Archive for News
July 16, 2008 at 3:51 pm
· Filed under Culture, Family, News, Youth ·Tagged abstinence, British teens, london, oral sex, sex education, teen pregnancy, UK
Heard about this absurdity - British government has urged school kids to try oral sex in order to cut teen pregnancies! Have they gone crazy or what? Do they think it is a novel idea and a creative means to contain a moral dilemma. Read more here. SIFY, Daily Mail, Sun
This advice is a part of Ten Commandments for young people released by chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson. He has suggested that teens should limit their sexual contact to touching, fondling and pleasuring each other. Crazy idea indeed. How can anyone stop at that point, without going all the way!
Over 3,000 girls under 16 gave birth in England and Wales in 2006 and 4,700 had an abortion. Under 14 abortions soard 20% last year. The abortion rate was highest for 19-year-olds at 36 per 1,000 girls. Terminations using a pill rather than surgery made up 35 per cent of the total in 2007, compared with 30 per cent in 2006.
This ‘stop-short’ approach is pushing the boundaries and deepening sexual promiscuity among teens. This will not only contain teen pregnancies but cause explosive growth in coming years. It is sure to backfire as many other morally liberal sex-ed stratagies have done before.
In few weeks, I am headed to London to speak at a youth conference there and wanted to see what is going on among youth these days. This was the first news that came across. Disturbing indeed. Would love to hear your comments.
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April 9, 2008 at 3:08 pm
· Filed under Culture, Family, India, News, Youth, health ·Tagged addiction, smoking, urban India, women
Urban Indian women are leaving a new trail - smoke. Women are catching up fast and narrowing the gap across gender lines in the domain of smoking or chewing tobacco. See a report in India Today. It is based on a World Health Organization’s global survey of tobacco usage.
Here are some disturbing finding:
31% women tobacco addicts in India are between age 15-49.
25% Indian women light up over 10 cigarettes per day.
62% of women smokers die in their prime compared to 38% of those who don’t.
1 in 20 women in India to die between age 30-69 due to tobacco in 2010s.
20% girls in Delhi and Chennai studying in Class 6 smoke (AIIMS study)
87% Hindi movies show onscreen smoking; 26% have a heroine who smokes.
In spite of the labeling that ’smoking is injurious to health’, tobacco companies continue to market new and imprved version to younger generations. Targeting women and young kids is a great marketing strategy, but why we don’t learn the damage it has caused to men and older generations. Why are bent on repeating mistakes all over again. Interesting that now they have a pink cigarette too!
Social stigma is out and new trendy fashion statement is drawing scores of women to this addictive habit. “Me too” attitude among women and want to stand on equal footing with man prevails among modern urban Indian women. Smoking becomes a way of keeping up with men. They will not let gender disparity happen in tobacco consumption as well. How foolish!
Some blame the media for promoting it, while other find government regulation insufficient. Bollywood now portrays many women smokers. Magazines continue to circumvent the advertisement ban on tobacco products. Sporting events continues to carry billboard of cigarette makers. Industry is promoting smoking as a cultural icon of sophistication, glamour and sexual allure and there is a large middle class women falling prey to it.
Check out here for resource to help youth quit smoking: Anti-smoking, Teen health.
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April 7, 2008 at 2:57 am
· Filed under Culture, Family, News, United States, Youth, church ·Tagged barna, christian, divorce, marraige
Barna Group has come out with a new survey report about marriage and divorce in America. See the entire report here. News report based on the study can also be seen at Baptist Press, Marriage Partnership etc.
Here are some of the key findings: a) Christians are more likely to get married than other faith groups. While 76% of Americans get married, 84% of Christians tend to tie the knot, 74% among non-Christian faiths and 65% among atheists and agnostics. b) Lowest likelihood of divorce are Catholics (28%), evangelicals (26%), Asians (20%) and those who deem themselves to be conservative on social and political matters (28%). c) Highest likelihood of divorce downscale adults (39%), Baby Boomers (38%), those aligned with a non-Christian faith (38%), African-Americans (36%), and people who consider themselves to be liberal on social and political matters (37%).
Some important inferences based on this latest statastics is that half of all marriage ending divorce is not true! See a report in Christianity Today publication Marraige Partnership called Don’t believe in divorce stats. Another important finding is that though low, Asian divorces have risen significantly. Couple of years ago, I remember reading some study that reported divorce rate between 12 and 15 percent. Now it is one in five.
There is no more stigma with divorce in the American community. Some will marvel that as maturity of people’s attitude, while others will see that as erosion of communal ethics and liberalization of views concerning marriage. There is no doubt that marriage culture is eroding fast in the West and the rest of the world is also catching up fast in this area. I guess it is the progress paradox!
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March 25, 2008 at 9:05 pm
· Filed under Culture, Family, News, Youth, health ·Tagged eating, Family, habits, health, teen
Did you have your breakfast today? About 25% of teens in US skips breakfast. Kids in your home or kids under your care in church or school, may be picking up some bad eating habits - not eating breakfast!
A study of teen health, lifestyles and eating habits done by University of Minneapolis is out. Teenagers who regularly eat breakfast tend to weigh less, exercise more and eat a more healthful diet than their breakfast-skipping peers. Eating breakfasts is a healthy habit. Leaving tummy empty for prolonged duration is harmful. Nothing very surprising, I guess!
Breakast is the most important meals of the day. Filling up bellies in the morning may control their appetite better throughout the day. It might also prevent food binges at lunch or dinner. It might also cut down junk food consumption. Staying up late or morning rush often leaves us with little time for breakfast. Whether it be school or college or work, we find ourselves rushing out of the door without morning meal.
If you tend skip breakfast, it is time to fix that lifestyle. Get into a habit of regularly eating your breakfast, even if it is something small or on the run. Something is better than nothing. Family that eats together stays healhy. Such teens have less eating disorders!
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March 19, 2008 at 2:40 pm
· Filed under Bible, Culture, Family, Leadership, News, Youth, church ·Tagged Abortion, Canada, liberalism, low-marriage, Quebec
I was recently searching for some pro-family organizations in north of the border and came across some really distrubing trends among French-Candiaans. Of all the Canadian provinces, Quebec has the lowest marriage rate. It also has the lowest birth rate—the province is literally dying out. Quebec’s abortion rate is higher than all other Canadian provinces! Quebec leads the other provinces in divorce and suicide rates as well. See reports in Montreal Mirror, Maclean’s, Christian News, New York Times etc.
Montreal has become a notorious haven for pedophiles. Abortion rate is right up there with impoverished developing countries. The 2002 abortion rate was 42.6 abortions per 100 births—over four times that of Holland, over twice that of France and well ahead of the rest of Canada and the States.
Some calls this the Quiet Revolution of declining marriage rate, growing cohabitation,mouonting divorce and rising abortion rates is changing the face of the province. It is not simply quiet or silent, but a clearn sign of end of civilization or should I say the province. It has not only moral and legal implications, but is sure to affect demographic, economic and immigrations policies in the state.
Once a traditional Catholic society that maintained high moral and ethical standards in the communities. It had lower marriage age, cohab was unheard off, sex was permitted strictly within marriage. As the liberal culture makes inroads and brushes aside what held the society together and helped to prosper, is self destructing itself. Also a clear warning to other nations.
Read an excellent article in First Things by John Neuhans. Another good read would be ”What happened to Christian Canada?” by Mark Knoll. I generally enjoy Mark’s insights and hope to get my hands on understanding Canadian Christianity. If any of you read this, please give your inputs on what is causing this cultural shift in Canada?
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March 12, 2008 at 2:36 pm
· Filed under Culture, Family, News, Resources, Youth, health ·Tagged CDC, sex education, STD, teen girls
A shocking health report came out on US teenage girls from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). More than one fourth of them have some form of sexually transmitted disease! An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls between the ages 14 and 19 (about 26 percent of that age group) have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis. See news report on Reuters, New York Times and US News.
This is indicative of growing promiscuity among teens in the US. When teen pregnancy and abortion were on the decline, many thought teens are remaining sexually abstinent. But this report now proves that teens are more careful not to get pregnant, but their sexual behaviors have not changed much.
48 percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. It did not say anything about Asian Americans. Among the infected, about 15 percent had more than one. See CDC website for more on teen sexual behavior stats. Very alarming numbers, indeed!
Future fallout of such behavioral trend is for anybody to guess. Not just the risk of these quarter of girls catching diseases like HIV or cervical cancer, but how it will affect over 3 million future marriages they will enter into and its impact on future generations, society and nations!
There is something clearly wrong with current sex education approaches and curriculums. Some have making this as the reason for vaccinating all girls … remember the Merck’s vaccine? Was this research funded by pharma companies? Are there any ulterior business motives behind these numbers? Of course, CDC recommends all teen girls to be vaccinated. In others words, they are bought in to the idea that all teens are going to be sexually active!
There is a price to pay for the choices we make. There ain’t any free lunches! Every idea had its consequences. Some more costly than the other, but no liberal and immoral choices was without a hidden cost. Traditional, conservative and moral ideas may seems like limiting our freedom, but it will surely preserve and sustain a social order and provide safe environment for future generations.
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February 26, 2008 at 4:12 pm
· Filed under Events, Family, India, Leadership, News, Youth, church ·Tagged faith affliation, religion, USA
A new study is out on changing religious affliation in USA. It’s from Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It says that - U.S. Roman Catholics and Protestants are leaving the churches of their childhood and either choosing other faiths or no religion at all. Read the report in Chicago Tribune, TIME, and New York Times. See also the article in Christianity Today.
According to the findings, 28 percent, of American adults said they have left the faith in which they were raised. About 16 percent of Americans say they are not members of any religious group, making the “unaffiliated” group the fourth largest religious tradition in the United States. The Catholic Church has lost more members than any other religious group.
Hinduism exhibits the highest overall retention rate with 84 percent of adults who were raised as Hindus saying they were still Hindu. Ninety percent of Hindus marry within their own faith, and eight-in-ten Hindus who were raised Hindu remain so as adults. Eight in 10 Hindus are foreign-born may help explain the high retention rates. Buddhists struggle hardest to pass the faith from one generation to the next.
Other interesting findings - Mormons and Muslims are the groups with the largest families; more than one in five Mormon adults and 15 percent of Muslim adults in the U.S. have three or more children living at home. Black Americans are the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation.
There has been lots of talk of church drop outs lately. This study continues to proves some rumbling in the ground. Mega chruch and many immigrant church leaders are taking note. Denominational head are reevaluating their church planting strategy and approaches toward the new generations. It is so scary and exciting to live in such changing times!
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February 25, 2008 at 9:01 pm
· Filed under Family, News, Youth ·Tagged kids, rebel, teen, Youth
Teens and rebelliousness are synonyms (at least in most cases). I was …. how about you?There is something about being a teenager that they push the boundaries, frustrated with the way things are, feel caged in, sense their freedom curtailed, want to explore what is out there etc. Many mistakes are made, some lessons are learned.. but eventually they all grow up.
New reserach findings are out (also here). Rebelliousness among teens may stem from biology. Teen brains function differently from that of adults. The prefrontal cortex - the area that controls judgment, organization, emotions — is largely immature in a teenager’s head and if you don’t have the neural structure in place, the adolescent cannot really think things through at the same level as an adult.
Adding to the biological development of brains, there is a burst of hormones coursing through kids as they enter puberty. The hormones affect not only a teenager’s sex drive, but also lead to temporary aggressiveness and moodiness.
Next teens act weird, moms/dads/youth workers remember it is not just the teen-angust or rebelliousness, but blame it on their brains! It is a clearn sign that they need help. Although they quickly grow into adult bodies, they emotional and mental development lags behind. Of they need help in spiritual development as well.
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February 14, 2008 at 3:47 am
· Filed under Culture, News
New census numbers now show a surge in immigration in Canada - nearly one in five people are foreign-born. Statistics Canada says the proportion of foreign-born people from Asian and Middle Eastern countries has outstripped those of European heritage. Between 2001 and last year, Canada’s foreign-born population increased by 13.6 per cent–four times faster than the overall population. See report and Canadian offical census site.
Of course, Asians are largest continental group and Filipinos formed the largest immigrant group. In some suburbs around Toronto and Vancouver, those with English as a mother tongue are now the minority compared with all other languages spoken. Australia (22%) is the only Western country with a higher proportion of immigrants than Canada (19.8%).
According to Statistics Canada in 2001, there were 713,330 people who consider themselves as being Indo-Canadians. Some believe it will soon reach a million. Nearly half of them live in Western coast around Vancouver and more than half of entire Indo canadian population is Sikh.
Some interesting numbers, I thought.
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February 12, 2008 at 7:51 am
· Filed under Culture, Family, Leadership, News, Youth, church ·Tagged adolescence, teen brain, youth minsitry, youth work
Teen brain is is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses and without proper control, teens are likely to crash! Which is some of the findings of a new research on how adolescent brain works.
Parents and youth workers have always known this. Teenagers may grow into adult bodies, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually they may not be mature yet and might not exhibit any signs of responsible adulthood yet. Whether it be sexual experimentation, use of drugs, media consumption and gun culture, effect of accelarator without break can be seen.
Research confirmed that during mid teen years, kids are more impulsive and aggressive, emotionally volatile, likely to take risks, reactive to stress and vulnerable to peer pressure. They are also more prone to focus on and overestimate short-term payoffs and underplay longer-term consequences of what they do (no delayed gratification). They are less likely to explore alternative courses of action.
A safe and secure home environment is key to navigate them through this tumultous and potentially dangerous season of life. A healthy neighborhood and a community of faith is key to the adolescent development. Parents and youth leaders need to work together for the sake of kids. Each can do what the other cannot. In some circles the growing suscpion of each other turns out to be more harmful for healthy development of teens.
Check out these books - Family based youth ministry by Mark DeVries or God bearing Life by Kenda Dean.
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