SEXUAL MORALS
A Revolution Ends
Pollster George Gallup says the sexual revolution of the last 25 years “may be coming to a halt.”
A Gallup poll conducted last year found more Americans saying they oppose premarital sex than held that view in 1985. In 1987, 46 percent of the people surveyed said premarital sex is wrong. In 1985, the figure was 39 percent. The percentage of those saying it is not wrong dropped from 52 to 48 over the same time period.
Gallup says the new findings amount to a “trend reversal.” Eighty-three percent of those who oppose premarital sex said they based their belief on moral and religious convictions. Other reasons cited were fear of contracting disease (20%); risk of pregnancy (13%); and the feeling that women should be virgins before marriage (9%).
MEDICAL ETHICS
Harvesting Human Organs
A baby expected to be born last month without most of its brain has stirred a debate over keeping such newborns alive in order to donate certain organs for transplant to other infants.
Brenda Winner, of Arcadia, California, was expected to give birth to an anencephalic baby. Winner wanted to carry the baby to term because she and her husband oppose abortion. They urged doctors at Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center to deliver the baby and make its organs available for transplant.
The medical center agreed to keep the infant alive artificially for no more than seven days while a recipient was sought. In October, the hospital transplanted a heart from an anencephalic girl born in Canada. The girl, pronounced dead but still hooked up to artificial life support, was flown to Loma Linda, California, where her heart was transferred to an infant boy.
By law, a donor must be pronounced brain dead before organs can be removed for transplant. However, there is no accepted definition of brain death in infants less than seven days old. And doctors say brain death is even harder to assess in anencephalic infants.
PTL
Rendering Unto Caesar
According to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court, the PTL television ministry owes at least $61.8 million in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The IRS told the court PTL could owe as much as $82 million in back taxes, depending on how much of the organization’s operations are determined to be tax exempt. Last year the television ministry filed for protection under the federal bankruptcy law, saying it was $60 million in debt, including about $5 million owed to the IRS.
The bankruptcy court is considering a reorganization plan submitted by PTL creditors and the ministry’s “lifetime partners,” generally donors who have contributed at least $1,000 each. The plan would divide the television ministry and its Heritage USA theme park into profit and nonprofit corporations.
In a separate development, deposed PTL leader Jim Bakker was ordained into the ministry by Faith Christian Fellowship International, a charismatic denomination based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bakker, who left PTL last March after confessing to a sexual encounter with a former church secretary, was defrocked by the Assemblies of God. Officials of Faith Christian Fellowship said Bakker will serve with an affiliated church in Lancaster, California.
ADOPTION
Are Gays Qualified?
A presidential advisory group has recommended that the federal government not support efforts to allow homosexuals to adopt children.
“Marital status, age or handicap should not preclude individuals from consideration as adoptive parents,” the study group said in a report. “… However, homosexual adoption should not be supported.”
The advisory group, made up of 13 government officials, was asked to find ways to make adoption an alternative to abortion. It recommended several initiatives to remove barriers to adoption, including:
- A Minnesota law that requires an adopted child to be treated as a biological child for health insurance purposes.
- A California law aimed at helping unmarried women under the age of 21 to make an effective choice between abortion and giving birth.
- A New York statute that allows a father to claim paternity by informing the state of his desire to be informed of any proposed adoption proceeding involving his child.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Briefly Noted
Announced : By Thomas A. McDill, his intention to retire next year as president of the Evangelical Free Church of America. McDill, 61, told the denomination’s board of directors he is willing to run for reelection this year “with the understanding that the board immediately begin the process of seeking a new presidential candidate” to recommend to the church’s 1989 conference. During McDill’s 11-year presidency, the number of Evangelical Free Church congregations has doubled, from about 500 to more than 1,000.
Filed : By parents of four children born with congenital defects, lawsuits against three distillers, three breweries, and a wine cooler company for not carrying warning labels directed at pregnant women. The attorney representing the parents said warning labels are required by law when a product can cause birth defects. The suit says the four children suffer from problems associated with fetal alcohol syndrome. In each case, the mothers drank alcoholic beverages during pregnancy.
Granted : By the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission, a license to Canada’s first religious television network. Vision Television, a nonprofit organization, will produce its own religious programming and will air programs provided by other religious groups. The network’s signal will be distributed by satellite to cable television operators across Canada.
