Teenagers who identify as “evangelical” or “born again” . . . think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age—16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.
How is that possible? What happened to all those happy, young Christian couples from the ’90s swearing that True Love Waits? Partly, the problem lies in the definition of evangelical. Because of the explosion of megachurches, vast numbers of people who don’t identify with mainstream denominations now call themselves evangelical. The demographic includes more teenagers of a lower socioeconomic class, who are more likely to have had sex at a younger age. It also includes African-American Protestant teenagers, who are vastly more likely to be sexually active.
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Abstinence pledgers are considerably less likely than nonpledgers to use birth control the first time they have sex. “It just sort of happened,” one girl told the researchers, in what could be a motto for this generation of evangelical teens.
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Among the mass of typically promiscuous teenagers in the book, one group stands out: the 16 percent of American teens who describe religion as “extremely important” in their lives.
Tomorrow Christians around the world begin fasting and praying for North Korea.
Christians all around the world are gathering to pray and fast from June 1 to July 10, for 40 days, in response to the great spiritual attack on the youth of North Korea as well as their own nations. This second annual 40 day fast, hosted by NK Missions is beginning Friday, June 1 and ending on July 10. Signups for the fasting chain are online at www.nkprayer.com. Resources include daily prayer updates, fasting guides, emailed reminders of the day of your fast, and a community blog where fasters will post their prayers.
Is America guilty of animal worship? Decide for yourself.
An estimated 63 percent of American households have a pet, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, with a record 44.8 million households owning dogs and 38.4 million owning cats in 2006; since many households own more than one feline, cats actually outnumber dogs in the United States by 88 million to 75 million. . . .
As the demographics of America have changed, so too has the nature of pet ownership. It used to be that most pets were bought by families. Now, the majority of pet owners, 61 percent, are childless—singles, unmarried couples waiting to have kids, gay couples, empty-nesters. Invariably, these owners tend to treat their pets like surrogate babies, and they spoil them accordingly. To help these childless pet-parents spend their disposable income, the pet products industry has mushroomed in the past decade. This year we’ll shell out more than $40 billion to keep our furry friends fed, adorned, amused and healthy—the latter a huge growth category, with more and more owners paying top dollar for elaborate medical treatments to forestall that inevitable last visit to the vet. By the end of the decade, we’ll be spending $50 billion on pet products, according to the APPMA. Walk the aisles of Petco or PetSmart, past the Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses for your dog and the $140 Catnip Chaise Lounge for your cat, and you’ll discover just how well-trained we Americans have become. . . .
Some 56 percent of dog owners and 42 percent of cat owners buy their pets Christmas presents. Pets can listen to their own Internet radio station (Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” is one of the more popular songs on DogCatRadio.com), post their pictures and make play dates on dogster.com and catster.com, and earn frequent flier miles on United.
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63 percent of cat owners and 42 percent of dog owners sleep with their pets, according to the APPMA.
Why don’t people who want children adopt children instead of buying pets and treating them like children? I guess pets are just easier: they cost less (although the gap seems to be narrowing), they require less work, and you can get rid of them if things don’t work out.
What I would love to know is how the statistics from the believing community compare. Is the church just as guilty of this kind of ridiculous treatment of animals?
The Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry, recently released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States, and according to its findings, religious books had a “difficult year.”
The report, which reveals sales from 2006, marked a sharp 10.2 percent drop in religious books sales compared to the previous twelve months. The trend was one of the biggest decreases among all the book categories reported on by AAP.
The New Attitude Conference just finished. The topic was spiritual discernment. You can find out more at the official NA Live Blog. Several people were blogging the conference. Here are some of the posts covering the eight main sessions from the conference.
We are committed to bringing the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who don’t know [him] and in this land that’s 95% of the people: 95% of people facing hell unless the message of the gospel is brought to them.
Another site has it this way:
We are committed, are we not, to bringing the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Jesus. And in this land that is 95% of the people, and 95% of the people in this country facing hell unless the message of the gospel is brought to bear.
The Gospel Coalition Conference (schedule) is underway at TEDS in Deerfield, IL. You’ll probably want to read the Foundational Documents (RTF | PDF). Several people are blogging the event. Here’s what I’ve come across so far—basically in chronological order.
Reformed and Lutheran churches in France intend to unite as the Universal Protestant Church.
The union—announced on May 20 in the town of Sochaux—will create one church composed of two regions: one Lutheran and another Reformed. The union is to become fully effective by 2013.
The Reformed Church counts around 300,000 faithful in France and the Lutheran Church 36,000.
Abraham Piper at the Desiring God Blog has posted a questionnaire that the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist Church use to keep each other accountable. This seems like a great idea—as long as everyone is committed to being brutally honest and not giving himself the benefit of the doubt.
Do you know of other churches that are doing something similar? Does your church have some sort of accountability in place? Do you agree that something like this is a good idea?
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Tomorrow Christians around the world begin fasting and praying for North Korea.
Is America guilty of animal worship? Decide for yourself.
The 
Richard Turnbull
Reformed and Lutheran churches in France intend to unite as the Universal Protestant Church.
