OUR COLUMNISTS More Women Go to Church Than Men ... and What to Do About It Commentary by Matt Friedeman Many times, all things being equal, the men who win men to Christ are those who reflect the life and ministry of Jesus: they are purposeful, biblical, no-nonsense, on a mission, and invite others through personal attention to their objectives. Why I Teach Abstinence Commentary by Jane Jimenez Some would have us believe that teaching abstinence is no more than a brief exercise in repeating "NO" in unison. If that's all it is, then why bother teaching abstinence? The Soul of Soccer Commentary by Brad Locke We have our keepers of morality, and we have our uninhibited anarchists. We have our cultists, and we have our universalists. But if you want to find the median of the world's morality, you don't really have to look any further than a soccer stadium. Papal Souvenirs! Get 'em While They're Hot! Commentary by David Sisler When Pope John Paul II passed away, it opened the floodgates for the gluttonous and the unappeasable. Shortly after his death, John Paul II souvenirs numbered over 12,000 on eBay. Now they are down to about 5,000. I guess folks are gobbling up the goodies. A Dark Day for North Carolina Commentary by Mark Creech It was certainly one of the saddest days of my life. The arguments made by certain lawmakers on the floor of the North Carolina House in favor of the lottery were unbelievably shallow and morally bankrupt!

...The election of a pope who was once a member of the Hitler Youth raised a few eyebrows in Israel. That's partly a revulsion for anything with even a hint of connection to Germany's Nazi years. There was a barb wrapped in Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's welcome to Pope Benedict XVI. He said in a statement that he is sure the new pope will take a strong stand against anti-Semitism, considering his background. But most Israeli officials say the new pope's actions over the last 60 years mean a lot more than what he did as a teenager. The new pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, says membership in the Hitler Youth was compulsory when he joined in 1945. [AP]

...The co-founder of Amway Corporation, his wife, and a Catholic archbishop will be honored this evening (April 20) for their devotion to pro-life causes. The 12th annual "Proudly Pro-Life Awards," presented by the National Right to Life Committee's Educational Trust Fund, honors individuals who have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to "courageously defend innocent human life." NRLC says Richard and Helen DeVos have been a "driving force" behind pro-life gains in the U.S. in recent years, making unborn children a major focus of their generous giving. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation awarded grants totaling more than $25 million in 2001, placing it near the top among conservative foundations. "The pro-life movement and the country are stronger -- and many more children are alive today -- because of their deep dedication and generosity to the cause of life," says an NRLC press release. Also being honored is Rev. Charles Chaput, the Archbishop of Denver. NRLC says the bishop's "unflinching advocacy for the unborn" has inspired many others in the clergy and the laity to speak out for life. The awards will be given Wednesday night at a dinner are reception at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel in Washington, DC. [Jody Brown]

...The Air Force Academy is scrambling to address complaints that evangelical Christians wield too much influence at the school and harass non-Christian cadets. There have been 55 complaints of religious discrimination at the academy in the past four years, so the school now requires staff members and cadets to take a religious-tolerance class. But former Virginia Governor James Gilmore, who heads the civilian board that oversees the Air Force Academy, says evangelical Christians do not "check their religion at the door." And Tom Minnery, an official at the nearby headquarters of Focus on the Family, complains that there is "an anti-Christian bigotry developing" at the school. [AP]

...The group of Christians who were charged under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law in October -- charges that were later dismissed -- are now challenging the law, saying the manner in which it was originally passed is unconstitutional. Michael Marcavage of Repent America and several of his fellow activists were arrested last fall for their supposed "ethnic intimidation" while ministering at a public pro-homosexual celebration. The group's attorney says the Pennsylvania legislature improperly amended the Ethnic Intimidation Statute as part of an agriculture bill. "It then passed the amendment ... to the statute without proper notice, while not even passing the original bill," attorney Ted Hoppe says. The result, he adds, is that the public did not receive proper notice of the action and that citizens in the state were charged criminally under an unconstitutional law. Marcavage says it is "remarkable" that legislation designed to protect farm machinery and crops from vandalism "evolved into a law that provides special protections to those who engage in homosexual and other sexually deviant behavior." The group's "Petition for Review" names Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell and other elected officials in state political offices. [Jody Brown]

...The executive director of a Christian medical organization says a bill designed to legalize assisted suicide in California advances state secrecy. AB 654 would allow doctors to give "terminally ill" patients lethal doses of drugs to end their lives -- if they request it. The measure is opposed by many physician groups and medical ethicists, among them Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical Association. "The truth is that this bill establishes a dangerous right to privacy for the government," Stevens says. "As in Oregon [where physician-assisted suicide is legal], the California assisted-suicide bill includes a state secrecy clause that prevents the public, the media, or watchdog groups from reviewing the evidence." According to the text of the bill, information collected about assisted suicides would not be part of the public record, but that an "annual statistical report" will be available for public scrutiny. Stevens says such a report would contain "sanitized statistics" that could not be disputed because the details are secret. He notes that according to studies in the Netherlands, where assisted suicide is legal, the process is fraught with "failures" to kill the patient immediately. "Government bureaucrats [in California]," he says, "will obviously protect the state's reputation by keeping potentially damaging details secret." The CMDA spokesman says "if you want to give more power to the state and less power to the citizens, this [bill] is the way to do it." [Jody Brown]

...Compassion International, a cross-denominational, worldwide ministry to children, believes one of the keys to its success is integrity: doing what it says it is going to do. Now the ministry has received the highest rating possible for financially accountability, demonstrating that the high priority it places on trust is worth the effort. It is the fourth consecutive year Compassion International has received the four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a group that analyzes how charities spend the money it receives from its donors. The rating, says Charity Navigator, indicates the ministry to children "meets the high expectations of the funding community." Compassion's Ed Anderson says the ministry makes "extraordinary efforts" to make sure the money coming in from donors and from children's sponsors is used for its intended purposes. "It's all about trust -- doing what we say we're going to do with the donations we receive," Anderson says. "That is a very high priority at Compassion." Other groups and financial publications have also recognized Compassion's financial accountability. The organization is one of the founding members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. [Jody Brown]

...An investigative journalist and syndicated columnist says even though the left-wing movement led by George Soros and MoveOn.org failed to defeat President George W. Bush last November, the same group is gearing up for a political comeback. While Hillary Clinton made a fuss about a supposed "right-wing conspiracy" when her husband was in the White House, National Review's Byron York says it is realy a "vast left-wing conspiracy" that threaten the future of America. The complete title of his new book is The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story About How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President -- and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time. That cadre, he says, is very dedicated, motivated, and well funded. "Certainly they wanted to defeat Bush -- but they're not stopping, and they're certainly going to do everything they can to stop Bush's agenda," York contends. "You're seeing that now with support of the Democratic filibusters on the president's [judicial nominees], and you're seeing it on Social Security as well. They're going to try to stop the President's agenda, elect a Democratic Congress in 2006, which could also stop the President, and then a Democratic president in '08." York believes Bush was ultimately able to defeat the liberal movement in 2004 because it supported John Kerry, who the author says "really wasn't a very good candidate." [Chad Groening]

...An immigration reform activist says it is an absolute embarrassment that U.S. Marine combat units had to have their training time shortened recently because their base was overrun by illegal aliens. Virtually every Marine squadron headed to Iraq or Afghanistan receives combat training at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. But military officials recently told the Boston Globe that illegal aliens have been wandering onto the firing ranges, forcing important training to be shortened. Rick Oltman, the Western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says bureaucrats in Washington, DC, are not allowing the Marines to protect their base -- which he says encompasses patrolling and being a deterrent. "That doesn't mean attack anybody," he explains. "It just means to be a deterrent and to assist and, where necessary, to arrest the illegals who are coming across [the border]. This is the perfect example of just how wacko the whole system has become." And it has nothing to do the ability of the Marines and the Border Patrol to do their jobs, Oltman says. "It's because the political leadership will not give them the okay to go ahead and do what is necessary," he states. Oltman says he is not surprised that the military does not want to talk to the media about this incident anymore. "The public information officer at the training base won't even talk to the media. That's the latest word we've gotten," he says. "That just shows you they have nothing [to] say that will be acceptable to the American people." Oltman believes Americans just want their government to guard the nation's borders. [Chad Groening]

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