TruthBook Religious News Blog

It may be the answer generations of experts on the ancient world have been looking for. New research claims that the fabled ancient civilisation of Atlantis is located close to Cyprus.
Maps and story by Fiona Govan available here.

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Monday, September 29, 2003

For Atlantis, turn right at Cyprus

After nearly a decade of rummaging through libraries, studying maps, reading ancient works and pouring over oceanographic data, an American researcher believes he has discovered the site of the lost civilisation on the sea floor between Cyprus and Syria, not far from Greece and Egypt, from where the legend of Atlantis originated. Read the story here.

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Prison faith-based programs reduce rates of recidivism

Statistics from the Louisiana Department of Corrections agree that faith is good for prisoners. For five years the state has tracked how faith-based programs in prisons affect recidivism rates.

Numbers from July 2003 show that 49 percent of inmates released in 1999 went back behind bars. For those involved in religious programming, the rate drops to 30 percent.

"I was not surprised to see sustained participation was an element in recidivism," said Richard Stalder, state secretary of public safety and corrections. "I was surprised to see how significant the difference was."

The number substantiated what David Wade Chaplain Ray Anderson has long believed.

"If he doesn't have a changed heart, then you don't have a changed man," he said.

Harry Dammer at the University of Scranton has been looking into religion in prisons for about 10 years.

Inmates come to the faith for as many reasons as those in the free world. Some have never been exposed to spirituality while others feel that God has abandoned them.

"The first-time experience people come into this place and say, 'These people really believe in what (they are) doing. Let's see if I can get on the same train with them,'" said the Rev. Richard Pusch, chaplain at Fortch Wade Correctional Center.

Through sharing with their peers and scores of outside volunteers, the inmates try to make real change in their lives.

Recidivism is not always based on faith alone. Stalder cautions that education or other factors also contribute to changing an inmate.

While some numbers in Louisiana show faith is a stronger preventative measure than education, Dammer says it is far too early to tell.

"The results on education are long standing and pretty conclusive," he said. "Religion results are new, but equally encouraging."

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Saturday, September 27, 2003

Faith, mental health communities reach out together to help mentally ill

Voices in her head were as pronounced in Cynthia Barker's childhood as her love for God.

She remembers when she gave her life to Christ, during a period when she heard voices and tried to take her life.

Now a mental health consumer advocate, Barker felt stymied in handling her illness until her adulthood, when she attended a spiritual renewal program and later was embraced by a church home sensitive to people with mental illness. She told her story during a program Tuesday sponsored by the Mental Illness Awareness Coalition for leaders from faith and mental health communities.

"I always believed there was a God, a kind, loving God to serve," she said. "But I didn't understand why I was experiencing what I was experiencing."

The workshop attempted to share with clergy ways to help people with mental illness. It also served as a way to encourage the mental health community to see clergy as partners in fighting the problem.

At the program, "Burden of Silence: Mental Health Issues and the Faith Community," the audience and panelists said they want to see houses of worship work as adjuncts, not adversaries, to the mental health community.

Many in both communities sought to hold a gathering such as this for years, said Linda Kimmel, coalition chairwoman and director of public relations at Ridgeview, a mental health center in Oak Ridge.

"Sometimes people express their mental disorder in religious language, which may include 'demons' or 'Satan' or 'spirits,' and clergy will deal with it from that perspective before they realize it's a thought disorder, not necessarily a spiritual one," said the Rev. George Doebler, director of the pastoral care department at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. "Clergy may get to the point where they wonder how do they know when to refer people to counselors. We are trying to convey that, to get that dialogue going between clergy and the counseling community."

"From a pastor's standpoint, this is something near and dear to my heart," said the Rev. Steve Streeter, executive pastor of Parkway Christian Fellowship, near McGhee Tyson Airport, as he opened the program to close to 50 people gathered at the Candy Factory Tuesday morning.

"We need more of a dialogue between the faith community and mental health professionals," he said. "I am looking forward to what happens after here as well as to what happens here. Both (the faith and mental health communities) are called to help others. Both are called to treat the whole person."

Sheryl McCormick, a mental health consumer and advocate, said she's bothered when she and others with mental illnesses "can't talk about God to mental health professionals.

"And conversely, we can't talk about our mental illnesses in church," she said. "We're told to pray more, that perhaps we have demons. That all may be true, but this doesn't negate the fact of someone's need for mental health care."

Dr. Brent Coyle, a psychiatrist at Blount Memorial Hospital, cited surveys that indicated some people's religious conflict contributed to their psychology problems.

"Yet over 50 percent said they would like to weave in spiritual components into their care," Coyle said.

"I buy into the fact that people are healed through prayer, meditation and other means, but if it doesn't happen, what kinds of care are available to them afterwards to help them work through a belief that they may have that (there is) something wrong with their faithfulness for God not to heal them?"

There has been a shift toward acceptance of spirituality among mental health professionals, panelists said. They also complimented religious communities that are sensitive to people with mental illness.

The Rev. Bill Fowler, senior pastor of Church Street United Methodist Church, where support groups and programs about mental illness are held, said churches are commissioned to help people with the "spiritual, mental, and physical dimensions of disease in their lives."

Disease, he said, is "that which is not easy, that which is not at peace, that which is not at rest."

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Church leaders hit out at Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe's government has been strongly condemned by church leaders in Zimbabwe.

A letter, signed by clergy from 59 Christian denominations, said the government was no longer upholding justice and the rule of law.

"Any government that negates these principles forfeits its God-given mandate to rule," the statement said.

The statement, which came out of a meeting earlier this month, also called for the repeal of what they said were draconian security and media laws, and condemned "the inhuman and violent means to right historical imbalances in land distribution".

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Southern Baptists Report Donations Drop

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)--The Southern Baptist Convention could face a financial crisis within a few years unless churchgoers start giving more money to the denomination, according to an internal report.

Giving by Southern Baptist church members decreased steadily from 1968 to 1998 as a percentage of their earnings, down to 2.03 percent, according to the Champaign, Ill.-based Christian research group empty tomb inc., which provided some of the statistics used in the report.Baptist churches traditionally ask members to tithe - giving 10 percent of their income.

The report also said the percentage of donations forwarded from churches to the SBC's Cooperative Program - which funds missions, seminaries and state Baptist convention ministries - has dropped from 10.5 percent of church income in the 1980s to 7.4 percent last year.

The nation's largest Protestant denomination has been beset with internal strife for 20 years.

Many denominations are struggling with similar financial challenges, with less giving from younger generations.

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Friday, September 26, 2003

How God sees you

There is something about all of us that naturally wants to relate to others. Despite society's focus on physical attraction, this "something" deep within us yearns to love others, and be loved by others. Such a feeling, in its natural and pure form, is a powerful spiritual affection. It's a divine impulsion.

I look at Jesus' life and the love he expressed toward children, toward women, toward men. It came in many forms. Compassion, kindness, forbearance, nurturing, thoughtfulness, respect, caring, patience, forgiveness, correction, tenderness. The list is long. But the way he expressed the ultimate significance of love points us clearly to spirituality instead of biology.

As society gains ground in its struggle to place greater accent on the spiritual, it's likely this will lead to more satisfying answers regarding those thorny and often divisive issues on the biology side.

Jesus' example was to relate his own life increasingly to God. That enabled him to relate his life most successfully to his fellow humans. That's not a bad example for those today who wrestle with questions of sexuality.

Prayerfully affirm that your life is related more to God, divine Love, than to DNA. That opens the door to recognizing thoughtful and enduring solutions in how we relate to others. The more we see ourselves and others as spiritual, the less we'll be puzzled by, react to, be afraid of, or be doubtful about society's effort to sort its way through perplexing aspects of sexuality.

When our lives are premised on the view that we are fundamentally hard wired to biology instead of spirituality, there will be more confusion, more divisiveness, less progress Spiritward.

Perhaps you've wrestled with some of these issues. If so, increasing peace can come by beginning each day with a prayer that sees yourself and others less from a sexual perspective and more from a spiritual point of view. Think of those qualities Jesus expressed. After all, that's the way God sees you.

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American Researchers Launch Study of Religion in Public Life

In recent weeks there have been a number of conflicts in the United States between those who favor a more prominent place for religion in public life and those who insist on strict adherence to the separation of church and state established by the constitution. At the same time, the diversification of spiritual beliefs in America has changed old assumptions about religion.

Christians are in the majority in the United States, but some describe themselves as increasingly under siege and persecuted by a secular society.

Rice University Sociology Professor Michael Emerson says such incidents reflect the transformation of religious life in this country from one dominated by Christianity to one in which there are followers of many beliefs.

"When this process happens, then Christians, particularly conservative Christians, feel they are being shoved out of society, that they are being asked to leave," said Professor Emerson. "[They say] 'we have always done it this way. Look what it says on our money, it says 'In God We Trust.' So why are we doing this? We must be becoming non-religious as a society." What I think is really happening is that we are becoming more diverse religiously."

Mr. Emerson hopes to learn more about religious diversity and the effect it is having on U.S. society through a new study being conducted by both Rice University here in Houston and Notre Dame University in Indiana. Backed by a $3.3 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, investigators will embark on a long-term study of religious beliefs and behaviors among various ethnic groups. Professor Emerson says the study will track individuals and families for decades to come.

"When we follow people over time we will not only get to see that this particular event seemed to trigger a change in their view or involvement in religion, but we will be able to look at what they were like 20 years ago, what were they thinking about these subjects at that time and see if there is a relationship between what you were thinking at age 20 and how a death in the family at 40 affects you," he explained.

Mr. Emerson says information from this study could be useful to political as well as religious leaders in that it will provide understanding of changes within various communities and conflicts that can arise between them.

"We hope to be able to provide information that can help us understand what, on the grassroots level, is really happening in people's minds and then use that to reduce conflicts that are going to come," added Professor Emerson.

Conflicts could arise, according to Mr. Emerson, from any number of changes that are already under way. The growth of Islam in the United States, for example, has created conflicts over such issues as the right of a woman to wear a veil at school or work. There are also changes within the Christian world, where large numbers of Hispanics have been leaving the Catholic Church and migrating to evangelical Protestant congregations. The growth of the Mormon church has also created diversity within the Christian community.

In the Rice/Notre Dame study, researchers will begin by interviewing 2,500 people across the nation. They will then follow up by interviewing these people every three years for the rest of their lives. Their children, upon reaching the age of 18, will then also be asked to join the study. It is a daunting task, but Professor Emerson says it holds the promise of providing insight into a crucial aspect of American life for many decades into the future.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Cyprus is Atlantis, says American researcher

AN AMERICAN researcher claims this week that Cyprus is the site of the lost island of Atlantis.

After nearly a decade of research, author Robert Sarmast claims that the fabled ancient island is located on the sea floor between Cyprus and Syria, and that the present Cyprus is merely what remains of the mountainous region of Atlantis.

He also believes that Atlantis - and therefore Cyprus - was the source of what the Bible calls the Garden of Eden
Now he wants to launch an expedition to explore the sea bed.

"It's one mile down, the Titanic was two miles down in cold water and that was done 20 years ago," he said this week from his office in Los Angeles.

He said that he believes he may find the remains of a city, "containing buildings, roads and tunnels."

He has kept his research secret over the last decade, with everyone involved having to sign secrecy pledges but now says that, despite not yet finding funds for an expedition "I can't just keep sitting on this discovery."

Bonanza

The discovery could mean a tourism bonanza for Cyprus once word gets out, says Sarmast.

He says the site he has been investigating matches Plato's account of Atlantis with astonishing accuracy. Plato based his description on an account by Solon, who is said to have got his information directly from the Egyptians.

His book, Discovery of Atlantis, The Startling Case For the Island of Cyprus, is published this week in the US.

Sarmast says his findings match almost every clue in Plato's description of the legendary city state.

It shows what he says is the location of the rectangular plain of Atlantis, as well as all the other key geographic features that Plato cites-including the precise location of its capital-Atlantis City.

The book goes on to provide a link between this data and the biblical legend of the Garden of Eden.

"Scholars in this field know that any credible claim to have located Atlantis must use Plato's famed account found in his Timaeus and Critias. these classic ancient dialogues remain the sole source for the Atlantis legend," he says.

Technology

The book utilises state-of-the-art oceanographic research and display technology to depict what he says is the actual underwater site of Atlantis. The maps show the Levantine basin and the Cyprus Arc in high-resolution detail for the first time.

The data was obtained in 1987 during a scientific survey of the north-eastern Mediterranean by a Russian survey vessel.

While matching all the clues of the physical site, Sarmast claims to achieve a match with nearly every other clue that Plato lists.

The nearly 50 matches he has made with Plato's clues extend from the philosopher's claim that elephants once lived on Atlantis, to the mineral composition of the island, to mythological figures associated with the legend.

Among his claims are that Sarmast lends new credibility to Plato's account of Atlantis. Crucial here is the recent scientific proof of a catastrophic flood of the entire Mediterranean basin due to the destruction of the Gibraltar 'dam' that closed off the Med from the Atlantic.

This accepted fact of natural history substantiates Plato's claim that an epochal flood "swallowed up" the mountainous island of Atlantis. It lends credence to Sarmast's contention that Plato's overall presentation is historically accurate.

AS IT WAS: Using a Russian survey, Sarmast has mapped the sea bed to ascertain the shape of Atlantis before much of it - exculding the present island of Cyprus - was engulfed by the waters of the Med.

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Sunday, September 21, 2003

Your inner voice holds love secrets

Slow down. Listen to the voice inside you. Stop working at your relationship and start living and enjoying it.

Joseph Bailey was a marital therapist with a low batting average with patients and a failed marriage himself when he had an epiphany about why so many relationships were failing.

"So much of the way I was trained in conventional therapy was looking at and diagnosing the problem, labeling persons, analyzing and rehashing the past," he says. "It was a very painful process to go through. I could see what I was doing wasn't working.

"One thing I didn't realize is that the love you seek from the other is actually within you. It's in discovering the source of that love that we have the love to share with another person. It's in giving the love that we receive the love."

Bailey, a family and marriage counselor for 30 years and a former faculty member of the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, is author of Slowing Down to the Speed of Love: How to Create a Deeper, More Fulfilling Relationship in a Hurried World.

All the work a couple might do on their relationship (learning how to fight, trying to work through past issues) can get in the way of a loving relationship, Bailey believes.

"It's all the doing that's causing the problems," he said. "The more we frenetically search for peace of mind, the more it eludes us. We're all looking for the quick fix, the six steps to love that's going to last.

"The only one step is to be yourself, know yourself. Once you can do that you're able to speak from your heart."

The key to knowing yourself, Bailey said, is to be willing to slow down.

"Once you're willing, it opens the spigot and you have insights to your own life," he said. "All (couples) have to do is take the time, reflect and listen deeply within themselves. There's this little voice that's in us, that's trying to guide us toward balance, toward health. We have to listen to it.

"The voice is in there all the time but we rationalize it away, we keep going faster to keep two steps away from it."

Too often, he said, people simply don't trust their inner voice.

"We think, 'If I said it, it can't be true.' We look to experts, doctors, psychologists, pundits to tell us what to think. We've had that trained out of us from early on. Most parents and institutions tell you to ignore your own voice and listen to them instead of yourself. We learn very early not to trust ourselves."

Sometimes grown-ups need to look backward, he said.

"You look at young kids under 4 or 5 - they have an amazing capacity for love. Everything is new to them, they're very curious, their learning curve is very sharp, they don't have insecure thoughts, they're not analyzing and processing everything. In that natural state, people have access to who they are, this feeling of love," he said.

"When they get in a fight they forgive each other. Married people keep stewing about it, reprocessing it. If we can get back to that childlike state we can be able to enjoy ourselves, have more of a sense of humor, don't work so hard to try to work through things, recognize that what binds and connects us is that feeling of love.

"The little things in life that seem so big are really just small stuff."

Knowing yourself, he said, starts with putting your relationship with yourself at the top of your "to do" list.

"I've preached for a long time that everything seems to come before my relationship with myself. Even if it's just five minutes before the day begins, take account of what's really important to today: Is there anything I need to be paying attention to? My health? My relationship?

"Taking time to reflect is the single most important thing you can do. People give a million excuses, but you can do it when you're in the car, at the gym, on a walk. You can always get quiet time when you need it."

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New Study Shows Prayer Has Positive Effect on Health

Can praying be good for your health? A decade ago, most doctors and scientists would have dismissed any connection between prayer and medicine. However, recent studies drawing a positive connection between faith and healing have sparked new debate in the United States over the issue.

A recent Gallup poll shows that 95 percent of the population of the United States believes in God, and nearly 80 percent of people over 65-years-old are members of a church.

A number of studies have shown that individuals who pray regularly and attend religious services stay healthier and live longer than those who rarely or never go to a church, synagogue or mosque.

Duke University recently released a study of 4,000 women and men of different faiths. All the participants were 65 or older.

The study found that the relative risk of dying was 46 percent lower for those who frequently attend religious services.

A study by the same group says those who pray regularly have significantly lower blood pressure than those who do not.

It also found that those who attend religious services have healthier immune systems.

Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University is the director and founder of the Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health.

But he says his own research and recent studies by other universities have convinced him that prayer, much like exercise and diet, has a connection with better health.

"A religion-medical connection is not new or unnatural," he said. "Many patients are religious, and use it to cope with illness. Religion is related to mental health, social support and health behaviors. Better mental health, in turn, better social support, better health behaviors are related to better physical health. Thus religion should be related to physical health, and when you examine it, it is."

Studies at several medical centers conclude that prayer and faith help in the recovery from heart attacks, drug addiction, stroke, alcoholism and depression.

At the University of Miami, research showed AIDS patients who became long-term survivors were more frequently engaged in religious worship and involved in volunteer work.

Cynthia Cohen is a senior researcher at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington.

"So far, the studies seem to show that prayer, in particular, seems to work on some patients," said Ms. Cohen. "There are studies that show that prayer has apparently been associated with improved healthcare outcomes for a high proportion of patients in certain studies. However, there are other studies that show that prayer doesn't seem to have the same degree of effectiveness."

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Thursday, September 18, 2003

God's Word Goes Glossy

Instead of fawning over a hot young actor in Tiger Beat, teen girls are now going ga-ga for Jesus’ teachings in Revolve, a magazine that’s slicked up the New Testament for girls ages 12 to 17.

Christian bookstores are selling out of the $14.99, 388-page magazine, in which Holy Writ is jumbled alongside sassy sidebars, splashy headlines and color photos — all minus the sexual titillation of other teen mags like Seventeen.

“We wanted to make sure that it was something that teen girls liked and could identify with, but we wanted to make sure it was theologically in line with what pastors are teaching," Laurie Whaley, editor of Revolve, told Fox News.

Revolve employs a casual writing style and takes inspiration from today's hot commercial products including David Letterman's Top Ten list and magazine-like sidebars on dating, faith and peer pressure.

One sidebar on relationships gives the advice: "Remember to be friends first; put the romance second. That way you know it will last longer than the come-and-go emotions."

While some may consider Revolve "dorky" rather than "way cool," the glossy version of the good word appears to be a hit. One teenager enthusiastically told the Twin City's Pioneer Press that her peers were all impressed with the magazine.

"My friends, they don't like to read the Bible, but once they saw it they were, like, 'I'm going to have to get me one of those,'" Brooke Nichols, 15, told the paper.

The magazine, put out by the teens' publishing division of the Nashville-based Thomas Nelson, has even impressed media-savvy critics. New York's Daily News proclaimed the magazine "clever" and "funky."

Some experts say giving girls a choice to read about God in a way that's easily accessible will benefit them.

“We came to realize we need an avenue, a venue to be able to tell teen girls ‘You're special, you're worthwhile, you're valuable,’” said Susie Shellenberger, author of "Girl Talk With God."

Adding splash to the Bible’s message isn’t a new idea, Lynn Clark, a sociologist and author who has written about teens, Christianity and pop culture, told Fox News.

“Since the very beginnings of Protestantism there's been a relationship between trying to reach people through commercial means and using whatever products are available at the time to do that," she said.

Between all this teeny-bopper talk, Revolve does provide the entire New Testament, all 27 books. Each biblical book begins with a brief introduction written in chatty magazine style.

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Monday, September 15, 2003

27% of US Executives turn to religion

The Executive Connection, a global organisation for chief executives, managing directors and business owners, found that 27 per cent of stressed-out US chiefs turned to religion for support.

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Saturday, September 13, 2003

Food can be chicken soup for the religious soul

The decline in mainstream churches, reported in the Glenmary Research Center's national survey, "The Religious Congregations & Membership 2000," may have some connection to food and fellowship and the changing nature of the church meal.

So speculates Daniel Sack, an assistant director of the Material History of American Religion Project, based at Columbia University and funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment. Sack has written extensively about food and religion, and speculates that the health and history of mainstream Protestant churches can be tracked by the fellowship of their food.

Sacks chronicles the history of the traditional church meal in Protestant churches in "Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture." He writes of how a communal meal is a tradition that has fallen by the wayside in many churches, a loss, he contends, that has had an unexamined impact.

"What I found (in studying Protestant churches) was a richness of community life that scholars and even most ministers ignore or miss," said Sack. "Unlike the Jewish faith, where food is taken seriously, most mainline Protestant churches simply take food and its role in the life of the congregation for granted. It's just not seen as a very intellectual pursuit."

His concerns are echoed by Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor who studies how voluntary associations promote healthy society. Putnam, in his book "Bowling Alone" offers evidence that people are not getting together in the ways that once flourished. He argues that we are living off inherited "social capital," a fund from the past of community values and social reinforcements now in danger of being depleted.

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Friday, September 12, 2003

Ethical lending works for Co-operative Bank Bank

The Co-operative Bank, best known for its ethical stance, yesterday reported record half-year profits, helped by strong growth in its "environmentally

Pre-tax profits for the first half of this year were £75.3m, up 10% on the corresponding period last year, demonstrating that the bank's combination of ethics and good service "really does work," said the chief executive, Mervyn Pedelty.

The Co-op Bank refuses to do business with any firm involved in tobacco or the manufacture or sale of arms to oppressive regimes. It boycotts companies which experiment on animals to produce cosmetics or which exploit them for furs.

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ethics/index.html

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Americans More Scared Than Ever

Poll after poll released on the eve of today's second anniversary of the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington find Americans more fearful and fatalistic than they were a year ago.

Everything else which spiked upward in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijackings — support for the government, a return to religion, even a trust of the media — has returned to pre-attack "normals."

"Everything but the `new normal,'" says Carroll Doherty of the Pew Research Center."The prevalent view in this country is that they can strike again, anywhere, anytime, and the government can't stop it.

"The apocalyptic fear is definitely here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future."

If Americans are fearful, says Harper's magazine editor Lewis Lapham, a leading American commentator, it's because they are being sold fear by the government of George W. Bush.

"Pretty well all the Bush administration has got going for it now is this foreign war," Lapham said. "Fear is something this administration has been selling for two years.

"You sedate the populace with the drug of fear and maybe the electorate won't notice what a mess you have made, not only of domestic politics, but also our international relations.

"In order to conceal, disguise, dress up their own incompetence, they beat the constant threat of war and fear."

When the New York Times and CBS News polled 976 New Yorkers Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, they found more residents are fearful of another attack or report feeling more nervous or edgy than they did a year ago.

Tom Riehle, president of Washington-based Ipsos-Public Affairs, in a poll done for the Orlando Sentinel, found 91 per cent of Americans doubt terrorism will ever be eliminated.

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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Dalai Lama holds to nonviolent quest

At the age of 68, calling himself just "one old monk," the Dalai Lama acknowledges that he has little to show for his effort to win freedom for his people, who are increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of change. His advocacy of nonviolence is winning few adherents -- the United States ignored his appeal to show restraint after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and, throughout the world violence is routinely used to force political change.

In a wide-ranging interview Sunday, during a visit to a Tibetan Cultural Center here in Bloomington, the Dalai Lama acknowledged that his uncompromising support for nonviolence, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, is frustrating to many Tibetans. But, even as he prepared to attend a memorial service in Washington today to mark the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Dalai Lama insisted that nonviolence is always the right choice.

"The [goal], to try to reduce terrorism, is right," he said. "But in the long run, I always believe through transformation of heart, that's the ultimate real method to the elimination of terrorism. So in that case, compassion and friendship, dialogue and understanding, that's the only way to transform the emotion of the human heart. Force cannot change the human mind, human heart."

The Dalai Lama insists that nonviolence is essential, not only for moral reasons, but also pragmatic ones. "In the future, we have to live side by side with Chinese as brothers and sisters," he said. "So therefore, in the future, in order to live happily, friendly, with compassion, while we are carrying out this struggle we must avoid violence because it breeds more violence."

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Religious solidarity sought through interfaith dialogue

A slew of civil rights advocacy groups have formed in the past two years under the banner of interfaith dialogue -- World Alliance for Peace, American Muslim Voice and Swaim's Interfaith Freedom Foundation, among others.

Local churches also have joined the cause, strengthening bonds with Muslim, Sikh and Hindu clerics and congregations.

Such friendships have spurred a desire join together to remedy problems faced by people of all faiths, such as poverty and affordable housing.

The Sept. 11 attacks influenced well-established interfaith groups. The Tri-City Ministerial Association -- formed in the 1960s as an interdenominational Christian group -- now includes Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, Mormon, Jewish and other representatives.

Now, in addition to sponsoring "feel-good" interfaith services, the group is focused on educating the public about religion, members say. The association is working to put together a Religious Diversity Faire in which people can learn about other beliefs from those who practice them.

"Knowledge can dispel all kinds of fears," said Chris Schriner, a longtime member and pastor of Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Church in Fremont.

"When you get the facts about different religions of the world, they become more than just quiet, exotic sects. ... You can understand people and history much better."

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Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Girls who cut

Last week, the BBC Six O'Clock News released the results of a survey of 50 accident and emergency departments, which found that 66% of staff believed cases of child and adolescent self-harm were increasing.

They reported seeing an average of 13 cases per month, with one department reporting three a day. More worryingly, most thought the age of self-harmers was falling. The average age of those treated was just 11, but children as young as six were admitted with self-inflicted injuries.

Since hospitals only see cases which require medical attention, the true number of child self-harmers must be countless times higher. Earlier this year, the Samaritans commissioned a study of teenage self-harm, conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University. After quizzing 6,000 teenagers it concluded that more than one in 10 adolescents has deliberately cut themselves at some time. Girls were almost four times as likely as boys to do so. Only 13% of self-harm incidents had led to a hospital visit.

Dr Michaela Swales, a lecturer practitioner in clinical psychology at the University of Wales, says children and teenagers who cut themselves do not necessarily have mental health problems: "There are many and varied reasons why people self-harm, but broadly there are three explanations. The first category describes young people who use cutting as a way of coping with a situation, as a way of releasing tension or changing an unpleasant emotional state. For some, physical pain is more bearable than emotional pain.

"Second, some young people use self-harm to give them a sense of control over a situation which they can't control, such as bullying for example.

"Finally, self-harm is used by some young people as a way of validating their suffering. A child who has been abused may feel that nobody believes them because they don't show any visible marks. By harming themselves they create a physical manifestation of their inner pain."

Images of self-harm are all around us, particularly in religious iconography. Christianity is founded on the notion that Christ suffered for the world's sins and there have been sects which practised self-flagellation and mutilation throughout history. Pain and the spilling of our own blood are seen as ways of cleansing ourselves. Likewise, when teenagers cut themselves they often say it is a release, a way of punishing themselves or others.

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Monday, September 08, 2003

Dalai Lama Dedicates Interfaith Temple in Indiana

Bloomington, Ind., Sept 8 — In a powerful symbol of the unity of world religions, the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet and a renowned religious icon, led the dedication Sept. 7 of an interdenominational, international temple called the Chamtse Ling on the grounds of the Tibetan Cultural Center about five miles southeast of the campus of Indiana University.

"It is my strong belief that the key message of all the world's religious traditions are the same," Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, told the gathering. "It is a message of love, of the importance of cultivating forgiveness and understanding, and of brotherhood and sisterhood."

The dedication of the 10,000-square-foot Chamtse Ling -- which means "field of love and compassion" in Tibetan -- is the culmination of a seven-year dream for Thubten Norbu, older brother of the 68-year-old Dalai Lama and a retired Indiana University professor who founded the Tibetan Cultural Center several years ago on the outskirts of Bloomington.

Joining the Dalai Lama and Ali on the stage for dedication invocations were numerous religious representatives of the Muslim, Shin Buddhism, Japanese Zen, Sikh and Jewish faiths, as well as Christians representing Quakers, Methodists, Catholics, Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations. Also on hand was Wesley Thomas, a representative of the Navajo nation, who said he was at the dedication to speak on behalf of the more than 700 American Indian tribes.

"We are not an exclusive people," Trappist Father Damien Thompson, abbot of the Monastery of Gethsemani, said in his address. The Kentucky monastery was home to Catholic mystic and writer Thomas Merten, who befriended the Dalai Lama before the Trappist monk's untimely death in 1968. "The new era we're entering is an inclusive one, respectful of all our different beliefs," Thompson said.

Later in the day, the Dalai Lama was joined by Ali and other religious representatives in the planting of a small birch tree, dedicated to world peace. Recognizing that although there was unity among the numerous religions on the globe, there are indeed causes for celebrating diversity.

"Within the world, among human beings, the spiritual inclinations and interests of individuals are so diverse that we need diverse spiritual traditions to be able to fulfill the needs of this richly diverse humanity," the Dalai Lama said. Seek peace, he told those gathered at the center. "And when there is conflict, exercise forgiveness."

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Sunday, September 07, 2003

Why do so many scientists believe in God?

Colin Humphreys is a dyed-in-the-wool materialist. That is, he is professor of materials science at Cambridge. He believes in the power of science to explain the nature of matter. He believes that humans - like all other living things - evolved through the action of natural selection upon random mutation. He is also a Baptist. He believes in the story of Moses, as recounted in the biblical book of Exodus. He believes in it enough to have explored Egypt and the Holy Land in search of natural or scientific explanations for the story of the burning bush, the 10 plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the manna that fell in the wilderness -and then written a book about it.

"I believe that the scientific world view can explain almost anything," he says. "But I just think there is another world view as well."

Tom McLeish is professor of polymer physics at Leeds. Supermarket plastic bags are polymers, but so are spider's silk, sheep's wool, sinew and flesh and bone. His is the intricate world of what is, and how it works, down to the molecular level. He delights in the clarity and power of science, precisely because it is questioning rather than dogmatic. "But the questions that arise, and the methods we use to ask them, can be traced back to the religious tradition in which I find myself. Doing science is part of what it means in that tradition to be human. Because we find ourselves in this puzzling, extraordinary universe of pain and beauty, we will also find ourselves able to explore it, by adopting the very successful methods of science," he says.

Russell Stannard is now emeritus professor of physics at the Open University. He is one of the atom-smashers, picking apart the properties of matter, energy, space and time, and the author of a delightful series of children's books about tough concepts such as relativity theory. He believes in the power of science. He not only believes in God, he believes in the Church of England. He, like Tom McLeish, is a lay reader. He has con tributed Thoughts for the Day to Radio 4, those morning homilies on the mysteries of existence. Does it worry him that science - his science - could be about to explain the whole story of space, time matter and energy without any need for a Creator? "No, because a starting point you can have is: why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there a world? Now I cannot see how science could ever provide an answer," he says.

Stannard will be one of a small group of scientists and theologians, having a go at the question next week in Birmingham. The Science and Religion Forum, founded by a group of scientists 25 years ago, meets on Monday to discuss questions such as the place of humans in the universe. They are not likely to actually come up with an answer, but they will certainly give the question a bashing. The forum embraces what one of its begetters, Arthur Peacocke, pioneer of DNA research in Britain, called "wistful agnostics" and sceptics, as well as Christians and people from other faiths. "It's about how we can worship a creator God who is creating now, and still hold on to the scientific world view as we understand it," says Phil Edwards, who trained in physics but is now a chaplain to the Bolton Institute.

In the US, according to a survey published in Nature in 1997, four out of 10 scientists believe in God. Just over 45% said they did not believe, and 14.5% described themselves as doubters or agnostics. This ratio of believers to non-believers had not changed in 80 years. Should anybody be surprised?

"A lot of people are surprised. I think people have grown up to believe that science and Christianity are at loggerheads, and that is what the average man in the street believes," says Colin Humphreys. "I think you can explain the universe without invoking God at all. And you can explain humans without invoking God at all, I think. But where I differ from the people who say, OK, the universe started with a big bang - if it did, it's not too sure but let's say it did - and everything else was chance event, then I would say that God is the God of chance and He had His plan and purpose, which is working out very subtly, but through these chance events."

Doubt, expressed most potently 3,000 years ago in the biblical book of Job, is the greatest scientific tool ever invented, he says. To do good science, you have to doubt everything, including your ideas, your experiments and your conclusions. "People like Richard Dawkins characterise religion as doubtless, tub-thumping, blind certainty. But it isn't like that; he knows it is not like that. There is Job, on his ash-heap, doubting everything, but wondering where the light comes from, and how the hail forms."

Tom McLeish refers to the postmodernist effect. "Our dear friends in the humanities do get themselves awfully confused about whether the world exists, about whether each other exists, about whether words mean anything. Until they have sorted out whether cats and dogs exist or not, or are only figments in the mind of the reader, let alone the writer, then they are going to have problems talking about God."

Within biology itself, there is an intense argument about evolutionary origins of qualities such as altruism -the sacrifice of self for others - and the enduring belief in God or gods, and an afterlife, with the possibility of some kind of calling to account. Robert Winston, the fertility pioneer, Labour peer and professor at Hammersmith Hospital is Jewish. This represents a huge tradition of values that are important to him. At the age of 30 he went back to the synagogue because, he felt, he needed the discipline of Judaism, although this is not quite the same as believing in God, and he confesses to having been through various phases of observance. In the last chapter of his book The Human Instinct he said he felt it was very likely that spirituality - the feeling of something beyond mortal life - had been important in survival during the Ice Age, and through periods of great deprivation.

"The great question is whether or not that spirituality is God-given, or whether it actually evolved because it was needed," he says. "I'm still sitting on the fence."

Stannard has fewer doubts. "I would say that God does take a personal interest in us. If you were allowed one word to describe God by, that word would be love. That does not come from evolution by natural selection, it seems to come from somewhere else, and the whole idea of morals does not naturally arise out of evolution. Biologists will talk about altruism, but they are using it in a very technical sense, which is not the religious idea of altruism. It is more a case of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours."

The place of humans in the universe - world faith perspectives, at the University of Birmingham Selly Oak campus, September 8-10. www.srforum.org

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Saturday, September 06, 2003

70% of U.S. children still live with two parents

WASHINGTON--Despite the public perception that single-parent homes are becoming the norm in America, seven out of 10 children under the age of 18 still live in two-parent homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, 30 percent of America's children live with one parent, most often a mother. Children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to live with their mothers than with their fathers, according to Census data.

The statistics are drawn from a new Census Bureau report, "Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics," released this summer.

The percentage of children living at home with two parents has decreased slightly over the last decade, to 69 percent in 2002 from 73 percent in 1991.

In 2002, 53 percent of African-American children lived in single-parent families (up from 49.1 percent), compared to 20 percent of Anglo children (up from 19.1 percent), 30 percent of Hispanic children (down from 31.1 percent) and 15 percent of Asian children.

Among children with two parents in the home, 97 percent had at least one parent active in the labor force, and 62 percent had two parents active in the labor force.

Nationwide, 30 percent of children lived in households with family incomes below $30,000 annually, and 29 percent lived in households with family incomes of at least $75,000. Nearly half of all children lived in households with family incomes of $50,000 or more.

These statistics were drawn from the Annual Demographic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, which uses Census 2000 as the base for its sample.

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Youth put family first in Australia

Sports stars, pop idols and TV personalities wield some influence on the way young people think but it's mum and dad who hold the most power.

Putting to rest the myth that teenagers and young adults rebel against their parents, the 2003 Youth Survey found family, friends and teachers were the ones young people listened to most.

Not surprisingly, the survey results, released this week launched by Youth Minister Sheila McHale, found politicians had the least impact on young people.

"People who perhaps should be in highly influential positions from a historical perspective, for example religious and political leaders, have seemingly little impact on young people," the report said.

Almost 11,000 West Australians aged 12 to 25 were canvassed for their views, attitudes and opinions in the State Government survey.

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Thursday, September 04, 2003

Americans now know less about Islam than before

A survey, conducted June 24-July 8 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, shows that despite the public's increased interest in Islam since September 11th, the number of Americans who believe they know "some" or "a great deal" about Islam has actually declined since shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

In mid-November 2001, 6 percent of Americans said they knew "a great deal" about Islam, while 32 percent said they knew "some," and 61 percent knew "not very much" or "nothing at all." In the most recent poll, only 4 percent said they knew "a great deal," 27 percent knew "some" and 68 percent professed to know "not very much" or "nothing at all" about Islam.

"Perhaps the more Americans learn about Islam, the more they realize how much there is to learn," said Melissa Rogers, executive director of the Pew Forum.