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| During his 2000 election campaign, George W. Bush made the following assertion. 'On the issue of evolution, the verdict is still out on how God created the Earth. |
| AIG (Answers In Genesis) - Email newsletter April 2003 |
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| Organised religion in Britain has declined since 1851 when 40% of the population attended church. In 2000, less than 8% attended church. |
| Faith and Nation report, Evangelical Alliance - Rock The Nations Newsletter |
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| In 1900, there were 600 clergy serving a population of 600,000 in Devon. Today, there are less than 300 full time, paid clergy, serving a population of 1.2 million |
| Unity - February 2003 |
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A recent report by the Social Exclusion Unit confirmed that aspects of social disadvantage such as poor education and employment prospects, mental ill-health, lack of life skills and the absence of supportive family networks are crucial factors in re-offending. It contained stark statistics:
80% of prisoners have writing skills no better, or worse, than those expected of a child aged 7
Compared with the general population, they are 13 times as likely to have been unemployed
They are 13 times as likely to have been in care as a child
Nearly half prisoners lose contact with family while in custody |
| Reform - March 2003 |
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| Globally, 125 million children are missing out on education; 3/4 of primary-aged girls are out of school; In Africa, children have an average of 3.5 years schooling, 40% receive no formal education; Teaching salaries in Ethiopia start at £25 a month |
| Tear Times - Spring 2003 |
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| There are up to 12 million Catholics in China, dwarfed in number by the 100 million Buddhists, by far the largest religious group in the country...Some 21.4% of all Chinese say they are atheists |
| Scottish Catholic Observer - February 14, 2003 |
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| Witchcraft in contemporary Britain is part of a wider, but definable Pagan community. The number of practising Pagans in Britain is difficult to estimate, but Professor Ronald Hutton - probably the leading authority - suggests that in the late 1990's there were about 10,000 initiated witches, 6,000 initiated druids and between 1,000 to 4,000 initiated members of smaller Pagan groupings |
| Christian Herald - March 15, 2003 |
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| Zimbabwe is wracked by political chaos and in the midst of its worst economic and food crisis with at least 6.7 million people facing starvation |
| Scottish Catholic Observer - February 7, 2003 |
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| In Iraq 85% of people are unemployed; 4.5 million refugees have fled over the past 5 years; Infant mortality rates have risen from 56 per 1000 in the 1980's to 131 per 1000 since the Gulf War; Up to 800,000 children under 5 are chronically malnourished; only 41% of the population has regular access to clean water |
| CAFOD - Scottish Catholic Observer - February 7, 2003 |
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| A quarter of all 10 to 14-year-olds who say they are Christians never go to church at all. Regular attenders are slightly more likely to be girls than boys (39% of girls, 32% of boys in the sample). Almost three-quarters of teenagers believe in heaven (73%) and God (72%). Two-thirds (67%) believe in Jesus. The percentage declines slightly from 10 to 13-year-olds, but increases again for 14-year-olds. Not surprisingly, these beliefs are higher foir regular churchgoers (93% for both heaven and God). |
| Christian Research - Christian Herald - January 25th, 2003 |
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| oung people across America are staging a new sexual revolution, opting for chastity and rejecting the casual sex that has dominated Western societies since the 1960's. Edel Reynolds, 25, of the Irish group, Pure in Heart, sees the new outlook taking hold here too. Having spoken about chastity to several thousand teenagers in the past year, she reckons that "our young people are beginning to recognise that shallow nature of the sex culture. And they want something better." For many young Americans, religion plays a critical role in their decision to "wait till marriage." |
| Alive! - No. 76 - January, 2003 |
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| More than one third of U.S. high schools now teach abstinence until marriage, and 700 abstinence programs spread the sex-can-wait gospel in all 50 states," wrote journalist Debra Rosenberg. President George Bush will boost funding for the classroom programs to $135 million this year, up from $60 million in 1998. One study of 5,000 students found that a "virginity pledge" combined with strong parental disapproval of pre-marital sex saw the number of teenagers who became sexually active drop by 75%. Another program, "Not Me, Not Now", used radio and TV ads to promote abstinence among teenagers. A study in the Journal of Health Communications reported that during the period the ads were being aired, the pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 to 17 fell by 22%. |
| Alive! - No. 76 - January, 2003 |
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| A top Hindu politician predicted that India would be Hinuised within the next two years, and called the results "a turning point in the country's politics." With hindu's making up more than 80% of the population, the country's minority religions, including 40 million Christians and 130 million Muslims, face a future of violent persecution. |
| Alive! - No. 76 - January, 2003 |
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| Meeting with the Karenni Prime Minister, General Aung Than Lei, Lady Cox heard accounts of Christian families thrown into rice grinders, children hung from branches and used as target practice, and one young brother and sister tied together and thrown into a fire. One young man rounded up by the Burmese military was sent on a forced march with 600 others and made to walk from daybreak until dusk carrying salt and landmines, with only a short break for a handful or rice. At night he slept with 50 others in a cage. |
| Joy - Issue 101 - February, 2003 |
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| Since the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, Christians in Pakistan have faced a backlash from extremists who see them as allied to the West and America in particular. Islamic extremists broke into a church compound in Bahawalpur in October 2001 and killed 15 worshippers. |
| Joy - Issue 101 - February, 2003 |
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