Sex education: US right, UK wrong - CFN newsletter Week 88

CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 88

> Rob Warner looks at the US approach to sex education - and lays down the challenge for the UK Church
> News:
> Alliance welcome for public debate on marriage law
> Bully-free Christmas - Christingle celebrations
> New Bible notes aiming to inspire women
> Feedback: cannabis, family challenges, sex education
> Sites:
> Churches' Christmas radio ads
> A 2003 calendar for all allotment lovers!
> Marriage MOT: Christmas - joy or pain?
> You've got to laugh: It came a pun a midnight clear
> Members' Zone latest

OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS WEEK

ChristiansInTouch is a new website that helps to put you in touch with your Christian friends past and present. Ever wanted to contact friends from a former Church or Christian holiday? Want to advertise your Church activities on a busy site? Sign up today and help grow this Christian network - http://www.ChristiansInTouch.com

Find out how you can reach thousands via this newsletter for just £50 - mail SteveRogers@christianmedia.org.uk

Dear All

Very little time to say much at all - still dashing about in last-minute Christmas preparations - so ...

1 Have a joyful and peaceful Christmas and New Year
2 Enjoy this week's update (when you have time!)
3 Please note that our next update will be once the schools have gone back, around Friday 10 January

May you rediscover the greatest gift of all this Christmas - Jesus!

Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk

PS Christian Family Network is here to direct you to the best in parenting, marriage and family resources; to link you up with other Christian families up and down the UK; and to help you make the most of life as a follower of Christ - at home, at work, at school and college, at play and online. Your feedback, positive and negative, enables us to develop CFN in the way that is most useful for you - so please tell us if we're off the rails or on the button!

And don't forget - if we can pass on material (sample copies of Families Together, leaflets) which will help you tell your friends and your church about CFN, just mail Lyn Bedford at marketing@christianmedia.org.uk and she'll be glad to help you out.

ANALYSIS

In chastity we trust

• As the American government starts a campaign promoting chastity until marriage in a bid to halt the spread of Aids and HIV, ROB WARNER suggests the Church in Britain could follow their example
  

I read this week of the American government’s campaign to make sexual abstinence the central strand of sex education in schools. In contrast, when the British government talks sex education or HIV awareness, it’s all about condoms.

Abstinence has become Washington’s priority in the global war on Aids and HIV. Increasingly in the States, sexual abstinence is increasingly presented as the first choice. More than one third of US high schools now provide sessions advising abstinence until marriage. 700 programmes in all 50 states campaign in favour of waiting for sex. $73 million has been set aside by the government to sponsor groups that agree to teach that "sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects" and also that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity". And American sexual chastity is on the rise: 54% of high schoolers claimed to have had sex in 1991, falling to 46% in 2001.

The common British attitude seems to be that teenagers will have sex anyway, so it’s best to concentrate on contraception. That begs the question whether this educates for safety or increases the pressure to have sex early and be "cured" from virginity. There is also a politically correct agenda in Britain that is angry at any suggestion that marriage should be officially recommended or considered the norm. It’s almost impossible in our present climate to imagine a British politician funding a policy that suggests casual sex has harmful effects.

Meanwhile in America a recent government-sponsored pamphlet has the headline: 'Saving sex for marriage – abstinence is a choice worth making'.

The bottom line is this: teen sex is dangerous. Sexually active teenagers are more likely to catch sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) than older people – especially girls, who can be left infertile. And the earlier sex begins, the more likely disease will follow.

To find out how the US approach ties in with biblical thinking, and the challenge for the Church in the UK on sex education, go to the rest of this article in our Advice section at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/advice.asp

Also see Feedback letter below ...

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

> Alliance welcomes public debate on marriage law

The Evangelical Alliance has welcomed Government recognition that a full public consultation must take place on White Paper proposals which would fundamentally alter Britain’s matrimonial law to allow transsexuals to marry.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> Bully-free Christmas - Christingle celebrations

Pupils from St Barnabas Church of England School, Pimlico, took part in The Children’s Society’s annual Christingle celebrations at Westminster Abbey. This year’s theme was Shine a Light on Bullying.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp for the full story

> New Bible notes aiming to inspire women

New bi-monthly Bible reading notes for women have just been launched by CWR "to fill an important gap in the market". Inspiring Women Every Day will feature articles from our sister publication, Woman Alive magazine.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> MARRIAGE MOT

> Check out our archived marriage tips in the Members' Zone, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk .

Christmas - joy or pain?

Christmas is portrayed by the world around us as a time we should be happy and have everything we've always wanted, but life doesn't just change because the day has a special name.

Many people find Christmas a painful time, with quite a bit of disappointment and unhappiness. Perhaps that's how you're feeling this Christmas.

Behind all the glitz and expectations the truth about Christmas is that God loved us so much that He was willing to come and face life with us. He didn't come down with a flourish to impress us, He didn't tell us we ought to be happy and have everything we wanted.

He quietly sent His Son, Jesus, to share our lives with us to show He understood what life can be like. He even came with the answer to all our pain - Jesus died, so that we might find healing in our relationship with God and with each other and find true hope and happiness.

So my tip for the season is: let God touch your life this Christmas and bring His hope and joy to your marriage.

.......................................................................
Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder
http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20836.rate
.......................................................................

FEEDBACK

A number of you wrote in with your 'family challenges' for 2003 (prize bundles are on their way to you) - go to our Resources section to read those.

We also received this moving message in response to our piece on cannabis in the last update:

" A friend passed on your story regarding the effects of cannabis. I thought I would write and encourage you in your campaign. There are several reasons for the support.

"Firstly our 31-year-old son took his own life on 20 September this year. We strongly believe that the major influence in James doing this was the fact that he had smoked cannabis for nearly 16 years. He was a Christian and he had spent 11 months at Yeldall Manor, Reading. We really do believe that cannabis damaged his brain and affected the way he dealt with people.

"Secondly, I am a worker with Linx Christian Youth Ministries and as a result I am in local secondary schools every week. Through this work I am concerned that a lot of young people believe the drug is harmless.

"As a result of my own reading and taking note of recent BMA findings, I believe that if people took a good look at the long-term effects of cannabis they would certainly be more cautious.

"We could say more. My main purpose was to encourage you in your campaign."

NT (via e-mail)

... and this letter on health and sex education:

I write as a parent who recently attended, with my husband, a health day at my son's school. He is 13.

The main hall had about 12 or so tables with different aspects of health eg diet, going abroad, mental health, not smoking and so on, but we were both shocked and embarassed at how much sexually explicit stuff there was - posters telling children they could see a doctor without their parents knowing, leaflets about condoms and pills etc, a model, videos, I was horrified!!

All children were shown into the hall, class by class, from the age of 11!! Parents were sent a letter of invite but I don't think many went.

We have written to the headmaster and I have spoken to the chair of Governors. At this time I believe we are the only people to have complained that this was inappropriate for 11 and 12-year-olds.

We have just been fobbed off. What do other parents think? Are we behind the times and this is OK now? It grieves my heart - there is no innocence any more, and parental rights are disregarded.

Children are forced into an adult world they are not prepared for.

Theresa Walker (via e-mail)

• What do you think? Mail us or post your views on the Bulletin Board.

> EVENTS

> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH ...

• In case your crackers don't have enough awful Christmas jokes ...

What do they call Santa's helpers?
Subordinate Clauses

Who sings Love Me Tender and makes Christmas toys?
Santa's little Elvis

If athletes get athlete's foot, what do astronauts get?
Missile toe

How does Santa Claus take pictures?
With his North Pole-aroid

What do you call the fear of getting stuck while sliding down a chimney?
Santa Claus-trophobia

Head for our Resources section for the rest!

> CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
(MEMBERS' ZONE) - http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/default.asp

> Advice

> The sex education challenge the UK Church must grasp

> Resources

> Christmas love - an anecdote with a profound point
> It came a pun a midnight clear - awful Christmas cracker jokes aplenty!
> Ken Davis says Christmas is a fat issue
> Elisabeth Corcoran's January column

> News

> Alliance welcome for public debate on marriage law
> Bully-free Christmas - Christingle celebrations
> New Bible notes aiming to inspire women

> Top sites this week

> Christian Advertising Network: those controversial Christmas radio ads
> New site for Christian holiday organisations to launch
> A must-have 2003 calendar for allotment fans

> Reviews: Karen Carter catches the RSC's Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

> Events: More of what's on near you

> Webwatch Index: more than 500 sites at your fingertips

> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 500-page plus archives

Christian Family Network, Christian Media Centre, Garcia Estate, Canterbury Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 1EH, UK (01903 821082; subscriptions 01903 602136)

HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER

Just send an e-mail to leave-cfn-newsletter@cfnetwork.co.uk

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.