Over half of Britons believe Jesus' birth is relevant to their Christmas

In a nation renowned for secularism and for largely turning away from the Church, a recent poll of 1,000 adults conducted by the think tank Theos has found over half (51%) agreed with the statement that Jesus’ birth was relevant to their Christmas compared with 46% who believed it wasn’t.

The poll also found that there were clear differences in the implications attached to Christ’s birth among the nations, sexes and ages.

Scottish people agreed that Jesus’ birth was relevant at a rate of 65% compared to the national average of 51%.

Interestingly enough, young people aged 18 to 24 were most likely to agree that Jesus’ birth was relevant, challenging the common assumption that faith is only meaningful to older generations.

Women also displayed a higher statistic then men in those who believed in the relevance of Christ’s birth also more likely than men to disagree with the statement (56 percent compared with 47 percent).

However, the poll also found a drop in the numbers of people intending on going to a Christmas church service this year, down from 44 percent in 2008 to 36 percent.

Theos director Paul Woolley said, "It's clear that society is split right down the middle regarding the religious significance of Christmas."

"It will surprise people that young people are most likely to believe that Jesus is relevant to their Christmas," he added. "It's difficult to work out why fewer people expect to attend a Christmas church service than in previous years, although 36 percent remains a relatively high figure.”

Study finds that religion results in happiness because of friends

Religion is considered extremely important by the majority of people on our planet, but as vital as your beliefs may be to you, they don't necessarily make you happier, a new study published in the December issue of the American Sociological Review finds.

The study has found that religions “secret ingredient” that makes people happier is actually the deep friendships that are built up in faith communities.

"Those are the people who give you the sense of belonging," said lead study author Chaeyoon Lim, of the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Lim conducted the study with Robert Putnam, author of "Bowling Alone" and "American Grace."

These findings fly in the face of other recent studies that assert the happiness gleaned from religion is rooted in spirituality – a belief in a higher power that engages you in regularly religious rituals. Yet, this particular study found that factors such as prayer, religious services and strength of faith do not necessarily lead to life contentment.

Lim and Putnam looked at a nationally representative sample of almost 2,000 people in the United States. The majority of the participants in the study were Protestant and Catholic; Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians were a smaller portion.

According to the study, one-third of people who attend religious services every week, and who have three to five close friends in their congregation, said they are "extremely satisfied" with their lives.

The study defined extremely satisfied as a 10 on a scale ranging from one to 10.

In comparison, only 19 per cent of people who attend religious services weekly, but who have no close friends in their congregation, report that they are extremely satisfied with their lives. For people who never attend religious services, and as such have no friends from their congregation, the same percentage said they are extremely satisfied.

On the other hand, 23 per cent of people who attend religious services infrequently, but who have three to five close friends in their congregation, are extremely satisfied.

Looking at the data, Lim and Putnam concluded that it was camaraderie that was key to participants' outlook.

"One of the important functions of religion is to give people a sense of belonging to a moral community based on religious faith," he said.

"This community, however, could be abstract and remote unless one has an intimate circle of friends who share a similar identity. The friends in one's congregation thus make the religious community real and tangible, and strengthen one's sense of belonging to the community."

Study finds that family acceptance prevents suicide in gay teens

A recently published mental health study has found that if parents are more accepting of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents then the chances of suicide, drug abuse and depression in that teen are greatly reduced.

In the study "Family Acceptance in Adolescence and the Health of LGBT Young Adults,” published by the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, researchers assert that LGBT teens whose parents are supportive of their sexuality have far higher self-esteem and thus fare better in avoiding suicide and substance abuse.

“With this new groundbreaking study, Ryan and her colleagues have provided the strongest evidence to date that acceptance and support from parents and caregivers promote well-being among LGBT youth and help protect them from depression and suicidal behavior, “ Ann Haas, director of Prevention Projects for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said in a statement about the study.

The study also found that parents who are highly religious tend not accept their LBGT children.

However, many Christian groups have reacted against the findings of this study by arguing against the notion that religious values contribute to teen suicides and believe that it is possible for Christians to prevent against depression and bullying without condoning what they see as sin.

The research in the study will be used to inform a new evidence-based family model of wellness, prevention and care for LGBT adolescents, in collaboration with Child and Adolescent Services at the University of California, San Francisco.

Narnia’s Aslan also symbolizes Mohammed says Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson, the actor who voices the lion Aslan in the film adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, has stirred up controversy by suggesting that Aslan could represent the prophet Mohammed or Buddha, just as much as he might represent Christ.

Aslan features in all seven Narnia books, and plays a central role in terms of guiding the children away from evil and encouraging them to do good. Lewis was very clear that Aslan was based on Christ, once writing: “He is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question: “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia?””

In the first book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Aslan sacrifices his life to save Narnia before rising from the dead, a clear representation of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Yet, ahead of the release of the latest film adaptation of the books, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” Neeson said: “Aslan symbolises a Christlike figure, but he also symbolises for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries.

“That’s who Aslan stands for as well as a mentor figure for kids – that’s what he means for me.”

Walter Hooper, Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, said that the author would have been angered by Neeson’s comments.

He said: “It is nothing whatever to do with Islam. Lewis would have simply denied that. He wrote that 'the whole Narnian story is about Christ'. Lewis could not have been clearer.”

Mr Hooper attributed Neeson’s remarks to political correctness and a wish to be “very multi-cultural”.

Historian discovers original model for Michelangelo's Pieta

Michelangelo's Pieta – a huge marble statue depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the lifeless body of Christ – is one of the most celebrated art pieces in the history of humanity. It is housed in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and viewed by millions of pilgrims every year.

An American art historian has claimed to have discovered the original model created by Michelangelo for the 'Pieta'.

It is a terracotta model, about 12 inches tall and dated from the late 1400s, and was discovered in a mouldy box in an antiques shop by an Italian art collector. The tiny statue was covered in nine layers of paint and held together by Scotch tape. It was painstakingly restored over a process of three years. For years it has been believed that the statue was sculpted by Andrea Bregno, one of the most celebrated sculptors of the 15th century.

However, art historian, Roy Doliner, subjected the model to extensive analysis and believes that is it actually the long-lost model for Michelangelo's Pieta.

But Mr Doliner is convinced that the exquisite detail in the statue, its age and references made to it in later paintings prove that it was instead created by Michelangelo to convince a wealthy cardinal to give him the commission for the Pieta, which he eventually completed in 1499.

Mr Doliner is the author of The Sistine Secrets: Unlocking the Codes in Michelangelo's Defiant Masterpiece, in which he argued that Michelangelo hid a secret code in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel made up of mystical Jewish symbols and insults aimed at the pope.

Kay Warren speaks out on HIV/AIDS

Kay Warren is the wife of renowned pastor and author Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), and works as the executive director of the HIV/AIDS initiative of her husband’s church at Saddleback in Southern California. Yesterday, she spoke out regarding the depth of her feelings over the HIV/AIDS pandemic in a special webcast put together for World Aids Day.

Warren said that the pandemic weighs her down heavily, and that she has not been the same since a day seven years ago when she read that 12 million children were orphaned in Africa due to AIDS. Warren said she was initially paralysed by the enormity of the suffering, but gradually came to the realization that she could make a difference.

“I just knew that Kay Warren, Christian, had to say yes to God. From there I began to learn and study. God just broke my heart. He just wiped me out. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t cry over what I’ve learned and what I’ve seen,” she said.

The statistics are frightening: it is believed that 15 million children worldwide are orphaned by AIDS. The UNAIDS 2010 global report estimates 33.3 million people, including some 2.3 million children, were living with HIV at the end of 2009. Most of the people living with HIV are located in Africa.

Since 2005, Saddleback has hosted an annual Global Summit on AIDS and this event has gathered together presidential candidates, medical and scientific experts, AIDS activists, and pastors from around the world.

Warren testified that she now lives in three worlds. The first world is one of a normal suburban American wife and mom who does her grocery shopping, cares for a family, and does church work. The second world she lives in is one where “she hears the cries, the sounds of babies abandoned in fields,” the faces of orphans whose parents will not come home, and the bodies of people with AIDS wasting away.

“That’s the world that threatens to take me down. But it’s the third world that I live in that makes it all possible,” said Warren, referring to her ongoing relationship with God. “It is being in communion with Him every day, being in His presence, drawing strength and love and sustenance to fight the evil that is in this world, to be His hands and feet.”

Warren urged churches to reach people even in the most rural places, to address HIV/AIDS using an acronym she and her husband came up with: CHURCH. The acronym stands for: care for and support those infected and affected; handle testing and counseling; unleash a volunteer labor force; reduce stigma; champion healthy behavior; and help with medication and nutrition.

“We live in those three worlds. Most of us as Americans are content to only live in two and I think He’s asking us to live in three,” concluded Warren.

(Image is of Kay Warren addressing the last Saddleback Global Summit on AIDS).

World Aids Day: Africa still the hardest hit in mother-to-child transmissions

According to a report released by the UN’s HIV/Aids programme UNAids, global figures of new Aids infections has decreased. Worldwide there were an estimated 2.6m new infections in 2009, which is down from about 3.3m at the peak of the Aids pandemic in 1999.

"It is a slow, steady decrease," said the deputy executive director of UNAids, Paul De Lay.

The 370 000 babies a year born with Aids is also down from 500 000 a year at the beginning of the decade and the UN report said eradicating mother-to-baby transmission of Aids by 2015 is achievable.

World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan agreed with this as she said "we have strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is achievable".

Already wealthier countries in Europe and North America have brought these figures way down through aggressive screening and prevention programmes.

Africa is still the hardest hit in this regard though, with 1 000 babies a day infected with HIV/Aids through mother-to-child transmission.

Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) called the figure "outrageous" and demanded greater efforts for "the hardest hit communities".

Paul De Lay urged caution ahead of the release of these figures reflecting a drop in the number of global infections, saying that sexual behavior in richer nations has become careless. This has led to infection rates becoming three times higher in countries like Britain, Germany and the United States as compared to figures in the early 2000’s. He also highlighted an increase of the spread of Aids in Eastern Europe and Central Asia linked to drug use.

De Lay said: "There seem to be secondary and tertiary waves of the epidemic, particularly the sexually transmitted side.

"You have a young people who don't know enough about Aids, there is less of a fear factor about it.