Study shows children naturally think about justice

"FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, my colleagues and I have conducted in-depth, individually administered 30to 40-minute interviews [regarding forming stereotypes and evaluating acts of exclusion based on gender or race] with more than 500 children and adolescents living in different communities around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region....

"We were heartened by the strong and direct ways in which children and adolescents rejected exclusion—and their elaborate understanding of fairness and justice. Thinking about justice is natural for children. What is often challenging is to determine when fairness should take priority, particularly in situations involving deeply ingrained social expectations or beliefs based on group membership.

"Fairness becomes more elaborate with age, but so do stereotypes.... In our view, experiencing positive inter-group contact in the elementary school period is particularly important for reducing inter-group tension in middle school, when social cliques and groups become highly salient forms of self-definition. If we wait until high school to discuss these topics, our task of facilitating a sense of justice and equality in our next generation is much more difficult."

Melanie Killen
"Early deliberations"
Teaching Tolerance Magazine
Used with permission
Fall 2002

WOMEN AND PEACE

"GIVE WOMEN A CHANCE: After the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks failed in July 2000, President Clinton said, 'If we'd had women at Camp David, we'd have an agreement.' Swanee Hunt and Christina Posa agree, and can cite cases in which the presence of women helped achieve peace. The women of the New Sudan Council of Churches, for example, organized their own summit to help end the bloody hostilities between the Dinka and the Nuer, negotiating shared rights to water, fishing, and grazing land. Also, the Sudanese Women's Voice for Peace talked with military leaders of the rebel armies in order to gain access to rebel-controlled areas, which was necessary for humanitarian relief. And it was women who helped ensure that humanitarian aid got to families who needed it rather than being diverted for personal gain. 'Given their roles as nurturers, women have a huge investment in the stability of their communities,' say Hunt and Posa. When talks would break down in the Northern Ireland peace negotiations, 'the women would come and talk about their loved ones, their bereavement, their children, and their hopes for the future,' one British participant observed (Foundation for Global Community, July/August)."

Reprinted from Timeline
A bi-monthly publication of
The Foundation for Global Community
July/August 2002

AWARDS GIVEN TO WEB AND TV ACTIVITIES

SPIRITUALITY.COM, the website hosted by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, recently won the "Best Online Community" award for 2002 at the largest Web and interactive awards ceremony in the United States. The seventh annual MIMC Awards (Massachusetts Interactive Media Council) represents thousands of nominations vying for only 30 categories of excellence. The judges noted that an online community should connect and bring peo ple together in a compelling and effective way. The award signifies that Spirituality.com achieves this better than any other website.

The Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson television program produced by The Christian Science Publishing Society won First Place for Best Technical Production at the Second Annual Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters (AIB) Allen Awards.

The Allen Awards recognize programmers for Broadcast Excellence who keep their message inspirational, educational, and relevant to today's society. AIB is the country's largest regional cable network with 24-hour programming available to over 850,000 homes in the Metropolitan Atlanta Area.

Compiled by Sentinel staff

Spirituality linked to good health

"NURTURING THE SPIRIT may be the key to overall good health and more important than keeping fit and eating properly, research suggests. A study of 508 men presented at the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport in Melbourne last month showed the healthiest group had a good relationship with God. They were also 'self-actualised,' that is, they were motivated, did not rely on the approval of other people and had the sense of a higher purpose in life. Study author Lukas Dreyer, from New Zealand's Universal College of Learning, said he was surprised to discover that even when survey participants reported good levels of motivation and purpose in life, that did not equate to good levels of health.

" 'People who were highly self-actualised but who didn't believe in God or had no relationship with God had the worst health,' [Dreyer] said. 'The important thing was having a purpose in life, but at the same time being able to surrender to a higher power. Those people had the best health of all.'

"It was not church attendance that determined religious well-being, rather the quality of the individual's relationship with God, Dreyer said. 'The healthiest people were not into traditional religion but were very spiritual,' he said."

Danielle Teutsch
"Key to High Spirits Is Keeping the Faith"
The Sun-Herald (Sydney)
November 3, 2002