The Centers for Disease Control says about 60 percent of high school seniors have had sex, but the number of high school students who said they've had sex has dropped precipitously, from 54 percent in 1991 to 46 percent in 2001.
"It's clear that religion plays a critical role in this extraordinarily private decision," says Newsweek, "But there are other factors as well: caring parents, a sense of their own unreadiness, the desire to gain some semblance of control over their own destinies." The magazine profiles six teens who have decided to wait, and gives each of them respect.
"Most of them didn't feel like outcasts, and I was a little surprised at that," Ali says on Newsweek On Air. "Most of them were not [outcasts] because they were willing to speak about it. They weren't shy about it, they weren't embarrassed by it. And I really don't think they see themselves as trendsetters either. It's such a personal choice for them. It's not a political move."
Indeed, one thread that appears in the cover piece is that abstinence is not necessarily tied to modesty (something at odds with the recent thesis by author Wendy Shalit). One of the women profiled is a Miss Hawaiian Tropic beauty queen who poses in bikinis and models at Harley-Davidson fashion shows. "What does a virgin look like?" asks Daniela Aranda, an evangelical influenced by Josh Harris's books. "Someone who wears white and likes to look at flowers?"
Another thread that emerges is that most of the profilees were encouraged in their abstinence by formal peer support programs. A second article examines these programs and how they tie into the political side of abstinence. "To the White House, abstinence seems like an easy win: it resonates with conservative voters, but doesn't upset pro-choice moderates," writes Debra Rosenberg (who drops the ball when she takes the Sexuality Information and Education Council's stated agenda at face value). But she says there's a problem: "Although Bush has said he wants to fund only "scientifically proven" education programs, there's so far little evidence to show abstinence works."
Clearly, however, something is working for the teens profiled in this cover package. Let's find out what it is.
John DiIulio apologizes for "Mayberry Machiavellis" comment. Twice. Weblog yesterday noted the comments of John DiIulio, former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, in the January issue of Esquire. "There is a virtual absence as yet of any policy accomplishments that might, to a fair-minded nonpartisan, count as the flesh on the bones of so-called compassionate conservatism," he said. "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."
The comments set off a firestorm in Washington, and DiIulio issued a statement saying the article was "unjustly hard on [White House senior adviser Karl] Rove and over-the-top complimentary to me, thereby creating a too-pat contrast that is, I feel, most unfair to Mr. Rove."
That apparently wasn't apologetic enough for DiIulio's former employer. By the end of the day he'd issued a second apology: "My criticisms were groundless and baseless due to poorly chosen words and examples. I sincerely apologize and I am deeply remorseful. I will not be offering any further comment, or speaking or writing further on any aspect of my limited and unrepresentative White House experience or any matters or persons related thereto. I regret any and all misimpressions. In this season of fellowship and forgiveness, I pray the same."
Meanwhile, Esquire has posted a four-page memo from DiIulio to writer Ron Suskind on its website, along with a press release about the article—but not the article itself.
And as this story has very much exited the realm of religion, Weblog will leave the rest of the fallout to the political bloggers.
More articles
Christmas and Advent:
Church nativity bans wise men | "People think they know this story, but they are wrong," says Pentecostal church (BBC)
Religion takes a back seat in the sleigh ride that is Christmas consumerism | Has Christianity become cowardly? How else can we explain the puzzling tendency to deliberately cut the Christ out of Christmas, Sydney's Anglican archbishop, Peter Jensen, asked his philanthropic audience at an Anglicare dinner last week (Sydney Morning Herald)
Forget Christmas tree, B.C.'s tree is just The Tree | Controversy has broken out in various cities across Canada this year as to whether renaming "Christmas trees" is showing sensitivity to non-Christian religions or whether it's simply political correctness run amok (The Province, Vancouver, B.C.)
Save Santa | As many as 50 childcare centers and kindergartens have put a stop to nativity scenes and Christmas festivities, blaming the decision on the need to respect the cultural sensitivities of non-Christian religions. (Fiona Connelly, The Daily Telegraph, Australia)
'No Christmas this year,' says Arafat | Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Wednesday ordered Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem canceled, to protest the IDF presence in the city (The Jerusalem Post)
Pop culture:
Bono: "Who in Ireland could have too much respect for organized religion?" | "The idea that God might love us and be interested in us is kind of huge and gigantic, but we turn it, because we're small-minded, into this tiny, petty, often greedy version of God, that is religion" (Larry King Live, CNN)
Elms back out of religious satire | Apparently the record label found the story too hot to handle, as did a half-dozen other Christian acts (Allstar/CDNow.com)
Also: Christian bands turn down movie role | Filmmakers scramble to find replacement after The Elms back out of religious satire (CanadianChristianity.com)
Only in America? | A Harry Potter protest would bemuse the Brits (Editorial, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Politics and law:
It's a moral world | Now that the Republicans are in charge, debating sin and other social questions is possible (Aan Wolfe, The Wall Street Journal)
Legal group urges states to update their family law | The changes would increase alimony and property rights for many divorced women and extend such rights to many domestic partners, both heterosexual and gay. (The New York Times)
The problem at the root of US-European discord | In the United States Dualism's religious expression has weakened, but its influence on the American mind, as it addresses foreign affairs, is stronger than ever (William Pfaff, The Boston Globe)
Misplaced faith | People for whom religion is the source of wisdom and truth, whose religious and civic lives are seamlessly connected, and who hold governmental authority must be greatly tempted to do what they can to place truth on the throne. But isn't that just the effort that was made by the Taliban? (William Raspberry, The Washington Post)
Education:
Higher purpose vs. higher education | The recent controversy over Shorter College has renewed the debate over what a Baptist college should be (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Salvation Army keeps fighting the good fight | The Salvation Army has never tried to hide who and what it is, an evangelical Christian organization whose mission is "to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination." (Joe Fitzgerald, Boston Herald)
Bearing witness, saying goodbye | For 22 years, Rev. Joseph Ledwell has helped bury the unclaimed dead of Cook County in a special corner of a Homewood cemetery (Chicago Tribune)
Unlikely alliance to fight AIDS | Today, the United States needs forceful leaders to address a more lethal social ill: the AIDS pandemic. It also needs another unlikely alliance - African-Americans and Republicans. (Eugene Rivers and Richard Stearns, The Boston Globe)
Groups will collaborate to speed Bible translations | The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board and Wycliffe International have announced a partnership agreement (Religion News Service)
Article continues below
Saving souls—12 by 12 | A business executive living the American dream, complete with BMW and six-figure salary, decides to minister to Atlanta's poorest and others instead—a dozen at a time (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
The road to hell | What Jesus had to say was much more important than what he would drive (Brock Yates, The Wall Street Journal)
Driving the message home | American clerics trying to change their country's gas-guzzling ways with the What Would Jesus Drive? campaign should check out the wheels chosen by His servants (David Burgess-Wise, The Daily Telegraph, London)
Bumper stickers by Jesus | What Would Jesus Drive campaign borders on religious blackmail (Kathleen Parker, The Orlando Sentinel)
Owner of parody Web sites heads to court | Judge Norman K. Moon will hear arguments for the dismissal of Falwell's suit, which claims the parody sites www.jerryfalwell.com and www.jerryfallwell.com are an illegal use of Falwell's trademark, libelous, unfair competition and cybersquatting (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Judge hears arguments in Web site dispute | Judge Norman K. Moon took the case on advisement, but did not give any indication when he might rule (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Falwell, Ericsson sale impact worries city | Several city officials and area economic development professionals, who say Lynchburg can't afford to lose the millions in tax dollars a manufacturer would pay (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Falwell to city: Don't box with God | Even if there are problems with rezoning the Ericsson building to fit the plans of Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg Christian Academy and Liberty University, it won't scuttle the purchase (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Bankruptcy said likely for Boston's archdiocese | The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is likely to declare bankruptcy as a way to grapple with the lawsuits filed as part of the sex abuse crisis (The New York Times)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
A Christian reconciliation group in Israel and Palestine warned that war would come. Now the war threatens their relevance.العربيةFrançais
Christian artists work at the intersection of music and climate change.
