Gallup: There is a provable link between religion and well-being

Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens once wrote a book with the subtitle "how religion poisons everything," but a new Gallup polling analysis has found the opposite to be true, in that very religious people enjoy higher levels of well-being than others.

The poll was conducted by Gallup on over 550, 000 Americans, where at least a 1000 a night would be interviewed about indicators of well being and about levels of religiosity. The factors measured ranged from physical and emotional health to self-evaluations of life to perceptions of work environments.

The analysis controlled for other factors that typically influence levels of religiosity, including age, gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, socioeconomic status, marital status and child-bearing status.

Essentially, Gallup found that Americans who stated that religion is a vital part of their everyday life and who attend religious services roughly once a week or more scored an average of 68.7 on their well-being index, as compared to those who are moderately religious or nonreligious, who only scored an average of 64.2.

Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport says that even such as small difference is significant.

"It's not like some people score zero and others score 100," Newport told CNN.com. "So when we find a difference of four of five points it's not only statistically significant, it's also substantively significant."

The survey did not measure whether religiosity was the source behind well being or vice versa, but Newport speculated that religiosity was the likely driver.

"All religions have different mechanisms that would plausibly lead to higher well-being, including social networks and ways of dealing with stress, but we can't prove that," he said. "It is possible that people with higher levels of well-being choose to be religious."

According to Gallup surveys, 44 percent of Americans are very religious, 30 percent are nonreligious and 27 percent are moderately religious.

The amazing true story of Steve Saint and his flying car

The appropriately named missionary, Steve Saint, has recently built the first ever FAA certified flying car. Saint is the head of I-Tec, or the Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center and works among the Waodani tribe who live right at the edge of the Amazon in Ecuador. In this work, Saint has found that transportation problems are one of the biggest obstacles the tribe has to overcome. His solution? Build a flying car. In an interview with Kate Bolduan and Eric Marrapodi from CNN.com, Saint explains exactly how and why he went about this project.

Bolduan and Marrapodi describe Saint as “one part Christian missionary, one part pilot, one part inventor.” Saint’s father, also a missionary pilot, was speared to death by the tribe he now lives among.

"I was just a little boy when my dad was killed, but I knew that my dad really cared enough about those people that he was willing to risk his life so that they wouldn't be killed by the oil company and the government," Saint said.

Saint’s aunt eventually broke through to the tribe and was invited to live among them, while Saint himself went back to school in the United States, forged a career and later married. When his aunt died, the tribe requested that Saint and his family return to them, which he did. One of the tribe’s requests was that Saint teach them to fend for themselves rather than having to depend on outside aid to survive. Out of this grew the small non-profit company that is now called I-Tec.

"What we're doing here at I-Tec is we're reinventing the technology so it fits the people so that they don't have to become like us," Saint said. "And it's taken a while. I retired from business 16 years ago, and people don't pay you to do this, and my wife Ginny and I just decided, 'hey let's do this.'"

The flying car is just one part of Saint’s larger work, although it has been very time consuming.

"We've been working on this particular project for six years," Saint said. "But it's just one, the bigger thing that we do is developing health care technology and tools and training systems so that we can train people that live out in the jungle areas, that don't have any formal education, and don't have access to doctors or nurses or midwives, or optometrists, or dentists, teaching them how to take care of these needs for their own people. That's really what we're doing."

Other I-Tec inventions include portable dentistry equipment that can be carried on your back through the jungle, and a specially designed hand-bike to assist the handicapped conquer difficult terrain in areas where a wheelchair won't work. But the most impressive innovation of all is the flying car, named the Maverick.

The Maverick had two main specifications in addition to being able to fly: It had to be rugged enough to drive in the jungle and cheap enough that non-profits could afford one.

The Maverick switches from drive-mode to fly-mode through deploying a mast and parachute. The chute is tucked away on the roof for the car and the mast is underneath the chassis when the car is in drive mode. The mast locks into place, the parachute is attached, and it is raised to over 25 feet. All the driver has to do then is switch the motor from drive to fly, pull back 100 yards, and take off.

Although it is rugged enough to survive jungle conditions, it is also light being only half the weight of a Smart Car. Logan Ward from Popular Mechanics was also impressed with the car’s firepower.

"The Maverick is not only a practical flying car but it's also a beefy car," he says. "They put a Subaru engine in this thing with 250 horsepower. It goes 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. We were really impressed they gave it that sort of on-road performance."

Popular Mechanics are so impressed with the car that they granted it one of their coveted 'Breakthrough Awards'.

"This thing is poised to hit the market. They have plans to sell it, to manufacture it. They have a price tag. This is becoming a reality where so many flying cars have just been pie in the sky toys for billionaires," Ward told CNN.

I-Tec hopes the Maverick will go into production soon now that they have secured FAA certification for flight and road certification as a kit vehicle. Saint would like to reduce the costs of building the vehicles through using the commercial market.

"The commercial market will get the quantities up to get the cost down. Plus we're a non-profit company so we don't live to make a profit, but if the commercial market is successful we'll use that for more research and development and to make these available to people in frontier markets - people who don't have the resources to buy it at a commercial rate," he said.

Saint believes there are many different commercial applications for the Maverick.

"You can take it on really rugged terrain. So with this one, you can fly over, find somebody that needs to be rescued, and you can land and drive to them," he said.

"Border patrol, pipeline monitoring, out on the gulf, BP with the big oil slick. You could take off from the back of the fishing trawler. Get the fishing trawler going 20 miles an hour, and you could take off in about 20 feet, and then you could go out, what you can't see from the surface you can see from 1000 or 2000 feet. You see a huge expanse. Ranching and extreme sports - there's just all kinds of uses. I'm sure we'll be surprised by the uses people put this to."

Court prevents parents from forcing teenage daughter to abort

A Texas district court judge has issued a temporary restraining order in favor of a 16-year-old girl whose parents tried to force her into an abortion.

The teenager who is still a high school student, is 13 weeks pregnant and has confirmed her wish to keep the baby.

"No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life – especially one that belongs to someone else – is worthless," said Stephen Casey, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund.

"The right not to have an abortion is protected by law, and this right isn’t relinquished just because someone else considers the child to be an unwanted burden," he added.

According to the motion, the student was taken by her parents to the International Health Care Solutions, an abortion facility, in Austin, Texas, earlier this month. She refused to go through with the abortion and was taken back home. But two days later, she was again taken for an abortion, this time to Planned Parenthood, and yet again she declined her personal consent to the abortion.

Recounting the experience, the teen testified that her mother was screaming at her as they returned to the car after leaving the clinic “because of my choice not to get an abortion.”

"We got into a big argument,” she continued. “She (the mother) then grabbed me by the back of my pants and started to pull me away. I tried getting her off but she dragged me behind a couple of trees and pushed me down to where I had injured my knee and there was blood dripping down it. She let go and I got back on my feet and started to run away, possibly to get help, but she caught up to me and pulled me by my pants again. When we were by the car, I tried my hardest to hold onto the bed of the truck. My arms slipped off the car and she continued to drag me until I got to the front door of the clinic."

Apparently, the parents have informed the teenager that they will continue to attempt to force her against her will into the abortion. As such, she has accused her parents of being physically, verbally and emotionally abusive and is seeking to be removed from the home. She is still living with her parents at this stage.

Her attorneys argue that under Texas and U.S. law, the young girl has a right to make her own reproductive decisions. A hearing in the case is scheduled for later this week to consider a motion to convert the temporary restraining order into a temporary injunction.

(Image is from file)

Theologian lauds Harry Potter’s 'Christ-like' qualities

The Harry Potter series has been read and re-read countless times by millions of children and adults the world over, but the books haven’t been without controversy in Christian circles with many fundamentalist Christians claiming that it promotes witchcraft. One particular church in Alamogordo in New Mexico even went so far to hold a Harry Potter book burning event claiming that “behind that innocent face is the power of satanic darkness.”

Now, a leading Christian thinker has come out in defence of the ‘boy wizard’. Theologian Rev Dr Stephen Holmes believes that Harry Potter should be seen as a "Christ-like" figure because he promotes Biblical values, and because his story has striking Christian references.

Holmes is the Acting Head of Divinity at St Andrews University, and thinks that some religious commentators had been far too quick to condemn the phenomenally successful series. Holmes read the books after hearing them being denounced and concluded that instead of being evil, they actually contain a very obvious Christian narrative.

He said: "What do you need to succeed at Hogwarts? Courage, self-sacrifice, careful logic and to be unselfish. It's almost a classical list of Christian values.
"The behaviour that is recommended in the Potter books is profoundly Christian."

Dr Holmes believes that the Biblical motif becomes most obvious in the final book, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the film version of which is due to released next month. Holmes referred to the final confrontation between Harry Potter and his arch-enemy Lord Voldemort as being a prime example.

"What happens gives the strong impression that Harry dies, discovers an afterlife in a place called King's Cross - a striking reference from a Christian perspective - and comes back to life.

"The effect of his death has been to render impotent the power of evil. That is a Christian narrative which is almost impossible not to recognise,” Holmes added.
The author of the book series, JK Rowling, while being a regular churchgoer, continually insists that the books have no particular religious themes at all.

She said in 2007: "I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity. I wasn't trying to do what CS Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) did. It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God."

The Church needs a ‘Second Reformation’

On Saturday at the historic Lausanne Conference meeting in Cape Town, one of the keynote speakers strongly urged the Church towards a ‘Second Reformation.’

Dr. Chris Wright, a theologian who is respected throughout the globe and who is also the International Director of Langham Partnership International and retiring Chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group, delivered the day’s boldest statement: ‘Evangelicals worldwide have a lot to be ashamed of . . . we need a second reformation.’

Though hard-hitting, Dr Wright’s words touched a note among the crowd as applause immediately broke out and heads nodded in approval.

He further compared the plight of today’s Church to the pre-Reformation Church of the 16th century. ‘What hurts God the most,’ continued Dr Wright, '[is] the failure, disobedience, and rebellion of those he has redeemed.’ In other words, the 'idolatry of the Church.'

Wright pointed out the three idols that are ‘especially seductive, even for evangelical Christians: the idol of power and pride; the idol of popularity and success; [and] the idol of wealth and greed.’

What should the Christian response be to these idols? ‘Reformation is once again the desperate need,’ urged Dr Wright. ‘It needs to start among those who claim the name ‘evangelical,’ but who are characterized by these and other failures and abuses.’ Before Christians go out into the world, they must clean up their own backyard.

Wright called for ‘Humility, integrity, and simplicity’ and ‘a radical return to the Lord - as the prophets called for in all the generations of Old Testament Israel, as Jesus called his hearers to do. “Repent, and believe the gospel.” It was a word that came, not to pagan unbelievers, but to those who already claimed to be God’s covenant people. So it comes to us.’

During a press conference Saturday afternoon, Wright explained that his address was inspired by a friend and scholar who visited his home country in Latin America. The friend reported that he attended ten different churches that claim to be evangelical, but not one of them preached the Bible. Furthermore, the pastors of the churches wielded great power with no accountability, and were considerably wealthy.

After hearing his friend’s story, Wright realized that the evangelical movement needed a “reformation” because it was facing similar problems to that of the medieval church before the Reformation.

“This is not just something casual. This is a deep-seated corruption in the Church of Christ,” said Wright. “And of course this is not just in Latin America, but all over the world.”

To learn more about the Lausanne Conference you can go to www.lausanne.org.

Want to read the Dead Sea Scrolls? Well, just Google them!

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered over sixty years ago in a cave by a Bedouin shepherd in the West Bank, and are now counted as among the most important archeological finds of the modern era. The scrolls consist of 30,000 separate fragments making up 900 manuscripts of biblical texts and religious writings from the time of Jesus.

The fragile parchment and papyrus fragments have been intensely studied by scholars from the world over in an attempt to understand the full significance of some 30% of the writings which were previously unknown to us. It is hoped that they will provide fresh insight into the development of early Christianity, Second Temple Judaism and the practices of the Essenes, the sect believed by many to have written the scrolls.

The scrolls include the earliest known copy of the Ten Commandments, an almost complete Book of Isaiah and many of the Psalms.

New invented technology such as infra-red and multi-spectral multi-wavelength imaging have recently revealed previously hidden words and passages not visible in natural light, much to the excitement of scholars.

The scrolls have previously been damaged unintentionally by attempted restoration projects and by photographing which is why they have now been scanned and will be placed online in a new digitized format by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google.

This not only means that the scrolls will become available online to everyone who wishes to study or read them, but it also means that the originals will not have to be exposed again.

'We are establishing a milestone connection between progress and the past to preserve this unique heritage for future generations,' said Israel Antiquities Authority Director Shuka Dorfman, announcing the launch of the project in Jerusalem this week.

'We have succeeded in recruiting the best minds and technological means to preserve this unrivalled cultural heritage treasure which belongs to all of us, so that the public with a click of the mouse will be able to freely access history in its fullest glamour.'

Google said it was helping with the project as part of its mission to democratise access to human knowledge.

'This project will enrich and preserve an important and meaningful part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the Internet,' said Professor Yossi Matias, director of the Google-Israel R&D Centre.

'We shall continue with this historical effort to make all existing knowledge in archives and storages available to all.'

World's largest Jesus Christ statue to be built in Poland

Swiebodzin, a small Polish town of just 21,000 is trying to stamp its mark on the global tourist map by building the world's largest statue of Jesus.

The statue will be 33-metres in height, and with its 2-metre crown and a 16-metre mound will easily eclipse Rio's famous Christ the Redeemer in size.

The statue is due for completion in November, and should beat out the world's current record holder, Bolivia's Cristo de la Concodia statue, by some nine metres, and be larger by far than the world famous statue in Rio de Janeiro, which stands just 30 metres tall minus its plinth.

Although the main reason for the statue is to show gratitude to God, town officials are not denying their hopes that having the massive statue will bring tourists into a community that has lain off the beaten track for most of its existence.

"If we had opened a racetrack or a golf course here, tourists would have come only for the season. But with a statue of Jesus the season will last the whole year," a local official told Wprost, a weekly news magazine.