World News
by Various News Sources

YOUNG PEOPLE LEAVING THE CHURCH

A new survey finds that protestant churches are losing young adults in "sobering" numbers.

Seven in ten Protestants ages 18 to 30- Both evangelical and mainline- who went to church regularly in high school said they quit when they quit attending by age 23, according to a survey by Lifeway Research. And 34 percent of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means one in four Protestant young people have left the church.

In the four years after high school, few of these surveyed had kind words for Christians when they reflected on how they saw church life. Just over half (51%) of Protestant young people surveyed both the half church dropouts and those who stayed on in church throughout their church after 22) saw church members as "caring" or had other positive descriptions, such as "welcoming" (48%) or "authentic". (42%)

Nearly all of the dropouts (97%) citied life changes, such as a move, for stopping their attendance. Most (58%) were unhappy with the people or pastor at church. More than half (52%) had religious, ethical or political reasons for quitting.

Dropouts were more than twice as likely as those who continued attending church to describe church members as judgmental (51% for dropouts, 24% for those who stayed), hypocritical (44% vs. 20%) or insincere (41% vs. 19%).

The good news is that 35 percent of dropouts said they had resumed attending church regularly by age 30, with an additional 30 percent attending sporadically. Twenty-eight percent said, "God was calling me to return tot the church." The survey found that those who stayed with or returned to church grew up with both parents committed to the church, pastors whose sermons who were relevant and engaging, and church members who invested in their spiritual development.






THAT'S A FAMILY

"That's a family" is a film that was produced in 2000 with an obvious agenda to indoctrinate kids with pro-homosexual propaganda. The movie celebrates diverse "families". It includes a child who boasts that having "two dads" is "really cool". Shockingly, the film is now being shown to third graders in many schools across the nation, possibly in one near you.

Some universities Offer Gay Studies

There are now more than a dozen – over 300 public and private- universities/ colleges in America that are offering full-fledged minors in gay studies. These disciplines are even offered at Ivy League institutions such as Yale, Cornell, and even DePaul University in Chicago, one of the nation's largest Catholic Schools. Students may choose from classes such as "Homophobia and Coming Out", Gay love in Literature", "Queer Art History" or even an anthropology course on Queerness and Advertising." John G. Younger, a University of Kansas professor who travels the country advising professors on how he has stopped counting the school that offers classes in lesbian literature or gay history.







COURT ORDERS S.C. SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PAY DAMAGES

A federal appeals court ordered a South Carolina school district to pay nearly $100, 000 in attorney's fees and other damages for discriminating against Child Evangelism Fellowship, which sponsors Good News Clubs in public Schools.

Anderson School district five waived a facilities fee for groups including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, local Democratic Party, and a host of other groups charged CEF. Officials claimed they waived the fee when it was "in the best interest of the district."

The appeals court ruled the district policy unconstitutional, saying the "government may not bar religious perspectives."






TV's "FAMILY HOUR" ANALYSIS

The parents Television council has issued its latest analysis of content concerns on broad cast television during the "family hour", the first 60 minutes of prime time programming. The results revealed an alarming increase in violence, sex, and of profanity during the time slot-far from family-friendly.

The first 60 minutes of prime-time in each time zone are supposed to be safe for family viewing. But the PTC found that since 2000, offensive content has risen 52 percent, with the Fox network leading the objectionable list with an average of 20.8 instances per hour. CW was the cleanest network on television, but still had nearly 10 instances of foul content per hour.

Melissa Henson of the PTC says the study found there was one instance of violent, profane, or sexual content every 4.8 minutes during family hour. "I guess it should come as a surprise to nobody who has been watching television that the family hour is no place for children," she told Family News in Focus.






GROUP WANTS CHIMP DECLARED A PERSON

A chimpanzee, Hazel, who likes pastry, painting and watching TV, would also be sable to receive donations and have the right to own property if an Austrian federal court overturns the ruling of a lower court. The Association against Animal
Factories, a Vienna animal-rights group, have asked the court to legally declare Hazel a "person", giving the 26-year-old male chimp the right to have a guardian and receive donations for a new home. Hazel, who was originally captured in Sierra Leone for use in pharmaceutical exponents, was intercepted by customs agents on the way to Austria, and has lived for the past 25 yrs in a shelter that recently went bankrupt.







SUICIDE RATES RISE

For all young people between ages 10 to 24, the suicide rate rose eight percent from 2003 to 2004- the biggest single bump in 15 years, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The age group that reported the most suicides were teen girls, aged 15-19, which shot up 32 percent. Overall, suicide was the third leading cause of death among young Americans in 2004, accounting for 4559 deaths. The study according to ABCnews.com, also noted a documented change in the suicide method. In 1990, guns accounted for more than half of all suicides among young females. By 2004, though, death by hanging and suffocation became the most common suicide method.






FATHERLESS HOUSHOLDS

More than 19 million children in the United States- about 25 percent of the total- live in households without a father, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus 2005 report. In the African American community, that figure rises to 56 percent. In Hispanic households, 31 percent are without a father. Among whites the figure is 22 percent, reports Reuters.

Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, says fatherless kids "are two or three times likely to use drugs, become teen parents, be connected with criminal justice system, to fail in school, or to live in poverty."






PLANNED PARENTHOOD REPORTS

An annual report from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America notes the nation's largest abortion business is doing more abortions than ever before. The PPFA affiliates did 264,943 abortions in 2005 alone, an increase of 3.9 percent over 2004. The report also said PPFA sold 1,245,506"emergency" birth control kits which is an increase of 26.6 percent more than in 2004.






WAL-MART TO SELL FAITH-BASED TOYS

Wal-Mart will begin selling a line of Bible-themed toys in over 400 of its stores next month. The toys from One2Believe will include figure based on Daniel in the lion's den, a 12 inch talking Jesus doll and a 14 inch Samson and Goliath action figures. "Our Goal is to give the faith based community an alternative to Bratz dolls and Spiderman," said David Socha, CEO of One 2Believe, which is a division of Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Company.







SURVEY OF THE UNCHURCHED

One out of every three adults (33%) is classified as unchurched- meaning they have not attended a religious service of any type during the past six months, according to a new survey released by The Barna Group.

Barna noted the following statistics of the unchurched in regards to population segments:

• Political liberals are more than twice (47%) as likely not to be churched as are political conservatives at 19 percent.
• African Americans were less likely to be unchurched (25%) than were whites (32%) or Hispanics (34%). Asians, however, doubled the national average: 63percent were unchurched.
• Single adults continued a historic pattern of being more likely than married adults to stay away from religious services (37% vs. 29% respectively).
• Within the Christian population residing in the U.S., evangelicals are the most reliable church goers.
• Just one percent of the evangelicals are unchurched.
• Born again Christians who are not evangelical also have good attendance record: only one out of every six (16%) are unchurched.