Some abstinence programs misleading
Really! no surprize.
These are the same type of people who attack evolution. These are the types who insert intelligent design programs into the public school system, one school board at a time.
Science and facts have no sway with religious fundamentalists. Science is part and parcle of our materialistic world, therefore evil. No doubt about it. If the facts don't fit, oh well. Don't worry about it. Stats lie and everyone knows it. The Greenhouse efffect isn't real, and if it is, again don't worry, Christ will return soon so we don't have to concern ourselves over such scientific mumbo jumbo.
Reasonable people can not reason with unreasonable people. So my goal is not to convince such people they are wrong, but reach out and educate those "agnostics" who vote.
Here is the article:
Report documents misstatements in curricula
Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found. Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education. Several million children age 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999. Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those used by at least five programs apiece.The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.'Seriously wrong'"I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."When used properly and consistently, condoms fail to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) less than 3 percent of the time, federal researchers say, and it is not known how many gay teenagers are HIV-positive. The assertion regarding gay teenagers may be a misinterpretation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 59 percent of HIV-infected males age 13 to 19 contracted the virus through homosexual relations. Joe. S. McIlhaney Jr., who runs the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which developed much of the material that was surveyed, said he was "saddened" that Waxman chose to "blast" well-intentioned abstinence educators when there is much the two sides could agree on.McIlhaney acknowledged that his group, which publishes "Sexual Health Today" instruction manuals, made a mistake in describing the relationship between a rare type of infection caused by chlamydia bacteria and heart failure. Chlamydia also causes a common type of sexually transmitted infection, but that is not linked to heart disease. But McIlhaney said Waxman misinterpreted a slide that warns young people about the possibility of pregnancy without intercourse. McIlhaney said the slide accurately describes a real, though small, risk of pregnancy in mutual masturbation.Bush's backingCongress first allocated money for abstinence-only programs in 2001, setting aside $80 million in grants, which go to a variety of religious, civic and medical organizations. To be eligible, groups must limit discussion of contraception to failure rates.President Bush has enthusiastically backed the movement, proposing to spend $270 million on abstinence projects in 2005. Congress reduced that to about $168 million, bringing total abstinence funding to nearly $900 million over five years. It does not appear that the abstinence-only curricula are being taught in the Washington area.Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents argue that adolescents who take abstinence-only programs are ill-equipped to protect themselves if they become sexually active. According to the latest CDC data, 61 percent of graduating high school seniors have had sex.Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, counter that teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the Waxman report was a political document that did a "disservice to our children." Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows "abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.Bill Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a comprehensive sex education group that also receives federal funding, said the Waxman report underscored the need for closer monitoring of what he called the "shame-based, fear-based, medically inaccurate messages" being disseminated with tax money. He said the danger of abstinence education lies in the omission of useful medical information.Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence
Dec 2, 2004
Colonia LeBaron in the Mexican state of Chihuahua
I wonder how many American Polygamist families are hiding in Mexico?
Smart Case Highlights Utah Polygamy
By PATTY HENETZ SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Despite the Mormon Church's century long effort to rid itself of the stigma of polygamy, high-profile cases like Elizabeth Smart's abduction have cast the church in an unfavorable light by linking it to the outlawed practice.
The Church disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members who practice or preach it. But an estimated 30,000 polygamists whose beliefs are rooted in Mormonism live in Utah and other parts of the southwest, Mexico and Canada.
While most of them are consenting adults, living quietly, the region's history is littered with would-be prophets who, abandoning the traditional church, sought to lead their own polygamist groups or cults.
Among them, it appears, is Brian David Mitchell, the self-styled prophet arrested last week in Smart's abduction. An excommunicated Mormon, he wrote a rambling manifesto espousing the virtues of polygamy and may have kidnapped the teen to make her his second wife.
Mitchell's case is just one of several involving avowed polygamists with extremist or fanatical views. Among them:
- In August 2002, polygamist Tom Green was sentenced to five years to life in prison for a child rape that occurred when he took Linda Kunz, a 13-year-old girl, as his "spiritual" wife in 1986 when Green was 37. Green drew the attention of prosecutors when he appeared on a half-dozen nationally televised talk shows to defend his brand of polygamy.
- In 1984, brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty, who had formed a polygamist cult called School of Prophets, killed Ron Lafferty's sister-in-law and her baby because she agreed with Ron Lafferty's wife's decision to leave him.
- In 1979, Summit County, Utah, polygamist John Singer, who pulled his children out of public school, was shot by law enforcement officers for running away when they tried to capture him. His son Addam Swapp, who also became a polygamist, in January 1988 blew up the Marion, Utah, Mormon administrative center. Swapp was wounded after he led his clan in an armed standoff with police and was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- In the late 1940s, the excommunicated LeBaron clan established Colonia LeBaron, a polygamist colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. In the early 1970s Ervil LeBaron executed rival polygamists in Mexico and Salt Lake County. He died in prison.
Some experts say Mormonism will never be able to shed itself of polygamy - and the sects or cults that arise because of it - because the practice is linked inextricably to the church's founding.
"Polygamy is an albatross the church has been unable to rid itself of," said David Bigler, a former Mormon and historian on the church.
At a conference in October, Gordon Hinckley, the church's image-maker since 1935, issued a powerful reminder that the members' faith depended on the belief that God and Jesus Christ revealed themselves to founder Joseph Smith in 1820 on an upstate New York hillside when he was 14.
"Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision," said the 92-year-old president.
It was Smith who, in 1843, also disclosed his revelation that polygamy, restored by prophecy from the patriarchal milieu of the Old Testament, was an essential ingredient of eternal exaltation on which the church would stand or fall.
Smith's teachings on polygamy remain in the church's four volumes of scripture. Section 132 says that "if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else."
Therein may lie a justification for Mitchell and thousands of so-called fundamentalist Mormons to defy mainstream Mormonism and establish sects where men take multiple wives, some as young as 12.
"They believe in Joseph Smith and polygamy," said Rowenna Erickson, 63, a former plural wife and co-founder of the group Tapestry Against Polygamy. "In order to gain their eternal salvation, they feel they need to live polygamously, because that is one of the higher laws, to get them to the celestial kingdom."
As for Mitchell, his manifesto includes apocalyptic ravings that crib from several books, including the King James Bible, the Book of Mormon and other Joseph Smith writings. The tract typed on a computer is dated April 6, 2002 - the Mormon church's birthday.
Mitchell, once a high local Mormon leader, was excommunicated several years ago for "activity promoting bizarre teachings and lifestyle" far afield of the church. Also excommunicated was Wanda Barzee, arrested along with Mitchell on Wednesday for her alleged complicity in Elizabeth's kidnapping.
Such discipline is not uncommon in the church's struggle with polygamous splinter groups who continue to keep multiple "sister-wives."
Yet the church also teaches that plural marriage will revive when Christ returns. And members are allowed a kind of polygamy in the belief that widowers who marry again may live with both in the afterlife.
Smart Case Highlights Utah Polygamy
By PATTY HENETZ SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Despite the Mormon Church's century long effort to rid itself of the stigma of polygamy, high-profile cases like Elizabeth Smart's abduction have cast the church in an unfavorable light by linking it to the outlawed practice.
The Church disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members who practice or preach it. But an estimated 30,000 polygamists whose beliefs are rooted in Mormonism live in Utah and other parts of the southwest, Mexico and Canada.
While most of them are consenting adults, living quietly, the region's history is littered with would-be prophets who, abandoning the traditional church, sought to lead their own polygamist groups or cults.
Among them, it appears, is Brian David Mitchell, the self-styled prophet arrested last week in Smart's abduction. An excommunicated Mormon, he wrote a rambling manifesto espousing the virtues of polygamy and may have kidnapped the teen to make her his second wife.
Mitchell's case is just one of several involving avowed polygamists with extremist or fanatical views. Among them:
- In August 2002, polygamist Tom Green was sentenced to five years to life in prison for a child rape that occurred when he took Linda Kunz, a 13-year-old girl, as his "spiritual" wife in 1986 when Green was 37. Green drew the attention of prosecutors when he appeared on a half-dozen nationally televised talk shows to defend his brand of polygamy.
- In 1984, brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty, who had formed a polygamist cult called School of Prophets, killed Ron Lafferty's sister-in-law and her baby because she agreed with Ron Lafferty's wife's decision to leave him.
- In 1979, Summit County, Utah, polygamist John Singer, who pulled his children out of public school, was shot by law enforcement officers for running away when they tried to capture him. His son Addam Swapp, who also became a polygamist, in January 1988 blew up the Marion, Utah, Mormon administrative center. Swapp was wounded after he led his clan in an armed standoff with police and was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- In the late 1940s, the excommunicated LeBaron clan established Colonia LeBaron, a polygamist colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. In the early 1970s Ervil LeBaron executed rival polygamists in Mexico and Salt Lake County. He died in prison.
Some experts say Mormonism will never be able to shed itself of polygamy - and the sects or cults that arise because of it - because the practice is linked inextricably to the church's founding.
"Polygamy is an albatross the church has been unable to rid itself of," said David Bigler, a former Mormon and historian on the church.
At a conference in October, Gordon Hinckley, the church's image-maker since 1935, issued a powerful reminder that the members' faith depended on the belief that God and Jesus Christ revealed themselves to founder Joseph Smith in 1820 on an upstate New York hillside when he was 14.
"Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision," said the 92-year-old president.
It was Smith who, in 1843, also disclosed his revelation that polygamy, restored by prophecy from the patriarchal milieu of the Old Testament, was an essential ingredient of eternal exaltation on which the church would stand or fall.
Smith's teachings on polygamy remain in the church's four volumes of scripture. Section 132 says that "if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else."
Therein may lie a justification for Mitchell and thousands of so-called fundamentalist Mormons to defy mainstream Mormonism and establish sects where men take multiple wives, some as young as 12.
"They believe in Joseph Smith and polygamy," said Rowenna Erickson, 63, a former plural wife and co-founder of the group Tapestry Against Polygamy. "In order to gain their eternal salvation, they feel they need to live polygamously, because that is one of the higher laws, to get them to the celestial kingdom."
As for Mitchell, his manifesto includes apocalyptic ravings that crib from several books, including the King James Bible, the Book of Mormon and other Joseph Smith writings. The tract typed on a computer is dated April 6, 2002 - the Mormon church's birthday.
Mitchell, once a high local Mormon leader, was excommunicated several years ago for "activity promoting bizarre teachings and lifestyle" far afield of the church. Also excommunicated was Wanda Barzee, arrested along with Mitchell on Wednesday for her alleged complicity in Elizabeth's kidnapping.
Such discipline is not uncommon in the church's struggle with polygamous splinter groups who continue to keep multiple "sister-wives."
Yet the church also teaches that plural marriage will revive when Christ returns. And members are allowed a kind of polygamy in the belief that widowers who marry again may live with both in the afterlife.
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