Week of January 9, 2006
Disaster relief training
Louisiana Baptist Convention leaders have scheduled
a disaster relief training session Feb. 3-4 at the Baptist Building in
Alexandria. The two-day meeting will feature breakout conferences and
training for persons wishing to serve on feeding, shower, chaplaincy
and chain saw units. The fee to attend the session will be $30, with an
additional $5 charged to persons wanting to complete chaplaincy
training. Accomodations can be obtained by calling (800) 256-4504. For
more information, call (800) 622-6549.
The nation’s two largest cable providers, as
promised, have announced the makeup of their “family-friendly”
programming tiers. Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator,
announced its new “family tier” package Dec. 22, selecting Disney
Channel, Nickelodeon, Nick Games & Sports, National Geographic,
Science Channel, Discovery Kids, PBS’ Kid’s Sprout, Food Network, HGTV,
DIY Network, CNN Headline News, The Weather Channel, C-SPAN, C-SPAN 2
and Trinity Broadcasting. Time Warner, the second-largest cable
company, announced earlier that its family tier would feature Disney
Channel, Toon Disney, Nick Games & Sports, Boomerang, Science
Channel, Discovery Kids, Food Network, HGTV, DIY Network, FIT-TV, La
Familia, CNN Headline News, The Weather Channel, C-SPAN 2 and C-SPAN 3.
A trade group for the cable industry announced Dec. 12, 2005,
that several cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner, would
roll out a pricing model that features family-friendly programming in
early 2006. Cable operators are hopeful the move will help derail the
Federal Communications Commission’s support for a plan that would give
consumers even more choice over what cable channels they could purchase
individually.
‘Born again’ poll
After a series of telephone interviews conducted in
October 2005, the Barna Group determined that much confusion surrounds
what it really means to call oneself a “born again Christian” in
America. Although 80 percent of adults in the United States call
themselves “Christian,” Barna found that 68 percent, or two out of
three adults, consider themselves “a committed Christian” and 45
percent use the phrase “born again Christian.” Barna discovered that
one-quarter of those who call themselves born again did not meet the
Barna Group criteria for born again, generally meaning they rely upon
something other than God’s grace as their means to salvation. The
standard Barna uses to determine whether a person is born again is if
they claim they will go to heaven after they die because they have
confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. For
more information, visit www.barna.org.
AFA may boycott Ford
The American Family Association is considering
another boycott of Ford Motor Company after the automaker reversed
course following discussions with the watchdog group and now plans to
feature all of its brands in a 2006 ad campaign in homosexual
publications. In June 2005, AFA suspended its brief boycott of Ford to
grant dealers time to communicate directly with Ford officials
regarding the company’s support for the same-sex marriage movement. AFA
and Ford officials had reached an agreement during the past six months
that was accepted by both parties, but at the last minute Ford turned
back to supporting the homosexual agenda. While AFA is considering its
next step, the option of another boycott is “very much alive,” AFA
founder Donald Wildmon said.
Alcohol ads study
Despite what the alcohol industry says, a new study
has found that alcohol advertising contributes to increased drinking
among youth. The study, released in the January edition of the journal
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, was meant to test
whether alcohol advertising expenditures and the degree of exposure to
alcohol advertisements affect alcohol consumption by youth. Researchers
randomly surveyed people ages 15 to 26 between 1999 and 2001 and found
that youth who saw more alcohol advertisements on average drank more –
with each additional advertisement viewed, the number of drinks
consumed increased by 1 percent. They also discovered that youth in
markets with greater alcohol advertising expenditures drank more – each
additional dollar spent per capita raised the number of drinks consumed
by 3 percent. Youth in markets with more alcohol advertisements showed
increases in drinking levels into their late 20s, but drinking
plateaued in the early 20s for youth in markets with fewer
advertisements, the study said.
Religious Muslims
Nearly half of practicing Muslims among France’s
ethnic immigrant population are likely to be anti-Semitic, a new study
finds. Forty-six percent of practicing Muslims – compared with 30
percent of non-practicing Muslims – have anti-Semitic views, the survey
said. But the wide-ranging survey by the Institute of Political Studies
in Paris also shows that a large percentage of Muslims aren’t
particularly religious, and many strongly ascribe to the country’s
official separation of church and state. The study surveyed roughly
1,000 naturalized French citizens and first- or second-generation
immigrants over the age of 18. It found that about 59 percent described
themselves as Muslims. Among those, only about one in five said they
went to mosque regularly. Those who described themselves as Muslims,
however, tended to hold strong views on a number of social mores. Four
out of 10 approved of installing separate swimming hours for women and
men in public pools. About the same number condemned homosexuality.
Latvian marriage vote
The Latvian Parliament passed a constitutional
amendment Dec. 15 protecting the natural definition of marriage,
putting the country at odds with many European countries that have
embraced homosexual activism. The amendment passed by a vote of 65-6.
“This is not against gays. It is supporting traditional families,”
lawmaker Oskars Kastens said, according to Reuters. “Looking at trends
in Europe we are against liberalization of the idea of family. It is
the same in both Lithuania and Poland.” Belgium, the Netherlands and
Spain recognize gay marriage.
Medical marijuana vote
Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize
medicinal marijuana Jan. 3 when the state’s House of Representatives
overrode a veto by the governor 59-13 to allow people with illnesses
including cancer and AIDS to grow up to 12 marijuana plants or purchase
2.5 ounces of the drug in order to alleviate their symptoms, the
Associated Press reported. Although federal law prohibits the use of
marijuana altogether, Maine, Vermont, Alaska, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington permit its use for
medicinal purposes. In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
people who use marijuana for medicinal purposes can still be prosecuted
under federal law despite their state’s law, though federal authorities
say it is unlikely such action will be taken.
Possible limbo change
A Roman Catholic tradition that has been around
since the Middle Ages may soon be no more. Limbo, the place somewhere
between heaven and hell reserved for unbaptized babies, was discussed
among 30 top theologians recently at the Vatican and, because it has
never been an official church doctrine, could eventually be tossed
aside. The controversy over limbo began with St. Augustine, who
believed baptism was essential for salvation and that unbaptized babies
would go to a mild level of hell, according to a recent New York Times
report. Later, in the Middle Ages, theologians devised a place called
limbo, where infants would be in neither heaven nor hell but would
enjoy eternal happiness. But limbo, which has no scriptural basis, has
long been considered by many within the Catholic Church to be
unnecessarily harsh, The Times said, and even before he was pope,
Benedict XVI said he would be in favor of discarding it as a church
tradition. The leaders currently considering the issue have not said
what doctrine would replace limbo, and their final opinion on the
subject is not expected for at least another year.
Gay marriage in Africa
South Africa’s highest court Dec. 1 ordered the
legislature to legalize “gay marriage,” putting the country on track to
become the fifth nation worldwide to redefine marriage. The court gave
South Africa’s Parliament 12 months to add homosexuals to the country’s
marriage laws. If Parliament does not follow the court’s order, then
“gay marriage” nonetheless will become legal in one year. South Africa
would join Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands as the only
countries to grant marriage licenses to homosexual couples. The U.S.
state of Massachusetts also recognizes “gay marriage.” South Africa’s
constitution is one of the most liberal in the world and bans
discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation.” The lawsuit was
brought by a lesbian couple. Homosexual activists applauded the
decision but expressed disappointment in having to wait as long as 12
months. Only one judge dissented from the ruling, and that was because
the decision did not take effect immediately. A government spokesman
told the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg that the
government would respect the decision. But the African Christian
Democratic Party called on the passage of a constitutional amendment to
protect the natural definition of marriage.
Did you know?
There are 39.4 million HIV-positive people in the
world. That translates to one for about every Baptist worldwide. In
Kenya, more teachers die of HIV/AIDS each year than graduate from
teachers’ colleges. In South Africa, 90 percent of hospital in-patients
have HIV/AIDS. Each day, HIV/AIDS kills 8,000 people and infects 13,500
others.