Sex Ed - Who Gets It?

 News About Sex Education

And now, from Ed Barnes (Fox News, February 8, 2010) comes word of a new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures. Are you shocked by the news? Are you encouraged? Or, are you willing to take the path of least resistance and be indifferent?

The report, "Stand and Deliver," demands that children 10 and older be given a "comprehensive sexuality education" by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as "sexual beings."

"Young people have the right to be informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services," Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, wrote in the foreword to the report. His organization helped fund the report.

"Stand and Deliver" argues that sex education should be "recast" to show sexuality as a "positive force for change and development, as a source of pleasure, an embodiment of human rights and an expression of self."

Meanwhile, Michelle Turner, president of the Maryland-based Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said Planned Parenthood was simply trying to eliminate parental say. "What are they trying to do? They are trying to eliminate the role of mom and dad in the family," Turner said. "For Planned Parenthood to decide that governments, private organizations and religious organizations should make decisions about kids' sexuality is just going too far." (Ed Barnes, Fox News, February 8 2010)

Before you decide whether to pounce on the "Stand and Deliver" people or become an advocate, consider the big picture of sex-ed.

The Point

• Nearly half (46%) of all 15–19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once. (JC Abma et al., "Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing," 2002, Vital and Health Statistics, 2004, Series 23, No. 24.)


• Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but they do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade. (The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of American Men, New York: AGI, 2002.)


• More than three-quarters of teen females report that their first sexual experience was with a steady boyfriend, a fiancé, a husband or a cohabiting partner. (JC Abma et al., "Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing," 2002, Vital and Health Statistics, 2004, Series 23, No. 24.)

And, now, after falling for more than a decade, the numbers of births, pregnancies and STDs among U.S. teens have begun increasing. Sexual activity? Is it any wonder young people are choosing to have casual sex or sex without proper protection? The media is ablaze with sexual invitations aimed at youth. Where can one escape the lure of "hot and sexy" is fashionable, even in modern conceptions of child beauty? Parents could and should draw lines about their children's sexual behavior, revealing dress, and actual lack of independent maturity. According to Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood  (www.focusas.com & www.commercialexploitation.org) --

• 
  
  
  In 2003, 83% of the episodes of the top 20 shows among teen viewers contained some sexual content, including 20% with sexual intercourse
• 
  
  
  42% of the songs on the top CDs in 1999 contained sexual content -- 19% included direct descriptions of sexual intercourse

A study ("Children Who View Adult-targeted TV May Become Sexually Active Earlier In Life," Children's Hospital Boston, May 4 2009), Hernan Delgado, MD, found that early onset of sexual activity among teens may relate to the amount of adult content children were exposed to during their childhood. Based on a longitudinal study tracking children from age six to eighteen, researchers found that "the younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence."

"Adult entertainment often deals with issues and challenges that adults face, including the complexities of sexual relationships. Children have neither the life experience nor the brain development to fully differentiate between a reality they are moving toward and a fiction meant solely to entertain," adds David Bickham, PhD, staff scientist in the Center on Media and Child Health and co-author of the study. ("...Become Sexually Active Earlier In Life, reported in ScienceDaily, May 4 2009)

The Approach

In his writing, Rob Stein (Washington Post, February 2 2010) reported, "The Obama administration eliminated more than $170 million in annual federal funding targeted at abstinence programs after a series of reports concluded that the approach was ineffective. Instead, the White House is launching a $114 million pregnancy prevention initiative that will fund only programs that have been shown scientifically to work -- a program the administration on Monday proposed expanding to $183 million."

Yet, results of a study conducted between 2001 and 2004, led by John B. Jemmott III and published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found, "Only about a third of sixth- and seventh-graders who completed an abstinence-focused program started having sex within the next two years. Nearly half of the students who attended other classes, including ones that combined information about abstinence and contraception, became sexually active."

The findings are the first clear evidence that an abstinence program could work. "This new study is game-changing," said Sarah Brown, who leads the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "For the first time, there is strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention can help very young teens delay sex."

Notable differences in the administration of the new study included lack of a moralistic tone; sessions encouraging children to delay sex until they are ready, not necessarily until married; lack of portrayal of sex outside marriage as never appropriate; and no disparagement of condoms. There are populations that really want an abstinence intervention, and they are against telling children about condoms.This study suggests abstinence programs can be part of the mix of offered sex-ed programs.

The Cost of the End of Innocence

Indiana University researchers (J. Dennis Fortenberry, Regenstrief Institute, December 16 2009) said half of all urban teenage girls may get one or more sexually transmitted infections within two years of becoming sexually active.
A study published in the Journal of Health Economics (Joseph J. Sabia and Daniel I. Rees, September 2008) reported that young American girls who are sexually active are far more likely to suffer from depression than those who remain virgins.The study also found that the mental health of boys in the same age group did not depend on whether they were sexually active. Following a study of more than 14,000 adolescents aged between 14 and 17, researchers said that these feelings could be directly ascribed to sexual activity, rather than outside influences, such as family difficulties.

The research follows a separate study by the American Psychological Association last year which warned that the portrayal of young women as sex objects in parts of the media was harming young girls' mental and physical health.

Other findings (Robert E. Rector, Kirk A Johnson, and Lauren R. Noyes, Heritage Foundation, http://www.heritage.org.) also showed that when compared to teens who were not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who were sexually active were significantly less likely to be happy and significantly more likely to attempt suicide. Thus, in addition to its role in promoting teen pregnancy and the current epidemic of STDs, early sexual activity is a substantial factor in undermining the emotional well being of American teenagers.

My Question

In conclusion, I would ask you this: "In your choice of offerings to youth, are you contributing to or helping solve the problems associated with sex at an early age?" I think the answer is fairly simple and related to many everyday family activities. You could choose to act or to ignore the solutions. We all must reap the crop. Here are some lyrics from the #2 song on Billboard Charts this week. Who is listening?

Lady GaGa "Bad Romance"


"I want your psycho
Your vertical stick
Want you in my room
When your baby is sick
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love

You know that I want you
And you know that I need you
I want a bad,your bad romance"

 

 Teen Pregnancy United States #1: 494,357 births 

The Proficiency "Boogie Man"

Everyone screams something about the State of Ohio Proficiency Tests. Most of these screams are shrieks of terror and acquisitions of unfairness. First of all, we should define the word itself. The quality of the state of being proficient is "being able to do something very well; progression in knowledge; improvement; adeptness." Nothing in the definition mentions mastery or excellence. Passing scores on the proficiency tests are meant to reflect adequate progression in grade-level knowledge. These are skills students should have already proficiently displayed by the time they reach appropriate grade level.

The proficiency tests have been passed by the State of Ohio as law, but they have been created by Ohio teachers of subject matter. Proficiency test committees are aided by Ohio Department of Education officials and test company administrators. Teachers meet with these people view the tests, to set the score points and to grade actual samples to determine proper passing marks. No one entity is to blame for the content of the tests.

Also, because parents play a vital role in the education of Ohio’s children, the Ohio Department of Education  formed a statewide Parent Advisory Council (PAC) in 2002 to provide a much-needed connection among Ohio parents, their children and ODE. PAC members work to increase parent and family engagement in education through effective communication while empowering and advocating for all families. They attend regular meetings to learn about what is happening in education in Ohio and provide feedback and input on new policies, products and materials for families.

All students in grades 3-8 now take the new state achievement tests based on Ohio’s Academic Content Standards. The High School Ohio Graduation Tests will be administered to 10th graders as a graduation requirement. Ohio’s Grade 3-8 Achievement Tests in reading, mathematics, science, social studies and writing are aligned to Ohio’s academic content standards. Ohio Graduation Tests are assessments aligned to Ohio’s Academic Content Standards of graduation in reading, mathematics, science, social studies and writing. To graduate high school, students must show this proficiency.

The Ohio Department of Education offers parents and students practice for the test, released questions, and other resources online. The department also sells materials for review in the subject areas as well as materials for over-all test readiness.

I believe the State of Ohio began administration of proficiency tests because of the public's outcry that curriculum in the state was being "dummied down" to accept ridiculous levels of proper attainment in skill levels. Much of the complaining came from parents with children who believed such a shift was causing their sons and daughters to be constantly remediated in the regular classroom in order to allow the vast majority of students to pass classes.

In truth, the public got what they wanted. Standards were set, and tests of proficiency were made and administered to assure skill levels were met. Yet, after the administration of the proficiency tests, many people were shocked as they realized that numbers of students had failed in certain areas. Poor grades and delayed graduation became underlying reasons for new investigations into the stress levels produced by testing, the socio-economic unfairness of contents, and consumption of time spent in class review for the tests.

Haven't teachers dealt with these differences in the everyday classroom throughout their careers? Proficiency tests became the new "boogie man" of those dissatisfied with American education in general. Public education began a witch-hunt either to kill or to control "THE TESTS."

From teaching experience, I know most students have difficulty with proficiency tests due to their acquisition of basic thinking skills conducive to higher learning. For example, in Ohio graduation level writing, students must understand concepts of addressing the audience, creating purpose, developing ideas through examples and details, demonstrating coherence and organization, using a variety of sentence structures, and exhibiting effective vocabulary and style. Is this an unattainable set of skills for a high school graduate? Surely, any decent writer would answer "no."

Many people gripe about those students with good spelling skills, decent grammar, and proper usage falling short because of their exclusion of these greater considerations on actual tests. But, one must ask on a tenth-grade level "What makes writing proficient?" not "Can Johnny spell and practice subject/verb agreement?" It is up to the student to display the most necessary qualities of good high school writing. Mom, dad, teacher, state, or society offers no "cheat sheets" on test day. The student is simply asked to display his proficiency at a given level. Period.

No doubt, test anxiety has affected scores. In what other academic application is this false? I believe a proper question is "Do the instructors of content realize the biggest weaknesses of non-proficient students?" For example, what tenth-grade composition teacher would try to cram an entire writing review of nine previous grades into proficiency test readiness? That is an impossible task. The job of the grade teacher is to find and replace the vital "missing parts" not build the machine from ground up.

If the teachers don't know the several weak areas to reinforce, how in the world will the non-proficient student know? I have scored hundreds and hundreds of Ohio Rangefinder papers, and I guarantee you that most students who fall short do so because of three or four major concerns. For everyone's sake, all involved (parents, teachers, students) must read, understand, interpret and practice the rubric! Don't complain about ineffective teaching as a whole. Every teacher at every grade level must incorporate the appropriate skills of subject mastery. No one can fail to do so.

And, don't ask me why all subjects do not require proficiency. I don't know. If the public wants improvement in only the current proficiency curriculum, fine. But, if the public wants to help insure needed adjustments in subjects such as computer science, health, foreign language, home living, and business, people should hold instructors of these subjects accountable with proficiency testing. Why would the state pour money into programs not essential to making a student a proficient graduate/citizen when funds are such a needed commodity?

Any good teacher of subject matter can adjust and teach to needed standards. Those who can't should not teach. The responsibility is actually not only shared by teachers and state officials but also shared by parents. A steady diet of video games, cell phones, and television will not produce students conducive to formal learning. Even though the world requires both parents to work, parents must make their homes into learning factories for their children. Are there sufficient books, supplies, encouragement, and models needed for active learning at home, or do the parents merely expect schools to bear the entire burden for educating their children?

Once a healthy quest for knowledge is instilled, most students will willingly and even gratefully tear into subject matter. The honest answer to being successful with proficiency is "My student became proficient because I took the time to explain unknown concepts and encourage him/her to seek answers through thoughtful investigation." No one should really have to worry about proficient students: if the proper motivation, instruction, and materials are supplied and used, proficiency is nothing but an imaginary line surpassed long before grade level.

Lastly, teachers are public servants. They are paid to impart the knowledge required by the State of Ohio. In my opinion, their biggest resource is time. Time is limited while these successful classroom teachers face the stresses of innumerable stressful variables every day. Cooperative, attentive students fill time well. Disruptive, selfish students hurt their own progress and the progress of many other children in their classes.

And, so the old question goes, "Why doesn't Johnny have trouble with his coach, just his teachers?" Think of the time most parents spend with their children in honing their athletic pursuits compared to the time spent in developing any academic pursuits. Think of the limited number of students coaches must teach. Think of the student's attitude partly developed by the parents that "sports are fun" or "you have to pass to play sports." We pay coaches extra, even high negotiated salaries. We give them more time during the regular schedule. We come out on Fridays by the hundreds to support them and their products.

Fill up the schools with coaches if you want, but then read your proficiency scores. Any coach worth a damn will agree with me -- athletics are secondary to the primary role of providing a student a good classroom education. If he/she doesn't believe this, he/she is not a good teacher, just someone who plays games. After graduation, match the paychecks earned by ex-students with good coaching skills versus the paychecks earned through good classroom skills. I think you will see a huge difference.

Do you understand what I mean? Time and money is needed by some teachers to develop better students. Do you, the public, really even know what you want? Money priorities -- Ohio State's Jim Tressel made $3.5 in 2009. Ohio State University President Gordon Gee, the country's highest paid public university president, earns about $1.5 million a year. And, a full professor with tenure at Ohio State earns about $126,000 annually. Is Ohio State all about the money generated by the football program?

Writing Something For Yourself

The odds of writing anything profound are pretty slim considering that most have a limited first-hand experience, a sufficient but indistinct vocabulary, and a fairly narrow frame of reference; however, one has to believe some of his writing will occasionally strike a spark of interest if exercised sufficiently. To communicate something --anything -- so well that it may achieve complete and universal association is no small task. Lack of sufficient illustration as well as unintended ambiguity of diction and disorderly syntax tax the writer as does the demand of his audience in terms of a sensible, organized theme.

So, how in the world does anyone teach writing as a skill that can be transferred to innumerable situations over the course of a lifetime? They don't -- the writing resource person merely offers methods and simplifies practical access to the process. The writing process is the relentless, grinding machine that fuses conscious and unconscious thought to forge a strong product. It is perpetual, never stopping, never ending. In the end, only the writer decides when his paper has precisely expressed his message, yet the finished product is still a draft, no matter how many times he or someone else reads it and revises it anew. In this respect, writing improvement is like breathing: no one can draw fresh, life-giving oxygen to excess.

A teacher of writing is often so classroom-oriented that his main concerns are often focused on the shortest, most-effective method of transferring information so that the information can be consumed, digested, and incorporated into the students' greater reference of learning within the physical limitations of grading periods. To awaken the progression of true understanding, a teacher must stimulate the appetite of the students, present the material in consumable servings, and encourage them to savor the nourishing contents. Most schools do not offer the luxury of deep rumination to encourage maximum writing maturity due to mandatory time restraints.

Once the brain has sorted and filed the lesson, the students must use and reuse the concept with practical application. To skip this important industry is to invite lack of purpose and open doors of forgetfulness. Writing, as a complex activity, involves many skills of creation, organization, illustration, revision, and style. Many high school students prefer to approach the process without applying sufficient techniques to mature composition. Instead, these older students produce stagnant, often elementary production. Unfortunately, such writers stubbornly maintain a constant self-taught misconception that "good writers are born, not made." Nothing could be further from the truth.

But, once the purpose and the application gel, students may confidently discover a joy and appreciation of their own unlimited potentials. I can see no purpose in teaching writing unless the students learn to practice excellence and use their achievement. No high school athlete in his right mind would drag himself to practice day after day hoping to merely leave the skills on the practice field. To crack the lineup, the athlete must prove his worth to the team in actual game situations by using his skills under critical and demanding pressure.

To witness the advancement of students who use a teacher's small gift to perfect their own writing is breathtaking. And, the beauty of the entire learning process is revealed because those students manage to capture a seed or two of understanding that grows and germinates new worlds of understanding. So, the teacher, at best, unlocks this vessel for self-discovery so his students may voyage to new worlds, confident and courageous of purpose, and enjoy their lifelong wanderlust.

A discovery made long ago proves true over and over again: students with open minds are the only asset of a teacher. Good students are not measured by grades, not measured by good behavior, or not even measured by leadership. Some good students mature very early, some mature right on schedule, and some mature well past their high school days. Good students can be angelic, cooperative, disinterested, or downright surly. But, the one thing all good students have in common is that "they know." Many accept the obligation right away and many wait for years to make the transition, but all good students eventually find out that not the teacher, but they, "know."

If the opening paragraph sounds like a contradiction of thought, allow an old teacher to explain. Those who wish to produce "profound" writing usually fail with the "Big Idea." Association is usually self-initiated out of a common bond or experience, not out of a begging proposal. People who pound heads with morals and constant platitudes often do not dent the skull. But, to introduce the concept of producing truth, both of the inner self and of the outer world, to writers and to allow them to explore that double truth with words until it becomes a revelation, is golden reading for all. The simple clarity "becomes" a living extension of a life. I, myself, have read hundreds, no thousands, of examples of such profundity.

Just a Buckeye Nut...

OHIO

Ohio, the Buckeye state, whose name is taken from an Iroquoian word meaning “great river,” was probably first settled by Peleo-Indian peoples, who lived in the area as early as 13,000 BCE. Later, ancestors of Native Americans were known as the Archaic peoples. Sophisticated successive cultures of prehistoic indigenous peoples, such as the Adena, Hopewell and Mississippian, built monumental earthworks as part of their religious and political expression: mounds and walled enclosures, some of which have survived to the present.

During the 18th century, the French set up a system of trading posts to control the fur trade in the region, linked to their settlements in present-day Canada and what they called the Illinois Country along the Mississippi River. And, in 1763, France surrendered its claim to Ohio to Britain. From there, Marietta, founded by General Rufus Putnam and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, became the first permanent settlement in 1788.

But, how about some little known facts about Ohio. Here is some interesting, yet not necessarily important trivia about the state. 

 Buckeye Trivia

Feb 19, 1803. Congress voted to accept Ohio's borders and constitution. However, Congress did not get around to formally ratifying Ohio statehood until 1953.

Jan. 5, 1804. Ohio legislature passed the 1st laws restricting free blacks movement.

Oct. 29, 1815. Daniel Decatur Emmett, the composer of "Dixie," which became the unofficial national anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

March 24, 1832. Mormon founder, martyr Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio.

Dec 3, 1833. Oberlin College in Ohio, the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States, opened its doors.
  
Sept. 23, 1838. Victoria Chaflin Woodhull (d.1927), American presidential candidate (1872), was born into a family of charlatans in Ohio. Woodhull, a militant suffragist, advocated free love and was Wall Street's first female broker after attracting Cornelius Vanderbilt. She was the first woman to address Congress.

1841-1921. Four of the seven presidents hailing from Ohio died while in office. They were William Henry Harrison, the 9th president, who died one month after his inauguration in 1841; the 20th president, James Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881; William McKinley, the 25th president, who was assassinated in 1901; and Warren G.  Harding, who died suddenly in 1923.

1860-1865.  The 23d Ohio, a volunteer regiment during the American Civil War, included two future presidents and an army commander. The volunteer citizen army that fought the Civil War for the North was one of the most remarkable military assemblages in history. The 23d Ohio contained among its commanding and ranking officers more names that would become famous than any other regiment in the Northern armies.

1862.  Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894) received a degree from Oberlin College, Ohio, becoming the 1st black female college graduate in the US.

Dec 9, 1902.  Margaret Hamilton, character actress, was born in Cleveland, Oh. She became best known as the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz (1939).

1908. William Henry Hoover, an inventive janitor and founder of the Hoover Vacuum Co., produced the Model O, the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner. The Hoover Historical Center in North Canton, Ohio, was devoted to carpet-cleaning history.


July 6, 1920. The Democrats ended their convention in San Francisco with the selection James Cox of Ohio and running mate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Cox and FDR were committed internationalists and lost the elections due to the isolationism of the times.

Jan 26, 1925. Paul Newman, actor (Hud, Hombre, Hustler, Cool Hand Luke), was born in Cleveland.

Oct. 12, 1933. Bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.

Oct. 22, 1934. Bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was shot to death by federal agents at a farm in East Liverpool, Ohio.
    
Nov. 12, 1934. Charles Manson, [No Name Maddox], mass murderer, was born in Cincinnati, Oh.

August 3, 1940. Martin Sheen, actor, was born as Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Ohio.

March 21, 1952. The Moondog Coronation Ball was held at the Cleveland Arena. It was promoted by Alan Freed, who is credited with coining the term "rock and roll" at WJW radio, and was later cited as the 1st rock concert. The only band to perform (one song) was one led by Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams, before fire marshals closed the show.

May 12, 1995. Larry Wayne Harris was arrested in Lancaster for possession of bubonic plague bacteria. A search of his home found certificates identifying him as a member of the Aryan Nations Church.

Dec 2, 2003. Authorities in Ohio announced that they had linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window at an elementary school. A suspect was arrested the following March. Charles A. McCoy Jr., later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and 10 other charges, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. (27 years, can you believe that?)

Sept.1, 2005. It was reported that 13% (64 of 490) of the female students at Timken Senior High School in, Canton, Ohio are pregnant. One girl, eight months pregnant, said she believes the school's abstinence-based sex education program isn't enough. (Pretty evident most would say.)

Beautiful Ohio
Written by Ballard MacDonald
special lyrics by Wilbert B. McBride
Composed by Mary Earl

I sailed away;
Wandered afar;
Crossed the mighty restless sea;
Looked for where I ought to be.
Cities so grand, mountains above,
Led to this land I love.

Chorus

Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain
Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain.
Cities rising high, silhouette the sky.
Freedom is supreme in this majestic land;
Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand.
Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view,
Land where my dreams all come true!

A Word or Two About Religion

Theology is the study of God. It can be understood as a rational inquiry into questions of religion. According to David Barrett et al, "There are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large faith groups, and many smaller ones. (David Barrett et al, World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions - AD 30 to 2200, 2001).  

Five hundred or so conflicting stories about origins of the universe, religion, moral and legal codes, etc. exist among the thousands of faith groups around the world. Such a range of beliefs invites speculation of which faith group (denomination) within which religion offers the absolute answer to God's will.

A major religion for the purposes of this study has these three attributes: (1) Large - at least 500,000 adherents, (2) Widespread - appreciable numbers of members live and worship in more than just one country or limited region, and (3) Independent - the religion is clearly independent and distinct from a broader religion.

Attempts to estimate the people practicing their religion merely classify Hindus as all people who call themselves Hindu, Muslims as all people who call themselves Muslim, Christians as all people who call themselves Christian, etc.  

Here is a recent breakdown of the percentage of people in the world and their various major religious beliefs followed by the number of people who profess to follow each religion. Also included is the founding date(s) of each religion. The dates are given in BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era). These years correspond to the same dates in BC and AD but by defining the current period as the "Common Era" the nomenclature attempts to treat all religions and beliefs as equal.

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion (30+ CE)
   
2. Islam: 1.5 billion (622 CE)
   
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion (Unknown)
   
4. Hinduism: 900 million (4000-2500 BCE)
   
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million (5000 BCE)
   
6. Buddhism: 376 million (560-490 BCE)
   
7. Primal-indigineous: 300 million (Unknown)
   
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million (well before 10.000 BCE)
9. Sikhism: 23 million (1500 CE)
   
10. Juche: 19 million (April 15, 1912 AD, the date of birth of Kim Il-sung, as year 1)
11. Spiritism: 15 million (from Spiritualist movement that emerged in the mid 1800s AD)
12. Judaism: 14 million (2000 BCE)
    
13. Baha'i: 7 million (1863 CE)
    
14. Jainism: 4.2 million (420 BCE)
    
15. Shinto: 4 million (500+ BCE)
    
16. Cao Dai: 4 million (2500 BCE-1926 CE)
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million (1000 BCE)
    
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million (Miki Nakayama was chosen as the Shrine of God in 1838)
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million (The Pagan Federation was founded in May 1971)

The rank of classical world religions in order of internal religious similarity is represented here with no effort to judge any religion by value, but to give some ease of comparison by belief and practice.

The following is a representation of religious similarity "most unified to most diverse."

1. Baha'i
2. Zoroastrianism
3. Sikhism
4. Islam
5. Jainism
6. Judaism
7. Taoism
8. Shinto
9. Christianity
10. Buddhism
11. Hinduism    (www.adherents.com, August 2007) 

 

Barrett et al reported that today, most people follow a monotheistic religion, in which a single male god is worshiped, or a henotheistic religion -- a religion which recognizes a single main deity, but which recognizes other gods and goddesses, heroes, or saints as facets or manifestations or aspects of that supreme God. (World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions - AD 30 to 2200, 2001)

In practice, most people believe that the God or Goddess or Gods or Goddesses of their faith tradition is or are real, whereas all of the thousands of other deities are human creations, who are nonexistent, except in the minds of humans. Many specific denominations and faith groups are difficult to even categorize. For example, a religion might teach the belief in a single God, and a large number of minor deities, heroes, or saints who have some powers normally restricted to deities. Thus, a religion could be considered a monotheistic religion in theory or a polytheistic/henotheistic religion in practice.

Among other dissimilarities, faith groups have different beliefs about rituals, organization, the afterlife, abortion, adult celibacy, appearance, family organization, meeting places, sexual roles, and special clothing. Agreements about such beliefs are found, but disagreement is also common.


A strict belief in knowing a singular religion is true and that other religions are in various degrees of error, may cause people to deny extension of religious freedom to persons of other faiths. Some believers of a particular religion accept the Golden Rule, but apply it mainly to fellow believers, to the exclusion of followers of other faiths. In fact, they may see it as their religious duty to combat the existence of opposing views.

With the various religions teaching different beliefs and practices, it can be argued that only one faith teaches the truth. Another possibility is that none do. Yet, often people tenaciously believe in the truth of their faith to the exclusion of all others. According to the beliefs of most monotheistic religions, it should be a simple task to determine which religion is the "true" one: one simply has to ask for God's assessment during prayer. However, a small pilot study appears to indicate that assessing God's will may not be possible.

The site www.religioustolerance.org published a notice encouraging visitors to take part in a study to assess the will of God. They E-mailed a form to each visitor to their web site who had asked to be included in the study. Subjects were thus self-selected. The form asked the recipient: 

	Whether they were currently in favor of or opposed to same-sex marriages.
	Some personal data -- their sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and which "wing" of that religion that they followed.
	To seek God's will for same-sex marriages through prayer.
	To continue praying until they received a response from God or felt that they could not assess the will of God.
	If they were successful in assessing God's position on SSM, then we asked: what God's will is, and  how certain are they that they correctly assessed God's will.

Although the sample size was small (85 people), one result was striking: Of the 68% of the participants who believed that they assessed the will of God, every person found that God agreed with their stance on SSM:

	All of those who are personally opposed to SSM reported that God agreed with them.
	All of those favoring SSM also reported that God agreed with them.
	None found that God took a compromise position, saying that God supported or opposed SSM depending upon the specifics of each individual case.

1. "The margin of error calculator," at: http://www.mrmprojects.com/ 
2. "So how come a survey of 1,600 people can tell me what 250 million are thinking," RobertNiles.com at: http://nilesonline.com/

Aren't the chances of a given person belonging to God's "true" religious institution rather small? Some people are willing to accept this conclusion. However, most are quite certain that their faith tradition is the one that is God's. The assumption denies God's judgment of salvation.

Consider the religion of Christianity. Each denomination has its own distinctive beliefs or practices, but the denominations are commonly considered branches of the same religion because they agree on such fundamentals as the Bible, the Trinity, and the teachings of the Nicene Creed. Yet, even the three main branches -- Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant -- differ greatly in many beliefs. Some of these differences are considered important "keys to the kingdom."

Here is a list of major branches of Christianity. The list could be further subdivided and is growing still.

Branch	Number of Adherents
Catholic	1,050,000,000
Orthodox/Eastern Christian	240,000,000
African indigenous sects (AICs)	110,000,000
Pentecostal	105,000,000
Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United	75,000,000
Anglican	73,000,000
Baptist	70,000,000
Methodist	70,000,000
Lutheran	64,000,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses	14,800,000
Adventist	12,000,000
Latter Day Saints	12,500,000
Apostolic/New Apostolic	10,000,000
Stone-Campbell ("Restoration Movement")	5,400,000
New Thought (Unity, Christian Science, etc.)	1,500,000
Brethren (incl. Plymouth)	1,500,000
Mennonite	1,250,000
Friends (Quakers)	300,000

Source: http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blfaq_group_index.htm

Sadly, a number of people find it quite difficult to extend equal human rights to members of other religions, even to denominations within a religion. A simple tolerance of the rights of expression might help alleviate this situation.  Some extremists even consider killing those that they deem to be infidels in order to further their own religion's goals. (B.A. Robinson, "How Concepts of God Have Developed Over the Ages," www.religioustolerance.org, October 7, 2001)

To Love Yourself

"The remarkable thing is that we really do love our neighbors as ourselves; we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world." -- Eric Hoffer: U.S. Writer

We basically conduct our worldly business within our individual zones of comfort. To "break out of the box" is risky and often painful, so what makes us dare to attempt new, unknown interactions that may help us build our own characters and intellects? When we sufficiently love ourselves, we are confident that sharing interactions with others will not create negative, harmful consequences. Individuals may attempt to be careful taking care of their personal needs, but they cannot be happy until they accept the unique way that God made them.


Rhoda Mills Sommer (www.therapyideas.net, 2003) stated, "Self-hatred is very sad because it is an erosion of the soul. If someone becomes an expert in self-hatred, they will become very creative at finding ways to torture themselves to such a degree that the punishment becomes an avenue of comfort." Of course, complete self-destruction is unacceptable to us or to our friends and family. And, since perfection is humanly impossible as a goal, the truth is that we must become capable of bearing the good and the bad of our own individual identities. 

 
Those of us with low self-esteem suffer tremendously. Self-hatred and shame are important factors in many mental disorders, especially those disorders that involve a perceived defect of oneself. Self-hatred of race, gender, sexual orientation, or species is common. And, personal self-hatred and self-loathing can result from an inferiority complex.  

Primary inferiority feelings are usually rooted in a young child's original experience of weakness or dependency. The feelings can intensify by comparisons to older siblings and adults. Then, a secondary adult inferiority can relate to an experience of being unable to reach an unconscious, fictional goal of subjective security and success to compensate for the inferiority feelings. The vicious circle is common to neurotic lifestyles.

Whether parental attitudes, physical defects, mental limitations, or social disadvantages cause inferior feelings, the results are usually withdrawal from social contacts, excessive seeking for attention, constant criticism of others, overly dutiful obedience, or fear and worry. 

We really cannot attain security of self-satisfaction by achieving a universal outward ideal either physically, intellectually, or emotionally. Really, no such ideals exist although attractive models and movie stars parading before us beg us continually to commit to such unrealistic comparisons. To accept the standards of such a world is to give into false beauty and false success. 


Feeling shame for shortcomings can lead to guilt and keep us immobilized for fear of being wrong in the view of someone else. Don't we feel better about ourselves when we free ourselves from whatever interferes with being more authentic? It requires our tremendous courage to listen and to follow our inner voice. 

Self-esteem grows out of the experience of committed effort. Whether or not we succeed is not as important to our self-respect as knowing that we have tried our best. This usually takes long, committed efforts and acceptance of our multiple initial failures. If we continue to make the effort, especially with the help of good resources, we will eventually succeed in creating much greater self-esteem. Self-mastery arises out of effort, the underpinning of success.

Resentments are about obligations put on us from the outside. Isn't duty is to do what is due, based on our own insight? Duty is not imposed from the outside. Many of us fail to make a distinction of what has meaning from within us vs. pressure from others.

Resentments, in actuality become hoarded wants. For example: "If he/she really loved me he/she would know what I want." The buried want is the desire for someone to love us without us having to risk anything. This is a clever way to avoid the responsibility of asking. (Rhoda Mills Sommer, www.therapyideas.net, 2003)  Resentment is only preparation for feeling something again, and again and again, unwilling for the feeling to pass.

Hatred of self may be hidden deep within our makeup. We may not even recognize that the reason we cannot negotiate the difficult waters of our lives requires our continued expressions of positive self-concept. We, in essence, become beggars, complainers, and miserable companions without expressing our contentment. In turn, "they" become the pathetic "we" plastered within shells of negative subjectivity.

Self-Hatred 

A silent scream
A twist of fate
A glance in the mirror
Reveals the hate.
I loathe who I am
Inside and out
I grab my hair
And yank and shout.
My hands are unsteady
As I hold the razor blade
And slice it down
Again and again.
This agonizing pain
I feel deep within
Is with me always
There seems to be no end.
I'm drowning in my own self-hatred...
And noone can save me from myself.

--DysfunctionalDoll

Is Reality Real?

When you finally realize that your whole view of life -- all your beliefs, all your convictions, all your understandings-- is based on personal interpretations of perception, you understand how fallible you really are. After all, everything you know is processed through your restricted point of view and by your limited physical abilities. At best, you use your small brain to process extremely simple to extraordinarily complicated ideas formed through your constrained human senses. At the same time, you defend your self-formed realities with utmost zeal.

In essence, your reality is not the reality known to any one other human being. You live within the boundaries of self translation, first breath to last, with the false ideal that you can judge reality as it truly exists. You, like all human beings, perceive the world from within yourself. Yet, there is no exclusive reality--it differs from person to person, from one center of the universe to another. Rarely do you think about someone's reality in direct opposition to your own.

Reality, to have meaning, must include everything that "is," whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense includes "being" (anything that can be said to be, which is opposed to nonexistence) and sometimes is considered to include "nothingness," as well. Did not God create the Universe from "nothingness"? Then, is it not possible that any (all?) things as you perceive them are not accurately "real" at all? And, is it not possible that all concepts not experienced by you are equally "real"?

 

Reality Theory

Many theories discuss the existence of the concept of reality. Newton's theory stated that there is an objective reality, that the world is as we see it and exists regardless of our own existence. But in what state and form is this existence?

Einstein later theorized that the perception of reality depends on the relation between the velocity of the observer and the velocity of the observed. In other words, by changing your speed relative to an object, you observe it completely differently: space becomes warped, compressed or expanded, and time changes. ("What Is Reality," www.alumbo.com, May 16 2007) 

Other theories, such as Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, proposed reciprocity between the individual and the world. In other words, the perception of reality is a result of your influence on the world and its influence on you.

Heisenberg believed that reality is what can be observed. If there are different observations, there must be different realities, which depend on the observer. An advocate of philosophical idealism, which states that the objects of perception are identical with the ideas we have about them, his idealist view denies that any particular thing has an independent real essence outside of consciousness. (Thomas Knierim, www.thebigview.com)

An Example of Real Perception

Consider the process involved in allegedly "seeing" something in reality:

1. Light hits the retina of the eye.
2. And this changes the chemical composition of the eye. Right? 
3. And this makes electricity travel along a nerve, the Optic Nerve.
4. And this goes to a part of the brain.
5. And then something happens and you see the thing.


So, according to science, you do not respond to a thing, but to electrical and chemical events in the brain. This is true because without eyes, the optic nerve, or certain parts of the brain, you do not see. So, science is telling you that you never see directly that real object which in front of you. Chemical and electrical reactions made your "reality" of the sight. Doesn't it make you wonder what is "really" there? Of course, you cannot know the real object apart from your perception of it. A question like, "What does something look like when no one is looking at it?" is clearly nonsense, and unanswerable. But, it certainly stimulates thought.



Therefore, as Ken Ward (Freeing The Mind, 1998) stated, "Isn't it true that if we accept this scientific account then we cannot be certain that anything exists out there because we can never directly perceive it. Strangely, if this scientific theory is true we cannot prove it, because we can never perceive anything directly, so we do not know how and from where the experience came into our minds. Even our knowledge of eyes, nerves, bits of brain, is not direct but via electrical and chemical events in our brain!"

How Could Anyone Understand Reality?


What, then, allows you to understand anything? If your reality is rooted in your own perceptions; then, the study and enhancement of perceptive tools surely will smooth your pathway through individual understanding. You must be willing to question and investigate all views. To limit such discovery is to limit your real experience of the world and your relation to it.


Philosophy is "investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods." Specifically, philosophy includes five fields of study and discourse: logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and metaphysics. You must use these studies to bear witness to your own reality. Here is a brief explanation of these specific fields (www.angelfire.com):

1. Logic is the study of the ideal method in thought and research: observation and introspection, deduction and induction, hypothesis and experiment, analysis and synthesis. It contains rules for formulating arguments and ordering thought so as to come to sound conclusions.

2. Aesthetics is the study of, or expressions of theories of reasoned thought regarding the ideal form, or beauty; it is the philosophy of art.

3. Ethics is the study of ideal conduct, right and wrong; it attempts to deal with questions of "what ought to be" in regards to our behavior.

4. Politics is the study of the ideal organization of society and government; justice, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, socialism, anarchism, feminism: these are some of the possible elements of political philosophy.

5. Metaphysics is the study of, or expressions of theories of those things that are above or beyond nature or physics; beyond the five senses, the "ultimate reality" of all things.

Consider This Reality

Lucid dreaming is the only known reality where you can alter your perception at will, travel between worlds and universes, and truly test the nature of reality. Some people even describe their lucid dreams as more real than waking life. If no one truly knows whether lucid dreams are a subjective reality or a non-reality, nothing says your lucid dream experiences aren't just as valid as perceptions of the real world. So, the next time you are inside a lucid dream, ask yourself "what is reality?" You will soon discover that the possibilities for exploration are truly endless.