TruthBook Religious News Blog

December 28, 2007

Young and restless, tenuously connected to their faith

Please click on "External source" for complete article, and interviews with three "millenials."

By GREG RUEHLMANN

Justin Brandon has been weighing his options. The 25-year-old San Francisco resident recently applied to Stanford’s highly competitive MBA program, but even if admitted, he isn’t sure he wants to leave his job at Better World Books, the promising dot-com where he has coordinated online marketing since June.

Brandon isn’t used to feeling so content about a job. In the three years since he graduated from the University of Notre Dame, he has done extended volunteer work in Puerto Rico, served as a video production assistant at Notre Dame, shot documentary films in Ghana and Haiti, and worked as a search quality technician for Google in Silicon Valley.

“Every year,” he said, “part of me wants to move cities or switch jobs.”

Brandon and his restless ventures represent a generational trend among some young college-educated men and women who are free to choose flux over stability. Some social scientists have dubbed these post-college years the “odyssey years” -- a nomadic period when young adults move from one job to another, from one city to the next, delaying marriage, children and permanent career tracks longer than previous generations. Spiritually, they tend to be seekers, a characteristic that applies even to many with deep roots in a traditional religion such as Catholicism and no great desire to venture too far from the fold.

“Catholicism was a deep part of my experience at Notre Dame. It is what opened my eyes to the wider world. It sparked [my journey] and has influenced my way of going about it,” Brandon said.

According to a number of studies, the same holds true for a significant proportion of other young Catholics who belong to the so-called “Millennial generation,” the still-forming group that follows Generation X and includes those born in the period from the late 1970s to the late ’80s. These include 29-year-olds Nicole Shirilla and Ed Fians. Shirilla began medical school this fall in Pittsburgh after teaching in Baton Rouge, La., working in South Bend, Ind., and traveling to Rwanda and Sri Lanka as a filmmaker. Fians plans a springtime move from Chicago to New York City -- his second stint there, and the fourth time he will have decamped for a different state since 2001.

These three Millennials -- unwed at an age their parents are likely to have been married, and still discerning a career path several years after graduation -- believe that Catholicism has informed their journeys. And vice versa: Their journeys have informed their faith. In the fluid world of the odyssey years, their stories split and converge in fascinating ways on issues of religious practice, commitment, community and convictions -- all those things, in other words, that relate to their identities as Catholics.

Their stories reinforce the view expressed recently by New York Times columnist David Brooks. Citing the work of Princeton University scholar Robert Wuthnow, Brooks wrote that today’s children “graduate into a world characterized by uncertainty, diversity, searching and tinkering. Old success recipes don’t apply, new norms have not been established and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself. Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging.”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, writing about recent encounters with Millennials still in college, noted, “I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.”

According to another recent D’Antonio study (coauthored with Vincent Bolduc), the Millennial generation mixes “personal autonomy with new-found concerns for the common good.” More than other generations, they are likely to rely on individual conscience when making moral decisions than on the church’s teaching authority. But the church’s social teaching, particularly its exhortation to help the poor, strongly resonates with 91 percent of Catholic Millennials.

Millennials are demonstrating their altruism through ever-increasing involvement in community service, but they are also integrating it into their shifting career choices.

Indeed, wonders Darrell Paulsen, a church professional well acquainted with Catholic Millennials, what will they find if and when they decide it’s time to engage more deeply with their church? Paulsen, who coordinates marriage preparation at the University of Notre Dame, hears frequent complaints from the young professional couples he directs. He knows that the Millennials are unlikely to hang around if they don’t find what they need, and parishes will be the losers.

“Lots of parishes put up walls to participation for young people,” he said. Among other problems, “they give them trouble for being away from the church, or for cohabitating.”

Yet, Paulsen insists, parishes can’t afford not to welcome these Catholics at a significant moment of “settling,” such as marriage, baptism of a child or the decision to put down roots. “People are out there,” he said. “They’re spiritually hungry, but they want a place where they feel nurtured, not just where they’re told they are wrong. If they think they’re going to be yelled at, or put to sleep or just asked for money, they’re not going.”

That, Paulsen suggests, makes for one of the few easy choices in a Millennial’s young life.

Labels: altruism, career, Catholic, church, community, Greg Ruehlmann, millenials

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Survey Data Sparks New Debate Over Intermarriage Issues

January 24, 2008

Sue Fishkoff
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

SAN FRANCISCO

Intermarriage: Is it a disaster for the Jews, not great for the Jews or simply a fact of Jewish life?

Ever since the 1990 National Jewish Population Study showed more than half of new Jewish marriages involve a non-Jewish partner, many Jewish communal leaders have latched on to the issue with pitbull tenacity -- and they haven't let go, even after the 2000-01 NJPS showed intermarriage had leveled off.

Now, a new round of studies is prompting more questions: Does intermarriage necessarily mean the end of that family's connection to Judaism? Or is the Jewish community focusing on intermarriage to the exclusion of other, perhaps more telling, factors?

Most studies report the data in simple comparative fashion, which shows that intermarried families are much less Jewishly involved than inmarried families, from their beliefs to their practices.

But a provocative new study out of Brandeis University questions that research method and its conclusions.

"Adult Identity of Children of Intermarriage," from a study sponsored by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute

The study -- "It's Not Just Who Stands Under the Chuppah: Jewish Identity and Intermarriage," by Leonard Saxe, Fern Chertok and Benjamin Phillips of the Cohen Center for Jewish Studies and Steinhardt Social Research Institute -- found that when one considers the Jewish background of the Jewish partner in an intermarriage, then the difference in the Jewish beliefs and practices of inmarried and intermarried families becomes much less glaring. And in some measures, like attachment to Israel, the gap almost disappears.

A second study casts further doubt on the deterministic effect of intermarriage. Set for release next month, the study by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston will show that the children being raised Jewishly in the city's intermarried families look pretty much like any other non-Orthodox Jewish children.

The "Chuppah" study only considered factors from before an intermarriage occurs, primarily the Jewish education and home practice of the Jewish partner. But its conclusions have profound policy implications: Instead of writing off intermarried families or pressing the non-Jewish partner to convert, the Jewish community would do better to invest in quality Jewish education -- formal and informal -- to give the Jewish partner in an intermarriage the background and desire to create a Jewish home and raise Jewish children.

Saxe presented the study's findings with Chertok last month at the Union for Reform Judaism biennial in San Diego.

Chertok and Saxe drew the strongest audience reaction when they displayed two charts, one showing the Jewish involvement of intermarried versus. inmarried families without any controls, and one showing results after they were controlled for the Jewish partner's religious background.

Without controls, 78 percent of inmarried couples said they were raising their children Jewishly versus 39 percent of intermarried couples. Those figures are used by most Jewish researchers, noted Chertok and Saxe.

But when controlling the other factors, including the Jewish partner's religious upbringing, the gap closed, with 71 percent of inmarried couples and 51 percent of intermarried couples saying they're raising Jewish kids.

Similarly, the 53 percent of inmarried versus 12 percent of intermarried families who reported being members of Jewish organizations became 45 percent and 32 percent when the controls were applied.

The differences become even more striking when controls are applied to the data on the Jewish identity of the adult children of intermarriage.

A simple comparison, one used in most studies, states that 89 percent of adults who grew up with two Jewish parents identify as Jewish versus 24 percent of adults who grew up in an interfaith home.

When the background of those individuals was taken into account, the gap shrunk to 94percent of the adults with two Jewish parents versus 76 percent from intermarried homes.

The Second Generation

Among those who are not convinced by the Saxe-Chertok line of argument is Steven Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He has conducted several studies that all show the determinative effect of intermarriage.

Cohen's first question is how the researchers defined "being raised Jewish." But he also says that they need to look at the second generation: According to the 2000-01 NJPS study, just 13 percent of the grandchildren of an intermarriage -- that is, people whose grandparents were intermarried -- now identify as Jews.

On those grounds alone, declares Cohen, the Jewish community should "not grow complacent" about intermarriage, but should continue to combat it as a real threat to Jewish continuity. "In fact, intermarriage over two generations is more powerful than any other factor in predicting ritual observance and certainly in predicting whether the grandchildren will be Jewish."

Cohen's conclusion is supported, in part, by a new report on the U.S. Jewish population prepared for the 2007 American Jewish Yearbook by professors Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami and Arnold Dashefsky of the University of Connecticut.

Comparing data from 49 U.S. Jewish communities, Sheskin and Dashefsky note that, while some cities "have been more successful than others in convincing intermarried families to raise their children Jewish," it is nevertheless "clear that intermarriage has a negative effect on measures of Jewishness and Jewish continuity."

Intermarriage has a snowball effect, the Sheskin-Dashefsky study concludes, but the ball can roll either way, with much depending on the larger Jewish community.

Sheskin and Dashefsky just concluded a study in Portland, Maine, showing its intermarriage rate as the highest among the cities studied: 61 percent. But a very average 47 percent of its intermarried families are choosing to raise Jewish children. Yet in Detroit, with a low intermarriage rate of 17 percent, just 31 percent are choosing to raise children as Jews.

A community like Detroit's, Sheskin posits, may not feel outreach is a priority, given its low level of intermarriage. The result is that few intermarried families join synagogues.

Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, director of the Jewish Outreach Institute, an organization that encourages Jewish institutions to be more welcoming, says that it all comes down to what individuals believe will help them lead better, richer lives.

"When you're a parent, you make decisions on the basis of what's good for you and your family, not what's good for the Jewish community."

Labels: Cohen Center for Jewish Studies, intermarriage, Jews, National Jewish Population Study, Steinhardt Social Research Institute, Sue Fishkoff

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Chinese government rethinks religion

Jan. 25, 2008, 5:56PM

Communist party now believes faith can restore social harmony

By Edward Cody
Washington Post

BEIJING — There was Hu Jintao, head of the Chinese Communist Party, warmly shaking hands at a party-sponsored New Year's tea party with one of the country's main Christian leaders. To make sure the message got through to China's 68 million party faithful, a large photograph of the moment was splashed across the front page of the official party newspaper, People's Daily.

Hu's display of holiday courtesy to Liu Bainian, general secretary of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, was one in a series of recent signals that China's rulers, despite the party's official atheism, are seeking to get along better with the increasing numbers of Chinese who find solace and inspiration in religion. The shift in tactics does not mean the Politburo has embraced religion, specialists cautioned, but it indicates a desire to incorporate believers into the party's quest for continued economic progress and more social harmony.

The move away from traditional Marxist attitudes evolved from Hu's campaign for what he calls "a harmonious socialist society." The concept, in effect an appeal for good behavior, was designed to replace the moral void left when the party long ago jettisoned historical Chinese values and, more recently, loosened the zipped-tight social strictures of communism under Mao Zedong. Religion, the party has decided, can also be useful in encouraging social harmony because it urges its followers to hew to a moral code.

Hu presided over a special Politburo study session last month on the expanding role of religion in China. Two of the party's religion specialists were called in to explain the phenomenon to China's 25 most powerful men, most of whom grew up with the Marxist idea that religion is a hostile force and, in China, foreign infiltration with ties to the colonial past.

In a speech to the group, Hu seemed to break with that tradition, suggesting the moral force of religion can be harnessed for the good of the party. "We must strive to closely unite religious figures and believers among the masses around the party and government," he said, according to the official account, "and struggle together with them to build an all-around moderately prosperous society while quickening the pace toward the modernization of socialism."

Liu, the Christian leader shown in the photo with Hu, noted that the president also for the first time included discussion of religion in the party's 17th National Congress in October. Religion should no longer be considered sabotage of the party's economic and social plans, Hu told fellow party members, but rather a positive force that can be enlisted to help put the plans into effect.

The number of religious believers in China has long been difficult to determine. Faced with the party's traditional hostility, many believers have kept their faith hidden. But a government-sponsored survey last year found the number may reach 300 million, nearly a quarter of the population.

Most of those professing belief said they identified with China's traditional religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. But those identifying themselves as Christians accounted for as many as 40 million, the survey found, most of them Protestants. Specialists have estimated the number of Catholics at 12 million, divided between those in Liu's government-sponsored Patriotic Catholic Association and those in informal churches who look on the pope as their leader.

Anthony Lam of the Holy Spirit Study Center in Hong Kong, who has studied the church in China for two decades, warned that the current warming is a tactic that could easily be reversed. "For me, it's a good thing, but it doesn't mean very much," he said.

Over the years, he added, the party's treatment of believers has varied, but its overall attitude is that religion, particularly Christianity and Islam, is a portal through which foreign ideas and loyalties can make their way into Chinese society.

In the same vein, Ren Yanli, a religion specialist at the government-sponsored Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the party's recent overtures were aimed at enlisting religious beliefs as a force for economic and social progress. Nowhere did the party acknowledge faith and religion as ideals to be pursued in their own right, he said.

Nonetheless, government controls over religious activity have loosened markedly in recent years. Political connotations, such as those attached to Buddhism in Tibet or Islam in the autonomous Xinjiang region of northwestern China, have become the major targets of police surveillance in most areas.

Despite the trend, China and the Vatican have been unable to renew diplomatic relations, with China holding firm to the power to name bishops. Hu himself led a special committee in 2005 to end the hostility; at that time, progress was so rapid that a bargain seemed within reach. Those hopes fell through, however, with the appointment of several bishops who did not have Vatican approval.

In recent months, the momentum toward friendly Vatican ties seems to have revived. Two bishops were ordained with papal approval last month, following the appointment of a Vatican-approved bishop for Beijing in September. Regular quiet contacts have been made between Vatican and Chinese diplomats.

But behind the scenes, Patriotic Catholic Association churches and local religious affairs bureaus have proved to be formidable obstacles, according to a knowledgeable religious source. Their positions — often including state salaries, apartments and prestige — would be endangered if the church fell under Rome's authority. Moreover, the source added, some local jurisdictions have been involved in land deals with compliant bishops in arrangements that might be disturbed by Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI displayed eagerness to mend the split soon after taking over the Vatican. But his zeal seems to have waned, Lam observed. Meanwhile, conservatives in the Chinese party leadership, backed by local bureaus, have prevented a final deal because they are hesitant to abandon the doctrine that the Vatican is a foreign power that should have no authority in China.

Only a strong Chinese leader willing to take a bold initiative could shake the situation loose, Lam predicted, and Hu has never been noted for that kind of leadership.

The handshake in the tea-party photo, he noted, was with a leader of the government-run patriotic church, not a Vatican-approved bishop.

Labels: Catholic, China, Christian, Edward Cody, Patriotic Catholic Association, religion, Vatican

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Baha'i follows far different path than its mother religion of Islam

Sat January 26, 2008

Our Faiths

Q: My daughter told us on her last visit that she converted to Baha'i. Her father was upset with her conversion to a Muslim religion, but she said Baha'i is not Muslim. Can you tell us about Baha'i, please?

— Bette, Oklahoma City

A: As far as religions go, Baha'i (pronounced buh-HI) is new to the world stage, emerging as a separate faith in 1866 while its founder, Bahaullah, was exiled in Turkey from his homeland of Iran.

The Baha'i faith developed out of Babism, which emerged from Shia Islam during the 1840s. Coming from a certain religious tradition does not mean a sect retains the older faith's practices and beliefs. Christianity developed from Judaism, but the two faith families are distinct. Baha'i is even more distinct from Islam.

Followers of the Baha'i faith divide their teachings into two main groups: religious and social. On the religious side, the tradition teaches God is too complex for people to know fully, but He reveals parts of Himself through various manifestations of God that have appeared on Earth throughout history. Among these manifestations was Adam, who in Baha'i understanding was not the first person. Instead, he was the first revelation given to the world's people of God's characteristics and His desires for humanity.

God progressively has revealed more and more about Himself and human purpose through later manifestations, including Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad and Bahaullah. Each manifestation adds to humanity's understanding about God and the universe, according to the Baha'i faith. Each manifestation also deals with issues unique to the time and culture where he appears.

A consistent message from each manifestation has been to say humanity's purpose is to know, love and worship God.

The faith rejects belief in a devil, saying evil is solely the choice of people who attempt to remove themselves from God's presence. Without a separate evil being, each person is responsible for his or her actions.

While the Baha'i believe in an afterlife, they say no living person has enough information to speak definitively about what that existence entails. They also reject the ideas of separate heavens and hells, saying heaven is spiritual nearness to God and hell is separation from God.

On the social side, the tradition looks to Bahaullah's writings for direction. In "Tablets,” he said the world's people are "the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean” but prevented from treating each other as brothers and sisters by social and political divisions.

"The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established,” Bahaullah wrote. This unity requires equality in treatment of all people, and the group's social agenda works toward equality with an ultimate aim of unity.

Following this teaching, the faith says men and women are equal in God's eyes; therefore, the sexes must have the same legal, political and educational rights. Education also is considered vital to the Baha'i goal of all the world's peoples sharing equally in God's provision of resources and opportunities. The poor must receive schooling that at least teaches reading, writing and the skills necessary to hold a productive job, according to Baha'i doctrine.

Toward this same goal of sharing Earth's bounty, the Baha'i contend extreme wealth and extreme poverty should be abolished by requiring businesses to share profits with their employees and by establishing tax laws to take excess funds from the wealthy and give them to the poor.

All of this looks forward to God's desire for the unification of all humanity, the Baha'i faith teaches. As people have grown from clans to tribes to city-states to nations, so they will eventually unite into one world. To realize God's goal for humanity, the world must develop a single governmental structure and a universal language. The Baha'i work for world unification and urge learning a "supplemental language” to facilitate communication around the globe but not to replace all other tongues.

While the faith emerged in the Middle East and had some success in establishing itself in the United States during the 19th century, today most of its 1.5 million adherents are found in Africa, South Asia and Latin America — commonly referred to as the Third World. The religion's headquarters is in Acre, Israel, where the Universal House of Justice, its ruling body, sits.

Labels: Baha'i, faith, God, religion, Shia Islam, society, unity

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Research and religion can be a difficult mix

Muslims scientists analyze why the work of contemporaries fails to result in breakthroughs.

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN, Times Staff Writer
Published January 27, 2008

In recognizing the top 50 scientific breakthroughs of 2007, Scientific American cites advancements in alternative fuels, treatment of Parkinson's disease and technology that would make consumer electronics easier to use.

Among those honored are researchers in Japan, Italy and the Netherlands, a country with a population of just 16-million. Yet the list does not include a single noteworthy breakthrough in any of the world's 56 Muslim nations, encompassing more than 1-billion people.

Dr. Essam Heggy has a reason.

"We don't live in an environment where we value science," says Heggy, a Muslim astronomer who left his native Libya and is working in Houston on NASA's Mars exploration program. "Science and intellectual presence have been seen as a real threat to governments that have no serious plans for democratic rule."

Why the dearth of scientific achievement in the modern Muslim world? Like Heggy, many critics blame authoritarian regimes that stifle independent thinking and limit contacts with the outside world. Most schools and universities in Muslim countries emphasize rote learning over debate and analysis. Defense budgets -- especially in the bellicose Middle East -- consume billions of dollars that might otherwise go to research.

And just as Christian conservatism in America has led to curbs on genetic research and pressure to teach alternatives to evolution, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has turned many Muslims away from science and toward religion as a way to view and explain the world.

"Religious fundamentalism is always bad news for science," Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani Muslim physicist, recently wrote in an article on Islam and science for Physics Today.

"Scientific progress constantly demands that facts and hypotheses be checked. But there lies the problem: The scientific method is alien to traditional, unreformed religious thought."

While the reasons are many and often controversial, there is no doubt that the Muslim world lags far behind in scientific achievement and research:

Muslim countries contribute less than 2 percent of the world's scientific literature. Spain alone produces almost as many scientific papers.

In countries with substantial Muslim populations, the average number of scientists, engineers and technicians per 1,000 people is 8.5. The world average is 40.

Muslim countries get so few patents that they don't even register on a bar graph comparison with other countries. Of the more than 3-million foreign inventions patented in the United States between 1977 and 2004, only 1,500 were developed in Muslim nations.

In a survey by the Times of London, just two Muslim universities -- both in cosmopolitan Malaysia -- ranked among the top 200 universities worldwide.

Two Muslim scientists have won Nobel Prizes, but both did their groundbreaking work at Western institutions. Pakistan's Abdus Salam, who won the 1979 physics prize while in Britain, was barred from speaking at any university in his own country.

Why? Salam belonged to what the Pakistani government had declared a heretical sect.

Vanguard of learning

Despite a popular myth, people in the Muslim world are not resistant to new technology. Even the poorest have cell phones, some with global positioning features that show the exact direction in which to pray to Mecca. Prayer rugs now contain computer chips that count the number of bend-downs. And as al-Qaida's frequent messages show, the Internet has been a valuable tool in spreading threats against the West.

But it is a far cry from Islam's early days when the prophet Mohammed said "the ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of martyrs."

As Islam spread from its birthplace on the Arabian Peninsula, Muslim scientists expanded on the knowledge gained from the Romans, Greeks and other cultures. The Golden Age of Islam, spanning the 8th through 13th centuries, saw major advances in mathematics, optics, chemistry, astronomy and medicine while Europe slept through centuries of intellectual darkness.

Over time, though, tensions grew between liberal Muslims, who had a flexible interpretation of Islam, and fundamentalists, who believed in predestination with all its chilling implications for learning and discovery. As reason bowed to faith, "science in the Islamic world essentially collapsed," Hoodbhoy writes. "No major invention or discovery has emerged from the Muslim world for well over seven centuries now."

Today, many of the brightest scientific minds leave their countries to study in Western universities like Virginia Tech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both of which have sizeable Muslim student associations. By some estimates, more than half of the science students from Arab countries never return home to work.

"Science has now been replaced by religious thinking," says Heggy, 32, the NASA researcher who got his doctorate in France. "Logic unfortunately is a smaller and smaller part of society."

Muslim scientists who do work in their native countries often find themselves embracing -- publicly at least -- so-called "Islamic science." Popularized in the '80s as an alternative to Western science and its perceived lack of moral values, the Islamic version tries to mesh religion and science with curious results.

Instead, fundamentalists typically view science only of value in giving more proof of God or showing the truth of the Koran. One oft-visited Internet site reveals this "astounding scientific fact" -- the Koran anticipated black holes and genes.

'Silent note-takers'

While critical of fellow Muslims, Hoodbhoy thinks the United States is partly to blame for the dismal record of scientific achievement. Western support for unpopular secular governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries has fueled a rise in fundamentalism that in turn discourages academic and cultural freedom.

At Hoodbhoy's own university in Islamabad, Pakistan, almost all female students now wear veils and have become "silent note-takers" who are increasingly timid and afraid to ask questions, he says. Movies, dramas and music are shunned as un-Islamic. The campus has three mosques, but no bookstore.

The picture is not entirely bleak. Saudi Arabia, though home to one of the most intolerant strains of Islam, is building a world-class research university in collaboration with Cape Cod's prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Turkey -- whose founder, Kemal Ataturk, wanted to Westernize his country -- has more than tripled its science funding since 2003 while under a religiously conservative prime minister. Tunisia, another secular Muslim nation, has largely rejected "Islamic science" in favor of practical research. The number of laboratories there grew to 139 from 55 in six years.

But far more needs to be done, says Hoodbhoy, who argues that arrested scientific development in the Muslim world is contributing to the "marginalization" of Muslims and their growing sense of injustice and victimhood. Muslim countries will continue to stagnate scientifically -- and in other ways as well.

"The struggle to usher in science," Hoodbhoy writes, "will have to go side-by-side with a much wider campaign to elbow out rigid orthodoxy and bring in modern thought, arts, philosophy, democracy and pluralism."

Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com.

Notable modern Muslim scientists

Abdus Salam: Pakistani. Winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979
Ahmed Zewail: Egyptian. Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999
Farouk El-Baz: Egyptian. NASA scientist involved in the Apollo moon program
Essam Heggy: Egyptian-Libyan. Planetary scientist in NASA's Mars exploration program
Lotfi Asker Zadeh: Iranian. Mathematician and computer scientist, founder of fuzzy logic, which recognizes more than simple true-or-false values. Used in artificial intelligence applications and some spell-checkers to suggest replacements for misspelled words
Habiba Bouhamed Chaabouni: Tunisian. Medical geneticist, winner of 2006 UNESCO Women in Science Award

Labels: Dr. Essam Heggy, fundamentalism, Muslim world, religion, research, science, Susan Taylor Martin

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Half-full or half-empty?

Study finds students grow more “spiritual” as they progress through college, but are much less likely to go to church

Colleges are not the “bastions of secularism” many believe them to be, reported the Jan. 5 Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reached that conclusion based on a study carried out by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, which says it found that interest in spiritual and ethical issues increases as students go through college.

The study, the results of which were announced in a Dec. 18 news release from the institute, was based on a survey of 14,527 college students on 136 U.S. campuses. Interviews with students commenced when they were freshmen in Fall 2004 and resumed when they were juniors in Spring 2007.

According to the study, college juniors are more likely than freshmen “to be engaged in a spiritual quest, are more caring, and show higher levels of equanimity and an ecumenical worldview.” In 2007, 55.4% of juniors (as opposed to 41.2% of freshmen in 2004) said they considered “developing a meaningful philosophy of life ‘very important’ or ‘essential.’” And, while 48.7% of freshmen in 2004 said “attaining inner harmony” was “very important” or “essential,” 62.6% of juniors expressed that sentiment in 2007.

“Spiritual” life goals that students said were very important or essential were “integrating spirituality into my life” (41.8% in 2004, to 50.4% in 2007), “seeking beauty in my life” (53.7% to 66.2%) and “becoming a more loving person” (67.4% to 82.8%).

Other “spiritual values” that saw an increase in acceptance from freshman to junior years were “helping others in difficulty” and “reducing pain and suffering in the world.” A larger percentage of juniors than freshmen indicated an attitude of “being thankful for all that has happened to me.”

Yet, while “spiritual values” were supposedly up in colleges and, indeed, "student interest in spirituality and religion is at a level not seen since perhaps the 1950s," according to religion scholar Rebecca Chopp, “college students’ attendance at religious services,” says the study’s news release, “indicates a steep decline: the rate of frequent attendance drops from 43.7 percent in high school to 25.4 percent in college, and the rate of non-attendance nearly doubles, from 20.2 percent to 37.5 percent.”

The study also found that, during their college years, “students become more liberal in their political ideology and attitudes toward socio-cultural issues.”

Other studies have found a decline in religious observance and commitment to the Christian faith among young people. According to a study released in September by the Barna Group, a Christian research organization in Ventura, over the past 10 years, the number of non-Christian youth who feel “favorably toward Christianity’s role in society” has plummeted from a majority to only 16%.

Labels: Barna Group, Christianity, church, college, Higher Education Research Institute, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Mattingly: Surveys find Americans tolerant of beliefs

By Terry Mattingly
Friday, January 18, 2008

Consider these numbers from a new Ellison Research study that shows surprising support -- on the left and right, among believers and skeptics -- for freedom of expression when it comes to words and symbols.

An overwhelming 90 percent of adults agreed that faith groups should be allowed to rent public property, such as a school gym, if laws gave non-religious groups the same right. Asked about allowing a moment of silence in public schools, 89 percent said that was fine. Another 88 percent said teachers should have the right to wear jewelry, such as a cross or a Star of David, in public-school classes.

"There is a lot of unity out there about these kinds of issues," said Ron Sellers, president of the research firm in Phoenix. "But the specifics do matter. Wearing a cross on your lapel is not the same thing as showing up at school wearing a T-shirt with a big cross on it and the words, 'Believe in Jesus or you're going to hell.'

"There's no way to say that approving one thing is the same as approving another, even though the same principle is at stake."

The key is that religion is bad if it makes large numbers of people uncomfortable.

The key is that religion is bad if it makes large numbers of people uncomfortable.

For example, 83 percent of the survey participants said it should be legal to put nativity scenes on public property, such as city hall lawns, and 79 percent supported the posting of the Ten Commandments in court buildings. But that number fell to 60 percent when they were asked about Muslim displays on public property during Ramadan.

The researchers asked if respondents agreed that it "should be legal for a religious club in a high school or university to determine for itself who can be in their membership, even if certain types of people are excluded." The result was a stark divide, with only 52 percent agreeing that religious groups should be able to enforce their own doctrines among their own members.

"People might respond differently if you asked the same question, but were more specific," said Sellers. "I think most Americans believe that a Jewish student union should have the right to say, 'No, you're Muslim. You cannot join our group.' But what if it's a conservative Christian group that says, 'No, you cannot join our group because you're gay'? American aren't sure what they think about that, right now."

The trend is clear. Vague talk is safer than clear action. Personal beliefs are good, but not if these doctrines lead to actions that indicate that some beliefs are right and others wrong.

Seeking is good, but finding is bad. Judging is even worse.

For example, a new survey by the Southern Baptist Convention's LifeWay Research team found that 72 percent of "unchurched" Americans who rarely if ever attend worship services believe that "God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists." However, 61 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the God of the Bible is "no different from the gods or spiritual beings depicted by world religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc."

The researchers found that 78 percent of the respondents claimed that they would be "willing to listen" if a Christian wanted to share talk about their beliefs. Then again, 44 percent agreed that "Christians get on my nerves."

"There is a sense in our culture that is acceptable to believe in anything spiritual, as long as it makes you a better person and helps you find peace," said Ed Stetzer, leader of the LifeWay Research team. "One's faith only becomes a problem when that belief actually makes claims that contradicts the faith of others."

In an age of "I'm OK, You're OK" spirituality, he added, "American spirituality has glorified 'searching' for spiritual meaning, but de-emphasized 'finding.' In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith. ... Intolerance is defined to mean actually believing that your faith is the correct one."

Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities

Labels: Ellison Research, faith, LifeWay Research, religion, spirituality, Terry Mattingly

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Friday, January 25, 2008

Mind-body connection

A study published in the January issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine explores the connection between the mind and body.

The study found that 45 percent of Chicago internists surveyed have prescribed a placebo at some time during their clinical practice. The authors surveyed 466 internists at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and University of Illinois-Chicago, 50 percent responded.

The authors also noted that a growing number of physicians believe in the mind-body connection, which means what a person thinks can impact the health and well-being of the body.

The survey also inquired about whether there might be psychological or physiological benefits to meditation, yoga or relaxation techniques, and prayer or spirituality among other questions.

The concept of prayer as part of the healing process for a physical illness is something that doctors in Tuscaloosa as well as elsewhere have been exploring for some time. In the Chicago survey, the authors reported that the majority of physicians believed in both psychological and physiological benefits.

Labels: health, mind-body connection, prayer, Sarah Jones, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, January 24, 2008

A Personal Belief System Correlates with Happiness

January 23 2008

Work life Balance is examined in American Dream Project’s Dream Life Assessment. The survey indicates that in the area of spirituality, Americans stand strong by incorporating a personal belief system in their lives and thus becoming one step closer to work life balance.

Work life Balance brings forth the question, is a personal belief system important in today’s world? According to Will Marre, founder of American Dream Project and acclaimed speaker, it is—very. “Studies across 46 countries,” states Marre, “show that people who embrace spiritual beliefs and regularly attend some type of worship service are happier, more content, more optimistic, healthier and longer living than those who don’t. Believers simply have higher life satisfaction and work life balance than those who don’t have a spiritual belief system.”

For over 3 years the American Dream Project has been conducting an online survey and has accumulated over 10,000 participants to get clarity on how people rate themselves in work life balance, spirituality being a part of the focus.

The results of the survey are actually surprising in a world that seems more and more cynical and disillusioned every day. 41% of teens, 44% of single, and 44% of married participants say they experience a constant connection to a divine source of wisdom, love and peace, are primarily motivated by love, live to a high standard of personal morality, and are tolerant and open minded to new learning, ideas and truth.

Marre explains the importance of a belief system to work life balance stating, “Cynics would argue that belief in God is simply a placebo that creates an emotional feeling of well being. Believers would say that spiritual beliefs give you a sense of meaning, call you to a moral life and motivate you to be more loving because that is what God desires of us.” Furthermore, in The Magic of Forgiveness (2003) Dr. Tian Dayton states, “Whether your faith is in God, Higher Power or nature, some sort of spiritually organizing principles help to give moral structure, spiritual purpose and meaning to our lives. They also provide us with like-minded communities to belong to.”

“Whether as part of our beliefs we choose to believe in God or not,” states Marre, “having a core belief system gives our lives meaning and purpose and does indeed make us happier. It holds us accountable to something/someone more than ourselves and helps us achieve work life balance.”

Labels: American Dream Project, Americans, belief, Dream Life Assessment, God, happiness, love, spirituality, Will Marre

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Liberal Christian: 'Dominance of the religious right is finished'

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Wednesday January 23, 2008

Please click on the link to external source for complete article, including a video clip from the Daily Show January 22, 2008.

According to a prominent liberal Evangelical, there is a major political and generational shift going on among Evangelical Christians in America.

Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners Magazine, told Jon Stewart on Tuesday's Daily Show, "Two things have happened since we last talked. I've got some good news and some great news. The good news is, the dominance of the religious right over our politics is finally finished."

As the audience cheered and applauded, Wallis continued, "Even the better news is now a new generation has come of age and they're applying their faith ... to the biggest issues that face us: the moral scandal of poverty, the degradation of the environment -- which we call God's creation -- the threat of climate change, Darfur, human rights, the exclusive use of war to fight evil."

Stewart questioned whether a religious left might not wind up being just as rigid as the religious right, but on the other side. Wallis replied that he wasn't expecting that to happen, because people in this country "don't want to go left or right, they want to go deeper, they want to go to a moral center."

"Politics in America is broken," Wallis said, explaining why he anticipates a new social movement, rather than a new political movement. "Social movements often rise up to change politics when it fails. And the best social movements often have spiritual foundations."

"Why does it always have to be tied in to faith?" Stewart asked, pointing out that at the same time as the 19th century abolitionists were appealing to religion, so were the supporters of slavery. "Isn't there a way to have a right and wrong?"

"Religion has no monopoly on morality," Wallis agreed, acknowledging that all the great social movements have had a significant component of people of faith, but never exclusively. "And there's a whole new denomination now," he added, "called the spiritual but not religious, that's growing all over the country."

"The two great hungers in the world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice, and the connection between the two is the one the new generation is just waiting for," Wallis concluded.

He cautioned, however, that "when people of faith get to the public square, they shouldn't say, 'My religious view is this.' They should speak in moral language that is inclusive of everybody. ... I care about not someone's religion, but what their moral compass is."

Labels: Daily Show, David Edwards, faith, Jim Wallis, morality, Muriel Kane, politics, religious right, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Chemical vs Spiritual

Michael Craven
Author, Speaker, Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture

Please click on the link to "external source" for complete article

As I shared last month, a joint study conducted by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School reveals that the U.S. has the highest rate of depression among a survey group of 14 countries.

However, this may have more to do with how we define and diagnose “depression.” As reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer last month, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the official diagnostic manual used by mental-health professionals, defines depression as “two continuous weeks of such symptoms as despondency, diminished pleasure in life, and difficulties in sleeping and eating.” As the authors, Horwitz and Wakefield point out; “In the manual, it doesn’t matter why a person is despondent. If you’ve lost your job, or your romantic partner dumped you, or you’ve been given a diagnosis of cancer, you’re still deemed ‘clinically depressed’ if you’re sad for two weeks or more.”

This might account for the recent 300 percent increase in Americans diagnosed with depression. Real depression can be a serious mental illness, however, being “sad” in the wake of real disappointment or loss is a normal part of life. Nonetheless, the increasing response to these events is restoration through chemistry. According to a November 2005 report in Fortune Magazine:

Nearly 150 million U.S. prescriptions were dispensed in 2004 for SSRIs and similar antidepressants called SNRIs, [psychotropic drugs used in the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and some personality disorders] according to IMS Health, a Fairfield, Conn., drug data and consulting company – more than for any other drug except codeine. Perhaps one out of 20 adult Americans are on them now, making brands like Zoloft, GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, Forest Laboratories' Celexa, and Solvay Pharmaceuticals' Luvox household names.… In fact, we're popping so many SSRIs that their breakdown products in urine, gushing into waterways, have accumulated in fish tissues, raising concerns that aquatic animals may be getting toxic doses, according to recent research at Baylor University.

However, the “poisoning of fish” may not be the worst side-effect of over-diagnosis of depression and prescription of these powerful psychotropic drugs. We’ve all seen the plethora of pharmaceutical ads in which a benign voice recites a laundry list of bizarre side effects. However, two that you will rarely hear are “homicidal” and “suicidal ideation,” meaning these drugs may produce thoughts of murder and suicide!

The fact is, these potential side effects are common to this class of anti-depressant drugs and a survey of the nation’s most notorious mass murders and school shootings reveals an all too frequent connection.

This is the tragic consequence of remedies formed from a false worldview. If man is merely a biological organism, as the materialistic humanist worldview believes, and not the unity of body and soul as the Bible teaches then the logical response to disappointment, heartbreak and the like is chemical manipulation. If however, mankind is a unique being combining spirit and body then perhaps the solutions require a more holistic response that considers both body and soul.

The continuing loss of Christian influence in shaping the consensus worldview will only produce more misguided responses to real human problems that are likely to produce similarly devastating results. Christians must undertake the hard work of knowing and offering the biblical interpretation of reality that can accurately shape the culture’s understanding of the human condition and thus provide real solutions.

Labels: Center for Christ and Culture, chemicals, Christianity, depression, drugs, holistic, Michael Craven, poison

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Experts: Spiritual practice can improve health

By Shari Rudavsky
The Indianapolis Star

Numerous studies have suggested that spirituality can confer a wide range of benefits.

It can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and confer a general sense of well-being, says Dr. Malcolm Herring, physician liaison for mission services with the Seton Cove Spirituality Center of St. Vincent Health in Indianapolis.
For instance, a 2005 study of 3,050 elderly Mexican-Americans found that those who attended church weekly or more regularly had a 32 percent reduction in mortality. A 2006 study of Danish adults yielded a similar result.

And it isn't just at the end of life that such behavior appears to have an effect. A 2006 study of British teenagers found that religious observance lowered youths' risk of developing a meningitis-like disease just as much as a vaccination did.

It's not clear that any of this is directly attributable to religion or inner peace. But in general, the calmer and happier people are, the less frequently they fall prey to infections, hypertension, headaches and nervous stomach, says Indianapolis psychiatrist Dr. Marvin Miller.

"Having a sense of meaning, which is often derived from having a set of spiritual beliefs, is really important," says Miller. "Almost every culture in our world that's been examined has some evidence of people searching for that higher power and the search to attach meaning to their lives, and I think that is healthy."

The definition of what constitutes that spirituality varies, experts agree.

For one person, it might be regular attendance at church or another form of worship. For another, it may be something else that provides a connection with others, such as volunteering.

For Nikki Myers, owner of Cityoga, a Downtown yoga studio, that tranquility has come through the popular activity that combines exercise with relaxation.

She first tried yoga more than three decades ago. But life sidetracked her, and she didn't get back into it until the early 1990s, after a debilitating case of sciatica sidelined her. Her doctor recommended she try yoga to de-stress.

Within three or four months, her sciatica had disappeared almost altogether, and Myers, now 54, had made yoga a part of her life.

For her, yoga and inner peace go hand in hand. "I know when my life is in balance, one of the key things that shows up is a sense of peace," Myers says. "Stress is such a huge factor in taking us out of balance."

Even before someone falls ill, religion or spirituality may help ward off disease, numerous studies suggest. Research has shown that older adults who attend church regularly are at lower risk of losing the ability to care for themselves over time. A 2005 study found that middle-aged and older Israeli adults who lived in communities that had more people with religious affiliation had a lower mortality rate than their less religious counterparts.

Labels: church, health, meaning, peace, religion, Shari Rudavsky, spirituality, yoga

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

The spiritual legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 19, 2008

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, mandated by federal law to fall on the third Monday in January, is the least celebrated federal holiday.

The King holiday was born in controversy and took 15 years to become law; it faced stiff opposition from national leaders. President Reagan opposed the measure and finally relented and signed the bill creating the holiday in 1986 after perceiving that his veto would be overridden.

One of the leaders of the opposition, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, continued to express outrage over the bill, declaring that King had been a racial agitator and Communist sympathizer.

The opposition to the holiday usually today is put in terms of cost, about 8 billion dollars in lost revenues.

But nonunionized businesses generally do not observe the holiday, and as commentator Earl Hutchinson has put the matter, the biggest reason for nonobservance of the holiday is ''the still widespread public perception that the King holiday is a holiday exclusively of, by, and for blacks.''

The King holiday provides us with a moment to reflect on the spiritual state of our nation, to recall the terrible legacy of slavery and racism, and to reflect on King's call for peace and justice.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister with a Boston University Ph.D. in systematic theology, is remembered as the undisputed leader of the American civil rights movement.

He pushed hard at the forces in American life that were oppressing the poor and marginalized -- racial discrimination, economic injustice and war.

Inspired by Thoreau, Gandhi and Jesus, he became an inspirational leader known for oratorical wizardry, and his commitment to nonviolence earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

But King was mired in controversy and opposition all the time. Not only did he receive daily death threats for his civil rights work -- he was stabbed in Harlem at a book signing in 1958 -- but even fellow civil rights leaders objected to his outspoken opposition to what he called America's ''imperialist war'' in Vietnam. Many of King's supporters saw this opposition as a betrayal of Lyndon Johnson and his administration, which had done more for African Americans than any administration before or since.

I was recently in Atlanta and wanted very much to take some time to visit the King Center near the old Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached, and where King's mother, some years after King's death, had been shot and killed while playing the organ one Sunday morning. A museum with continuous film loops and mementos of King's life are there, a souvenir-bookstore shop, and the tombs of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

As I contemplate the life and legacy of King this January, I recall that visit. I am remembering that at my hotel, when I asked how to get to the King Center, I was told, ''You don't want to walk in that neighborhood. Take a cab.'' When I went east on Auburn Avenue I noted that a huge highway overpass cut right through the center of the community there, something that reminded me of similar dislocations of communities I had seen in the old District 6 in Cape Town, and have even heard about in Allentown, where the Martin Luther King Drive is today.

Those who study environmental racism often make note of public works projects that cut through neighborhoods where people lack the power to oppose them. The office of the Southern Christian Leadership Office is on Auburn Avenue, but nearby are low-income housing projects and small businesses looking a bit run down.

Metal protection screens were on some windows. The reputation of this part of town I had received from my hotel concierge, and I am realizing how close this part of town was to the upscale hotel where I had been attending a Christian ethics conference -- a 20 minute walk.

King would have been 79 on Jan. 15. Were King alive today, I suspect he would be working on the same issues even in his old neighborhood. The problems of racism and discrimination are still with us.

Although the Voting Rights Act brought a major shift in American political and social life, and King worked for it tirelessly, he would no doubt be commenting on the million African American males in jails and prisons today, many of whom lose their voting privileges by conviction.

Would King be talking about the subtle disenfranchisement of blacks today, noting that the civil rights movement never got into our prisons? And would he be focusing attention on America's public schools, where the divide between rich and poor, black and white, is as pronounced today as it was in his lifetime?

And war? There is no question that King would stand in opposition to the Iraq war, having foreseen the tragic loss of life and a waste of treasure that cripples opportunity for many.

It is surprising that America chose to honor so critical a spiritual leader with a national holiday. That it did so, however, provides all of us with an occasion to reflect about who we are and what we value. For we do what we value; and among the painful things we must confront is our tendency to resort to violence to solve problems.

America today uses war as an instrument of foreign policy; incarceration and execution are responses to crime; and meantime we do not provide health coverage to 45 million citizens, and 36 million Americans live below the poverty line.

The true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is that he would not let us forget that what we value we do, and we have need to be reflective about the meaning of what we are doing.

The King holiday, born in controversy, should continue to be controversial if we are to do honor to the man it remembers. May this King holiday be a time for us to connect ourselves to King's call for racial, social and economic justice.

May we remember his life as it stands before all of us as a challenge to do better than we are doing.

Lloyd Steffen is university chaplain and professor of religion studies at Lehigh University.

Labels: African-Americans, contoversy, justice, legacy, Lloyd Steffen, Martin Luther King Jr., racism, slavery

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Friday, January 18, 2008

New Book Explores the Power of Mind as Force of Nature

New Book Explores the Power of Mind as Force of Nature

Author Stephen W. VandeCarr reveals what technological power really means for the future in A Reality Beyond Science.

Pahrump, Nev. (PRWEB) January 17, 2008 -- A Reality Beyond Science by Stephen W. VandeCarr discusses the role of human intelligence in creating reality, along with the mysteries of the mind and the tension between science and religion.

In A Reality Beyond Science, readers are presented with the view that their personal reality isn't what the world is; it's what they believe the world is. The question is…how do humans come to believe what they believe? This book examines why people hold the beliefs they do and form like-minded communities whose belief systems apparently work for the individuals involved. The scientific community is one such community. The book examines issues where religion and science may be compatible and points out where, in the author's view, they are clearly not compatible. While the author identifies with the scientific community, he clearly takes the view that the potential of life and mind is beyond the scope of our current science.

The subject of science versus religion and the impact of science and technology on the world are constantly in the news in various guises. The author sees both religion and science as products of the human mind. This book expands on the views of other authors and introduces the provocative idea that mind is a force of nature and a factor in cosmic evolution.

Strictly providing information from a philosophical perspective, the author does not advocate any formal theology, thus allowing readers to draw his or her own conclusions. Distinctly compelling, A Reality Beyond Science offers a glimpse of what could be in store for the future of humanity.

For more information or to request a free review copy, members of the press can contact the author at swvandecarr @ yahoo.com. A Reality Beyond Science is available for sale online at Amazon.com, BookSurge.com, and through additional wholesale and retail channels worldwide.

About the Author
Stephen W. VandeCarr began his extensive career in medicine as a dental officer in the U.S. Army after receiving a D.D.S. from Emory University. He went on to obtain an M.D. from the University of Michigan, after which he practiced emergency medicine for several years. Subsequently, he earned a M.S. in epidemiology from Harvard University, followed by a fellowship at the National Institute of Health. Board certified in emergency medicine, VandeCarr has worked in various capacities in pharmaceutical research and has had his research published in professional journals. Currently retired, VandeCarr resides in Nevada and Oregon.

About BookSurge
BookSurge Publishing is a DBA of On-Demand Publishing LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc., (NASDAQ AMZN). BookSurge is a pioneer in self-publishing and print-on-demand services. Offering unique publishing opportunities and access for authors, BookSurge boasts an unprecedented number of authors whose work has resulted in book deals with traditional publishers as well as successful authorpreneurs who enhance or build a business from their professional expertise.

Labels: intelligence, mind, reality, religion, science, Stephen W. VandeCarr

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Trendy spiritualism breeds unhappiness

By Tamara McLean
January 18, 2008

YOUNG people who embrace trendy, self-focused spiritualism are more anxious and depressed than those who believe in God or reject religion altogether, a survey shows.

The survey quizzed 3705 people on their beliefs in God, higher powers other than God, as well as their church-going habits and other behaviours.

Young adults with a belief in a spiritual or higher power other than God were at more risk of poorer mental health and deviant social behaviour than those who rejected these beliefs, said study author Dr Rosemary Aird, a population health researcher at the University of Queensland.

Young men who held non-traditional religious views were at twice the risk of being more anxious and depressed than those with traditional beliefs.

The research is believed to be the first in Australia to examine young adults' religious and spiritual thoughts, behaviour and feelings.

Dr Aird found only 8 per cent of young adults attended church once a week, a trend linked to lower rates of antisocial behaviour among young men but not women.

She said individualism was the common thread in the shift away from traditional religious thoughts to non-religious spirituality.

"This focus on self fulfillment and improvement over others' wellbeing could undermine a person's mental health with many people feeling more isolated, less healthy and having poorer relationships," Dr Aird said.

She said so-called new spirituality promoted the idea that self-transformation would lead to a positive and constructive change in self and society.

"But there is a contradiction," Dr Aird said.

"How can one change society if one is focused on oneself?"

Labels: Australia, church, God, individualism, non-traditional, self-centered, spirituality, Tamara McLean, youth

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

French Muslims becoming more observant - survey

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

Page one of two. Please click on "external link" for entire article

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Muslim minority, the largest in Europe, is becoming increasingly more observant, with more of them saying daily prayers, visiting mosques and fasting during Ramadan, a new survey said on Thursday.

This appeared to reflect in part a reaction to discrimination against Muslims in France, and a growing number of new mosques being built in the country.

Thirty-nine percent of Muslims surveyed by the polling group IFOP said they observed Islam's five prayers daily, a steady rise from 31 percent in 1994, according to the study published in the Catholic daily La Croix.

Mosque attendance for Friday prayers has risen to 23 percent, up from 16 percent in 1994, while Ramadan observance has reached 70 percent compared to 60 percent in 1994, it said.

Drinking alcohol, which Islam forbids, has also declined to 34 percent from 39 percent in 1994, according to the survey of 537 people of Muslim origin.

There was strong progression among Muslims under 25 for both mosque attandence and Ramadan observance. "There is a general tendency among the young to reaffirm their (Islamic) identity," Islam expert Franck Fregosi told La Croix.

He said this was partly a reaction to discrimination against France's Muslim minority, at five million the largest in Europe: "This 'Islam as a refuge' can be a way to respond to an environment that is not favourable to young Muslims."

Part of the growth could also have come because it is easier to practice Islam in France thanks to many new mosques that have been constructed over the years, he added. Continued...

Labels: France, Islam, Muslims, spirituality, Tom Heneghan

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

To continue freedom's work

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.
from the January 18, 2008 edition

For many people, the Martin Luther King holiday has become yet another three-day weekend, time off from work or school. The Civil Rights movement, which began with the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, may seem like ancient history in a society where there's "instant" everything from coffee to messaging.

But this special day is a time to consider that despite the progress that has been made, racism hasn't been completely eliminated.

Discrimination against indigenous peoples, against immigrants (including legal ones), as well as those of different races still remains, even though it sometimes takes subtler forms. For example, in many large cities young African Americans still grow up in poverty and remain there because they can't escape that mental environment. Breaking out of the culture of poverty isn't just about getting more money. It's about knowing that you have value, that your presence in this world can be a blessing.

In a way, that is perhaps the last but also the most challenging aspect of the civil rights struggle. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Monitor, witnessed this country's struggles with slavery, and the transition out of it. In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," she observed, "Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task" (p. 225)

For Jesus, healing was not only about setting people free from suffering, but also about changing the thought of society, especially among those who felt superior to others. So, for example, when he was criticized for healing a woman on the Sabbath (because no work was supposed to be done that day), he replied, "Doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound ... be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" (Luke 13:15, 16)

To me he was saying, "You value your animals enough to take care of them. Can't you see that this woman, as a descendant of the man to whom God promised His care, has an even greater heritage?

Society has changed greatly from the times of Jesus, yet the same mental struggle goes on: the need to value each individual, to see his or her spiritual heritage and the blessings to be gained from unlocking those talents. Each of us can contribute by not looking down on someone else because of race, background, handicap, or gender, and by praying for the day when all people will be valued.

And there's a direct, personal benefit to taking this step. Each time we can see others as children of God, we reinforce our own spiritual heritage as God's offspring. We become freer from the mental slavery that says some are "top dogs" and others are not. We are loosed from the burden of despising or rejecting others to rejoicing in the knowledge that our Father's house is big enough for everyone to have a place and for each one's gifts to be joyfully expressed.

Labels: discrimination, Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy, racism

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, January 17, 2008

U.S. religious freedom is being eroded, advocates say

Page one of three: Please click on "external link" to view entire article

Misconceptions and ignorance are weakening the Constitution's 'first freedom.'
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the January 16, 2008 edition

Reporter Jane Lampman talks about the First Freedom Awards.They are heroes in a battle most Americans think has already been won. On Wednesday evening, they are to be honored for their contributions to strengthening religious freedom at home and abroad.

Although the US is home to the greatest experiment in religious freedom ever, and the great majority of Americans support that principle, surprising gaps in knowledge and understanding remain when it comes to practicing that freedom. And support for it seems to rise and fall.

Only a slim majority (56 percent) of Americans said in a 2007 survey that freedom of worship should extend to people of all religious groups, no matter what their beliefs (down 16 points, from 72 percent in 2000).

"A great many Americans don't define religious liberty as a universal right for everyone," says Charles Haynes, one of the honorees. He is senior scholar at Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center, which conducted the survey.

At the same time, others see a weakening in federal courts in recent years of the First Amendment provisions relating to religion, a development that could endanger the rights of minority faiths.

Freedom weaker, now

"It's a disquieting fact that the First Amendment clauses are now very weak provisions, not giving the robust protection ... that historically and for much of the 20th century they did provide," says John Witte, professor of law and religion at Emory University in Atlanta and another of the honorees.

In an era when the US is promoting democracy and freedom of conscience around the world, such knowledgeable people say, it's crucial to get the experiment right here at home.

One organization seeking to boost understanding and respect for this fundamental freedom is the Council for America's First Freedom, based in Richmond, Va. The council sponsors a variety of public education programs, including a nationwide high-school essay competition.

And each year on Jan. 16 – the date in 1786 when Virginia passed the nation's first law guaranteeing religious liberty – the council hands out First Freedom Awards to individuals whose actions have made a significant difference. The three 2008 recipients have advanced religious freedom domestically and internationally:

• For two decades, Dr. Haynes of the First Amendment Center has helped local school districts and communities across the US find common ground to resolve conflicts over religion and values. He recently helped the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe draft guidelines for the study of religions in European classrooms.

• Mr. Witte, director of Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion, has led major global projects related to religion and human rights among scholars from the major faiths; the projects have broken new ground on key issues.

Labels: Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Christianity, faith, first amendment, First Amendment Center, First Freedom Awards, Jane Lampman, religion, religious freedom, Unites States

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Spiritual Reflections: Change perspective to hold yourself together

By Lynne Silva-Breen, Spiritual Reflections

Every January it’s the same thing. Magazine covers, newspaper articles, and radio shows devoted to keeping those health-focused New Year’s resolutions.

Whether its weight loss, smoking cessation, decreasing alcohol use, or improving your overall mood, there’s a program, a drug, a class you can join to fix it all in several easy steps.

So: How’s that going for you?

I believe that that pattern of idealism, attempt, failure and self reproach are harmful to our spiritual and emotional health. All this “self improvement” effort makes our bodies into a kind of lifelong construction project. Is there something else we can do instead?

I would like to suggest a different way of thinking and behaving around these efforts to improve our body’s health. Rather than looking at ourselves as if we were two separate beings, one being as the mind, the other as the body, we might attempt to live life as a whole self; a whole, complex, embodied self.

While Judaism and Christianity assume a person’s embodied self, religious views of human life have given way recently to more utilitarian and objective points of view.

We commonly do invasive things to our bodies unimaginable a couple of generations ago (deep brain surgery, in vitro fertilization, cancer treatments, to name a few) without attending to the emotional and spiritual aspects of these interventions. Our medical advances have outstripped our ethical and emotional reflection on our abilities.

It’s no wonder many of us don’t think of ourselves as the bodies we are. We have begun to treat our bodies like repair projects.

Our cultural mind/body split is at the heart of several rapidly increasing mental health disorders, including those around food and eating, body image, sexuality and gender, and mood disorders. I worry that we have trained ourselves to believe that all it takes is the right pharmaceutical product – the right prescription drug – to fix the body.

Though we know this is not true, both instinctively and factually, we have convinced ourselves of the superiority of technology over our most human of problems.

I invite you to take a step back from the cultural avalanche of body problem solutions this month, and attempt to view yourself as a whole being.

What would that understanding of yourself do when you imagine trying to lose weight, or manage your diabetes, or calm your sleeping problem? How would it shape your next visit to the doctor, or to the gym? We are not just a jumble of parts, but an amazing whole.

May that perspective find its way into your New Year, and help hold you graciously together.

(Rev. Lynne Silva-Breen, M.Div., M.A., has been a Lutheran pastor since 1984, is a family therapist/pastoral counselor and can be contacted at www.inspiringchange.us. She is one of several area pastors who write columns for "Spiritual Reflections.")

Labels: health, Lynne Silva-Breen, mind-body connection, religion, resolutions, spirituality, wholeness

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Study: Most Americans Support School Prayers, Religious Displays

By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter
Fri, Jan. 11 2008

A majority of Americans believe religious displays, prayers at school and the Ten Commandments display in a court building should be legal in the United States, a new study showed.

While religious Americans were more likely to agree, a majority of those who are not religious also believe such religious expressions and practices should be allowed, according to Ellison Research which conducted the research on a sample of 1,007 adults. The study was released Thursday.

Survey results revealed that 98 percent of born-again Americans compared to 81 percent of those not born again believe voluntary student-led prayer at public school events, such as football games or graduation ceremonies, should be legal. Also, 97 percent of born agains believe the law should support religious groups renting public property for meetings if non-religious groups are allowed to do so while 86 percent of not born again Americans agree. And 94 percent of born agains say a teacher wearing a religious symbol, such as a Star of David or a cross, during class should be legal compared to 85 percent of not born people.

Although conservatives were more likely than liberals to believe in allowing the specific religious expressions and practices, majorities from both the groups agree with many of the issues such as allowing a nativity scene on city property, allowing a teacher to wear a religious symbol during class, and letting religious groups rent public property.

There were larger discrepancies between the two groups on other issues such as voluntary student-led prayer at public school events. While 95 percent of conservatives say that should be legal, only 73 percent of liberals agree. Moreover, 87 percent of conservatives believe it should be legal to display the Ten Commandments in a court building but only 60 percent of liberals agree.

Comparing the religious and non-religious Americans, 94 percent of born agains believe the Ten Commandments in a court building should be allowed but only 70 percent of those not born again agree.

Still overall, the survey found an overwhelming majority of Americans united on many of the issues. Ninety percent agree that religious groups renting public property if other groups are allowed to do so should be legal and 89 percent also say it should be legal for a public school teacher to permit a "moment of silence" for prayer or contemplation for all students during class time.

Although most Americans (83 percent) believe nativity displays should be allowed, 67 percent of born-again Christians say an Islam display on city property, such as a city hall, during Ramadan (a Muslim holiday) should be allowed and only 56 percent of those not born again agree.

Other findings showed that 52 percent of Americans overall believe it should be legal for a religious club in a high school or university to determine for itself who can be in their membership, even if certain types of people are excluded, and 33 percent say it should be legal for a landlord to refuse to rent an apartment to a homosexual couple.

Labels: Americans, Audrey Barrick, Ellison Research, prayer, religion

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Survey: 'Unchurched' Americans say church is 'full of hypocrites'

Compiled by Tribune wire services
Article Last Updated: 01/11/2008

Almost three-quarters of Americans who haven't darkened the door of a church in the past six months think it is ''full of hypocrites,'' and even more of them consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than about loving God and people, according to a new survey.

Almost half those surveyed - 44 percent - agreed that ''Christians get on my nerves.''

But the survey of ''unchurched'' Americans by LifeWay Research also found that some 78 percent said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to tell them about his or her Christian beliefs. Researchers, affiliated with the Southern Baptists' LifeWay Christian Resources, defined ''unchurched'' as Christians who haven't attended church in six months as well as non-Christians such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.

The findings echoed a previous study by The Barna Group that found the vast majority of young non-Christians view Christianity as anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical.

The study was based on an overall sample of 1,402 adults who were interviewed by phone in 2007, including 900 ages 18-29 and 502 age 30 and older. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

- Religion News Service

Labels: Buddhists, Christian, Hindus, hypocracy, Jews, LifeWay Research, Muslims, unchurched

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Politics and Religion Do Mix

By Paul Marshall
From the Hudson Institute
Saturday, January 12, 2008

...The problem with our contemporary talk of faith and politics is not that it exists but that it is so often so very shallow. We live in an increasingly religious world in which faith and belief affect every dimension of our existence, so our politicians better talk about it.

The future is likely to bring many more debates on how religion shapes not only politics but economics. Of course this question has always been around. Its locus classicus is Max Weber's misunderstood work on the relation of Protestantism and capitalism. Sadly, Weber never finished this work. The famous title "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" refers not to a book actually written by Weber, but to a collection of his divergent occasional pieces on this topic.

But in what he did finish, Weber argued that the widely dispersed and theologically disciplined work habits encouraged by Protestantism were a factor, though only one, in the development of modern-age "capitalism." We can argue about the historical details, but the question of how religious ethics can shape economic performance remains with us, and is being revived.

Robert Barro and Rachel McCleary of Harvard University have used the results of World Values Surveys to study the relation between religion and economic attitudes. They found that many religious beliefs concerning cooperation, government, working women, legal rules, thriftiness and the market economy are conducive to higher per-capita income and growth. Religion appears to have an effect on economic growth and development by fostering thrift, a work ethic, honesty and openness to strangers. This has lead to the notion of "spiritual capital," analogous to human capital, which focuses on knowledge and behavior stemming from transcendent concepts and ultimate concerns.

Their model stresses the importance of freedom, not only in economics per se, but in religion itself. Religion most often has positive effects when it is free. This model is reinforced by the results of our recently concluded survey of international religious freedom. The countries with the worst religious freedom records, including Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have, unless they have oil, terrible economic records. Similar relations hold for those in the middle and for those with high levels of freedom: The highest 30 countries in rankings of economic freedom all scored highly on religious freedom.

Barro and McCleary's work suggests that this is more than a mere correlation: There is good reason to think that religious freedom leads to good economic outcomes. The current evidence indicates that closed religious systems hamper economic development. Hence, if we want economic growth and development, we need to permit religious groups and people to follow their beliefs. In this case, economists should join political scientists in examining religion more seriously.

Whether we like it or not, religion is likely to remain central to politics, and even economics. This means that in the future, politicians, Democrats as well as Republicans, are likely to expand their talk of religion on the campaign trail. We should not dismiss this as if religion were a mere irrational prejudice or interest-group totem. We should instead demand that politicians address these fundamental issues in a serious, coherent and empirically grounded way. If they do not do so, they (and we) will misunderstand our all-too-religious world.

Paul Marshall is senior fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. Rankings from the center's survey "Religious Freedom in the World" are available here.

Labels: 'spiritual capital', economics, Paul Marshall, politics, religion, religious freedom, World Values Surveys

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Prayer and spirituality said to aid healing

Posted on Sat, Jan. 12, 2008
By REBECCA ROSEN LUM
Contra Costa Times

Scientists are taking a hard look at the value of faith as an instrument in healing -- including the "intercessory" or healing prayers said on behalf of others.

Numerous studies show a link between faith and outlook, faith and well-being, faith and healing times.

Scientists at such prestigious institutions as California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Duke University in North Carolina, and the George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health in the nation's capital are exploring the relationship of prayer and faith to healing.

More than half of physicians in an April survey by a group at the University of Chicago said that religion and spirituality significantly influence patients' health.

But the exact mechanism by which it works remains elusive.

Religion can help those with chronic conditions, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke and arthritis, say the authors of a study at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Yoga, reading of religious texts, meditation or the laying of hands have value in a clinical setting, the researchers concluded.

Hospital officials have long left patients' spiritual needs in the hands of chaplains, but they increasingly are reaching out to faith communities.

Official recognition

Parish nursing, or faith-community nursing, which combines spiritual and health services, has exploded since the American Nursing Association recognized the specialty in 2005.

Today, an estimated 10,000 faith-community nurses work in American congregations.

In San Francisco, a leading researcher in mind-body medicine found a positive link between intercessory prayer and the well-being of people with AIDS.

Prayed-for patients in a study by late University of California-San Francisco professor Elizabeth Targ had fewer setbacks and lived longer than a comparison group. A follow-up study found the same results. Targ later found a link between spirituality and well-being among women with breast cancer.

THE CONFLICT

Some academics recoil at the blurring of the line between faith and healthcare, saying prayer, meditation and other faith practices resist definition or measurement.

Far more studies show no link between religious belief and healing than a positive one, said Richard Sloan, a Columbia University behavioral medicine professor and the author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. Suggesting one can mislead people and put an unfair burden on them, he said.

"Look, nobody disputes that religion and spirituality bring comfort in a time of difficulty, but when spirituality is brought into medical care, it is another issue entirely," he said.

"It can do all sort of harm because it causes people to confuse medical care with other aspects of their lives," he said. "It can lead them to avoid conventional medical care. And it can lead them to believe their health problems are from inadequate faith and devotion."

Labels: American Nursing Association, faith, healing, health, intercessory prayer, Rebecca Rosen Lum, science, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Buddhism forced to turn trendy to attract a new generation in Japan

Priests visit bars to reach out to young sceptics amid dramatic decline

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Thursday January 10, 2008
The Guardian

In the days ahead, millions of Japanese will visit Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples to mark the arrival of the Year of the Rat. For many, this will be the only contact they have with their spiritual roots for the entire year.

More than 1,200 years after its arrival in Japan from mainland Asia, Buddhism is in crisis. About 75% of Japan's 127 million people describe themselves as Buddhists, but new year apart, many see the inside of a temple only when a local head priest is asked to arrange a traditional (and expensive) funeral for a dead relative.

As a result, public donations are drying up and many of the country's 75,000 temples are in financial trouble. Applications to Buddhist universities have fallen so dramatically that several schools have dropped the religious association from their titles.

Being served sake by a priest is just one of the novel ways in which sceptical Japanese are being encouraged to get in touch with their spiritual roots. Baijozan Komyoji temple in Tokyo has opened an outdoor cafe in front of its main hall, and in Kyoto, Zendoji temple operates a beauty salon. At Club Chippie, a jazz lounge in Tokyo, the saxophone makes way for Sanskrit once a month as three shaven-headed monks wearing robes chant sutras and encourage bemused customers to join in.

And recently, dozens of Buddhist monks and nuns took to the catwalk in colourful silk robes as part of a public relations exercise at Tsukiji Honganji temple in Tokyo. The event, called Tokyo Bouz Collection, opened with the recital of a Buddhist prayer to a hip-hop beat and ended in a blur of confetti shaped like lotus petals.

"Many priests share the sense of crisis and the need to do something to reach out to people," said Kosuke Kikkawa, a 37-year-old priest who helped organise the event. "We won't change Buddha's teachings, but perhaps we need to present things differently so that they touch the feelings of people today."

Explainer: How faith spread

Buddhism found its way to Japan via China and Korea in the sixth century, according to early historical records.

In its earliest forms Japanese Buddhism was considered the preserve of learned priests, who spent their days praying for the health of the imperial household from their lairs in the great temples of the ancient capital of Nara.

The forerunner of the Jodo Shinshu - True Pure Land - sect was founded in 1175 and promoted the idea of gaining salvation through belief in the Buddha Amida. Jodo Shinshu continues to have millions of followers today.

Zen Buddhism, which reached Japan at about the same time, proved popular among members of the military elite, who were attracted by its message of enlightenment through meditation and discipline. Another influential sect, Nichiren, revelled in opposing other Buddhist schools and remains popular, providing the basis for many of Japan's "new religions".

They include Soka Gakkai, which was founded in 1930 and whose members went on to form the political party Komeito, now the junior partner in Japan's ruling coalition.

Japan's Buddhists have survived several political struggles, notably with the Meiji government of the late 19th century, which promoted Shinto as the new state religion.

About 90 million Japanese say they are Buddhist, compared with only about 1% of the country's 127m-strong population, who consider themselves Christian.

Labels: Buddhism, Japan, Justin McCurry, priests, religion

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Islam’s Forsaken Renaissance

Posted Jan 8, 2008

Islam’s Forsaken Renaissance
by Mahathir bin Mohamad

According to the Koran, a Muslim is anyone who bears witness that “there is no God (Allah) but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Rasul (Messenger).” If no other qualification is added, then all those who subscribe to these precepts must be regarded as Muslims. But because we Muslims like to add qualifications that often derive from sources other than the Koran, our religion’s unity has been broken.

But perhaps the greatest problem is the progressive isolation of Islamic scholarship – and much of Islamic life – from the rest of the modern world. We live in an age of science in which people can see around corners, hear and see things happening in outer space, and clone animals. And all of these things seem to contradict our belief in the Koran.

This is so because those who interpret the Koran are learned only in religion, in its laws and practices, and thus are usually unable to understand today’s scientific miracles. The fatwas (legal opinions concerning Islamic law) that they issue appear unreasonable and cannot be accepted by those with scientific knowledge.

One learned religious teacher, for example, refused to believe that a man had landed on the moon. Others assert that the world was created 2,000 years ago. The age of the universe and its size measured in light years – these are things that the purely religiously trained ulamas cannot comprehend.

So what do we need to do? In the past, Muslims were strong because they were learned. Muhammad’s injunction was to read, but the Koran does not say what to read. Indeed, there was no “Muslim scholarship” at the time, so to read meant to read whatever was available. The early Muslims read the works of the great Greek scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers. They also studied the works of the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese.

The result was a flowering of science and mathematics. Muslim scholars added to the body of knowledge and developed new disciplines, such as astronomy, geography, and new branches of mathematics. They introduced numerals, enabling simple and limitless calculations.

But around the fifteenth century, the learned in Islam began to curb scientific study. They began to study religion alone, insisting that only those who study religion – particularly Islamic jurisprudence – gain merit in the afterlife. The result was intellectual regression at the very moment that Europe began embracing scientific and mathematical knowledge.

And so, as Muslims were intellectually regressing, Europeans began their renaissance, developing improved ways of meeting their needs, including the manufacture of weapons that eventually allowed them to dominate the world.

By contrast, Muslims fatally weakened their ability to defend themselves by neglecting, even rejecting, the study of allegedly secular science and mathematics, and this myopia remains a fundamental source of the oppression suffered by Muslims today. Many Muslims still condemn the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal, because he tried to modernize his country. But would Turkey be Muslim today without Ataturk? Mustafa Kamal’s clear-sightedness saved Islam in Turkey and saved Turkey for Islam.

Failure to understand and interpret the true and fundamental message of the Koran has brought only misfortune to Muslims. By limiting our reading to religious works and neglecting modern science, we destroyed Islamic civilization and lost our way in the world.

The Koran says that “Allah will not change our unfortunate situation unless we make the effort to change it.” Many Muslims continue to ignore this and, instead, merely pray to Allah to save us, to bring back our lost glory. But the Koran is not a talisman to be hung around the neck for protection against evil. Allah helps those who improve their minds.

Mahathir bin Mohamad was Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981-2003.

Labels: Islam, Koran, Mahathir bin Mohamad, Muslims, religion, renaissance, scholarship, science

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Survey: Non-attendees find faith outside church

By Cathy Lynn Grossman

A new survey of U.S. adults who don't go to church, even on holidays, finds 72% say "God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists." But just as many (72%) also say the church is "full of hypocrites."

Indeed, 44% agree with the statement "Christians get on my nerves."

LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Nashville, conducted the survey of 1,402 "unchurched" adults last spring and summer. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The survey defines "unchurched" as people who had not attended a religious service in a church, synagogue or mosque at any time in the past six months.

More than one in five (22%) of Americans say they never go to church, the highest ever recorded by the General Social Survey, conducted every two years by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. In 2004, the percentage was 17%.

Many of the unchurched are shaky on Christian basics, says LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer.

Just 52% agree on the essential Christian belief that "Jesus died and came back to life."

And 61% say the God of the Bible is "no different from the gods or spiritual beings depicted by world religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.," although Buddhist philosophy has no god and Hindus worship many.

Belief in 'a generic god'

Most of the unchurched (86%) say they believe they can have a "good relationship with God without belonging to a church." And 79% say "Christianity today is more about organized religion than loving God and loving people."

But despite respondents' critical views of organized religion, Stetzer is optimistic. He cites the finding that 78% would "be willing to listen" to someone tell "what he or she believed about Christianity."

They already know believers — 89% of the unchurched have at least one close friend who is Christian, Stetzer noted.

And 71% agreed that "believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person's life."

The direct approach

Still, most of Christian belief has seeped into popular culture outside church walls and denominational tethers, says Philip Goff, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University in Indianapolis.

New forms of community, such as Internet Bible study and prayer circles, also mean some people don't believe they need a church, Goff says.

"Is there a workshop for churches in being less annoying, less hypocritical?" asks Arthur Farnsley, administrator for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and a fellow at Goff's center.

"So much of American religion today is therapeutic in approach, focused on things you want to fix in your life," he says.

"The one-to-one approach is more attractive. People don't go to institutions to fix their problems.

"Most people have already heard the basic Christian message. The question for evangelism now is: Do you have a take that is authentic and engaging in a way that works for the unchurched?"

Labels: Cathy Lynn Grossman, Christianity, church, faith, General Social Survey, God, LifeWay Research, Southern Baptist Convention

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Evolution, God, and Neanderthals in Teen Fiction

“I believe in God -- nothing will ever change that. You can hook me up to a torture machine and I’ll still say I believe. I’d die if I didn’t have God. But I also believe in science. Does that make me a bad Christian? Why do I have to ignore facts just to prove my faith is strong?”

These words, the unmistakably dramatic words of a teenage girl, belong to Mena Reece, the central character in Robin Brande’s YA novel Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature. Mena’s story twists the coming-of-age high-school novel toward the American culture wars, and reading it, we learn something about the state of religion-science writing these days.

Everyone knows the deal by now: the sizeable percentage of Americans who call themselves creationists and pledge fidelity to the “fact” of a 6000-year-old Earth; the fancied-up, pseudo-science ID (intelligent design) cadre that acknowledges an ancient Earth but reifies the “irreducibly complex” structures and processes that, they insist, could not have evolved and could only have been created; the scientists who lament both of these views, acknowledging creationism and ID as our country’s twin pillars of scientific illiteracy; and the subset of those scientists who, bloated with certainty of their own one real truth, condescend to people of any faith and link all religiosity with rampant stupidity.

Behind each of these caricatures are living people -- we’ve all met them. But the four categories above omit so many people, people who leave room inside for a new rock-your-world idea to be digested, or even just nibbled and then spit out. These churchgoers and scientists, and churchgoing scientists, pair up science texts with sacred texts and read both with a critical eye.

Like real people in this latter group, Mena Reece can think for herself. This annoys her strait-laced, ultra-religious parents. The novel begins as Mena tries to cope with her new status as pariah both at home and at New Advantage High School. Swept up in the tide of peer pressure, she recently joined a nasty and (for much of the book) mysterious campaign against a fellow student, orchestrated by her supposedly Christian peers. I won’t reveal the nature of these doings; it’s enough to know that Mena came down with a severe case of guilt as a result. (Guilt! Staple emotion of any bathed-in-religion novel worth its salt). Mena seeks redemption by performing a counter-act, one that sets these same Christians, and her own parents, soundly against her. Now, she’s alone….

Until she observes, one day in biology class, the Mena-shunners’ protest: “Ms. Shepherd had barely gotten the word ‘evolution’ out of her mouth when suddenly there was this dramatic scraping of chairs. Next thing I knew, almost half of the room -- fourteen people, to be exact -- stood up, flipped their chairs around, and plopped into their seats with their backs to Ms. Shepherd. God help us. Because this was it, the Big Stand, the ‘taking it to the front lines’ Pastor Wells had bragged about.”

Ms. Shepherd cites separation of church and state, and pushes on. True to her name, she also herds Mena towards Casey, a compatible boy-soul. Together with his spirited sister Kayla and Ms. Shepherd herself, Casey works magic on Mena. She mutates into increasingly rebellious science-blogger Bible Grrrl, breaks from the sheep-pack of peers, and decides her God can make room for Darwin.

Sprinkled through the text are welcome references to the big stars and bit players of human prehistory, ranging from gorillas to Homo floresiensis, the unexpectedly tiny (and recent) Hobbit hominid. I was disappointed to see, though, that our closest primate relatives, living or extinct, become in Brande’s hands only metaphors for mean or dumb characters. Early on, “Adam turned his apelike face toward Casey… The stupid gorilla decided to ram his shoulder into Casey and bounce him off the wall, too.” Later, Kayla calls anti-evolution picketers “Neanderthals.” For my money, gorillas are, and Neanderthals were, group-living, complex-communicating smart primates, and I’m proud to have them in the family.

Brande is at her best when she lets us peek inside Mena’s mind, at its genuine confusion: “So what does [all this] mean for Genesis? Evolution says we’re all descended from a common ancestor, too, but it doesn’t exactly sound like Adam and Eve. So when did they come along? Were there already apes and other creatures, and then God picked us out to make us special? Or were we always planned from the beginning, human souls waiting until the time was right to be in human bodies that walked upright and used tools and could appreciate the Garden of Eden?”

This novel couldn’t be more hot-topic. This year, U.S. presidential candidates will play the faithier than thou game, and may face outing if they endorse evolution. In 2009, the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s The Origin of Species will force natural selection and ape-like ancestors into everyone’s face. In the shorter term, we can hope for a Texas-sized miracle. Recently, the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research gained state approval for an online Master’s program in science education. Yes, for science education! Check out this bulleted point from the Institute’s website: “The harmful consequences of evolutionary thinking on families and society (abortion, promiscuity, drug abuse, homosexuality, and many others) are evident all around us even infiltrating our churches and seminaries.” Isn’t it just swell when being gay gets lumped with drug abuse? When evolutionary thinking is made into evil? Stay tuned: the final vote from the state of Texas on ICR’s Master’s program is slated for later this month.

Kids, like adults, need to understand what’s behind issues like these -- almost as much as they need to learn the bedrock principles and facts of evolution. A countryful of courage, that’s what we need, on behalf of the kids. Courage to continue to insist that teachers teach science in science class, and religion in religion class. Courage to write an array of books, fiction and otherwise, that look at God and evolution. Sure, let’s explore what it means for teens to bridge science and religion. But since when have YA readers been fragile? Not everyone has to pray their way through the issues; an atheist heroine or two (non-sneering variety), anyone?

-- Barbara J. King awaits a spring semester at William & Mary filled with science, and 37 students in two primatology classes.

Labels: Barbara J. King, evolution, fiction, God, religion, science, teenagers

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Why US Muslims live in peace

By AMNON RUBINSTEIN

At a time when European countries are debating among themselves about how to deal with the burgeoning extremism among their Muslim immigrant communities and how to contend with the dangers to their national security and culture from those who demand official recognition of their separate culture, there is no sign of similar unrest in the US. Close to a million Muslims live in America in peace.

Whereas in Europe acts of terror are initiated by local Muslims, the perpetrators of the terror attack on the World Trade Center were not aided by a single Muslim-American collaborator.

A PUBLIC-OPINION survey conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in 2006 to gauge the views of Muslim voters showed that 84 percent said Muslims should strongly emphasize shared values with Christians and Jews; 77% said Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews; 89% said they vote regularly; 86% said they celebrate the Fourth of July and 64% said they fly the stars and stripes. Nothing similar can be found in European surveys.

What is the explanation of this dramatic contrast? True, the Muslim minority in the United States represents a much smaller proportion of the population than in Europe, but that alone cannot explain the distinct dissimilarity.

THERE ARE five fundamental differences between Europe and the United States.

First, the US has been a land of immigration from its inception and has a great deal of experience in absorbing immigrants from other cultures, while in Europe, the phenomenon of immigration is relatively new.

Second, the US maintains maximum, if not absolute, separation between religion and state, making religion an individual matter. That means there is no room for Muslim-religious demands.

Third, the United States has a tradition of individualism: It is the individual that stands alone facing government; the individual pledges his allegiance to the flag and the constitution when he becomes a citizen; the individual can conduct a dialogue with the government on his own and has no need for an intermediary, such as the Muslim Councils established in Britain and France.

FOURTH, the immigrant to the United States knows that his economic fate is up to him and his own efforts: He knows that he is immigrating to a country where he has the chance of becoming rich, of becoming a celebrity. The immigrant to Europe is motivated, among other reasons, by the opportunity to become eligible for national welfare.

Fifth, multiculturalism is recognized in both cultures, but in the United States, the concept is limited to certain specific areas: tolerance, recognition of other cultures and of the need to have affirmative action and diversity in education and employment. In Europe - and especially a short time ago in Britain, Holland and Scandinavia - multiculturalism has been translated into group cultural rights, which isolate the immigrants from the majority population.

Because of all these things, scholars and political leaders in Europe are now turning their gaze to America to learn from it about how to absorb Muslim immigrants.

IN ISRAEL, the situation is of course quite different, largely because of the conflict and the extremist anti-Israeli stance taken by the Israeli-Arab leadership. But the American example is significant: The most important question of all, for us too, is whether there is any chance that the Arab world will ever make its peace with modern democratic values, which place the emphasis on individual freedoms, thought and expression, redirecting religious injunctions to the private domain.

The democratic world stands on two principal pillars: the Jewish pillar - that all humans are created in God's image - and the Greek pillar, which encourages criticism of accepted thought.

So far, not a single Arab society has accepted these two foundations. On the contrary, Arab societies are increasingly moving in the direction of oppressive extremism and suppression of all independent thought and freedom.

In this area, Israel can learn two things from America: the need for all immigrants and those receiving citizenship to take an individual oath of allegiance, and the importance of making the economic changes necessary to enable every Israeli Arab to advance economically, without being suffocated by red tape.

The writer is a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, a former minister of education and MK, and the recipient of the 2006 Israel Prize in Law.

Labels: America, Amnon Rubinstein, Council on American-Islamic Relations, democracy, Muslims

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Theologian who heralded the death of God ponders his own

PORTLAND, Ore. — It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in 1938 when something went terribly wrong near young Bill Hamilton's house. His teenage friends had been building pipe bombs. One, an Episcopalian, was dead. Another, a Catholic, lay on the grass fatally injured. And the third, the son of an atheist, emerged without a scratch.

How, Hamilton wondered, could a just God allow this? Why do the innocent suffer? Does God intervene in human lives?

The questions haunted Hamilton at his friends' funerals, at school, in the Navy, at seminary and in his years as a theology professor in upstate New York. By 1966, he had an answer, and it landed him in Time and Playboy magazines: God was dead.

Now, some 40 years later, a new atheism is surging. Best-sellers bash religion, Christianity in particular. Published excerpts from Mother Teresa's private journal reveal her doubts. The Golden Compass, drawn from a trilogy of novels in which a key character wants to kill God, is a blockbuster movie.

Hamilton grew up a "bland, very liberal" Baptist, in a middle-class Chicago suburb. "As soon as I was able," he says, "I left it." He graduated from Oberlin College and joined the Navy in World War II. "I may have been the only guy on my ship with a copy of The Nature and Destiny of Man in my duffel," he says. Its author, Reinhold Niebuhr, was the leading U.S. theologian of the day.

After the war, Hamilton went to Union Theological Seminary in New York City because Niebuhr invited him. It didn't matter that Hamilton wasn't sure he was a Christian. Niebuhr thought Union, a bastion of liberal Protestantism, would be a good place to figure that out. The two became lifelong friends.

Hamilton graduated in 1949, got married and earned his doctorate in theology from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The family returned to the U.S., where Hamilton taught theology at Colgate University in upstate New York.

Hamilton spent those years reflecting on his fractured faith. The image of God as an all-knowing, all-powerful solver of problems couldn't be reconciled with human suffering, especially in the wake of the Holocaust.

Hamilton wrote out his two choices: "God is not behind such radical evil, therefore he cannot be what we have traditionally meant by God" or "God is behind everything, including the death camps — and therefore he is a killer."

Hamilton didn't see an active God anymore. But the theologian was not an atheist. And he didn't want to let go of Jesus, as the example of how humans should treat one another.

"The death of God is a metaphor," he says. "We needed to redefine Christianity as a possibility without the presence of God."

He stopped going to church, but because he wanted his children to know the Bible and understand how Jesus lived, he taught them Sunday school at home. "All of us appreciate the teachings of Jesus Christ, what an extraordinary figure he was," says his son, Ross.

Hamilton redefined Christianity without God, other theologians speculated: God died long ago, perhaps at the birth of Jesus; or science and technology killed the deity. Hamilton, Thomas J.J. Altizer at Emory University and Paul Van Buren at Temple published a few articles in theological journals. Newspapers picked up the story in 1965. On April 8, 1966, Time's cover declared that God was dead, and christened the movement "radical theology."

By the time Hamilton's essay appeared in Playboy four months later, alongside topless photos of Jane Fonda, he was frustrated with the public perception of his work. Some didn't understand his argument or care about its subtleties. The response was hostile. "Institutions were upset, trustees perplexed, colleagues bewildered," he says.

Critics dismissed the death of God movement as a blip, a passing fad. But Hamilton helped pave the way for other radical theologians: feminists, who dropped patriarchal descriptions of God; and liberationists, who saw God in poverty and suffering.

Hamilton left Colgate to teach religion at New College in Sarasota, Fla., where an avant-garde and freewheeling atmosphere attracted bright students. But after a few years, he and his wife decided it wasn't where they wanted to raise their five children.

They moved to Oregon in 1970, where Hamilton taught at Portland State University for 14 years. His classes covered topics from literary criticism to death and dying, even a little religion.

Hamilton still rises every day at 6 a.m. to write. He writes by hand, and progress is slow. He hopes, however, to get his novel off to a publisher soon. He still reads avidly — Shakespeare, politics, some theology and the new atheists. It's their attitude that annoys him most.

"These are blanket indictments of religion in general, or Christianity in particular," he says. "There is a self-righteousness, a glibness in their writing. They are too sure of themselves. They've backed themselves into a fundamentalist mode."

He remains a Christian who doesn't go to church. And faced with his own mortality, he doesn't think much about God anymore, except when asked.

"The death of God enabled me to understand the world. Looking back, I wouldn't have gone any other direction. I faced all my worries and questions about death long ago."

Nancy Haught writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore

Labels: atheism, Bill Hamilton, Christianity, God, Jesus, Nancy Haught

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Friday, January 04, 2008

Women and religion

By BONNIE ERBE

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

It is easy to see why women suffer less anxiety when they are active in religious organizations. Women most often make up the backbones of their churches/temples/mosques, even though most major religions exclude them from leadership. Clearly women derive much from their participation or they would not take part. What is harder to understand is why men do not enjoy similar benefits from these affiliations or why there's such a marked gender difference on this issue.

A new study produced by Temple University's Joanna Maselko, Sc.D., and published in Science Daily magazine and sciencedaily.com, revealed the following results. Women who were active in organized religious communities (churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.) and who later became disengaged were more than three times more likely to suffer generalized anxiety and alcohol abuse/dependence than women who reported "always having been active."

"Conversely, men who stopped being religiously active were less likely to suffer major depression when compared to men who had always been religiously active."

Gender differences in medicine are now widely proven. Women get certain diseases more or less frequently than men, have different reactions to drugs, fare better with certain types of surgery and (of course) have different hormones than do men. It's no mystery that a whole field of medicine has arisen during the past two decades to study and treat men and women differently.

It's less apparent why religious affiliation would impact men and women so differently. I'm a big believer in mind over matter. We've all heard about cancer patients who outlived doctors' expectations by a matter of years. We all know terrific "fighters" who braved the odds and took on their illnesses, while others succumbed quickly to them. But victors and the vanquished are represented in both genders.

What makes religion so much more of an antidepressant and anti-anxiety agent for women? Are women better, more fervent believers than men? According to legendary stereotype, men are more practical, less emotional and more realistic than women. (I'm not saying I buy into these stereotypes -- I merely raise them as common assumptions.) Do these putative attributes make women less susceptible to religion, less religious than men?

It was after all a man (Karl Marx) who, however discredited he may have been on other fronts, wrote, "Religion is the opium of the people."

The study's author offers an entirely different potential explanation for these gender differences. Dr. Maselko is quoted as saying, "Women are simply more integrated into the social networks of their religious communities. When they stop attending religious services, they lose access to that network and all its potential benefits. Men may not be as integrated into the religious community in the first place and so may not suffer the negative consequences of leaving."

While she may be right, her explanation makes two assumptions, one of which may be wrong and the other of which is controversial. The first, that when women stop going to church they lose touch with the social networks they formed while going, may be wrong. The second, more controversial, is that the "social networking" women take part in at church, rather than their actual belief in God, that decreases their anxiety and depression levels and improves their health. It would be far less controversial to presume most religious women would attribute their improved mental health to their belief system and to their faith, rather than to their church-based support networks.

It is also counterintuitive on at least one level to believe that men derive less from church-going than do women. Men occupy the loftiest positions in church hierarchy, decide church doctrine and interpret religious law. More importantly most believers see God as a male form.

Wouldn't men then also get more out of church-going than women?

And yet experts say no. Clearly we're from different planets.

(Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe(at)CompuServe.com.)

Labels: anxiety, Bonnie Erbe, men, religion, Science Daily, Temple University, women

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Book Review: The Cure Within - A History of Mind-Body Medicine

By Anne Harrington
Jan 2, 2008

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Scientific studies, social trends, and pop culture show that we are endlessly fascinated by the magical notion of mind over matter. News headlines claim that reducing stress leads to a stronger immune system and a longer life expectancy. There are miraculous stories of tumors disappearing with the help of visualization techniques. Accordingly, many are embracing practices such as acupuncture, yoga, and transcendental meditation. Interest in alternative sources of health and wellness indicate that even with the advances of medicine, many recognize the mind’s role in healing the body.

In her new book, THE CURE WITHIN (W. W. Norton & Company; January 21, 2008; $25.95 cloth), Anne Harrington, historian and chair of Harvard’s Mind Brain and Behavior Initiative, unravels the mystery of “mind cures” – the mind’s role in healing the body and the notion that the mind exerts an influence on our well-being. Superbly researched, enlightening, and original, THE CURE WITHIN is the first cultural history of mind-body medicine. Beginning in the early days of Christianity, when notions of possession dominated the church and medicine, Harrington moves to the secularized mind cures of Freud’s psychoanalysis, explores the deep-seated Christian roots of our modern self-help vernacular, and probes today’s designer blending of Eastern and Western wellness medicines.

Harrington reveals the deep historical and cultural roots that underlie our notions of healing. She chronicles faith and religion’s historical role in curing illness from early Christian times, to the 17th and 18th century exorcisms sanctioned by the church as an effective treatment for what was deemed “demonic possession,” to the persistence of religion today in more modern examples of faith-healing, including pilgrimages to sites such as Lourdes and the laying in of hands. She traces the origin of the power of positive thinking to Mary Baker Eddy, the 1879 founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist, whose advocacy of spiritual healing above medicinal treatment remains the accepted doctrine of today’s Christian Scientists. Harrington also explores secular influences on mind-body healing—from Freud’s techniques for curing illness and hysteria to today’s stress management and visualization techniques popularized by figures likes Dr. Herb Benson, whose ground-breaking study of Transcendental Medicine sparked a tremendous interest in spiritual and holistic health practices.

Both religion and science have something to say about the seemingly real effects of the mind’s role in shaping, harnessing, and controlling disease. Harrington expertly navigates historical cases that demonstrate these influences, punctuating her story of psychosomatic medicine with an examination of neuroscience’s role in confirming the influence of mind over body. THE CURE WITHIN is an absorbing, enlightening investigation of our cultural notions of mind cure from ancient times to the present.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anne Harrington is Harvard College Professor for the History of Science, specializing in the history of psychiatry, neuroscience, and the other mind sciences. Also a visiting professor for Medical History at the London School of Economics, she is the author of Reenchanted Science and the editor of The Placebo Effect and the The Dalai Lama at MIT. Currently she serves on the Board of the Mind and Life Institute, an organization dedicated to cross-cultural dialogue between Buddhism and the sciences. She lives in Watertown, Massachusetts.

TITLE: THE CURE WITHIN: A History of Mind-Body Medicine
AUTHORS: Anne Harrington
PUBLICATION DATE: January 21, 2008
PRICE: $25.95 cloth
PAGES: 354
ISBN: 978-0-393-06563-3

www.HealthNewsDigest.com

Labels: Anne Harrington, health, mind-body connection, religion, science

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

U.S. science academy stresses evolution's importance

Thu Jan 3, 2008
By Will Dunham

(NOTE: This is page one of two. Please click on "external link" to view entire article.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Academy of Science on Thursday issued a spirited defense of evolution as the bedrock principle of modern biology, arguing that it, not creationism, must be taught in public school science classes.

The academy, which operates under a mandate from Congress to advise the government on science and technology matters, issued the report at a time when the theory of evolution, first offered in the 19th century, faces renewed attack by some religious conservatives.

Creationism, based on the explanation offered in the Bible, and the related idea of "intelligent design" are not science and, as such, should not be taught in public school science classrooms, according to the report.

"We seem to have continuing challenges to the teaching of evolution in schools. That's something that doesn't seem to go away," Barbara Schaal, an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and vice president of National Academy of Sciences, said in a telephone interview.

"We need a citizenry that's trained in real science."

Evolution is a theory explaining change in living organisms over the eons due to genetic mutations. For example, it holds that humans evolved from earlier forms of apes.

The report stated that the idea of evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. "Science and religion are different ways of understanding the world. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of each to contribute to a better future," said the report.

But teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not, according to the report's authors. Continued...

Labels: creationism, evolution, intelligent design, National Academy of Science, public school, religion, science, Will Dunham

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Is forgiveness divine for body?

Researchers note possible health benefits for people who absolve wrongdoers, but others express skepticism

By Melissa Healy
January 3, 2008

Forgiveness - a virtue embraced by almost every religious tradition as a balm for the soul - may be medicine for the body, researchers suggest. In less than a decade, those preaching and studying forgiveness have amassed an impressive slate of findings on its possible health benefits.

They have shown that "forgiveness interventions" - often just a couple of short sessions in which the wounded are guided toward positive feelings for an offender - can improve cardiovascular function, diminish chronic pain, relieve depression and boost quality of life among the very ill.

Like proper nutrition and exercise, forgiveness appears to be a behavior that a patient can learn, exercise and repeat as needed to prevent disease and preserve health.

Psychologist Loren Toussaint of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and colleagues were the first to establish a long-term link between people's health and their propensity to forgive.

Their national survey, published in the Journal of Adult Development in 2001, found forgiveness rare enough: Only 52 percent of Americans said they had forgiven others for hurtful acts. But willingness of young respondents to forgive showed no link to health; that propensity began to make a difference as respondents approached middle age. The survey found that those 45 and older who forgave others were more likely to report having better overall mental and physical health than those who did not.

Efforts to put forgiveness to a rigorous scientific test have been funded largely by a pair of philanthropies long associated with research on faith, religion and science: the Michigan-based Fetzer Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation of Pennsylvania, which effectively created the field in 1997 with a pledge of $2 million for research on forgiveness.

These origins raise discomfort and controversy among both scientists and those who help the physically and mentally wounded heal.

To many in mental health who fear that traumatized patients face pressure to forgive when doing so is premature or ill-advised, the new science of forgiveness is deeply worrisome.

"The whole Christian, 12-step mentality has permeated our culture, and the emphasis on forgiveness is part of that," says Jeanne Safer, a New York psychoanalyst and author of Must We Forgive? "For many patients, forgiveness is a double-whammy: First someone [hurts] you, and then it's your fault you don't want to embrace them in heaven. I'm not against forgiveness; I'm against compulsory forgiveness with no choice. And I'm against 'forgiveness lite,' which keeps you from feeling the intensity of the experience, from deeply grappling with what's been done to you."

Clinicians skeptical of forgiveness as a necessary endpoint of therapy say many of those who are quickest to forgive others do so because they blame themselves for the bad things that have happened to them. Others forgive too quickly because they are unwilling to acknowledge their general feelings of shame and anger or simply because they feel unworthy of better treatment.

Safer calls this "fake forgiveness." It allows victims to continue blaming themselves, she says. And it's a dangerous side effect of what Safer sees as a bid to sell forgiveness as a panacea.

Jeffrey R., a Maryland man whose father sexually molested him and three siblings as children, acknowledges that self-blame and denial after the abuse has exacted a terrible cost on his family. The Sun does not report the names of sex abuse victims.

After nine suicide attempts and decades of contending with crippling temper and suspicion toward others, Jeffrey says he's not ready to forgive the father who did it, the mother who looked the other way or the aunts and uncles who, after the abuse came to light, refused to discuss it. His sister, who was raped by her father at 5, has embraced forgiveness, says Jeffrey, telling her brother God will judge their father. Jeffrey says he's let go of the anger and bitterness caused by his abuse, and it "has saved my life."

But forgiveness on the same level as his sister's? "I'm not really there yet," he says.

Labels: Fetzer Foundation, forgiveness, health, John Templeton Foundation, Loren Toussaint, Melissa Healy

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Monthly Archives - Previous Articles
03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003 04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003 05/01/2003 - 06/01/2003 06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003 07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009

News Archives Predating March 2003

RSS Feed

Blogroll Me!

Blogarama
The Urantia Book : Pictures of Jesus : Angel Pictures: Inspirational Quotes : Life After Death : Story of Jesus : Truthbook.com : Urantia : The Urantia Book

EXPLORE TRUTHBOOK

The Urantia Book

Jesus in the Urantia Book

Quote of the Day

Urantia Book Video

Urantia Book Audio

Discussion Forum

Art Gallery

Heartwarming Stories

Humorous Stories

Life's Toughest Questions

FAQ

Spiritual Studies

About Us

News and Blogs