Monthly Archives: December 2003

The porn problem

Life

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It’s official: smoking in films influences teens. Newspapers around the nation on 11 June 2003 reported a new study—published online that day in The Lancet—that surveyed 3500 adolescents who had never smoked, and assessed their exposure to smoking in movies. A follow-up survey some time later found that those who had watched ‘hard-smoking’ movies were up to three times more likely to take up the habit themselves. Health groups have called for an ‘R’ rating on all films with frequent smoking scenes.

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Isn’t religion just cultural? Straight answers to curly questions #2

Everyday Ministry

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In the first article in this series, we looked at the commonly raised objection that all religions are basically the same, and developed a logical response. In this article, we continue to explore common objections. The second feeling that people have revolves around the ‘lottery factor’—the feeling that a person’s religion is largely a product of the country they happen to be born in—that it’s all just cultural.

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Is our leadership too professional?

Pastoral Ministry

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The avalanche of books, videos and seminars on ‘leadership’ continues at a maddening pace. As seems usual, Christian interest in ‘leadership’ is now catching up to where the world was about twenty years ago. (more…)

Head to head in 1 Corinthians 11

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1 Corinthians 11 is one of those passages that many of us set aside for a rainy day, when we will finally be able to sit down and try nutting it out. In this article, Claire Smith takes us carefully and systematically through the tricky world of 1 Corinthians 11. It’s the perfect companion for that rainy day.

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