In 1991, there were nearly 2,200 abortion clinics, but today there are 712. Since 1991 over two-thirds of all abortion clinics have permanently closed. That trend reflects the shifting attitude of Americans toward the pro-life position.
Operation Rescue documented this trend in Project Daniel 5:25, which lists the remaining abortion clinics and encourages pro-life supporters to maintain a presence outside each one.
"This week, we mark the 37th memorial of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion and we mourn for the 50 million babies that were the cruel victims of that decision. Yet, at the same time, we rejoice that abortion clinics are closing at an unprecedented rate and that an increasing number of Americans are rejecting abortion in favor of embracing and cherishing life. The foundations of Roe have crumbled, and the abortion industry is not far behind," said Newman.
To further speed the closure of abortion clinics, Operation Rescue is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of abortionists who are breaking the law.

Click to Read original Article at

Christian News Wire

Why Pornography Is Bad

Article Originally posted on December 2, 2009

Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council released on Wednesday a new study detailing the effects of pornography on marriages, children and individuals.

"This is a ground-breaking review of what pornography costs families trying to create a life together," said Dr. Pat Fagan, who authored the study and serves as FRC's senior fellow and director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion. "Men, women and sometimes even children are saturated by sexual content, and more significantly, are told that it has no real effect. It's just a little amusement."
But through the study, Fagan affirmed that "pornography corrodes the conscience, promotes distrust between husbands and wives and debases untold thousands of young women."
"It is not harmless escapism but relational and emotional poison," he commented.
Pornography was defined in the study as "a visual representation of sexuality which distorts an individual’s concept of the nature of conjugal relations."
The report showed that in families, pornography use leads to marital dissatisfaction, infidelity, separation and divorce.
Citing the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the report pointed out that 68 percent of divorce cases involved one party meeting a new paramour over the Internet, 56 percent involved "one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites," 47 percent involved "spending excessive time on the computer," and 33 percent involved spending excessive time in chat rooms.
Fagan commented, "The fact that marriage rates are dropping steadily is well known. But the impact of pornography use and its correlation to fractured families has been little discussed. The data show that as pornography sales increase, the marriage rate drops."
The FRC study revealed that among couples affected by one spouse's addiction, two-thirds experience a loss of interest in sexual intercourse; both spouses perceive pornography viewing as tantamount to infidelity; and pornography viewing leads to a loss of interest in good family relations.
Pornography use, Fagan says, is "a quiet family killer."
Men are more than six times as likely to view pornography as females and more likely to spend more time viewing it.
Men who habitually look at pornography have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexual behaviors, sexual aggression, promiscuity, and even rape. Moreover, men begin to view women and even children as "sex objects."
Additionally, addictive pornography use leads to lower self-esteem and a weakened ability to carry out a meaningful social and work life.
Among teens, those who watch pornography more frequently tend to be high sensation seekers, less satisfied with their lives, have a fast Internet connection, and have friends who are younger. Viewing such material at their age hinders the development of a healthy sexuality.
The study points out that with the growth of digital media and the Internet, social sanctions from parents, mentors and the community are operating in fewer and fewer quarters.
Fagan warns, "Habitual consumption of pornography can break down the relational substrates of human life and interaction – family, friends and society.
"As such, reinforcing these relationships is the surest guard against such destructive sexual tendencies."
The key to protecting against the effects of pornography, he says, is to foster relationships of affection and attachment, especially between the father and the mother and between parents and children. Deliberate parental monitoring of Internet use is an additional key defense. Fagan also calls on the government to "reassess its laissez-faire attitude towards the proliferation of pornography, especially on the Internet."
Family Research Council is a Christian organization dedicated to the promotion of marriage and family and the sanctity of human life in national policy.

Click to Read Full Article at The Christian Post

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JMC Ministries Response

Written by: Miranda and Jeremy Caverley

If people think there is nothing wrong with porn they are diluted.  Porn is as addictive as heroin at times.  If the person doesn't get their daily "fix" they can become aggressive and event violent.  This isn't just something I think or feel, but have actually witnessed personally.  Now this of course does not apply to all people and more than likely only represents a small percentage.  But, Porn is a problem for many people in the world.  Our society uses Sex in everything to try to get you to buy their "Stuff" Stuff they claim will make you have a better life and give you the thoughts that you can "get some" or "hook up" with someone if  you buy their product.  When did we lose our morale values America? How have we fallen so far to even support TV shows that promote Porn and Sexually promiscuity? We are in Porn Overdrive in America and much of the world today. Even many Christians have issues with Porn.  And many of them hide their addiction and try and cope with it on their own because as Christians we are suppose to be the image of Christ and purity.  But, Christians are also human and I think people today have forgotten that.  Many times when a professing Christian is caught doing something immoral or that involves porn we outcast them and shun them from the Christian Community.  However, that is NOT what Jesus said we are to do.  He said when a brother has fallen lift him up, love him and help him get back on his feet (paraphrasing of course).  If we as Christians practice what we preach and show the love of Christ to all I feel many more people would turn from the evils of immorality, Porn and all that this world tries to throw at us, and  come to know Christ as their personal Savior.  There are groups for people struggling with Alcohol, Nicotine, drugs.  But, I have not found alot churches that have groups to help their congregation with porn addiction.  It's like this dirty little secret we have to keep hidden under the rug.  When day after day, year after year.  Marriages and families are falling apart because of porn addiction.  This is a cry to you my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to rise up and help those struggling with Porn and other addictions.  Be a helping hand to them and help lift them up with the love of Christ out of the darkness and into the light!

--Written by Miranda Caverley 

Being a male that has fallen into the temptation of porn, I understand the feeling of not be able to share this problem with many people. The church as a whole is not well equipped to assist with this and when you do the only solution was to remove the internet all together. That was 15 yrs ago. Things have changed! Their are now software packages that you can use to block websites and send reports to an accountability partner and of course learning how to walk away. 


Walking away from the internet, porn shops, strip clubs, peep shows, etc seems to be the hardest for anyone that is tempted to lust and sin. I personally don't like calling it a "porn addiction" because sin is "common to man" and this isn't something new for humans. Nor is it something that can just be stopped by taking a class. The world has fooled people into thinking that we don't "sin" anymore and has started calling things an addiction! I will have to also admit that any sin could look like an addiction. For example "in medicine, an addiction is a chronic neurobiological disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following: the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction


This causes a person to believe that they will always be this way. No true hope but just treatment. Well Jesus didn't come to just treat us! Jesus came to give us life to help us live more abundantly! Jesus came so He could pay the full price of sin! Even porn can't stand the power of Jesus Christ! No one should ever think they are so trapped that Jesus can't help them! Jesus knows all the sins of the world past, present, and future, and none of these will stop Him from loving everyone and wanting a relationship with them! 


Yes, we as humans must do our part to confess to God our transgressions and ask for forgiveness and allow Jesus to be the Lord of our lives and come live in our hearts! That will never change! But for porn to continue to be a "struggle" I think not! It is we humans that place God in a box, or even at times we place ourselves in a box. Stating that we can't do this or that. Well that is partly true! We need Jesus to be in the center of our daily lives! Even when we are tempted! Yes to call on Jesus is a literal statement! 


--Written by Jeremy Caverley

Haiti hit by 4.5 aftershocks Today

Aid and assistance slowly made its way to Haitians left without basic necessities by this week's earthquake, though relief efforts were further complicated by aftershocks and the threat of looting.

A magnitude-4.5 aftershock shook the capital of Port-au-Prince shortly before noon Saturday, raising new fears of damage. Rescue crews continued to work to free people believed trapped under rubble, while others carried out the grim task of disposing of the countless dead.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed Saturday in Haiti to meet with President Rene Preval, and the U.S. is sending more food, water and relief supplies. But it wasn't clear when that and other aid will reach all those in need.

About 600,000 humanitarian daily rations — basic nutrition packages that provide 2,300 calories — were expected to be at Haiti's airport by Saturday evening, said Tim Callaghan, the White House adviser helping to oversee relief efforts in Haiti. The World Food Program plans to distribute the rations.

Callaghan told reporters on a conference call Saturday that water purification units arrived Friday night, and officials hope they will produce up to 300,000 liters of water. More water is coming from the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Denis McDonough of the National Security Council said 180 tons of relief supplies had arrived in Haiti, but he didn't know how much had been distributed or where it has gone. "We don't have a good breakdown," he said.

The aftershock Saturday morning, though strong, did not appear strong enough to cause much damage, U.S. geophysicist Paul Caruso said, though even a small quake could bring down buildings hurt by Tuesday's magnitude-7.0 quake.

The latest tremors come amid a report from the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince of increased lootings, carjackings and armed attacks, while police seem absent in the area.

 

Click to read full article at Fox News

Crisis In Haiti

As more videos and info come in about the Crisis in Haiti Eternal Flame News will share it.  To see more videos from CNN about Haiti go to http://www.cnn.com

If you would like to Help the people of Haiti you can go to http://www.salvationarmyusa.org to make a donation.

Christian Book Gives Teachers, Parents Fun, Inspiring Activities for Kids

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new book with audio CD by Carey Landry and Carol Jean Kinghorn-Landry is designed to bring music to life and get children moving. Now available from OCP, Hi God Gesture Book, Volume 2 clearly presents signs and gestures with photographs and detailed explanations--for familiar songs aimed at getting children excited about their faith.

"In the past few years, many people have asked us to prepare a second volume of gestures since they enjoyed the original Hi God Gesture Book and have found it so useful," said Landry. "We are so grateful for this response."

The audio CD included with the book offers engaging and fun songs like "I Know That God Loves Me" and "Peter and James and John" and quietly prayerful songs like "At the Center of My Heart," "I Believe in the Sun' and "Sing a Simple Song." The gestures, signs, mime and motions flow freely from the music and reflect not only the words but the piece's entire mood.

"In Hi God Gestures, Volume 2, we concentrated on our newer songs (from Hi God 4, 5 and 6)," said Kinghorn-Landry. "Our goal was to enable students to express themselves more fully by using their hands and feet as well as their voices. We hope the gestures we have created for the second volume will add a new dimension and sense of participation and joy as they sing these 14 songs."

Product details:

• Audio CD included (inside plastic pocket in the book)

• Two new songs ("Who Is This" and "We Receive the Lord") join 12 of the most popular selections from the Hi God series

• Gestures demonstrated by actual grade school students, not "professionals"

• Composer Notes offer a background on all of the songs

• Movements vary in level of difficulty, allowing you to adapt to the ages and abilities of your students

Hi God Gestures Book, Volume 2 provides teachers, catechists and parents with a variety of songs for different liturgical and catechetical occasions throughout the year. The songbook with CD ($28.00) is available at ocp.org/HiGodGestures2.

About OCP
OCP, a not-for-profit publisher of music and worship resources based in Portland, Oregon, has been in operation for more than 80 years. Worship materials produced by OCP are used in thousands of churches in the United States and are distributed worldwide. More information is available at 1-800-548-8749 and ocp.org.

Click to Read Article from Christian News Wire

One Womans Story of dealing with cold and poverty during these hard economic times

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JMC Ministries Response

written by Miranda Caverley

Sadly this is just one story of many who are suffering from the recession the U.S is in.  People living with no heat in their homes and nearly freezing to death. Apply for jobs everyday with nothing coming from it because they say if you have been out of work for 6 months or more you more than likely will NOT Get a job. If things don't turn around in America we will be in a depression. The news is already saying the economy hasn't been this bad since the very end of the Great Depression in the 1930's. 

While Our President is more worried about Health Care Reform people are starving and freezing in their own homes just to keep their homes and have a place to live, even if that place is as cold as an ice box. If Mr. Obama's healthcare reform goes through America still won't be able to afford it because most of the country will be getting Medical Cards and are unable to afford adequate health care anyway.  I think the President is so diluted that he only sees what he wants to see and doesn't really care about the people suffering in his own Country when we see people like this lady suffering and thousands and possibly millions of others just like her across the U.S. WAKE UP TO REALITY MR. PRESIDENT!!!!!!

Woman Who Helped Hide Anne Frank dies at the age of 100

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

 AP1998: Miep Gies displays a copy of her book 'Anne Frank Remembered' at her apartment in Amsterdam, Netherlands

AMSTERDAM  —  Miep Gies, the office secretary who defied the Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years and saved the teenager's diary, has died, the Anne Frank House museum said Tuesday. She was 100.
Gies died from a neck injury sustained in a fall at her home shortly before Christmas, museum spokeswoman Annemarie Bekker said.
Gies was the last of the few non-Jews who supplied food, books and good cheer to the secret annex behind the canal warehouse where Anne, her parents, sister and four other Jews hid for 25 months during World War II.
After the apartment was raided by the German police, Gies gathered up Anne's scattered notebooks and papers and locked them in a drawer for her return after the war. The diary, which Anne Frank was given on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life in hiding from June 12, 1942 until August 1, 1944.
Gies refused to read the papers, saying even a teenager's privacy was sacred. Later, she said if she had read them she would have had to burn them because they incriminated the "helpers."
Anne Frank died of typhus at age 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945, just two weeks before the camp was liberated. Gies gave the diary to Anne's father Otto, the only survivor, who published it in 1947.
After the diary was published, Gies tirelessly promoted causes of tolerance. She brushed aside the accolades for helping hide the Frank family as more than she deserved — as if, she said, she had tried to save all the Jews of occupied Holland.
"This is very unfair. So many others have done the same or even far more dangerous work," she wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press days before her 100th birthday last February.
"The Diary of Anne Frank" was the first popular book about the Holocaust, and has been read by millions of children and adults around the world in 70 languages.
For her courage, Gies was bestowed with the "Righteous Gentile" title by the Israeli Holocaust museum Yad Vashem. She has also been honored by the German Government, Dutch monarchy and educational institutions.
Nevertheless, Gies resisted being made a character study of heroism for the young.
"I don't want to be considered a hero," she said in a 1997 online chat with schoolchildren.
"Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary."
Born Hermine Santrouschitz on Feb. 15, 1909 in Vienna, Gies moved to Amsterdam when she was 11 to escape food shortages in Austria. She lived with a host family who gave her the nickname Miep.
In 1933, Gies took a job as an office assistant in the spice business of Otto Frank. After refusing to join a Nazi organization in 1941, she avoided deportation to Austria by marrying her Dutch boyfriend, Jan Gies.
As the Nazis ramped up their arrests and deportations of Dutch Jews, Otto Frank asked Gies in July 1942 to help hide his family in the annex above the company's canal-side warehouse on Prinsengracht 263 and to bring them food and supplies.
"I answered, 'Yes, of course.' It seemed perfectly natural to me. I could help these people. They were powerless, they didn't know where to turn," she said years later.
Jan and Miep Gies worked with four other employees in the firm to sustain the Franks and four other Jews sharing the annex. Jan secured extra food ration cards from the underground resistance. Miep cycled around the city, alternating grocers to ward off suspicions from this highly dangerous activity.
In her e-mail to the AP last February, Gies remembered her husband, who died in 1993, as one of Holland's unsung war heroes. "He was a resistance man who said nothing but did a lot. During the war he refused to say anything about his work, only that he might not come back one night. People like him existed in thousands but were never heard," she wrote.
Touched by Anne's precocious intelligence and loneliness, Miep also brought Anne books and newspapers while remembering everybody's birthdays and special days with gifts.
"It seems as if we are never far from Miep's thoughts," Anne wrote.
In her own book, "Anne Frank Remembered," Gies recalled being in the office when the German police, acting on a tip that historians have failed to trace, raided the hide-out in August 1944.
A policeman opened the door to the main office and pointed a revolver at the three employees, telling them to sit quietly. "Bep, we've had it," Gies whispered to Bep Voskuijl.
After the arrests, she went to the police station to offer a bribe for the Franks' release, but it was too late. On Aug. 8, they were sent to Westerbork, a concentration camp in eastern Holland from where they were later packed into cattle cars and deported to Auschwitz. A few months later, Anne and her sister Margot were transported to Bergen-Belsen.
Two of the helpers, Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman, were sent to labor camps, but survived the war.
Around 140,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands before the 1940-45 Nazi occupation. Of those, 107,000 were deported to Germany and only 5,200 survived. Some 24,000 Jews went into hiding, of which 8,000 were hunted down or turned in.
After the war, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam and lived with the Gies family until he remarried in 1952. Miep worked for him as he compiled the diary, then devoted herself to talking about the diary and answering piles of letters with questions from around the world.
After Otto Frank's death in 1980, Gies continued to campaign against Holocaust-deniers and to refute allegations that the diary was a forgery.
She suffered a stroke in 1997 which slightly affected her speech, but she remained generally in good health and mentally alert.
Her son Paul Gies said last year she was still receiving "a sizable amount of mail" which she handled with the help of a family friend. She spent her days at the apartment where she lived since 2000 in the northern town of Hoorn reading two daily newspapers and following television news and talk shows. She recently moved to a nursing facility, before the fall at her home.
Her husband died in 1993. She is survived by her son and three grandchildren.

Click to read story from Fox News

NY Cabdriver returns 21,000 dollars to a Woman visiting from Italy

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

PATCHOGUE, New York —  A New York City cab driver is being praised for returning over $21,000 lost by a visitor from Italy.
Felicia Lettieri, who's 72, left her purse in a Manhattan taxi on Christmas Eve. It contained traveling money for her and six relatives.
Police told them not to get their hopes up about finding it.
The cabbie drove about 50 miles to a Long Island address he'd found in the purse. No one was home, so he left his phone number, and later returned with the money.
Lettieri's daughter, Maria Rosaria Falonga, told Newsday from Pompei, Italy that the cabbie also left a note.
He told her: "Don't worry, Felicia. ... I'll keep it safe."
The driver, Mukul Asaduzzaman, could not be reached for comment.
He refused a reward.

Study shows that the youth of Today suffer from Mental Health Problems More than Ever Before

CHICAGO – A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era.
The findings, culled from responses to a popular psychological questionnaire used as far back as 1938, confirm what counselors on campuses nationwide have long suspected as more students struggle with the stresses of school and life in general.
"It's another piece of the puzzle — that yes, this does seem to be a problem, that there are more young people who report anxiety and depression," says Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychology professor and the study's lead author. "The next question is: What do we do about it?"
Though the study, released Monday, does not provide a definitive correlation, Twenge and mental health professionals speculate that a popular culture increasingly focused on the external — from wealth to looks and status — has contributed to the uptick in mental health issues.
Pulling together the data for the study was no small task. Led by Twenge, researchers at five universities analyzed the responses of 77,576 high school or college students who, from 1938 through 2007, took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI. The results will be published in a future issue of the Clinical Psychology Review.
Overall, an average of five times as many students in 2007 surpassed thresholds in one or more mental health categories, compared with those who did so in 1938. A few individual categories increased at an even greater rate — with six times as many scoring high in two areas:
• "hypomania," a measure of anxiety and unrealistic optimism (from 5 percent of students in 1938 to 31 percent in 2007)
• and depression (from 1 percent to 6 percent).
Twenge said the most current numbers may even be low given all the students taking antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, which help alleviate symptoms the survey asks about.
The study also showed increases in "psychopathic deviation," which is loosely related to psychopathic behavior in a much milder form and is defined as having trouble with authority and feeling as though the rules don't apply to you. The percentage of young people who scored high in that category increased from 5 percent in 1938 to 24 percent in 2007.
Twenge previously documented the influence of pop culture pressures on young people's mental health in her 2006 book "Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before." Several studies also have captured the growing interest in being rich, with 77 percent of those questioned for UCLA's 2008 national survey of college freshmen saying it was "essential" or "very important" to be financially well off.
Experts say such high expectations are a recipe for disappointment. Meanwhile, they also note some well-meaning but overprotective parents have left their children with few real-world coping skills, whether that means doing their own budget or confronting professors on their own.
"If you don't have these skills, then it's very normal to become anxious," says Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City who hopes the new study will be a wake-up call to those parents.
Students themselves point to everything from pressure to succeed — self-imposed and otherwise — to a fast-paced world that's only sped up by the technology they love so much.
Sarah Ann Slater, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Miami, says she feels pressure to be financially successful, even when she doesn't want to.
"The unrealistic feelings that are ingrained in us from a young age — that we need to have massive amounts of money to be considered a success — not only lead us to a higher likelihood of feeling inadequate, anxious or depressed, but also make us think that the only value in getting an education is to make a lot of money, which is the wrong way to look at it," says Slater, an international studies major who plans to go to graduate school overseas.

Click to read Full Article At Yahoo

Christians Facing More Persecution in Xinjiang China in 2010

XINJIANG, China, Jan. 10 /Christian Newswire/ -- With the turn of the new year, a wave of persecution has struck Han and Uyghur Christians alike in the ethnically and religiously charged Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
On December 25, 2009, farm leaders and police broke into the home of Wang Qiyue, a 71-year-old widow, disrupting the Christmas gathering and ransacking her home. These "People's Police" burned Ms. Wang's furniture, as she was thrown against a police car by the Korla Chief of Security, Yu Fagan. Six farm leaders next barged into the home of 69-year-old hemiplegic He Cuiying, and confiscated more than 30 Bibles and spiritual books. The leaders then burned the materials in a bonfire outside her home, as a means of public humiliation. Later, five elderly Christians were arrested with no cause and fined 5,000 Yuan each.
Read more about the persecution of the elderly Christians in Korla.
On January 7, 2010, Attorney Li Baiguang sent letters of appeal on behalf of Alimujiang Yimiti to the Xinjiang Provincial Government and Chinese Central Government. In the letters, he stated that, by law, the charge of "unlawfully providing state secrets to overseas organizations" and the sentence of 15-years imprisonment were illegal and should be withdrawn. He further requested an immediate review of the case.
Read more about Li Baiguang's Appeal on behalf of Alimujiang Yimiti.
At 5:00 PM the same day, Nong Wu Shi PSB officials in the Aksu region raided a house church, arresting 14 house church members. The military PSB detained the members for over 12 hours, on charges of participating in "illegal religious activities." The next morning, 11 were released, leaving house church leaders Yang Tianlu, He Sujin, and Sujin's son, He Guangyuan, in detention.
Read more about the raid and arrest of 14 Han Chinese house church Christians.
President of ChinaAid Bob Fu believes the Xinjiang government must acknowledge these horrible acts of persecution, and root out the seeds of corruption sown by local government officials violating Chinese law. ChinaAid urges the international community to continue praying for religious freedom in Xinjiang and throughout China.

Click To Read Full Article At Christian News Wire

Homeschool Freedoms Under Fire in U.S

PURCELLVILLE, Va., Jan. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week the New Hampshire House of Representatives plans to vote on whether to strictly regulate homeschooling. Opposition is mounting against the Democratic leadership who are using a legislative maneuver to override the recommendations of a bi-partisan legislative study committee who recently voted 14-6 that the proposed new homeschool law (House Bill 368) is "Inexpedient to Legislate (ITL)." 

 

Democratic Representative Barbara Shaw, a retired teacher with 45 years experience and author of the majority report recommending that H.B. 368 is Inexpedient to Legislate said, "After studying this issue for several years I've gotten to know homeschoolers, the law, and how the system works and I'm convinced that it is working fine – there are no changes needed. Some people have accused me of doing a 180 on homeschooling - and I would have to admit that's true. But that's because I've seen that homeschooling is working for children in our state and the current law is adequate."

 

Republican Minority Leader Sherman Packard said that his party supports no further changes in the state's homeschooling law. "We've always supported homeschoolers – we aggressively support ITL. Until the end of last week we weren't aware that there was a problem with this legislation since the majority report was ITL."

 

"Trying to sneak through massive changes in the New Hampshire homeschool law by manipulating the system is unacceptable. The Democratic leadership and the Chairman of the Education Committee know that if they allowed an open process the overwhelming majority would vote Inexpedient to Legislate," said HSLDA staff attorney Mike Donnelly.

 

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a 27-year-old, 85,000 member non-profit organization and the preeminent association advocating the legal right of parents to homeschool their children.           

 

click to read article at Christian News Wire

Church set on fire for using the word "Allah"

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —  A church was set on fire in Malaysia early Friday by unidentified attackers amid a growing conflict in the country over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims, officials said.
Only the first floor office of the Metro Tabernacle Church was destroyed in the blaze that started a little after midnight Thursday, said church spokesman Kevin Ang. The worship areas on the upper two floors were undamaged, and there were no injuries.
The church is located in a three-story building on a shopping street in Desa Melawati, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the main city of this Muslim-majority country.
The attack on the Protestant church comes days after the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck down a 3-year-old ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah" in their literature. The government has appealed against the court verdict, which allowed a Catholic publication to use the common word for God in the Malay language, and the High Court has suspended its decision from being enforced until the appeal is heard.
Muslims argue that "Allah" is exclusive to Islam, and its use by Christians would confuse Muslims and tempt them to convert to Christianity.


he court decision has resulted in a rash of angry comments and threats by Muslims on the Internet. Dozens of Muslim groups are planning a protest against the court decision on Friday after weekly prayers.
Friday's fire was the first time the controversy turned destructive.
District police chief Zakaria Pagan told the AP "we are still investigating" the fire and said he will issue a statement later.
Another church official quoted a witness as saying she saw three or four men on a motorcycle breaking the main glass front of the church and throw something inside, possibly a gasoline bomb. The account could not be independently confirmed.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 28 million people are Malay Muslims, while the rest are ethnic Chinese and Indians, who follow Christianity, Hinduism and other religions.
The High Court ruling was on a petition by the Herald, the main publication of Malaysia's Roman Catholic Church. It uses the word Allah in its Malay-language edition, which is read by indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak.
The tribespeople are Malay-speaking, so Catholic officials say "Allah" is the only word they know for God.

Click to read Article from Fox News

Atheist Rapist complains about sharing a cell with a man professing to be a Christian

AN atheist rapist has complained that his human rights were breached by having to share a prison cell with a Christian lag.

Barman Steven Relf, 40, was jailed indefinitely after admitting raping two women he targeted when he served them drinks in a pub.

Police branded him a "sexual predator" and said he could have had as many as 40 victims.

In a letter to an inmates' magazine, Relf wrote: "I recently had the displeasure of sharing a cell with a Bible-thumping believer."

A source said Relf was "furious" at having to share at Manchester Prison with the Christian convict and wanted him to be "evicted".

He said: "He moaned about how the guy wouldn't shut up about God. He said he wanted to speak to a lawyer about his rights so he could be moved cells."

The other inmate was later transferred.

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