BishopAccountability.org
	Kids These Days: Religion Good for Kids By Steve Smith Daily Pilot February 24, 2009 http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2009/02/24/blogs_and_columns/on_the_town/dpt-kidsthesedays02242009.txt Jonathan Kirrer says in a new lawsuit that he was repeatedly molested by Father Denis Lyons at St. John the Baptist Church in Costa Mesa. Albert Lee Schildknecht is the one-time music director at St. Timothy Catholic Church who recently pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman when she was 16 and living in Costa Mesa. Schildknecht received five years’ probation. In Newport Beach, St. Andrews Church struggles with the 2008 decision by Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA), who overturned a long-standing ban on the ordination of gays and lesbians. “Already, many of our strongest churches, including mine, are losing members who are disgusted with a political operation that is not Christ-oriented or Scripture-oriented,” the Rev. John Huffman of St. Andrews was quoted as saying. Throughout the revelations of sexual abuse by priests, some perceived hypocrisy and what they know to be the ongoing manipulation of many people by money-grubbing Christian televangelists, there are still millions of Americans who have not lost their faith in religion and its ability to strengthen mankind. The easy targets are those evil priests who make the news and those televangelists who squeeze money out of suckers sitting at home. But the hard story, the one that rarely gets told, is the one of the everyday holy man and the regular faithful who attend a church or synagogue that has not been rocked by scandal, and who follow God’s laws. That story rarely gets told because like so much of what the media has determined is news, it is boring. Well, give me boring any day. Give me the boring news that “Adolescents in families actively involved in religious activities tend to enjoy stronger family relationships than youths whose families have less or no religious involvement.” Give me the boring news that “Teens who attend religious services do better in school.” And give me the boring news that “Kids for whom Christianity is a central identity — not just another aspect of their lives — tend to make more thoughtful and mature decisions about sex.” These quotes, by the way, are not from religious leaders or the results of studies conducted by religious-leaning organizations. To the contrary, these results come from studies conducted by organizations that would be considered by many to be not only secular, but to have reputations as religion bashers. The stronger families quote is from a 2003 study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. That study also found that “religious teens were less likely to smoke, drink and use drugs and more likely to start later and use less if they started at all. They went to bars less often, received fewer traffic tickets, wore seat belts more, took fewer risks and fought less frequently. Shoplifting, other thefts, trespassing and arson also were rarer.” The better grades quote is from a 2008 study conducted at the University of Iowa. There, Jennifer Glanville, a sociologist in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who led the study found that “Students who attend religious services weekly average a GPA .144 higher than those who never attend services.” And the quote about teens and sex is from Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas in Austin, who helped lead a multiyear research project in 2007 to study the lives of American teens with respect to religion. There are some who have had enough of the headlines and choose to quit on religion. That is certainly their choice. But to those people, I would argue that religion offers great benefits to children and families, and that it may not be religion that bothers them, but organized religion. I encourage those who have become disenchanted with their religion to practice at home. And I wish them well on their journey to find whatever it is they seek.
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