Spike in Suicide Rates for Young Girls Sends Warning to Parents

From Audrey Barrick and Christian Post.

“Suicide rates among young girls jumped in recent years by 8 percent – the largest spike in 15 years.

Suicides for young people ages 10-24 had declined 28.5 percent between 1990 and 2003, but between 2003 and 2004, the rate increased dramatically, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This is the biggest annual increase that we’ve seen in 15 years. We don′t yet know if this is a short-lived increase or if it′s the beginning of a trend,” said Dr. Ileana Arias, director of CDC′s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, in the report. “Either way, it′s a harsh reminder that suicide and suicide attempts are affecting too many youth and young adults. We need to make sure suicide prevention efforts are continuous and reaching children and young adults.”

For girls 10-14 years old, deaths jumped by 75.9 percent, from 56 reported cases to 94. Among 15- to 19-year-old women, the number increased from 256 to 355, up 32.3 percent. For 15- to 19-year-old males, suicide deaths went up 9 percent from 1,222 to 1,345.”

To read more click here.

Behold the Peace of Islam: Picture of the Week

From The Religion of Peace.

Holy Hangover! 
This is what a night of drinking and unauthorized sex gets you in Iran.

To read more click here.

Does the Koran Incite Violence?

From Dr. Mark Durie and Family Security Matters.

“The world witnessed a flood of reaction to Benedict XVI’s Regensburg lecture, a reaction that went well beyond words, with attacks on churches in Gaza, the West Bank and Basra. Some even called for the Pope to be executed.

Australia’s Cardinal George Pell weighed into the debate, suggesting that violent responses to the Pope’s September 12 lecture demonstrate the link “for the Islamists” between religion and violence.

On the other hand, no less a figure than the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, issued a statement on the official Saudi news service, defending Muslims’ divine right to resort to violence: “The spread of Islam has gone through several phases, secret and then public, in Mecca and Medina. God then authorized the faithful to defend themselves and to fight against those fighting them, which amounts to a right legitimized by God. This… is quite reasonable, and God will not hate it.”

Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric also explained that war was never Islam’s ancient founder, the prophet Mohammed’s, first choice: “He gave three options: either accept Islam, or surrender and pay tax, and they will be allowed to remain in their land, observing their religion under the protection of Muslims.” Thus, according to the Grand Mufti, the third option (the sword) was only a last resort, if the non-Muslims refused to convert or surrender peacefully to the armies of Islam.

Sheikh Abdel went on to urge people to read the Koran and Sunnah (the record of Mohammed’s teaching and example) for themselves, pointing out that the Koran has been translated into many of the world’s languages: “Those who read the Koran and the Sunnah can understand the facts.”

On this at least the Archbishop of Sydney and the Saudi Grand Mufti do agree, for in an address earlier this year, Pell also urged people to read the Koran.

So what are these facts contained in the Koran and Sunnah that the Grand Mufti would have us read?

As it happens, reading the Koran is not without its difficulties. There is, for a start, the thorny problem of context. The Koran gives little help with this: it does not mark off specific passages one from another and its 114 chapters (suras) are not laid out in chronological order.

The keys to unlocking the context for individual passages of the Koran can be found in the life of Mohammed, the Sunnah. The sources for the Sunnah are the traditions (hadiths), of which Sunnis recognize six canonical collections, and biographies of Mohammed (sira literature). Although the volume of this material is considerable, it is now largely available in English translation, much of it on the Internet.

In addition to the inherent difficulty of the sources, many secular Westerners rely on certain crippling preconceptions. One is the often-heard mantra that “all religions are the same”. Another is the claim that “anyone can justify violence from any religious text.” This idea stretches back at least to Rousseau, who considered any and all forms of religion to be pernicious.

Either of these views, if firmly held, would tend to sabotage anyone’s ability to investigate the Koran’s distinctive take on violence.

There is another obstacle, and that is Western culture’s own sense of guilt and suspicion of what it regards as Christian hypocrisy.

Any attempt to critique some of Islam’s teachings is likely to be met with loud and vociferous denunciations of the church’s moral failings, such as its appalling track record of anti-Semitism. And did I mention the crusades?

Finally, the reality is that Muslims adhere to widely varying beliefs and practices. Most people are understandably afraid to come to their own conclusions about violent passages in the Koran, lest they find themselves demonizing Muslims.

But does the Koran incite violence?”

To read more click here.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

If you are a Christian parent and your children want to go see the #1 movie in America – a review of what they will see can be checked out on pluggedinonline.com by clicking here.  A sampling of the movie review is below.  This is the kind of garbage Hollywood is using to poison our children’s minds.  We must engage the culture for a positive change.

Spiritual Content

“Two scenes depict a group of what are implied to be religiously-motivated people protesting against homosexual behaviors. They’re shown as mean-spirited individuals, especially a minister who uses a megaphone to blast the word “f-ggot” into Chuck’s face. Signs read “Gay Is Not God’s Way” and “God Made Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve.” The so-called “Christian” protesters call Chuck and Larry and others fornicators who are on the road to damnation. Alex dismisses them as crazy freaks who want the rest of the world to be as unhappy as they are.

Passing (and joking) reference is made to Larry’s housekeeper practicing voodoo.”

Sexual Content

“You read the editor’s note about lewd sexual content at the top of this review. It’s not often that it’s needed for movies that aren’t rated R. But it doesn’t even say enough about the PG-13-rated Chuck & Larry.

Right away we meet two barely clad sisters Chuck has slept with. To get them to stop fighting over him, he suggests they kiss—each other. (They’re interrupted by the fire station’s alarm bell.) Chuck gets picked up from the hospital by five girls in tight and revealing Hooters uniforms. Those girls, plus a doctor Chuck had verbally humiliated earlier in the day, go home with him and it’s implied that they have group sex. After donning tiny patches of fabric sometimes called lingerie, they troop out of his bedroom and prance about for him—and the camera.

Indeed, Chuck and Larry have turned ogling into an art form. And Chuck has an ever-growing stash of sex dolls and hard-core pornography. To satisfy their lust, the script “allows” them to encounter a seemingly endless parade of women whose heads, hands and feet only appear onscreen because the director failed to figure out a way to detach their breasts and backsides from the rest of their bodies.

It’s implied that Larry has sex with the housekeeper—while sharing the bed with Chuck. He informs Chuck that he got involved too, while he slept. And he eagerly fondles Alex’s breasts when she challenges him to find out for himself if they’re “real.” Because she thinks he’s not interested in women, she undresses in front of him first, and the camera lingers on her skimpy undergarments. Before the scene concludes, they begin kissing.

Chuck dubs a gay fundraiser, where many same-sex couples express affection and show lots of skin, “homopalooza.” Similar images are seen at a “gay pride” parade. An extended shower scene at the fire station features firemen’s bare backsides, not quite all of their frontsides—and a lot of “comedic” discomfort when Chuck and Larry show up. To raise awareness for AIDS, the firemen do a gay-themed calendar in which they pose in provocative positions and various stages of undress.

Chuck and Larry, among others, make nonstop references to homosexual sex, some mere allusions, some very graphic. In the process, we hear everything from slang references to genitalia to threats about prison rape.

Meanwhile, Eric is assigned the task of showing moviegoers exactly what a “gay” child looks and acts like—from wearing froufrou getups to becoming enthralled with dancing in a musical. (When Chuck shows the boy one of his porn mags, Eric runs away screaming.) It’s implied that Larry’s process of learning to accept his son’s “proclivities” is symbolic of everyone’s need to accept all homosexual behaviors.

Before this story lamely thumps into the closing credits, a mailman not only tells the guys he’s gay, but crudely propositions Larry. And a fellow firefighter tells Chuck that his relationship with Larry has given him the strength to admit that he’s gay and to “be true to myself.” He says, “There’s nothing worse than pretending to be something you’re not.” The big emotional finale? A “wedding” between that firefighter and Alex’s butterfly costume-wearing brother.”

Violent Content

“Chuck coldcocks the minister who insults him. Larry tackles and pummels a man who tries to exclude him from Boy Scout campouts and Little League games. Eric punches a taunting classmate in the crotch.

Angry at a cabbie for calling them “f-ggots,” Chuck and Larry grab him from behind and start slapping at his face. (The moving car spins out of control.) That’s supposed to be funny, as is a scene in which a homeless man breaks his leg while dancing.

Chuck and Larry tumble down a flight of stairs along with a morbidly obese man they’re rescuing from a burning building. Larry dives over Chuck to protect him from falling debris. Chuck and Larry regularly slap or hit each other.”

Crude or Profane Language

“About 75 total profanities, including more than a dozen s-words, misuses of God’s name (once it’s paired with “d–n”), and uses of “a–” and “h—.” “F-ggot,” “d–k” and other crudities and putdowns are routine.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

“Chuck grabs a bottle of liquor and starts drinking when Larry first suggests they become domestic partners. Other scenes show characters drinking wine, beer or liquor at home and at various public events (Chuck and Larry’s “wedding,” the fundraiser, etc.). A fire is started by a young man smoking a joint. In separate scenes, Chuck and another fireman smoke cigars.”

Hollywood violence targets teens

Hollywood is continuing to target teens with appallingly violent movies.  Why are we so surprised then when an act of absolute horror is committed such as Columbine or the VT massacre?  As I recently commented, criminal offenses by teens are becoming more and more violent in nature.  Our children are becoming completely de-sensitized to violence through the garbage that Hollywood cleverly packages to them. 

Parents must do a better job of overseeing what movies their children are watching.  If parents stop allowing their children to view ultra violent movies than Hollywood will quit making them.  An excellent tool for parents to use to “pre-screen” movie content is the movie review section of the Focus on the Family website.  To check it out click here.

From Parent Dish. 

“A new study, published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that, of the top grossing PG-13 films of 1999 and 2000, nearly 90% featured multiple acts of violence — the average was 29 violent acts per film. Approximately half of these were “executed with deadly force.”

Seven films — Little Nicky; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; The World Is Not Enough; Charlie’s Angels; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Mummy; Mission: Impossible 2; and Shanghai Noon — had more than 100 violent acts. Shanghai Noon, “a wildly hilarious, stunt-filled action-adventure comedy,” according to its promotional materials, topped the list at 263.”

To read the study click here.

Islam’s Global War against Christianity

From Patrick Poole and American Thinker.

“From Nigeria to Indonesia, Christians are under siege in virtually every single country in the Muslim world, the victims of countless acts of discrimination, depredation, brutality, and murder that are so widespread and systematic that it can rightfully be called the new Holocaust. This time, however, the perpetrators of this Holocaust aren’t wearing swastikas, but kufi skull caps and hijabs.”

To read more click here.

What’s the Connection? Violent & Sexual Content in Media May Explain AP Report on More Younger, More Violent Sex Offenders

From David E. Smith and The Illinois Family Institute.

“After analyzing state and federal crime statistics, the Associated Press recently reported their findings, revealing that the number of sex offense cases involving juvenile offenders has risen dramatically in recent years. Treatment professionals say the offenders are getting younger, while the crimes are becoming more violent. (Read story HERE.)

The story says that some psychologists blame the 40 percent increase on cultural prevalence of sexual messages.

Tie that in with the recently released Kaiser Family Foundation’s report on children and the media which tells us that 65 percent of parents are “very concerned” about the effect of inappropriate content on children.

And they should be.”

To read more click here.