TruthBook Religious News Blog

A Gallup Poll suggests that Americans are divided over how the world was created - either through evolution or at the hand of God - but either way they appear skeptical that it happened exactly as described in the book of Genesis.

The poll found that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution remains controversial among Americans. About one-third say it is supported by evidence, one-third see it as bunk and one-third don't know enough to judge.

A plurality of Americans - 45 percent - says man was created by God in his present form, while 38 percent say man developed over time as God guided the process. Just 13 percent said God had no role in the process.

Yet a smaller percentage, 34 percent, said the Bible is the actual word of God and should be read literally. Pollsters said that discrepancy suggests that Americans believe man was created as-is, but not because the Bible says so.

Breaking down the numbers, Gallup officials said about one-quarter of Americans are "biblical literalists" who believe man was created 10,000 years ago in his present form. They tend to be women, conservatives, Republicans and attend a Protestant church at least once a week.

A slightly smaller number - one in five Americans - believe man was created in his present form 10,000 years ago, but not because they read the Bible literally. Just 9 percent of the country read the Bible literally but are open to the theory of evolution.

The largest group - 46 percent - do not read the Bible literally and believe humans may have evolved over time. This group tends to be male, urban, more educated, Catholic and seldom or never attend church.

"It is not surprising to find that the biblical literalists who believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago tend to be more religious and Protestant," said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief. "Given the recent emphasis on the importance of religion in the Nov. 2 presidential election, it is of interest to note that this `true believer' group tends to be more Republican than (most Americans)."

The survey of 1,016 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Apocalypse (Almost) Now

If America's secular liberals think they have it rough now, just wait till the Second Coming.

The "Left Behind" series, the best-selling novels for adults in the U.S., enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian. The world's Hindus, Muslims, Jews and agnostics, along with many Catholics and Unitarians, are heaved into everlasting fire: "Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and . . . they tumbled in, howling and screeching."

Gosh, what an uplifting scene!

If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We should hold ourselves to the same standard.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the co-authors of the series, have both e-mailed me (after I wrote about the "Left Behind" series in July) to protest that their books do not "celebrate" the slaughter of non-Christians but simply present the painful reality of Scripture.

"We can't read it some other way just because it sounds exclusivistic and not currently politically correct," Mr. Jenkins said in an e-mail. "That's our crucible, an offensive and divisive message in an age of plurality and tolerance."

Silly me. I'd forgotten the passage in the Bible about how Jesus intends to roast everyone from the good Samaritan to Gandhi in everlasting fire, simply because they weren't born-again Christians.

I accept that Mr. Jenkins and Mr. LaHaye are sincere. (They base their conclusions on John 3.) But I've sat down in Pakistani and Iraqi mosques with Muslim fundamentalists, and they offered the same defense: they're just applying God's word.

Now, I've often written that blue staters should be less snooty toward fundamentalist Christians, and I realize that this column will seem pretty snooty. But if I praise the good work of evangelicals - like their superb relief efforts in Darfur - I'll also condemn what I perceive as bigotry. A dialogue about faith must move past taboos and discuss differences bluntly. That's what blue staters and red staters need to do about religion and the "Left Behind" books.

For starters, it's worth pointing out that those predicting an apocalypse have a long and lousy record. In America, tens of thousands of followers of William Miller waited eagerly for Jesus to reappear on Oct. 22, 1844. Some of these Millerites had given away all their belongings, and the no-show was called the Great Disappointment.

In more recent times, the best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970's was Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth," selling 18 million copies worldwide with its predictions of a Second Coming. Then, one of the hottest best sellers in 1988 was a booklet called "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." Oops.

Being wrong has rarely been so lucrative.

Now we have the hugely profitable "Left Behind" financial empire, whose Web site flatly says that the authors "think this generation will witness the end of history." The site sells every "Left Behind" spinoff imaginable, including screen savers, regular prophecies sent to your mobile phone, children's versions of the books, audiobooks, graphic novels, videos, calendars, music and a $6.50-a-month prophesy club. This isn't religion, this is brand management.

If Mr. LaHaye and Mr. Jenkins honestly believe that the end of the world may be imminent, why not waive royalties? Why don't they use the millions of dollars in profits to help the poor - and increase their own chances of getting into heaven?

Mr. Jenkins told me that he gives 20 to 40 percent of his income to charity, and that's commendable. But there are millions more where that came from. Mr. LaHaye and Mr. Jenkins might spend less time puzzling over obscure passages in the Book of Revelation and more time with the straightforward language of Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth." Or Matthew 19:21, where Jesus advises a rich man: "Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. . . . It will be hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

So I challenge the authors to a bet: if the events of the Apocalypse arrive in the next 10 years, then I'll donate $500 to the battle against the Antichrist; if it doesn't, you donate $500 to a charity of my choosing that fights poverty - and bigotry.

Gentlemen, do we have a deal?

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 24, 2004
E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com

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As each day passes, we grow less intelligent

A great dark fog covered the land, and within it, people did simple, mindless things: watch sit-coms, gossip, play the first edition of Pong, download music files.

They did not read — most of them.

And so, year after year, they grew less and less likely to think.

They grew stupid. And shallow.

Fewer than half of American adults read a novel, short story, play or poem in a year’s time. That amazing, dismal confession has stayed with me for months, since the summer report of “Reading at Risk.”

The report by the National Endowment for the Arts compares 2002 to 1992 and 1982, using data from Census Bureau surveys. The comparison reveals that fewer Americans than ever before read literature — or read at all. It also reveals the rate of decline is accelerating.

In 1982, 57 percent of adults read literature. In 2002, 46 percent did. The rate of decline tripled during the past 10 years, hitting a 14 percent loss.

Before you cavil: People were not asked about the quality of their choices; could have been John Grisham or Herman Melville, limericks or “The Iliad.”

They were asked whether they had read fiction or poetry. They were not asked about nonfiction reading. They were not asked about reading for work or school, only about reading at leisure.

Asked, “With the exception of books required for work or school, did you read any books during the last 12 months?” Fifty-six percent said yes, down from 61 percent in 1992.

Fewer men are reading, fewer women; fewer whites, blacks, Hispanics. All education levels, all age groups are reading less literature.

But the rate of decline is 55 percent greater among the youngest adults, those 18 to 24. once they read the most.

Fewer of these young adults read for fun or see adults reading at home than 20 years ago. And a far greater percentage of them watch three or more hours of television a day.

So what, you say; things change. The electronic media ascend; print disappears.

But that’s not true worldwide. In Canada and the United Kingdom, countries with whom we share literature, adults read more than we do. In the United Kingdom, 52 percent of adults are strong readers — eight or more books a year — compared to 24 percent here.

To me, then, it seems inevitable that our country has dropped to 10th among industrialized nations whose young adults have earned high school diplomas.

The printed word asks for “focused attention and contemplation” and thus makes “complex communications and insights possible,” Dan Gioia, chair of the NEA, said in his preface to “Reading at Risk.”

Reading makes your brain work; it requires active participation. And there are rewards to this. Use it or lose it.

Too bad for all of us because the solution is so simple. Don’t turn on the TV, a computer game or movie at the end of the day. Read to your child.

Just a bedtime story will do. From your lips to their hearts and brains, and the fog will lift.

By CLAUDIA SMITH BRINSON
Columnist

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Faith Isn't Opposed to Reason, Says John Paul II

John Paul II received an honorary doctorate from Nicholas Copernicus University of Torun, Poland, and said he hoped the gesture would promote dialogue between science and faith.

In his brief address in Polish, the Holy Father advocated dialogue as the means to "overcome the contrast, made during the Enlightenment, of truth reached through reason and truth known through faith."

"Today we understand ever more that it is the same truth and that it is necessary for men and women not to walk alone but to try to confirm their own intuition through dialogue with others when reaching the truth on their own," he said.

"Only in this way will experts and men of culture be capable of assuming that special responsibility which I spoke about in Torun: 'the responsibility of truth; to strive toward it, to defend it, and to live according to it,'" the Pope added.

Before taking leave of his guests, the Pope said: "There is no greater wealth in a nation than that of being made up of learned citizens."

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Monday, November 22, 2004

Big UK decline in Bible ownership

Far fewer households in the UK now own Bibles than was the case fifty years ago, according to a new poll carried out by ICM Research, a survey organisation often used by Government and leading charities and businesses.

In 1954 90 per cent of all adults owned a Bible, a figure now reduced to 65 per cent. Including households with children the decline is apparently from 98 per cent to 62 per cent.

However, belief in the paranormal is on the increase, with 42 per cent of people claiming to believe in ghosts, a 10 per cent rise over half a century.

The survey also indicates that there has been a significant growth in wealth, time available for leisure, technology use and extra-marital sexual activity.

Along with prosperity has come other changes in social mores. People are much less likely to ‘make and mend’ than they would shortly after the last world war, preferring new goods to repaired ones.

The ICM research confirms that people in Britain are much better off materially than was the case fifty years ago, but other research has shown that wealth does not mean satisfaction – with significant increases in depression and youth suicide.

Those involved in Mass Observation research pioneered at the University of Sussex in the 1960s also point out that the lifestyle changes of recent decades were pioneered in the post-war years.

In February 2005 the British and Irish churches are due to publish a report entitled ‘Prosperity With A Purpose’. This will explores the theological and religious significance of historically unprecedented widespread affluence in some parts of the world today.

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Friday, November 19, 2004

Religion can be powerful tool for protecting ecology, environmentalists say

Religion can be used to mobilize people to protect the environment because spirituality is closely linked to nature, members of a panel on faith-based conservation said Friday.

Some ``earth-keeping churches'' in Africa hold services outdoors and baptize their members in running rivers, which strengthens their dependence on and respect for the environment, said Solomon Zvanaka, director of the Zimbabwean Institute of Religious Research and Ecological Conservation.

Zvanaka spoke at a press conference at the meeting in Bangkok of the World Conservation Union in Bangkok, attended by more than 6,000 government officials, scientists, executives and environmentalists.

He said his organization has found that faith can be used to ``mobilize people to take care of nature through their belief system.''

``If people have to be baptized in running rivers, it will cause members not to pollute their waters so they can be baptized in running water which is clean. If people have to have their services under trees, it will cause members not to deforest their areas,'' Zvanaka said.

Other speakers, who included Buddhists from Cambodia and Thailand, noted the strength that religious institutions have in many communities.

``Some of our surveys in poor communities show that poor people often do not have very much faith in their governments and leaders, but they do have faith in their religious leaders, so it's clear to me this is an area we can be doing more in,'' said Tony Whitten, the World Bank's senior biodiversity specialist for the East Asia and Pacific Region.

The bank gives major financial support to environmental projects.

A Rocha International, a Christian conservation group, is trying to encourage faith-based environmentalism in Europe and the United States, said Peter Harris, the group's director general.

``Environmental stewardship is at the heart of Christian faith, and it's a tragedy that many Christian groups, particularly in the Western world, have completely forgotten this,'' Harris told The Associated Press.

``There's this feeling _ particularly in the U.S. Christian community _ that environmentalism is somehow hostile to Christian belief,'' he said. Some conservative Christians associate the environmental movement with progressive political activism to which they are unsympathetic.

Because of the divide, many Christian leaders ``are failing to engage with the very communities who are actually doing good work for environmental protection,'' Harris said.

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

Moral Hypocrisy of God-Fearing Politicians Exposed

Around the globe, savvy politicians are starting to wear religion on their sleeves. In the last US election, the two leading contenders for the presidency used their professed faith in Christianity as a way to snare the moral vote. Yet, according to a new Internet research study, none other than the founder of Christianity would condemn many of their economic and social policies.

The economic and social policies of these politicians are firmly grounded in free-market economic theory. Free market economics, in turn, is grounded in self-interest--essentially in the belief that greed is good. So you have the strange situation where politicians regularly invoke the name of God, and in the same breath announce policies based on a belief condemned as one the greatest evils by the very faith they profess.

The research, based on an attitudinal study, provides a score for a series of questions relating to many current issues. The higher the score, the greater is the deviation from fundamental Christian beliefs. The researchers used the Internet and expert sources to model the responses of key political and religious leaders to estimate a score for comparison purposes.

The results graphically expose the hypocrisy of some of the world's church-going political leaders. At one end of the scale you have Jesus Christ with a score of -151 and at the opposite end you have George Bush with a score of +145, Tony Blair with a score of +127 and John Howard with +132. Other leaders included the Dalai Lama with a score of -62, Gandhi with a score of -120 and Pope John Paul II with a score of -125.

The survey also bears out the long-held suspicion that the radical religious right, as represented by Pat Robertson of CBN fame, is more about political and economic power than about religion. Pat Robertson registered a score of +141.

The research is being conducted by author George Matafonov in collaboration with Dr. David Smith, a psychologist with over 20 years experience in executive psychological evaluation. The attitudinal survey is now open to the public and available online. The researchers invite people to test their own beliefs and see where they stand on the same scale.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Helping others gives lives focus

"True success does not consist in doing what we set forth to do, doing something that is worth doing what we had hoped to do, nor even in doing what we have struggled to do," former Harvard President Abbott Lowell said in a 1914 baccalaureate sermon, "but in doing something that is worth doing."

Instead of seeking to make the world better for others, too many people believe that unhappiness can be remedied by focusing on themselves — a coping method fueled by popular culture, said Dr. David Falcone, a professor of psychology at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

"We do this with food, music, beliefs, relationships and therapeutic hours," he said. "We consume them all. Use them to fill the void. And in some cases, it helps — hungry people need to eat."

But what they fail to realize, he said, is it isn't what they don't have that makes them unhappy, but what they don't do.

For example, while studies show that the level of well-being and life satisfaction correlates with religion, 20-somethings are the least likely to attend church or seek out volunteer opportunities.

Among 18- to 29-year-olds, less than one-third attend church once a week, said Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisian public opinion research organization based in Washington. That's compared with 36 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds; 42 percent of those ages 50 to 64; and 55 percent of people 65 and older.

"Of all the religious characteristics, church attendance is associated not only with better mental health but better physical health," said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center. "It gives people a more positive, optimistic view of the world, especially young people looking for mates or struggling with their jobs."

And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, volunteer rates in 2003 were lowest among people age 65 and older (23.7 percent) and among those in their early 20s (19.7 percent).

"You're more likely to hear an unhappy person say, 'I don't know what to do with myself' or 'I don't know which way to turn,' " Falcone said. "And yet, so often, we ineffectively try and resolve these moments by consuming. We take in hours of entertainment and consume what pleasures we can."

Research by the Points of Light Foundation, a nonprofit that links families, neighborhoods, organizations and corporations in volunteer activities, shows that not only does

childhood volunteering set in motion a pattern that is likely to remain strong throughout life, kids who volunteer were found to have experienced more psychological, social and intellectual growth than youths who do not.

So when Rakestraw arrived four years ago at Stonewall Tell Elementary School, it was a way to remain true to the values her parents instilled in her.

"Although I'm not making as much as some of my peers," Rakestraw said, "I get awards through my students and their achievements and accomplishments and those who benefit from my community service."

She's also been careful to pass that legacy on to her students, encouraging them to reach out to others. Her third-grade class is currently collecting bottled water and clothes for hurricane victims in Haiti.

"The 'quarterlife crisis' is real for some and bunk for others," she said. "The problem for me is learning how to handle workplace jealousy, racial tensions and unethical and mean-spirited people. The rest of the time, I feel blessed."

Some of her friends, she said, haven't been so lucky. They've had a difficult time adjusting to the real world. Some haven't been able to find jobs while others are beginning to realize they don't like what they are doing.

One of them, Meshanna Chappell Marcus, 26, recently figured out she wasn't cut out for bank management.

As soon as she graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2000, Marcus landed a job as a financial service representative. From that moment on, she enjoyed raises and promotions, working her way up to branch manager.

But she was never happy having to always be in pursuit of a higher goal than the last one.

In November 2002, she dreamed she was in a classroom and really happy. Soon after, she enrolled at West Georgia University to become a special education teacher.

In July, Marcus — who said bankers' hours didn't leave much time for her to volunteer — left her office for the classroom at Lovejoy High School.

"When the light goes on in their heads and I see 'I got it' in their eyes, I love it," she said of students. "At the end of the day, I'm a lot more fulfilled."

By GRACIE BONDS STAPLES
Cox News Service
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Gracie Bonds Staples writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Spirituality and Religion Among Americans Age 45 and Older

This study offers a fresh look at religion and spirituality among midlife and older Americans by examining their churchgoing behavior, what they consider their most satisfying spiritual and religious experiences, and their dissatisfaction, if any, with religion or their church.

While affirming age old beliefs and research showing that women are more religious than men, and older people are more religious than younger people, the telephone survey of 1,625 age 45+ Americans, conducted in 2004 for AARP The Magazine, also uncovered some surprises. Among the findings:

* More than half of those surveyed attend church regularly, or at least once every two weeks.
* Women are more likely than men to be regular churchgoers, and to consider themselves very spiritual or very religious.
* Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to be regular churchgoers (65, 54, and 50 percent respectively).
* Most respondents tend to perceive themselves as religious, and most who consider themselves very religious also consider themselves very spiritual, and vice versa. *

However, those who say they are very spiritual are not as likely to say that they are very religious.

The survey was conducted for AARP in August 2004 by International Communications Research (ICR) of Media Pennsylvania through its EXCEL National Telephone

Omnibus Study. The summary report was written by Xenia P. Montenegro, Ph.D. of AARP Knowledge Management who may be contacted at 202-434-3538 for additional information. (32 pages)

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13 percent don't plan to celebrate Thanksgiving

Not everyone yearns for roast turkey and cranberry sauce at grandmother's house this Thanksgiving.

One out of every eight people is planning a non-traditional Thanksgiving or has decided not to observe the holiday at all, according to a survey of 1,022 adult residents of the United States by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.

Thirteen percent answered "no" when asked, "Do you and your family plan to have a special gathering for a meal this Thanksgiving?" Lifestyle and family structure have an enormous impact on whether Americans plan to go over the river and through the woods for a family gathering.

"Children do figure very importantly in all of this," said Johns Hopkins University anthropologist Sidney Mintz, who has written about the cultural significance of food. "People without children are freed up from the need for Thanksgiving. They are not under pressure to bring the children to visit their grandparents."

Although Thanksgiving is America's most universally celebrated holiday, nearly a quarter of married couples without children say they will bypass a traditional family gathering this year.

"That's very odd. This isn't a very expensive holiday," Mintz said. "People think of Thanksgiving as a pretext to see each other."

But the anthropologist also noted that poverty can weaken family bonds since traveling to visit distant relatives is prohibitively expensive, especially in times of high gasoline prices.

The survey found Thanksgiving also maintains its religious overtones. People who have no religious preference or who have not attended church services recently are twice as likely to skip a traditional observance as are people with stronger ties to organized religion.

The war in Iraq, lingering doubts about the economy and persistent fears of terrorist attacks have prompted a majority of adults to conclude America is "on the wrong track."

This pessimism appears to have sombered expectations for the holidays.

Only 16 percent predict "this Thanksgiving will be the happiest you've ever celebrated," while 18 percent said it will be "not as happy as in past thanksgivings" and 61 percent said it will be "about average." Five percent were undecided.

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Monday, November 15, 2004

The Secret to a Healthier Diet Might Be at Church

* Are you searching for another reason to become active in your church besides spiritual sustenance? Researchers at Saint Louis University School of Public Health have discovered a link between church involvement and eating the fruits and veggies that are best for you.

“We’re saying church membership or having that church community is one of the key links in the long chain of social support structures that help people eat better,” says Deidre Griffith, the Saint Louis University researcher who will be presenting the information at the American Public Health Association conference in early November.

Jennifer Strayhorn, executive director of Hope Build, a faith-based community organization that focuses on healthy lifestyle, is Saint Louis University’s collaborative partner on the project, and will join Griffith for the presentation.

The researchers found that those who frequently attended church ate 26 percent more “powerhouse” fruits and vegetables – those fruits and veggies that contain the most nutrients – than those who didn’t, Griffith says.

Powerhouse fruits and vegetables are citrus, cruciferous – such as broccoli or cauliflower, those that have the brightest colors – dark green leafy greens or bright orange carrots and cantaloupe.

Everyone in the survey ate the most popular fruits and vegetables – corn, iceberg lettuce and bananas. But frequent church-goers – many of whom attended choir rehearsals, Bible study groups, workshop services or committee meetings each week – ate more of the stuff that researchers say offer the most nutrition.

“The body is your temple and we should treat it that way,” Griffith says. “Church can be a big part of your support system for changing your diet.”

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Connecting through e-vangelism

God has gone high tech.

As an increasing number of the wired individuals turn to the Internet for spiritual guidance. The market is large: More than half of an estimated 128 million people in the United States with Internet access have gone online for "spiritual or religious purposes," according to a Pew Internet & American Life survey released in April. Of these "online faithful," who are likely to be white, college-educated women, 28 percent exchange information about their spirituality with others, and 26 percent seek information about other religious traditions. Some do both.

Typing "Jesus" into ubiquitous search engine Google turns up 35.5 million Web pages, from Christian rock fan clubs to a site selling Jesus refrigerator magnets.

When the Rev. Kevin Chubb of Celebration Church in Lake Mary saw that more people were finding his church from its Web site than from a Yellow Pages ad, he reduced the conventional ad to a simple listing and concentrated on the Internet.

"We're finding that more and more people, when they even plan a move to the area, if they know they're going to be looking for a church, they do that through the Internet," the Southern Baptist minister says.

"We feel like that's one way we're spreading the Gospel, just a new way to do it," he says. "It's the same message but a different method."

"The Internet is just a natural next step of using the available ways of connecting with people," says Claudia Schippert, assistant professor of humanities and director of the religious-studies program at the University of Central Florida, citing 18th-century tent revivals and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson's 1920s radio broadcasts as examples of methods that were unorthodox at the time.

"In some ways, that is part of the reason why evangelical Christianity has been quite successful at broadening its ministry, unlike some churches that have had declining church attendance," she says.

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Monday, November 08, 2004

Children pray as "significant moments"

Research for a PhD at the Australian Catholic University has found that children use prayer to aid them in life even if they are not religious.

The Sun-Herald reported yesterday that Dr Vivienne Mountain, a chaplain at Firbank Grammar School in Brighton, Victoria, interviewed 60 children aged 10 to 12 from six schools for her PhD on children's spirituality. Two were secular schools and the rest were religious - a mix of Islamic, Jewish and Christian.

She found that prayer was used at significant moments in children's lives.

"Common for all of them was that when things were tough, that was one thing you could do," Dr Mountain said.

She said prayer should be considered an activity with psychological importance and be recognised as a coping mechanism.

Dr Mountain said there are theories that the idea of God, or of a higher being, is innate in humans from birth and that it is society that pushes that idea, and therefore the idea of praying to that being, out of them.

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Saturday, November 06, 2004

Job Candidate Morality Now Under Scrutiny

In light of recent corporate scandals, U.S. companies are trying new interview techniques to gauge the morality of potential employees.

"Some of my colleagues in psychology think there's a distinction between embezzling, compulsive lying, substance abuse and philandering, but it's all of a piece," Robert Hogan of Hogan Assessment Systems in Tulsa, Okla., told USA Today.

Now many of those who screen candidates for executive-level hire or promotion are conducting more rigorous background checks and interviewing candidates with their spouses.

And it's not just shareholders that stand to suffer from such moral shortfalls -- immoral bosses make work atmospheres harder on their subordinates, psychologist Louis Cox said.

For instance, many of the executives involved in recent scandals also betrayed their wives. Trial testimony revealed former Tyco Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski had at least two affairs before he married one of his mistresses. A book about Enron said several of its executives were openly pursuing or dating co-workers.

"It's tough for people to make honest choices when they're leading double lives," Hogan said.

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Three teens out of 10 took part in missions, ministry

About three U.S. teenagers in 10 have gone on at least one religious mission trip or participated in a religious service project, a new study says.

In a random telephone survey of 3,290 teens age 13 to 17 conducted by The National Study of Youth and Religion, 29 percent said they have participated in an organized religious service project or mission trip.

Among teens who participated in such an activity, the survey found 43 percent attend church once a week or more, 25 percent once or twice a month and 21 percent less than once a month. Nine percent of teens who said they participated in religious service projects "never" attend church.

Seventy percent of Church of the Latter-day Saints teens reported religious service involvement, the most among all religious groups. Even though they have not yet embarked on their traditional two-year mission by the age of 17, Mormons are taught the importance of service early on, said Latter-Day Saints spokesman Dale Bills.

Among other religious groups, 43 percent of mainline Protestant teens said they participated in service projects and missions, while Catholic and Jewish teens reported the least involvement, at 23 percent each.

The study also found that mothers with college degrees are more likely to have teenagers involved in religious service projects. One-fifth of teens whose mothers have less than a high school education said they participated in service projects, compared with 37 percent of the children of women with master's degrees.

The percentages drop, however, among children of women with doctorates or professional degrees. Only 13 percent of those teens said they participated in religious projects. The study did not mention a correlation between fathers' education and religious service.

"In terms of the effect of religion on service, education can boost the effect up to a point, and then among your most highly educated you tend to have less investment in religion," said Melinda Denton, project manager for the study. "There's some relationship between increased religion and decreased religiosity at those higher levels of education."

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Personal morality beats social justice at the polls

The biggest factor shaping Americans' votes on Nov. 2 was the mother of all sleeper issues--"moral values."

In nationwide exit polls, one in five voters said moral values were the most important issue in casting their votes, outpacing every other major topic. Those "values" voters overwhelmingly went for President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, 79 percent to 18 percent.

The stronger-than-expected role of moral values signals that the nation's values agenda is likely to be dominated by "social morality" concerns for abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research--issues vital to Bush's base.

The election also marks a defeat for progressive groups who tried to cast "social justice" concerns of poverty, war and the environment as moral issues.

Either way, Jim Wallis, a self-described progressive evangelical, said neither blue states nor red states should try to claim a corner on the values market.

"The right wants to say these are the only moral values; the left wants to say only our issues are moral values," said Wallis, convener of the Washington-based Call to Renewal anti-poverty group. "The truth is there are moral values across the spectrum."

Bush's embrace of socially conservative values rallied his evangelical base, who turned out in record force for him at the polls.

One reason why values may have emerged as so important is because pollsters did not survey the topic four years ago.

John Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron, said "moral values" can mean different things to different voters. But typically, "when ordinary people think of morality, they think of traditional sexual morality. ... They don't think of social justice."

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Benefits of religious activity found

A survey of 3,680 college juniors on 46 campuses shows those with active religious involvement are less likely to experience the psychological problems of the sort researchers say increase during the college years.

The report from UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, a standard source for student data, is part of ongoing research on campus religion.

Among its findings: 20 percent of highly religious students reported high levels of psychological distress, compared with 34 percent for those with little involvement in religious activities like reading Scriptures or attending worship.

The religiously inactive were more than twice as likely to say they frequently felt depressed (13 percent, compared with 6 percent for the religiously active).

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Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Koreans Quietly Introducing Jesus to Muslims in Mideast

A South Korean missionary here speaks of introducing Jesus in a "low voice and with wisdom" to Muslims, the most difficult group to convert. In Baghdad, South Koreans plan to open a seminary even after Iraqi churches have been bombed in two recent coordinated attacks. In Beijing, they defy the Chinese government to smuggle North Koreans to Seoul while turning them into Christians.

South Korea has rapidly become the world's second largest source of Christian missionaries, only a couple of decades after it started deploying them. With more than 12,000 abroad, it is second only to the United States and ahead of Britain.

The Koreans have joined their Western counterparts in more than 160 countries, from the Middle East to Africa, from Central to East Asia. Imbued with the fervor of the born again, they have become known for aggressively going to - and sometimes being expelled from - the hardest-to-evangelize corners of the world. Their actions are at odds with the foreign policy of South Korea's government, which is trying to rein them in here and elsewhere.

It is the first time that large numbers of Christian missionaries have been deployed by a non-Western nation, one whose roots are Confucian and Buddhist, and whose population remains two-thirds non-Christian. Unlike Western missionaries, whose work dovetailed with the spread of colonialism, South Koreans come from a country with little history of sending people abroad until recently. They proselytize, not in their own language, but in the local one or English.

"There is a saying that when Koreans now arrive in a new place, they establish a church; the Chinese establish a restaurant; the Japanese, a factory," said a South Korean missionary in his 40's, who has worked here for several years and, like many others, asked not to be identified because of the dangers of proselytizing in Muslim countries.

In 1979, only 93 South Koreans were serving as missionaries, according to the Korea Research Institute for Missions. Compared with South Korea's 12,000, there are about 46,000 American and 6,000 British missionaries, according to missionary organizations in South Korea and the West.

Roman Catholicism first came to the Korean Peninsula in the late 18th century, followed a century later by Protestant missionaries from the United States. Christianity failed to set firm roots in Japan and China, where 19th-century missionaries were seen as agents of Western imperialism. But it spread quickly on the Korean Peninsula, where American missionaries helped Korean nationalists fight against Japanese colonial rulers and informed the outside world of the brutalities of Japanese colonialism.

It was only in the last two decades, however, with the growth of the South Korean economy and its newly democratic government's decision to allow its citizens to travel freely overseas, that South Korean Christianity took on a missionary gloss.

Today, an equal number of missionaries are born again or members of Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptists denominations, said Steve S. C. Moon, executive director of the Korea Research Institute for Missions. These missionaries, like their Western counterparts, tend to focus on activities that are evangelical, educational and medical.

A typical case is the Presbyterian Onnuri Church, founded 19 years ago with the main purpose of training missionaries. It now has 500 in 53 countries, though it focuses on China, Indonesia and India, said Kim Joong Won, director of its missionary program.

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Optimism May Make for a Longer Life

Older adults with a bright outlook on the future may live longer than those who take a dimmer view, a study out Monday suggests.

Researchers in the Netherlands found that older men and women judged to have optimistic personalities were less likely to die over the nine-year study period than those with pessimistic dispositions.

Much of this reduced risk was due to lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease among the most optimistic men and women in the study. They were 77 percent less likely to die of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular cause than the most pessimistic group-regardless of factors such as age, weight, smoking and whether they had cardiovascular or other chronic diseases at the study's start.

The researchers, led by Dr. Erik J. Giltay of the Psychiatric Center GGZ Delfland in Delft, report the findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Many studies have tied negative emotions, such as chronic depression and hopelessness, to the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or other conditions. Less clear, according to Giltay's team, has been whether an optimistic disposition -- the tendency to believe that good things, rather than bad, will happen -- may help an older person live longer.

To investigate, the researchers followed 941 Dutch adults between the ages of 65 and 85. At the outset, participants completed a standard survey on general well-being that included a scale that gauged their tendency to be optimistic or pessimistic. The scale included statements like, "I often feel that life is full of promises," and "I still have many goals to strive for."

Study subjects were divided into four groups according to their levels of optimism or pessimism. The researchers also collected information on lifestyle factors, occupation, education and health history.

After an average follow-up of nine years, 42 percent of the study group had died, but those with the highest levels of optimism at the start had the lowest death rates-30 percent versus more than 57 percent in the most pessimistic group.

With other factors considered, the risk of death was 29 percent lower among highly optimistic men and women.

There are a number of possible explanations for the findings, according to the researchers. One is that, although chronic disease was accounted for in this study, pessimistic participants still may have been in poorer general health, possibly suffering "subclinical" health conditions.

But optimism may have had positive effects as well. Optimists, Giltay and his colleagues note, may be better at coping with adversity, and may, for example, be more likely to comply with medical treatment if they do fall ill.

It's also possible, they add, that there are biological benefits of having a sunnier disposition, such as effects on the immune and hormonal systems.