items of interest

with contributions from Charles Leighton, David L. McMahon

When it's OK to quote the Bible

"That this nation was founded on transcendent values, which flow from a belief in a Supreme Being, seems beyond dispute," wrote federal judge James L. Graham, allowing Ohio's state motto, "With God All Things Are Possible," to be installed on the west plaza of its statehouse. In order to maintain separation of church and state, however, the judge said that the citation may not include the quotation's source: "[These words] are certainly compatible with all three of the world's major monotheistic religions."

Reported in
The Columbus (OH) Dispatch September 2, 1998

Church is not what you think

Studies and experience are showing that people eighteen to thirty-five years old tend to stay away from church because they expect it to be boring and irrelevant. Yet George Barna, who tracks religious trends, reports that there is severe loneliness among these individuals. "There is an expansive thirst for community and interpersonal connections," he says.

How to address this longing? Barna offers: move from being program-oriented to being people-oriented, aim for more interaction and intimacy in discussion groups.

Reported in the
Boston Sunday Herald
October 18, 1998

New television network

Can the creator of the Home Shopping Network really bring a more Christian and family-oriented approach to television—and still make a profit? Lowell "Bud" Paxson says he can, despite others' negative attitudes. "The naysayers said we wouldn't launch, and now that we're going to launch, they say we're going to fail," he asserts. "They're going to be wrong twice."

The programs on Pax TV will include reruns of Touched by an Angel, Christy, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Promised Land and The Last Chance Detective Series. There will be at least one original program: Celebrities and Charities, which is similar to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous but with a very different orientation.

Seniors and computers—a good match

Some weeks ago the Sentinel published an item of interest from American Demographics, reporting that many people aged fifty-five and older were less likely to own or use computers. A survey conducted by Senior-Net and the on-line broker Charles Schwab sheds some new light on seniors' preferences.

Although the fifty-plus age group was thought to make up less than 20 percent of Internet users, this more recent survey indicates increased interest among older Americans. According to a report in USA Today, those fifty and over tend to use computers for e-mail and research, to check on the news and weather, and to spy out good vacation spots.

NEW VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE

"Willis Hannon, Roger Sperry, and others have speculated that Western society is on the verge of a 'second Copernican revolution,' in which the dominant attitudes will evolve into a belief in consciousness as the primary 'stuff of the universe.' ... For empiricists, the individual brain is the basis for consciousness. Under the new model, no such limit exists."

Charles Leighton
"A Change of Heart"
American Journal of Nursing
October 1998

LOVE: IT'S NOT A CHOICE

"Love is a commandment, not a request. ... Time and again we are called upon to love the unlovely, ... to forgive the unforgivable. Only the person who has learned the high call of loving people can succeed in following God."

Rev. David L. McMahon
"The high call of loving people"
Cadillac (MI) Evening News
October 16, 1998

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit