*I was truly impressed by the compassion demonstrated towards the homeless in excerpts of an interview with National Health Care for the Homeless Council advocates. This article offers a lot to think about; for too often people take a simplistic, stereotypical approach in assessing and addressing the homeless. Just what would Jesus do today? Step over homeless people lying in the alleyways, so He could quickly pick up a cappuccino at a nearby Starbucks? No. He would help those lying down in the alleyways and pull them up to their feet. The homeless are real people: they cry, they dream and they hurt.
--------------------------------------------
Homeless Often Overlooked In Health-care Reform Debate
from. TennesseanT.com
The debate continues in Congress and across the country over health-care reform, but one group of people who have a lot of interest in the issue but are often overlooked are the homeless.
Advocates for the homeless say these individuals face complex health problems, are generally sicker and die earlier than their housed counterparts. Advocates also say the homeless are the most frequent and expensive users of emergency room and inpatient hospital care and are much less likely than those in the general population to be insured.
"It is imperative that health reform address the complex needs and life circumstances of people experiencing homelessness," officials with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council recently said in a press statement. "Failing to do so will continue the current cycle of high-cost hospitalizations, unemployment, disability and homelessness."
Last week, the governing membership of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council met in Nashville. Tennessean editorial page editor Dwight Lewis sat down with some of them to discuss the issues.
Here are excerpts from that meeting with Marion Scott of Houston, president of the council; Barbara DiPietro of Baltimore, policy director; and Bobby Hansford of Houston, eligibility coordinator.
Who makes up the homeless?
Scott: I think the face of the homeless is reflective of society as a whole. I think that everyone now is homeless, and many of us are one paycheck away from being homeless.
I don’t think anybody is on the streets because they really want to be. ... It’s hard to find a job when you live under a bridge and there’s no clock and there’s no way to clean up in the morning or to maintain your hygiene.
DiPietro: When you look at the combining factors of increasing unemployment, loss of health insurance because of that, the foreclosure issue, you’re seeing housing, income and health care come together in a way that creates a lot of crisis for people, and this is all income levels.
One of the emerging populations we’re seeing is people who have no idea how to navigate the shelters, how to navigate social services. It’s a complex system that we’ve created that really requires high literacy, high education and a great deal of organizational skills to be able to get what you need to bring it back together. And I think that needs to be appreciated across middle-income groups, as well.
Hansford: There are several barriers that stop homeless individuals from getting back into society. For instance, we have a mobile dental unit in Houston, and one of the things they tell us is that once they receive the services it boosts their self-esteem so much to where before the service they would be embarrassed to go on job interviews or go speak to someone about a job to get back into society.
Going through programs where it will boost self-esteem, where you can get dental work done or improve your health situation, it’s a plus. It’s something I think would help homeless individuals get back into productive society.
Why should those of us who have homes or are fairly well off or are well off care about the homeless and health care?
Scott: I think it’s our obligation to assist and to help those who are, for the lack of a better word, not at an economic level where some of us are.
With the economic crisis there are a lot of people who were at that economic level we talked about earlier who are now homeless. So you never know, it may be you tomorrow.
DiPietro: In addition to it simply being the right thing to do, caring about your community, caring about your fellow neighbor ... there are cost implications as well. We’ve created a system where it is easy to fall into homelessness, and we make it difficult to get out of homelessness.
We arrest people for sleeping in a public space or loitering or all of the things that come along with that, that creates cost in our court system, it creates backlogs in our court system, it takes up time with our police when we generally rather they focus on more serious crimes.
There are cost implications with our health services, emergency departments are absolutely overcrowded, largely due to people who don’t have insurance, sometimes homeless, sometimes not. But it all comes together to create a service use that is not productive.
In fact, it’s counterproductive for the greater community and for the individual. It’s so much better to be able to focus on providing a safety net that actually is meaningful, that prevents homelessness. Homelessness, when it does occur, can be brief, so that people can get back on their feet fairly quickly. Ultimately, as a community, don’t we want people to be as productive as they can?
I was reading where the average life expectancy for a homeless person is 50 years of age, why is that and what type of health problems do we see mostly among the homeless?
Scott: The problems are reflective of society as a whole. A study of the literature will reveal that the chronic diseases may be more prevalent, diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dermatological problems, those things may be more prevalent.
I think the thing that really impacts homeless individuals is their access to care. One thing that is very important is that the availability of health care does not mean that it is accessible. I always go back to the movie Field of Dreams, where they say, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, for the homeless, if you build it, they may not be able to get there.
DiPietro: I would emphasize, too, that behavioral health issues, like mental health issues, and serious mental illness among individuals experiencing homelessness is much higher. There’s certainly connections on why that would be. When you do have serious mental illness it is much more difficult to maintain your own independent housing. Substance abuse issues also figure highly. . . .
When you are living on the street it is difficult to maintain your health. If you are diabetic, where do you keep your insulin? If you are HIV-positive, how you do maintain a medication regime, particularly one that requires refrigeration for your medications? How is it that you maintain a diabetic diet when you’re eating out of soup kitchens, which primarily are serving very starchy casseroles and sandwiches and white processed bread and things like that?
There’s not a lot of access to clean, sterile facilities. If you’re out and you’re walking about a lot, foot issues can be worse, particularly if you’re diabetic, easily infected and once you get an infection, it all builds on itself.
And that’s where you see the in and out of the emergency rooms. We don’t have a system that is able to comprehensively care for people’s health. . . .
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
It is stressful trying to find out where you are going to lay your head every day, where you are going to eat. Sometimes people only get one meal a day. The fear that you have of even closing your eyes for 15 minutes. What if someone comes upon me and beats me with a bat? That’s real reality for people sleeping on the street.
And victimization is a real reality, particularly for women when they’re on the street. And so all of this stress, all of these realities and the risk that come from being exposed contribute to mental health issues, even when none existed before, contribute to a worsening of existing health conditions and it creates new health conditions that weren’t there prior to the homelessness.
Are most cities failing or doing a good job when it comes to addressing the health needs of the homeless? What needs to be done? What do you recommend?
Scott: I believe a model for the Health Care for the Homeless program, and there are 105 of them around the nation, is to actively engage and enable homeless individuals to access available services. (They) actually provide realistic approaches. For example, those providers understand that, say, when you are trying to lose weight to have surgery, you just can’t say just get on a diet and you need to have fresh vegetables and fish and chicken. They understand that these are not available, so what they do is work with individuals to come up with an appropriate plan to help them improve their health status and maintain it.
They do outreach to meet clients where they are. That means whatever their living situation is, we have to understand that level of functioning and then we start to implement treatment plans. In the traditional setting, most plans, whether they’re health care, mental health, etc., build upon the premise that food, clothing and shelter are available. The medication needs to be refrigerated. We have clocks to take our medicine but homeless providers actually understand that’s not the case and understand that plans to improve access to available services have to be realistic and start where homeless people are.
DiPietro: The number one thing that we can do in this country and in every community is to support comprehensive health-care reform at the national level. That is the key. Seventy percent of our clients are uninsured. And it is a myth, and people believe it, unfortunately that just because you are poor you qualify for Medicaid. That is simply not the fact.
The Medicaid expansions that are proposed in the three bills in Congress right now, that is the number one piece that is really going to get the access points. Right now our clinics work on grants from government for the most part and they rely on private fundraising. That’s not sustainable and it’s not really a good way of financing health care. Getting access to Medicaid and comprehensive services that come along with that, not only gives the financing mechanism to the clinics so they can actually bill for their services, but at the same time give clients access to the care that they need.
There’s 10 million people who would be newly eligible for Medicaid should that expansion go forward. That’s 10 million people who would have access to health care that currently don’t. It would encompass more than just the homeless. This is all low-income people, below about $14,000 a year for an individual. That is critical.
What if nothing passes when it comes to health-care reform? What happens to the homeless?
DiPietro: It will definitely get worse. It gets worse for everyone. It’s not about isolating the homeless from greater mainstream, because that’s disingenuous as well. This is about everybody. This is about all of our health. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world and yet we rank number 37th in the World Health Organization on our health system. That’s embarrassing, frankly.
And we pay more. We pay 40 percent more for our health care per capita than the next-most-expensive health-care system. That’s ludicrous. We are paying for universal health care but we are not getting universal health care. And everyone should be angry about that. Angry about where that money goes.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
"I Forgot To Ask"
1 John 2:9-11
9) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
This article below was published over a decade ago, and sad to say, it is just as relevant today. Saints, examine your hearts towards those who appear different than you and are of a different culture. Hatred should not belong in a Christian, and lately it has been manifesting strong, you can even see it strong in the political arena. Examine your standards--do you impose different standards upon different looking people?
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The Tragedy of Racism
By Wayne Jackson
No one with a modicum of awareness will deny that racism—the inclination to judge a person solely on the basis of his skin pigmentation or ethnic background—has been a human problem for centuries.
Paul addressed this problem before the haughty Greeks in Athens; there he affirmed that “God made of [out of] one [masculine – one man, an allusion to Adam] all men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). This ran counter to the ancient Greek notion that they were superior to others.
Many have been racist out of ignorance or weakness. Others, with a more ingrained disposition, have sought to defend it. Many past advocates of evolution were racist to the core. Charles Darwin’s, The Origin of Species (1859) was even subtitled “The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” The notion of a “superior race”—that later was argued by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and so brutally implemented by Adolf Hitler—clearly had Darwinian roots.
But many religionists—of all ethnic backgrounds—have been racist as well. An old rhyme that lacked as much in style as in ethics hatefully blurted: “Ham [the son of Noah], he was ‘cussed,’ and so ‘they’ [the dark-skinned] ain’t as good as us.”
This poetic (?!) “theology” has been all too prominent in American history—though it has no sanction at all in the Bible. The fact is, it was Canaan, the son of Ham, who was destined to be a “servant of servants” to his brothers (Genesis 9:25). This involved the Canaanites, but certainly not all of the offspring of Ham. It bears no relation to racial problems today.
There are, of course, black militant groups that are intensely racist also, as indeed there are racists in all ethnic segments of humanity.
Jesus, in his parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), renders a death-blow to racist ideas.
Back in November (1999), Royce Money, president of Abilene Christian University (Texas), stood before a black audience and confessed the university’s past sins of practicing discrimination. He apologized and asked for forgiveness. We applaud Money for this acknowledgment.
When I read of this event I was reminded of a letter I wrote and which was published in The Christian Chronicle more than a third of a century ago (October 25, 1963). In part, I said:
I sincerely hope that your [recent] editorial on the “White-Negro Issue” will stimulate many to get off the “fence” and stand steadfastly for love among brethren [and] against ignorance and bias . . . Some of our . . . colleges refuse enrollment to Negros, fearing either social pressures or the withdrawal of funds, or perhaps both.
I vividly recall, when I was a student at David Lipscomb College in the mid ’50s, that Marshall Keeble would be invited to speak on occasion; yet all the black brethren would be required to sit in the balcony.
We’ve made a lot of progress since then. There is still prejudice, however, among all groups of the human family. But as the spirit of Jesus progressively invades our souls, racist attitudes must evaporate. Racism is morally wrong for the following reasons:
(1) It denies the basic unity of the human family as the offspring of God. Adam and Eve are the grandparents of us all (Genesis 3:20).
(2) The denigration of any human being, made in the image of God, is an assault upon the Creator himself (cf. Genesis 9:6).
(3) Since Christ died for all people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), any attempt to castigate a segment of humanity, suggesting its unworthiness, reflects upon the Savior’s sacrifice.
(4) Racism militates against one intended design of Jesus’ mission—to eradicate all ethnic barriers (Galatians 3:28).
May God help us be more like the little boy who, returning from his first day at school, joyfully told his mother, “Mamma, I’ve found a new friend.” “What color was he?” she inquired. His pure response was, “I forgot to ask.”
9) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
This article below was published over a decade ago, and sad to say, it is just as relevant today. Saints, examine your hearts towards those who appear different than you and are of a different culture. Hatred should not belong in a Christian, and lately it has been manifesting strong, you can even see it strong in the political arena. Examine your standards--do you impose different standards upon different looking people?
---------------------------------------------------------
The Tragedy of Racism
By Wayne Jackson
No one with a modicum of awareness will deny that racism—the inclination to judge a person solely on the basis of his skin pigmentation or ethnic background—has been a human problem for centuries.
Paul addressed this problem before the haughty Greeks in Athens; there he affirmed that “God made of [out of] one [masculine – one man, an allusion to Adam] all men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). This ran counter to the ancient Greek notion that they were superior to others.
Many have been racist out of ignorance or weakness. Others, with a more ingrained disposition, have sought to defend it. Many past advocates of evolution were racist to the core. Charles Darwin’s, The Origin of Species (1859) was even subtitled “The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” The notion of a “superior race”—that later was argued by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and so brutally implemented by Adolf Hitler—clearly had Darwinian roots.
But many religionists—of all ethnic backgrounds—have been racist as well. An old rhyme that lacked as much in style as in ethics hatefully blurted: “Ham [the son of Noah], he was ‘cussed,’ and so ‘they’ [the dark-skinned] ain’t as good as us.”
This poetic (?!) “theology” has been all too prominent in American history—though it has no sanction at all in the Bible. The fact is, it was Canaan, the son of Ham, who was destined to be a “servant of servants” to his brothers (Genesis 9:25). This involved the Canaanites, but certainly not all of the offspring of Ham. It bears no relation to racial problems today.
There are, of course, black militant groups that are intensely racist also, as indeed there are racists in all ethnic segments of humanity.
Jesus, in his parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), renders a death-blow to racist ideas.
Back in November (1999), Royce Money, president of Abilene Christian University (Texas), stood before a black audience and confessed the university’s past sins of practicing discrimination. He apologized and asked for forgiveness. We applaud Money for this acknowledgment.
When I read of this event I was reminded of a letter I wrote and which was published in The Christian Chronicle more than a third of a century ago (October 25, 1963). In part, I said:
I sincerely hope that your [recent] editorial on the “White-Negro Issue” will stimulate many to get off the “fence” and stand steadfastly for love among brethren [and] against ignorance and bias . . . Some of our . . . colleges refuse enrollment to Negros, fearing either social pressures or the withdrawal of funds, or perhaps both.
I vividly recall, when I was a student at David Lipscomb College in the mid ’50s, that Marshall Keeble would be invited to speak on occasion; yet all the black brethren would be required to sit in the balcony.
We’ve made a lot of progress since then. There is still prejudice, however, among all groups of the human family. But as the spirit of Jesus progressively invades our souls, racist attitudes must evaporate. Racism is morally wrong for the following reasons:
(1) It denies the basic unity of the human family as the offspring of God. Adam and Eve are the grandparents of us all (Genesis 3:20).
(2) The denigration of any human being, made in the image of God, is an assault upon the Creator himself (cf. Genesis 9:6).
(3) Since Christ died for all people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), any attempt to castigate a segment of humanity, suggesting its unworthiness, reflects upon the Savior’s sacrifice.
(4) Racism militates against one intended design of Jesus’ mission—to eradicate all ethnic barriers (Galatians 3:28).
May God help us be more like the little boy who, returning from his first day at school, joyfully told his mother, “Mamma, I’ve found a new friend.” “What color was he?” she inquired. His pure response was, “I forgot to ask.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
Family Men With Loose Pants
*This article was published on Religion Dispatches:
Narcissistic Christians and “Pants Down” Journalism
By Becky Garrison
When the stories about the nightclubbing Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania first hit my inbox, I was reminded of the sex scandals involving a range of Reverends including Jimmy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard as well as self-professed “Christian” political leaders like Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
All too often, the media focuses on the more salacious sexual aspect to these stories, ignoring the other more substantive issues that accompany such acting out behavior. For example, no one seemed to report on the Family’s range of questionable activities until Sanford, Pickering and Ensign were shown to be connected to the Family-owned C Street townhouse. In Salon this summer, Jeff Sharlet, author of the New York Times bestseller The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, wrote that these scandals aren’t simply a case of family values politicians getting caught with their pants down:
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They’re followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to “advance the Kingdom.” They say they’re working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn’t registered as a lobby — and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
Imbued with the spirit of self-righteousness, such Christians begin to flaunt the narcissistic components of their personality that might not have been so easily detected until they began to bask in the glow that can ensue when public personalities get placed on a pedestal. Over time, they deceive themselves into believing that their desires are in sync with Jesus’ call for their lives. The Lord’s Prayer asking God that “Thy will be done” is replaced by “God bless my will.” Somehow they forgot Jesus’ teachings that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:15, NIV)
Should they be found guilty of any transgression and exposed by the media for “sinning,” they fail to comprehend what, if anything they’ve done wrong. Any repentance they might offer for their discretions tends to be orchestrated in a manner that enables them to maintain their carefully crafted public persona.
In today's feature, “Along Came a Spider: What the Pope Doesn’t See,” Anthea Butler shows that even an institution like the Catholic church can find itself “in the throes of a Maury Povich-style DNA paternity case show.” Just as with the case of the Family, the sex-capades with Father Cutie and Father Dueppen’s $1800 visit to a strip club not to mention the priest sex abuse cases that keep resurfacing do provide for titillating headlines. However, as Butler points out, “the deeper issue within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church surrounds bureaucracy and a corporate fealty that is designed to protect the institution at all costs; even when the corporation’s clients (parishioners) are being abused.” Therein lies the crux of the situation—by turning a blind eye when boys are behaving unbiblically, the narcissistic virus that emanates from these self-centered souls ends up infecting the entire body of believers.
*Clicking the title will bring you directly to the article.
Narcissistic Christians and “Pants Down” Journalism
By Becky Garrison
When the stories about the nightclubbing Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania first hit my inbox, I was reminded of the sex scandals involving a range of Reverends including Jimmy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard as well as self-professed “Christian” political leaders like Gov. Mark Sanford; former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
All too often, the media focuses on the more salacious sexual aspect to these stories, ignoring the other more substantive issues that accompany such acting out behavior. For example, no one seemed to report on the Family’s range of questionable activities until Sanford, Pickering and Ensign were shown to be connected to the Family-owned C Street townhouse. In Salon this summer, Jeff Sharlet, author of the New York Times bestseller The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, wrote that these scandals aren’t simply a case of family values politicians getting caught with their pants down:
If sexual license was all the Family offered the C Street men, however, that would merely be seedy and self-serving. But Family men are more than hypocritical. They’re followers of a political religion that embraces elitism, disdains democracy, and pursues power for its members the better to “advance the Kingdom.” They say they’re working for Jesus, but their Christ is a power-hungry, inside-the-Beltway savior not many churchgoers would recognize. Sexual peccadilloes aside, the Family acts today like the most powerful lobby in America that isn’t registered as a lobby — and is thus immune from the scrutiny attending the other powerful organizations like Big Pharma and Big Insurance that exert pressure on public policy.
Imbued with the spirit of self-righteousness, such Christians begin to flaunt the narcissistic components of their personality that might not have been so easily detected until they began to bask in the glow that can ensue when public personalities get placed on a pedestal. Over time, they deceive themselves into believing that their desires are in sync with Jesus’ call for their lives. The Lord’s Prayer asking God that “Thy will be done” is replaced by “God bless my will.” Somehow they forgot Jesus’ teachings that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:15, NIV)
Should they be found guilty of any transgression and exposed by the media for “sinning,” they fail to comprehend what, if anything they’ve done wrong. Any repentance they might offer for their discretions tends to be orchestrated in a manner that enables them to maintain their carefully crafted public persona.
In today's feature, “Along Came a Spider: What the Pope Doesn’t See,” Anthea Butler shows that even an institution like the Catholic church can find itself “in the throes of a Maury Povich-style DNA paternity case show.” Just as with the case of the Family, the sex-capades with Father Cutie and Father Dueppen’s $1800 visit to a strip club not to mention the priest sex abuse cases that keep resurfacing do provide for titillating headlines. However, as Butler points out, “the deeper issue within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church surrounds bureaucracy and a corporate fealty that is designed to protect the institution at all costs; even when the corporation’s clients (parishioners) are being abused.” Therein lies the crux of the situation—by turning a blind eye when boys are behaving unbiblically, the narcissistic virus that emanates from these self-centered souls ends up infecting the entire body of believers.
*Clicking the title will bring you directly to the article.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Article: Faith Healing & Doctors
*Yes, the Lord heals today, but He has given us common sense as well, along with doctors and medical knowledge...We all know God heals with perfection and no side effects; but we can seek His hand in our health while seeking medical treatment. I see no negation of faith to this process--just good rational sense. Believe for healing on your way to the doctor's office.
-------------------------------------
Church has left many dead children in its wake
CLACKAMAS COUNTY – KATU confirmed Tuesday that detectives are investigating the death of an infant born over the weekend in Clackamas County.
It has also been confirmed that the child’s family is a member of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City. There have been no charges filed against the family, as the medical examiner works to determine the cause of death.
[...]
Some members of the Follower’s of Christ Church in Oregon City favor faith healing over modern medicine.
In a separate case, Carl Worthington, a member of the church, was convicted of criminal mistreatment on July 23 in the death of his daughter, 15-month-old Ava, who died of what the medical examiner called a treatable condition. Carl Worthington was sentenced to 60 days and was released last week.
Meanwhile, Ava’s grandparents Jeff and Marci Beagley are scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2008 death of their teenage son Neil. Dr. Cliff Nelson, with the State Medical Examiner’s office, said their 16-year-old could have survived with medical treatment.
A KATU investigation in the late 1990s, showed that at least two dozen children buried at a Clackamas County cemetery died from treatable causes but doctors were never called.
- Source / Full Story: Death of newborn sparks new Followers case, By Thom Jensen, Dan Tilkin, KATU News and KATU.com (Oregon), Oct. 1, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog
Note: You can click the title to go to the website.
-------------------------------------
Church has left many dead children in its wake
CLACKAMAS COUNTY – KATU confirmed Tuesday that detectives are investigating the death of an infant born over the weekend in Clackamas County.
It has also been confirmed that the child’s family is a member of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City. There have been no charges filed against the family, as the medical examiner works to determine the cause of death.
[...]
Some members of the Follower’s of Christ Church in Oregon City favor faith healing over modern medicine.
In a separate case, Carl Worthington, a member of the church, was convicted of criminal mistreatment on July 23 in the death of his daughter, 15-month-old Ava, who died of what the medical examiner called a treatable condition. Carl Worthington was sentenced to 60 days and was released last week.
Meanwhile, Ava’s grandparents Jeff and Marci Beagley are scheduled to go on trial in January in the 2008 death of their teenage son Neil. Dr. Cliff Nelson, with the State Medical Examiner’s office, said their 16-year-old could have survived with medical treatment.
A KATU investigation in the late 1990s, showed that at least two dozen children buried at a Clackamas County cemetery died from treatable causes but doctors were never called.
- Source / Full Story: Death of newborn sparks new Followers case, By Thom Jensen, Dan Tilkin, KATU News and KATU.com (Oregon), Oct. 1, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog
Note: You can click the title to go to the website.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The No Religion Population
Religion News in Brief
By The Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. – The growing number of Americans who don't claim religious affiliation are more likely to be male, younger, living in the West and politically independent, a new report finds.
"American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population" takes a deeper look at data collected for the American Religious Identification Survey 2008, which was released earlier this year by Trinity College .
The report identified an estimated 34 million adult "nones" in 2008 — up from 14 million in 1990. Those not affiliated with any religion accounted for 15 percent of U.S. population, up from 8.1 percent in 1990. Most of the gains took place during what the authors called the "secular boom" of the 1990s.
If current trends hold true, "nones" could account for about one-quarter of the U.S. population in two decades, the study projects.
The religiously unaffiliated are beginning to more closely resemble the general population as their ranks grow, but distinctions exist on gender and age, the study found. Sixty percent of "nones" are male, and 40 percent are female; 30 percent are under age 30 and only 5 percent are 70 years or older.
The religiously unaffiliated in the U.S. "embrace philosophical and theological beliefs that reflect skepticism rather than overt antagonism toward religion," the report says.
Only 27 percent of "nones" profess belief in a personal God , compared to 70 percent of adults overall. But only a small number of the unaffiliated — 7 percent — are atheists. Groups the study identified as "hard agnostics" and "soft agnostics" accounted for 35 percent of the religiously unaffiliated.
By The Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. – The growing number of Americans who don't claim religious affiliation are more likely to be male, younger, living in the West and politically independent, a new report finds.
"American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population" takes a deeper look at data collected for the American Religious Identification Survey 2008, which was released earlier this year by Trinity College .
The report identified an estimated 34 million adult "nones" in 2008 — up from 14 million in 1990. Those not affiliated with any religion accounted for 15 percent of U.S. population, up from 8.1 percent in 1990. Most of the gains took place during what the authors called the "secular boom" of the 1990s.
If current trends hold true, "nones" could account for about one-quarter of the U.S. population in two decades, the study projects.
The religiously unaffiliated are beginning to more closely resemble the general population as their ranks grow, but distinctions exist on gender and age, the study found. Sixty percent of "nones" are male, and 40 percent are female; 30 percent are under age 30 and only 5 percent are 70 years or older.
The religiously unaffiliated in the U.S. "embrace philosophical and theological beliefs that reflect skepticism rather than overt antagonism toward religion," the report says.
Only 27 percent of "nones" profess belief in a personal God , compared to 70 percent of adults overall. But only a small number of the unaffiliated — 7 percent — are atheists. Groups the study identified as "hard agnostics" and "soft agnostics" accounted for 35 percent of the religiously unaffiliated.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Pornography Impacts All Of Society
Below is an article concerning how adult pornography effects children. I agree with the assertion hard core pornography is contributing to increasing incidents of sexual exploitation and the abuse of children. But I would like to see people acknowledge that what is deemed "soft" pornography is also contributing to the degradation of moral behavior, creating perversion which affects society overall--not just children; and in essence--eroding behavior which sometimes results in criminality. It has become a blur to some individuals--in fact, many I believe. How many times you see serial killers confess to have an obsession with porn? Over and over. Rapists, and so forth. Pornography causes damage to a person's perspective on normal relationships, and how to treat people. This view is contrary to many psychological perspectives. Yet what is man's wisdom to God's? And a holy God at that!
How do people define pornography and divide it into categories? Smut is smut, and sin is sin. I do not care how you paint it. The so called "soft porn" viewer typically escalates into the so called "hard porn" viewer. Like marijuana to cocaine to heroin. From a breast out in a magazine to black leather attire with chains to animals with grandmothers...and so on. You would not believe some of the titles on spam I have gotten--uh--yes you would. No doubt you have gotten them too. Anyway, people open the door to demonic spirits by engaging in this stuff and are sinning against God.
Look at the type of shows on prime time television today--people talk about various sex practices on prime time tv with no sense of shame--no discernment of right or wrong. So many are proud of marital affairs or the cheating they have engaged in--as if it is some type of accomplishment. Little girls have so much pressure placed on them to achieve a "certain look". It's heart breaking. We have to keep ourselves out of the world as we live in it and interact in it. And above all, live a life pleasing to God. The article below:
-------------------------------------
MIM Report Shows How the Explosion of Hardcore Adult Pornography on the Internet and Elsewhere is Contributing to the Sexual Exploitation of Children
In the report, Mr. Peters commends government and private entities for finally working together to curb sexual exploitation of children. He then states, "For the most part, however, these same...entities have turned a blind eye towards the explosion of hardcore adult pornography on the Internet and elsewhere... [T]hose who fight sexual exploitation of children but who turn their backs to the adult pornography problem are making a tragic mistake."
Mr. Peters observes that while hardcore adult pornography does not depict actual children, it does "include hardcore depictions of sex with persons who look like children and with 'barely legal teens.' Hardcore adult pornography also encompasses depictions of sex with animals, other family members, multiple partners ('gangbangs'), and prostitutes. It also depicts excretory activities and sexual violence against women, including rape and torture."
Mr. Peters responds to the notion that online distributors of hardcore adult pornography are not breaking any laws. He writes, "[I]n 1996 Congress amended two sections of the federal obscenity laws... to clarify that distribution of obscene matter is prohibited on the Internet. In Miller v. California...the U.S. Supreme Court has also stated: 'This much has been categorically settled by the Court, that obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment.' The Miller Court went on to define the term 'obscene' in a manner intended to restrict the reach of...obscenity laws to 'hardcore' pornography. Today, most adult pornography distributed commercially, whether online or elsewhere, is 'hardcore.'"
In response to the assertion that that the average American no longer deems hardcore adult pornography unacceptable, he states, "Pornography defenders overlook at least three factors. First, much if not most hardcore adult pornography is consumed by a relatively small percentage of individuals who are addicted to it. Second, just because a person experiments with hardcore adult pornography for a period of time or on occasion succumbs to the temptation to view it does not mean he or she approves of what is viewed, especially when hardcore adult pornographers promote their products aggressively...Third, many visitors to 'adult websites' are minors."
He also cites the results of four national opinion polls (conducted by Harris Interactive and Pew Research Center) indicating that most adults do not consider pornography morally acceptable or harmless and that they want federal obscenity laws enforced.
He explains why it is a mistake for the Justice Department and FBI to focus their energies almost exclusively on child molesters and child pornography because of limited resources. "In the first place," he writes, "the explosion of hardcore adult pornography is contributing to sexual exploitation of children in various ways. In the second place, children are harmed not just by predators; they are also harmed by exposure to hardcore adult pornography...In the third place...a frequent result of a successful federal obscenity prosecution is a significant fine and/or forfeiture of property...[which] can offset in whole or part the cost of these cases. In the fourth place...it isn't just children who are harmed by hardcore adult pornography."
Mr. Peters sets forth reasons for why he thinks vigorous enforcement of obscenity laws will result in a number of benefits both to children and society. He also explains why federal obscenity laws are not being enforced vigorously, as they should be. Those at fault include the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and Congress.
Mr. Peters states that in addition to law enforcement, "parental involvement, public education, the involvement of religious groups, and corporate responsibility are all desperately needed."
*Btelife Note: The article concludes by listing sources. Click on the title above to go the entire article.
How do people define pornography and divide it into categories? Smut is smut, and sin is sin. I do not care how you paint it. The so called "soft porn" viewer typically escalates into the so called "hard porn" viewer. Like marijuana to cocaine to heroin. From a breast out in a magazine to black leather attire with chains to animals with grandmothers...and so on. You would not believe some of the titles on spam I have gotten--uh--yes you would. No doubt you have gotten them too. Anyway, people open the door to demonic spirits by engaging in this stuff and are sinning against God.
Look at the type of shows on prime time television today--people talk about various sex practices on prime time tv with no sense of shame--no discernment of right or wrong. So many are proud of marital affairs or the cheating they have engaged in--as if it is some type of accomplishment. Little girls have so much pressure placed on them to achieve a "certain look". It's heart breaking. We have to keep ourselves out of the world as we live in it and interact in it. And above all, live a life pleasing to God. The article below:
-------------------------------------
MIM Report Shows How the Explosion of Hardcore Adult Pornography on the Internet and Elsewhere is Contributing to the Sexual Exploitation of Children
NEW YORK, Sept. 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- Morality in Media has compiled information from hundreds of news articles and from court cases, social science studies, books, Congressional testimony, and other sources that show how the explosion of hardcore adult pornography on the Internet and elsewhere is contributing to the sexual exploitation of children. The works cited in the report were published from 1980 to the present.
The evidence compiled shows:
- Perpetrators use adult pornography to groom their victims.
- For many perpetrators there is a progression from viewing adult pornography to viewing child pornography.
- Johns act out what they view in adult pornography with child prostitutes and pimps use adult pornography to instruct child prostitutes.
- Children imitate behavior they view in adult pornography with other children
- Perpetrators use adult pornography to sexually arouse themselves.
- Addiction to adult pornography destroys marriages, and children raised in one-parent households are more likely to be sexually exploited.
In the report, Mr. Peters commends government and private entities for finally working together to curb sexual exploitation of children. He then states, "For the most part, however, these same...entities have turned a blind eye towards the explosion of hardcore adult pornography on the Internet and elsewhere... [T]hose who fight sexual exploitation of children but who turn their backs to the adult pornography problem are making a tragic mistake."
Mr. Peters observes that while hardcore adult pornography does not depict actual children, it does "include hardcore depictions of sex with persons who look like children and with 'barely legal teens.' Hardcore adult pornography also encompasses depictions of sex with animals, other family members, multiple partners ('gangbangs'), and prostitutes. It also depicts excretory activities and sexual violence against women, including rape and torture."
Mr. Peters responds to the notion that online distributors of hardcore adult pornography are not breaking any laws. He writes, "[I]n 1996 Congress amended two sections of the federal obscenity laws... to clarify that distribution of obscene matter is prohibited on the Internet. In Miller v. California...the U.S. Supreme Court has also stated: 'This much has been categorically settled by the Court, that obscene material is unprotected by the First Amendment.' The Miller Court went on to define the term 'obscene' in a manner intended to restrict the reach of...obscenity laws to 'hardcore' pornography. Today, most adult pornography distributed commercially, whether online or elsewhere, is 'hardcore.'"
In response to the assertion that that the average American no longer deems hardcore adult pornography unacceptable, he states, "Pornography defenders overlook at least three factors. First, much if not most hardcore adult pornography is consumed by a relatively small percentage of individuals who are addicted to it. Second, just because a person experiments with hardcore adult pornography for a period of time or on occasion succumbs to the temptation to view it does not mean he or she approves of what is viewed, especially when hardcore adult pornographers promote their products aggressively...Third, many visitors to 'adult websites' are minors."
He also cites the results of four national opinion polls (conducted by Harris Interactive and Pew Research Center) indicating that most adults do not consider pornography morally acceptable or harmless and that they want federal obscenity laws enforced.
He explains why it is a mistake for the Justice Department and FBI to focus their energies almost exclusively on child molesters and child pornography because of limited resources. "In the first place," he writes, "the explosion of hardcore adult pornography is contributing to sexual exploitation of children in various ways. In the second place, children are harmed not just by predators; they are also harmed by exposure to hardcore adult pornography...In the third place...a frequent result of a successful federal obscenity prosecution is a significant fine and/or forfeiture of property...[which] can offset in whole or part the cost of these cases. In the fourth place...it isn't just children who are harmed by hardcore adult pornography."
Mr. Peters sets forth reasons for why he thinks vigorous enforcement of obscenity laws will result in a number of benefits both to children and society. He also explains why federal obscenity laws are not being enforced vigorously, as they should be. Those at fault include the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and Congress.
Mr. Peters states that in addition to law enforcement, "parental involvement, public education, the involvement of religious groups, and corporate responsibility are all desperately needed."
*Btelife Note: The article concludes by listing sources. Click on the title above to go the entire article.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Beautiful Fall Foliage
Isaiah 45:18
For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
Psalms 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Psalms 90:1-2
1) Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2) Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
Psalms 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Psalms 90:1-2
1) Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2) Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
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