TruthBook Religious News Blog

by Eliza Carney

Many of the worldwide celebrations of Easter reported in the Coloradoan focused on bringing peace and a better future for this fractured world. But many see religion itself as a primary cause of the fracturing. And this is unfortunately true in many places.

But there are other instances where people of faith do try to be true to the ideals of justice and peace of their founders. This is true of the U.S. Christian leaders' mission (United Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist, Evangelical, Quaker, Mennonite, National Council of Churches and others) to Tehran several weeks ago, an event little-reported in the media. Their objective was "to meet with religious and political leaders in Iran to help diffuse tensions and explore ways to forge peace between Iran and the U.S."

Here are excerpts from the U.S. religious delegation's wrap-up statement on the Tehran mission, words we hope will be echoed in faith communities across the land:

"As Christian leaders from the United States, we went to Iran at this time of increased tension believing that it is possible to build bridges of understanding between our two countries. We believe military action is not the answer, and that God calls us to just and peaceful relationships within the global community.

"We were warmly welcomed by the Iranian people, and our time in Iran convinced us that religious leaders from both countries can help pave the way for mutual respect and peaceful relations between our nations.

"During our visit, we met with Muslim and Christian leaders, government officials, and other Iranian people. Our final day included a meeting with former President Khatami and current President Ahmadinejad. The meeting with President Ahmadinejad was the first time an American delegation had met with a sitting Iranian President in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The meeting lasted 2.5 hours and covered a range of topics including the role of religion in transforming conflict, Iraq, nuclear proliferation, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"What the delegation found most encouraging from the meeting with President Ahmadinejad was a clear declaration from him of no intention to acquire or use nuclear weapons, as well as a statement that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be solved through political not military means. Finally, he said, 'I have no reservation about conducting talks with American officials if we see some good will.'

"We believe it is possible for further dialogue and that there can be a new day in U.S.-Iranian relations. The Iranian government has already built a bridge toward the American people by inviting our delegation to come to Iran. We ask the U.S. government to welcome a similar delegation of Iranian religious leaders to the United States.

"As additional steps in building bridges between our nations, we call upon both the United States and Iranian governments to:

Immediately engage in direct face-to-face talks;

Cease using language that defines the other using "enemy" images;

Promote more people-to-people exchanges including religious leaders, members of Parliament/ Congress, and civil society.

"As people of faith, we are committed to working toward these and other confidence-building measures, which we hope will move our two nations from the precipice of war toward a more just and peaceful settlement."

Peace between the United States and Iran is both possible and essential. People of faith in both nations can help make it happen.

Will we?

Eliza Carney is a member of the Peace and Justice Committee at the Fort Collins Mennonite Fellowship.

Labels: Christian, Eliza Carney, God, Iran, peace, President Ahmadinejad, religion, Tehran

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Dalai Lama: Feeling Of Peace

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 20:47
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

The Honolulu Advertiser WAILUKU, Maui —

Even before the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso appeared on stage yesterday at War Memorial Stadium, his message of peace and compassion permeated through the crowd, estimated at more than 10,000."You get that vibe that everyone's together," said Mike Serro, 27, of Brooklyn, N.Y., as he wandered around the booths selling food and Tibetan crafts with Jen Bino, 25, of Toronto.

"I'm just thinking how lucky I am that he's here right now. It's amazing," Bino said about the Dalai Lama's first visit to Maui.

Wailuku resident Tina Del Dotto said she's not a Buddhist and never studied Buddhism, but felt a need to experience the occasion. "If there was going to be an opportunity to be with people of Maui who have a heart of peace and kindness in this world of turmoil, I want to feel that Maui energy and the peace," said Del Dotto, 55.

The 71-year-old spiritual leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of the best-selling "The Art of Happiness" fled into exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese communist rule in Tibet. He continues to negotiate with the Chinese government over maintaining some degree of self-rule and cultural autonomy for Tibet.

A group of kumu hula from four islands yesterday welcomed the Dalai Lama with a series of oli and lei offerings, followed by a performance by Halau Hula Wehiwehi O Leilehua. The guest of honor noted with a chuckle that the women's Hawaiian garb resembled the robes worn by Buddhist nuns.

He was quick to laugh throughout his hour-plus talk, titled "The Human Approach to World Peace," enchanting the crowd with his humor and humble demeanor.

The Dalai Lama said religion may not be essential to a happy life, but that respect for basic human values is.

Many people consider love and compassion as a religious matter and not important in daily life, the Tibetan leader said. "That's totally wrong, he said." In fact, in a busy world, love and compassion are even more critical than ever, he said.

Just as we choose the right foods that are good for our bodies, we should make proper choices from our "supermarket of emotions" for the good of our mental health, he said, avoiding hatred, jealousy, envy and anger.

Labels: Buddhism, Christie Wilson, compassion, Dalai Lama, love, values

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Another Confrontation With Ourselves

Issue Date: April 27, 2007

Virginia Tech.

A new name on the roster of senseless slaughter. We have seen so much of this.

We are violent.

In the past half-century we have witnessed the assassinations of a president, his presidential candidate brother and a civil rights leader, and attempted assassinations of other presidential candidates and presidents. We have witnessed the murders of civil rights workers and antiwar protesters, including the killing of four on the Kent State University campus.

There was Columbine, where 13 students were gunned down in 1999 before the shooters killed themselves. In 2006, in the quiet of Pennsylvania’s Amish country, 11 youngsters were shot and 5 killed, execution style, in an elementary school.

Twelve years ago this month, a truck bomb destroyed half a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 and injuring more than 800.

We’ve puzzled over snipers from university towers and killers who haunted Maryland and Virginia, and a highway sniper in the upper Midwest, picking off the unsuspecting, one at a time, from a distance.

* * *

The concession one makes in these moments is that so much is beyond our control. We cannot, as Jesuit Fr. William Byron said, inure ourselves against or forever avoid malice, but we can rely on "faith and religion to ready the human spirit to withstand any assault."

Relying on faith as the ultimate protection against life’s disruptions, however, should not leave us helpless. There are things we can do.

Two days after the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, President Clinton declared: "We must do more to reach out to our children and teach them to express their anger and resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons."

That same day he ordered intense bombing of Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia.

Anyone who’s raised a child knows that they don’t learn well when behavior contradicts teaching. One thing we can do is more deeply examine who we are and how accepting we are of state-sponsored violence. Does it square with who and what we say we are?

* * *
The day of the shooting massacre on the Virginia Tech campus, President Bush said in a TV interview that he expected a debate on gun control policy, but argued that now is not the time.

We can’t think of a better time.

According to a 2007 Small Arms Survey, the United States ranks first in the world in gun ownership with 90 weapons per 100 people. By contrast, the rate in France, for instance is 32 per 100 people, and 31 per 100 in Canada, Sweden and Austria.

The numbers themselves would be insignificant, save for the fact that guns account for so much carnage among our children.

These statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are posted on the Web site of the National Education Association:

The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. The number of U.S. kids killed by gunfire in 2002 was 3,012. American children are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.

* * *
Lax enforcement of existing gun control laws and consistent erosion of those laws have allowed the deadly gun culture to flourish. Even the 1994 ban on assault weapons, essentially battlefield grade weapons that have no use other than killing humans quickly, efficiently and in great numbers, was allowed to expire three years ago.

The gun lobby -- rich, unconscionable and unscrupulous in manipulating public fear -- has most politicians in a stranglehold. The stranglehold is maintained even as survey after survey, including gun owners and members of households where guns are available, show that a majority of Americans approve of reasonable controls.

We may not be able to hold off malice in the world, or predict the actions of the deranged among us. But we all can do something to foster a culture less accommodating of violence and less friendly toward those who make the violence possible.

Who are we, really, and what kind of culture do we want? How much state-sponsored violence are we willing to tolerate and pay for? How much will we allow the purveyors of arms to dictate our politics? What actions are we willing to place behind the instructions on nonviolence that we attempt to pass on to our children?

Labels: Columbine, culture, gun culture, gun lobby, guns, Oklahoma City, snipers, violence

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

COURTNEY E. MARTIN: For girls who hate their bodies - a spiritual crisis

The Christian Science Monitor
Brooklyn, N.Y. --

Worried talk about the next generation of high-achieving, health-neglecting "perfect girls" is everywhere.

Girls Inc. just published the results of its depressing, nationwide survey called "The Supergirl Dilemma," which reveals that girls' obsession with thinness has gotten significantly worse in the past six years. Despite the efforts of the Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty - well-intentioned, though undeniably market-driven - and Love Your Body Day events sweeping every school from San Francisco to Syracuse, 90 percent of teenage girls think they are overweight today, compared with 24 percent in 1995, according to a recent ELLEgirl survey.

So what gives? Is it our celebrity-obsessed, extreme makeover culture? Is it the newest version of the age-old story of dysfunctional family relationships? Is it peer pressure - mean girls critiquing one another's every lunchtime indiscretion? Is it the $30 billion a year diet industry?
It is, in truth, all of the above. But there is also another profoundly important - yet little noticed - dynamic at work in the anxious, achievement-oriented lives of America's perfect girls: They have a sometimes deadly, often destructive, lack of faith.

So many perfect girls were raised entirely without organized religion, and the majority of the rest of us - I reluctantly admit to my own membership in the perfect girl club - experienced "spirituality" only in the form of mandatory holiday services with a big-haired grandmother or unconscionably elaborate and expensive bat mitvah parties, where everything but the Torah is emphasized.

Overlay our dearth of spiritual exploration with our excess of training in ambition - never mind SAT prep courses; today, even community service is linked to college application brownie points - and you have a generation of godless girls. We were raised largely without a fundamental sense of divinity. In fact, our worth in the world has always been tied to our looks, grades, and gifts - not the amazing miracle of mere existence.

In this climate, we feel perpetually called to perfect our own "body projects" - the term used by historian Joan Jacob Brumberg. Thinness and achievement stand in for the qualities of kindness and humility. We think that our perfect bodies - not God's grace or good works - will get us into heaven. We have no deeply held sense of our own divinity, so we chase after some unattainable ideal. Perfect girls, as a result, feel they are never enough. Never disciplined enough. Never accomplished enough. Never thin enough.

The worst of this can be seen in the frightening Web sites that purport to be support groups for girls with anorexia and bulimia. Such sites claim that these two disorders are a religion, not a disease, and pray to false gods named after them: Ana and Mia. Though highly deluded and dangerously ill, girls who frequent these sites have taken the black hole at their centers and filled it with an obsessive faith in the power and purity of thinness. In essence, they are crying out to our godless culture, showing us just how damaged a child can be who is thrown to the wolves of advertising and amoral media without any spiritual armor.

I'm not calling for a return to conservative religion or restricting dogma. I'm envisioning an inspired movement toward community where girls are nourished with dinner-table conversations about the values of kindness and charity; where girls undergoing puberty are encouraged to embrace the miraculous, complex, and perfectly imperfect bodies they possess; and where girls can find inspiration - not condemnation - in religious texts.

For starters, the Bible has something to teach the perfect girl who calculates beauty in terms of pounds and dress sizes: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight" (I Peter 3:3,4). (New International Version)

And Buddha, the man often portrayed as blissful with his belly, has a paradigm-shifting message for the average American woman accustomed to self-hate: "You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."

A supermom of an elite college hopeful told New York Times reporter Sara Rimer, "You just hope your child doesn't have anorexia of the soul." While she is spot on in her fears, she seems woefully shortsighted about her responsibilities. It is we, all of us, who have the power to resurrect a society that values spirit above skinniness. We have to start doing it - one prayer, one family hike, one heart-to-heart discussion about what really matters - at a time.

Courtney E. Martin is the author of "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body."

Labels: anorexia, Bible, body image, Buddha, bulimia, Courtney E. Martin, girls, Joan Jacob Brumberg, teenagers

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Frank Talk About Sex . . . And Faith

Austin author's surprising findings in teen survey

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, April 14, 2007

Warning: This column might make you blush.

I know it's going to make me a little squeamish. And I think that's part of the point. Religion and sex, to adapt a phrase, make uneasy bedfellows.

But they intersect regularly in the lives of American teenagers. And Mark D. Regnerus, assistant sociology professor at the University of Texas, has found some surprising accounts of how faith influences the sexual decisions of teens.

In his new book, "Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers," Regnerus debunks some myths about trends in teen sexuality, explores the effectiveness of abstinence-only education and hears from those who pledge virginity until marriage or try to determine their "emotional readiness" for sex.

Regnerus used survey data and in-person interviews with more than 250 teens across the country to find out how beliefs and participation in faith communities shape their actions.

The key is being plugged into a religious community, Regnerus says. Participation, rather than denomination, is the factor that makes a difference.

Let me give you a little background here about Regnerus. He's 36 and grew up in Michigan, the son of a minister in the Reformed Church in America, a small denomination founded in the colonial period by Dutch settlers. He now attends Covenant Presbyterian Church in North Austin with his wife and two children.

As a person of faith, he appreciates the influence of religion on teenagers. As a dad, he's well aware of the challenges he'll face when his own kids reach their raging hormones phase.

He understands that it's not easy to talk about sex. And in the age of easy access to Internet pornography, religious and nonreligious parents alike fret about the images and messages that could confront their children.

"It's a strange new world," Regnerus said, adding that porn is "radically shaping how adolescent boys and (young) men think about sex, think about women."

With those images so prevalent, how should churches treat sex? Is it a sacred act? A profane one? Is it both?

These are good questions, but Regnerus says religious communities aren't raising them. Most teens would be hard-pressed to articulate their denomination's teachings on sex, other than "it's best to wait for marriage."

I asked him what approach best serves teens.

"The emotionally healthiest thing to do is wait," Regnerus said. "That seems pretty clear for the evidence."

But he immediately anticipated the next question: Wait for what? Marriage? A monogamous adult relationship? How do parents and religious institutions prepare young people?

In his "unscientific postscript," Regnerus stresses that his book aims to show "what is, not what ought to be." But he's not afraid to share his opposition to abstinence-only education, and he stresses that kids do want to hear about sex from their parents.

"The idea of 'the talk' has to go away," he said. "It must be an ongoing dialogue."
And another thing troubled him: the gender double standard.

"We wink at (boys) and we tell girls to wait," he said.

Yet another complicated issue. It is different for girls. Regnerus found that teen girls struggled more with the guilt and emotional pain associated with sex.

He writes in his postscript, ". . . if congregations intend to be faithful to their own teachings about the body and sexuality, they should stop winking at this double standard, acknowledge it, and start having more frank conversations about the real sexual issues that real people face."

Provided they can stop blushing long enough.

Labels: community, faith, Mark Regnerus, pornography, religion, sex, teenagers

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Dad's Love Influences Child as Much as Mom's Love

A father's love -- or the lack of it -- contributes as much to the development of a child's personality and behavior as the love of a mother, according to researchers. In some respects, they add, a father's love is even more influential.

Probably the most important and most surprising finding of all is that the importance of mother love seems to drop out altogether in some of the analyses.

The researchers reviewed almost 100 US and European studies investigating the effects of parenting on the psychology and behavior of children as they grew older.

The earliest study was conducted in 1949, and the most recent was completed in 2001.
They report that the degree of acceptance or rejection a child receives -- and perceives -- from his or her father appears to affect his or her development as deeply as the presence or absence of a mother's love.

They note that the withholding of love by either the mother or the father is equally connected to a child's lack of self-esteem, emotional instability, withdrawal, depression and anxiety. And the risk of developing problems with aggression, drug and alcohol abuse, and delinquency was equally related to a child's rejection or acceptance by either parent.

The investigators also found that having the love and nurturing of either parent has an equally positive effect on a child's happiness, well-being and social and academic success from early childhood through young adulthood.

The team further found that in certain instances, the love of a father plays an even more important role than that of the mother. Many studies found a father's love to be the sole determining factor when it came to a child's problems with personality, conduct, delinquency or substance abuse.

The researchers don't want to suggest that a mother's love is less important than the love of a father. The research reveals an American cultural bias to overemphasize the role the mother plays in raising her children, at the expense of understanding and appreciating the equally crucial role of the father.

In certain aspects, father's love seems to have a particularly strong influence. So it seems clear that we have to move away from mother-bashing: assuming somehow that the mother is completely at fault for all the problems of her kids. And, hopefully, this information will encourage fathers all over the country to become more involved with their kids.

Review of General Psychology December 2001;5:382-405

Labels: children, Dr Mercola, fathers, mothers

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Americans Split Over Religion in Politics

Americans Split Over Religion in Politics
April 7, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the United States are divided in their perception of the role organized religion currently plays in public life, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates released by Newsweek. 32 per cent think organized religion has too much influence on politics, 31 per cent say it has too little influence, and 29 per cent believe the balance is adequate.

In June 2005, U.S. president George W. Bush defended his decision to allow access to federal funds for faith-based organizations, saying, "Building a more compassionate society requires that we mobilize our nation’s armies of compassion to help the poor, the sick, and those who hurt. America’s faith-based institutions change hearts every day. And we depend on the work of these organizations to bring hope to harsh places."

In December 2006, American journalist Amy Sullivan discussed the importance of religion in presidential elections, saying, "In 2004 only one of the primary candidates had any staff member who was reaching out to religious constituencies and to voter. At this point it looks like perhaps not all but at least a majority of candidates in 2008 primary will have somebody on staff focused on religious outreach and religious strategy, and that’s a sea change in the space of four years." 36 per cent of respondents think the influence of organized religion on American politics has increased in recent years, 23 per cent say it has decreased, and 37 per cent believe it has stayed roughly the same.

Polling Data

Do you think organized religion has too much influence on American politics today, too little influence, or about the right amount?

Too much influence
32%

Too little influence
31%

Right amount
29%

Don’t know
8%

Do you think the influence of organized religion on American politics has increased in recent years, decreased, or stayed about the same?

Increased
36%

Decreased
23%

Stayed about the same
37%

Don’t know
4%

Source: Princeton Survey Research Associates / Newsweek
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,004 American adults, conducted on Mar. 28 and Mar. 29, 2007. Margin of error is 4 per cent.

Labels: elections, faith-based initiative, politics, Princeton Survey Research Associates, religion, Unites States

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The Changing (Inter)Face of Religion

Online religious practices may signal the start of new traditions

—By Evelyn Hampton, Utne.com
April 11, 2007 Issue

Time-worn places of worship, whether they be ornate gothic cathedrals or simple temples, tend to be communal, bringing people together to bump elbows, sneeze, and whisper while they perform the ritual of religious ceremony. Now, an increasing number of the world's faithful come together to practice in cyberspace, suggesting that the next Chartres may very well be built of pixels.

The move to put religion online has been in the works for a while: a 2000 Pew Internet & American Life survey of congregations found that "the Internet has become a vital force in many faith communities." And according to another survey by the research organization in 2004, nearly 82 million Americans -- two thirds of the country's online users -- go to the internet for religious or spiritual reasons.

Today, there are myriad ways the internet is used by the faithful. One way, following the popularity of sites like MySpace, is for social networking. In "Sites Hope To Redeem Internet," Bettye Wells Miller reports for Southern California's Press-Enterprise on the popularity of sites like MyChurch, MEETfish, and Shmooze, where members create profiles to share with a network of friends.

Other sites offer mutual support: at DailyConfession.com, anyone can anonymously confess their sins, baring their soul by typing into a text box and clicking "I Confess." David Briggs of the Religion News Service notes that the website is particularly popular among the young, who are becoming more comfortable sharing intimate secrets and seeking advice online. And share they do: 300 to 400 confessions are posted and over a million people visit the site each day.

Virtual religious services, such as those available in the online role-playing game Second Life, are also increasingly popular rivals to physical-world services, as Cathy Lynn Grossman recently reported for USA Today. Some spiritual sites have "'pray-ables,' animated spots that will pop an avatar into proper praying position, whether bowing on a carpet, kneeling in a cathedral, or landing in the lotus position in a Buddhist spiritual center." One player commented that while his avatar prayed, so did he, mindfully mirroring his virtual embodiment. Some players even build their own holy sites -- one has built a version of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Within the game are also pan-denominational groups like Avatars of Change, which has 180 members "from Christians to Jedi to Rastafarians, and is styled like a monastic order that functions to gather donations for charity and promotes interfaith discussion."

While Pew's 2004 survey found that online religious activities are a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, similar offline activities, some worry that the internet will lead the faithful astray. Objecting to the virtual practice of religions in Second Life, the chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Denver told USA Today that religion means submitting to "'beliefs and practices revealed by God and passed down by generations of believers. You can't phone that in." Yet as individuals -- particularly young people -- increasingly look to the internet to aid in their religious explorations, they are likely to create new beliefs and practices. What new developments this trend may bring are yet to be seen. One positive probability: Virtual interfaith conflicts would likely draw less real blood.

Labels: confession, Evelyn Hampton, Internet, online, Pew Internet And American Life survey, social networking

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Survey: Most Doctors Believe Religion, Spirituality Have Positive Effects on Illness

Doug Huntington
Correspondent

Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2007 Posted: 10:00:AM PST

Nearly 6 out of 10 physicians believe religion and spirituality have much or very much influence on health, according to a study featured in the Apr. 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, a bi-monthly international peer-reviewed professional medical journal.

Over half of physicians believe that religion and spirituality has a major impact on patient wellness, according to a new study. It also revealed that 2 out of every 5 doctors feel that it also helps prevent bad outcomes.

From a random sample of 2,000 doctors around the United States, the University of Chicago also found that 2 out of every 5 respondents felt that religion and spirituality (R/S) can help prevent bad outcomes such as heart attacks, infections and even death. The results comes one year after another study had disputed the positive effect of therapeutic prayer.

Last year, a $2.4-million study conducted by the Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School and other scientists found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery and that patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications. Although some scientists had hoped the long-awaited and rigorously investigated prayer study would close the book on the debated effects of therapeutic prayer, for much of America’s faithful majority it had not.

In the latest report, Dr. Wayne Detmer, an internist at Lawndale Christian Health Center, noted that all doctors have experienced patient recoveries "that don't make sense based on our current understanding of physiology or medicine."

And although only 6 percent of doctors in the survey believed that R/S often changed "hard" medical outcomes, most doctors believe that R/S helps patients cope with their illness (76 percent), gives the patients a positive state of mind (75 percent), and provides emotional support from their religious community (55 percent).

Also, while several doctors expressed drawbacks to R/S, saying that patients will be more likely to prematurely leave medical therapy as well as have negative emotions such as guilt that will increase suffering, still 85 percent responded that it is overall a positive aspect.

The research also concluded that those health professionals with religious backgrounds were more likely to report significant impacts of R/S on health than non-religious ones (82 percent vs. 16 percent) as well as positive aspects for it.

As Detmer explained, since Jesus miraculously cured people in the Bible, "[i]t's not so much of a stretch to believe He can still do it."

Labels: Doug Huntington, health, Jesus, physicians, prayer, religion, spirituality

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Oldest Americans More in Sync with Modern Times Than Many Think

Centenarians credit longevity to 'Faith' over genes, medical care

April 3, 2007 – Centenarians – those who have attained age 100 – are more in tune with current trends than many assume. One out of three has watched a TV reality show and almost that many have watched music videos, according to the second annual survey by Evercare. As was found in the first survey last year, the oldest Americans attribute their longevity to faith and spiritual care more than genes or medical care.

The second annual “Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey” polled one hundred Americans turning 100 and older this year about their practices and habits and found that, contrary to some conventional stereotypes, centenarians are staying in tune with the times.

Like the rest of Americans, they are following current trends like reality television, video games and iPods, worrying about health and diet, and keeping up on news and current events.

“As Americans strive for healthier, longer lives, the ‘Evercare 100 at 100 Survey’ provides us with a prescription for longevity from those who have aged successfully, and finds that tuning in to trends and current events, leading healthy lifestyles and holding faith and spirituality in high regard are key themes,” said Dr. John Mach, CEO of Evercare.

“We conduct this annual survey because Evercare is constantly striving towards a better understanding of the oldest Americans so that we may continue to provide the kind of care that keeps people healthy and independent for as long as possible.”

Evercare, one of the nation’s largest care coordination programs for people who have chronic or advanced illness, are older or have disabilities, first surveyed centenarians in 2006 to provide insight into one of the fastest-growing segments of the population.

Since Evercare serves more than 1,000 centenarians, the Company conducts this annual survey to better understand them so it can continue to anticipate their needs. The anecdotal survey is meant to provide a cultural snapshot of the lives and lifestyles of Americans who achieve and surpass the 100-year-old milestone by remaining active and independent.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are nearly 80,000 centenarians in the United States, and that number is projected to increase seven-fold, to 580,000, by 2040.

The survey found that two-thirds of centenarians are concentrated in just ten states. Twelve percent live in Texas, 11 percent in Ohio, 8 percent in New York, 7 percent in California and Michigan, 5 percent in Florida, and 4 percent each in Alabama, Minnesota, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Edith Jansky, an Evercare enrollee in Cambridge, MA, attributes her longevity to a positive outlook. “If you are happy you can live longer I think, and I am happy… To tell you the truth, I would not want to be anywhere else but here,” she said. “I have seen so much, I don’t think there would be much more that I could see or hear.”

Among the key findings of the 2007 “Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey”:

Keeping up with trends and current events.

? “I want my MTV.” When it comes to entertainment, the survey found that nearly a third (31 percent) have watched a reality TV show and 27 percent have watched MTV or music videos. Nearly a quarter of centenarians have purchased a music CD, and one in seven has played a video game.

? Sorry, Oprah, Johnny is still king. When polled on their favorite TV talk show host, Johnny Carson topped the list with 14 percent of the votes – more than double those for Oprah Winfrey (6 percent). But, one centenarian did say of Oprah, “I used to watch her every blessed day, I think she is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful person. I think she is very kind too. I think she does a lot for charity… that must be wonderful to have someone give you a beautiful new car [that] you didn’t have to work for.”

? Some centenarians have even tried the latest technology. Six percent said they have been on the Internet and four percent said they have listened to music on an iPod.

? Advertisers take note: Although 18- to 49-year olds may be a coveted demographic, sixty-eight percent of centenarians polled also turn to the TV for news and current events, while 40 percent turn to newspapers, a change from fifty years ago when newspapers (56 percent) and radio (45 percent) were their primary sources of news.

Maintaining the brain is important, and marriage makes for beautiful memories.

? Given the choice, centenarians voted for having a better memory (34 percent) over less aches and pains (27 percent) or taking fewer prescription drugs (13 percent). Their favorite memory in the last 100 years? Twenty-eight percent said their wedding day followed by a tie for the birth of a child and their 100th birthday (both at 13 percent).

One adventurous centenarian felt his best memory was “when I learned to fly at age 76.”

Answering to a higher power.

? Centenarians trust their spiritual leader the most to tell the truth, with more than one in three (34 percent) saying they believe a priest, rabbi or preacher is the person most likely to tell the truth when given a choice that included their doctor or nurse (28 percent) and a police officer (8 percent).

This trust in clergy echoes the results of last year’s survey, which revealed that the oldest Americans attribute their longevity to faith and spiritual care more than genes or medical care.

Labels: Centenarians, Evercare 100 at 100 Survey, faith, longevity, marriage, memories, spirituality, technology

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Frequently asked questions about the date of Easter

Le 3 avril 2007, par Aloys Evina,

Q. Why isn’t Easter on the same date every year – like Christmas, for instance ?

A. The short answer is that in the 4th century it was decided that Easter would fall after the first full moon following the vernal or spring equinox. (The equinox is a day in the year on which daytime and night-time are of equal length. This happens twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn.)

A more detailed answer would be this :

We know from the New Testament that Jesus’ death and resurrection happened around the time of the Jewish feast of Passover. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples was a Passover meal, while John’s Gospel says that Jesus died on the feast of Passover itself. In those days, the Jews celebrated Passover on the “14th day of the first month” in accordance with the Bible’s commands (see Lev. 23:5, Num. 28:16, Josh. 5:11). The months of the Jewish calendar each began at new moon, so the 14th day would be the day of the full moon. The first month, Nisan, was the month that began from the spring new moon. In other words, the Passover was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal equinox and was therefore a movable feast.

Early sources tell us that this very soon led to Christians in different parts of the world celebrating Easter on different dates. As early as the end of the 2nd century, some churches were celebrating Easter on the day of Passover itself, whether it was a Sunday or not, while others would celebrate it on the Sunday that followed it. By the end of the 4th century there were four different methods of calculating the date of Easter. In the year 325, the Council of Nicaea attempted to bring in a unified solution that would retain the link with the date of Passover as celebrated in Jesus’ time. Eventually, therefore, Easter’s date was established as movable.

Q. So how is the date of Easter calculated ?

A. The Council of Nicaea established that the date of Easter would be the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox.

Q. Why, then, despite the universal rule laid down at Nicaea, do different parts of the Church still celebrate Christ’s resurrection on different dates ?

A. The first thing to remember is that, even after the Council of Nicaea, differences in the date of Easter remained, since the Council had said nothing about the methods to be used to calculate the timing of the full moon or the vernal equinox.

But the real problem behind the situation we have today arose in the 16th Century, when the Julian calendar, which had been established in 46 BC, was superseded by the Gregorian calendar. It took some time for the new calendar to be adopted by all countries (it did not happen in Greece until the start of the 20th Century !). However, the Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar to this day to calculate the vernal equinox and the full moon that follows it. This is why they calculate a different date.

Q. Why did the Gregorian calendar reform happen at all ? Was it necessary ?

A. The calendar reform established by Pope Gregory XIII was necessary because the Julian calendar used in those days had begun to lag behind astronomical reality – which is to say that by the time 21 March came around on the calendar, the actual, astronomical vernal equinox had already happened.

The fundamental problem behind this is that the astronomical year – that is, the time the earth takes to make its journey round the sun – is not exactly 365 days : it’s actually 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. However, as the year has to be divided into equal portions for practical purposes, leap years have to be introduced to resolve the problem.

Q. What’s the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars ?

A. The difference between the two calendars lies precisely in how they resolve this problem. The Julian calendar’s solution was to add a leap day every four years, with the end result that the Julian calendar year was an average of 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer than the earth’s actual journey around the sun. This meant that the astronomical facts and the calendar calculations would eventually be out by one day in every 128 years. The real equinox, for instance, would then happen one day earlier than the date given on the calendar. The Gregorian calendar attempted to correct this by shortening the average calendar year. It introduced the additional rule that, in contrast to the Julian calendar’s leap-year rule, there would be no leap day in years whose number could be divided directly by 100 but not by 400. Thanks to this reduced number of leap years, the Gregorian calendar comes closer to astronomical reality – although it, too, is not “exact” – but the difference between the facts of astronomy and the calendar date is now only 26 seconds a year. It takes 3,600 years to develop a lag of one day. At present, the Julian calendar is running 13 days “slow” of the Gregorian ; by the year 2100, the difference will be 14 days. This means that the vernal equinox, which is established as 21 March and on which the date of Easter depends, falls in the Julian calendar on a day which under the Gregorian calendar is 3 April.

Q. So are the two dates always two weeks apart ?

A. No. The gap between the two Easters is different every year. It can be as much as five weeks. Besides the fact that the dates of the vernal equinox lie 13 days apart, we also have to consider when the full moon falls. So, if the full moon falls within the 13 days between the Gregorian and Julian equinoxes, Orthodox Easter will be later.

There’s another complication here, which is that, alongside the equinox, the sun and moon have a part to play as well. Under the Julian calendar, the full moon is calculated using the so-called Metonic cycle (a 19-year cycle under which the phases of the moon fall on the same date every 19 years). However, this calculation is not astronomically accurate either, so it, too, leads to the dates shifting out of place. When this is added to the discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian equinoxes, it can lead to a difference of up to five weeks between the Orthodox and Western dates for Easter.

The Nicaea ruling contains one other provision that is extremely important for the Orthodox churches. It states that Easter should not be celebrated “with” (Greek “meta”) the Jews. Today’s theologians are no longer entirely certain what was meant by this, but Orthodox Easter still cannot fall on the same day as Passover. If it does, it is postponed by a week.

Q. This year, both Easters are on the same date. When does this happen ?

A. The two dates coincide when the full moon following the equinox comes so late that it counts as the first full moon after 21 March in the Julian calendar as well as the Gregorian. This is not a regular occurrence, but it has happened more frequently in recent years – in 2001, 2004 and 2007. In the near future, it will also take place in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2017, but, after that, not again until 2034.

Q. In that case, though, why do some Orthodox churches celebrate Western Christmas ?

A. All churches celebrate Christmas as a fixed feast and all (apart from the Armenian church) hold it on 25 December. However, since the Russian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Georgian Orthodox Church follow the Julian calendar, they celebrate Christmas on what, under the Gregorian calendar, is 7 January. The Greek Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Church, the Antioch and Alexandria Patriarchates and the Romanian Orthodox Church follow the Gregorian calendar (except with respect to the calculation of Easter), and celebrate Christmas at the same time as the Western churches. Only the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Christmas on its original date of 6 January and the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on the same day.

Q. Are there any efforts to bring the two Easters together ?

A. Efforts have been and are still being made to achieve this. For various reasons, there were particular efforts to tackle the question at the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1902, Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople began a discussion aimed at achieving greater unity among Christians.

The decision of the Greek Parliament to introduce the Gregorian calendar in 1923 sparked conflict between Church and State. It was not least for this reason that a pan-Orthodox congress was called in May 1923, which revised the Julian calendar to lend it greater astronomical accuracy. This calendar, known as the Meletian Calendar, is only two seconds longer than the calendar year, which means it takes 45,000 years to develop a lag of one day. Calculations are based on observations from Jerusalem rather than Greenwich. The calendar is thus the most accurate yet. However, its introduction led to divisions within the Orthodox Churches – particularly the Greek and Romanian Orthodox Churches. Since then, the issue has time and again been on the agenda of pan-Orthodox conferences.

At the same time, discussion was getting under way in secular life. The business world was seeking a simpler and more sensible method of calculating the date of Easter. In 1928, the British Parliament passed the Easter Act, calling for Easter to be held on a fixed Sunday – the Sunday following the second Saturday in April. However, the Act stipulated that this should only be introduced with the unanimous agreement of the Christian churches.

As early as 1923, the League of Nations addressed the question and forwarded the matter to the Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit, which, for its part, wanted to introduce a brand-new calendar across the globe, dividing the year into months of equal length. This would have had the effect of requiring one or two days to be included outside of the normal seven-day rhythm of the week, in order to make up for the time lacking. With regard to the date of Easter, the British solution was proposed. The Committee asked the churches’ opinion, and found that the majority of Protestant churches, as represented by the Ecumenical Council for Practical Christianity, favoured a fixed date for Easter. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople replied that, although the Orthodox Church would favour a calendar that retained the continuity of the week, it would be open to a fixed date for Easter, as long at it remained a Sunday and all Christian churches were in agreement. The Roman Catholic Church’s first response was that the issue could only be resolved by an ecumenical council. Some years later, however, it changed its answer to a definitive “no”.

The efforts were taken over by the League of Nations’ successor organization, the United Nations, but finally foundered in 1955, after the USA rejected the idea of a new calendar, fearing public opposition on religious grounds.

Nothing changed until the Second Vatican Council, whose Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stated that the Roman Catholic Church would assent to a common date for Easter – movable or fixed – if all the churches could agree on a solution. The World Council of Churches (WCC) then took up the issue again, surveying its member churches in 1965 and 1967. It found that all the churches would be willing to celebrate Easter on the same day. However, while most Western churches preferred a fixed date, the Orthodox churches wanted a common movable date based on the Nicaea rule. In 1975, the matter was placed on the agenda of the WCC General Assembly in Nairobi, following a request to the WCC from the Roman Catholic Church for the churches to undertake something together on the issue at the General Assembly. Another survey was made of Council’s member churches, which echoed the results of the first survey. It became abundantly clear at the General Assembly that a decision could only be reached by the churches themselves, not by the WCC. It was decided that, at that stage, specific proposals would not be helpful, but that work into the issue ought to continue.

Then, at their first pre-conciliar conference in 1976, the Orthodox churches moved to hold a congress as soon as possible. This took place in 1977 in Chambesy. The congress dealt primarily with the pastoral problem that abandoning the Nicaea rule would lead to divisions. This conclusion was repeated at the second pre-conciliar Orthodox conference in 1982 and the revision of the calendar postponed until such time as would, God willing, be more suitable.

The issue was not brought up again at the WCC until 1997. Two of its departments – “Worship and Spirituality” and “Faith and Order” – organized a consultation session on behalf of the executive committee in Aleppo, Syria. This resulted in a concrete proposal keep the Nicaea rule but calculate the equinox and full moon using the accurate astronomical data available today, rather than those used many years ago.

Q. Why has this solution still not been put into practice ?

A. The Orthodox church is still grappling with the arguments first brought up at the so-called pre-conciliar conferences in 1977 and 1982.

The problem is that, while the use of the astronomical calculations will mean hardly any change for those churches that use the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox churches have had painful experiences in the past with schisms resulting from calendar reforms, and are therefore very cautious about them. However, a proposal for the Western churches to move their Easter to coincide with the Orthodox date garnered just as little support.

Labels: Aloys Evina, Christianity, Council of Nicaea, Easter, Gregorian calendar, Jesus, Julian calendar, leap year, Passover

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