New support for marriage

"A LARGE BODY OF RESEARCH shows that healthy marriages protect the well-being of spouses and their children, and that a number of significant social costs are generated when marriages fail. This renewed appreciation for marriage's importance may be triggering some interest in the question of courtship. In the popular realm, a number of new books on courtship, both secular and religious, have sold well. Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider's popular 1996 book, The Rules, purports to teach battle-scarred women a practical, non-nonsense script for finding a fabulous husband. ... And Leon Kass and Amy Kass's well-received anthology of readings on courtship and marriage, Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar, offers readers wisdom on the nature of courtship and marriage culled from 5,000 years of the Western tradition. The success of these books indicates a yearning among many young people for clearer and more effective pathways to marriage than the culture now provides. The spread of marriage education, in both schools and religious communities also suggests that the case for courtship is not completely closed."

Daniel Cere
"Courtship today: the view from academia"
The Public Interest
Spring 2001

DARWIN VS. INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Eleven years ago, the Discovery institute was founded in Seattle. Its work is part of a movement that is questioning the validity of Darwin's concepts, and their effect on the concepts that are taught in schools. As reporter Nina Shapiro explains, those connected with the Institute have also developed their own theories about how the universe was created.

"These folks have come up with sophisticated arguments for something they call 'intelligent design,' which, like creationism, points to some kind of creator or 'designer' of the universe but, unlike creationism, evades the subject of who that creator is," she writes. "Most followers are Christians, however, and when pressed admit that God is the most likely candidate for the designer they suggest. 'Of course that's the implication,'" Bruce Chapman, who founded the Institute along with futurist George Gilder says.

"The New Creationists"
Seattle Weekly.Com
April 19—25, 2001

Cities of angels

"In the urban setting, salvation comes to us when we see face to face in the homeless shelters in the basements of synagogues and churches, or the after-school programs for youth. In soup kitchens, employement centers, affordable day-care programs or summer camping excursions, moments of transcendence can be found every day. Angels are under the bridges and over the doorways that these programs represent in collective urban life. They are behind our discovery of who we really are, nudging us to be brave and to hold each other's souls in our hands. ...

"If people think that the Holy City is yet to come, they will miss the angels who are standing right next to them and they will miss the call of the angels on our lives. If children are crying in the city, it is not because the angels are not there; it is because people are not there, ready to connect our passion and our resources with the child that needs us. They have not let the angels put the children's hands in theirs."

Victoria Lee Erickson
"On the Town with Georg Simmel:
A Socio-Religious Understanding
of Urban Interaction"
Cross Currents
Spring 2001

DOES GOD WORK AT WORK?

"We're seeing a greater interest in spiritual matters in the workplace—and a recognition that there is a place for it," says John Copeland, executive vice president for ethics, food safety, and environmental compliance at Tyson Foods, Inc., in Springdale, Arkansas.

"People spend a lot of their life at work, and they want to be able to have periods of time off for worship and meditation," Copeland explains. "You have to balance everyone's beliefs. You can't have a captive audience, and you can't offend anyone. But you can discuss spiritual matters if it's done the right way."

Nancy Caver
"Poultry Giant Helps Employees Find God in the Workplace"
March 7, 2001

© 2001 Religion News Service. Used by permission.