Wednesday, March 29, 2006

In the news...

(From FotF Pastor's Weekly Breifing)

I've made my feelings well known on Joel Osteen and his weak (at best) theology. Is praying for this book to flop un-Christian of me? Uggh.


Joel Osteen — pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston and author of Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential — has signed a book deal with Free Press that publishing insiders say is potentially one of the richest for a nonfiction book and could bring the author more than $10 million. Osteen and his agent, Jan Miller of Dupree, Miller & Associates, were seeking a guarantee of close to $13 million for the right to publish his next book, according to The New York Times.


Abortion Declines With Parental Notification

Parental notification laws reduce abortions among minors, suggests a study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Baruch College at City University of New York.

Researchers studied the records of teen abortions and births in Texas for the two years before a parental notification law took effect in January of 2000, and for three years afterward. Texas is the biggest of 35 states that require minors to notify their parents or get their consent before obtaining an abortion, although a judge can usually grant a waiver. The study found that among 15-year-olds, abortions declined by 11 percent; among 16-year-olds, they declined by 20 percent; and among 17-year-olds, they declined by 16 percent.

Texas State Sen. Florence Shapiro, who sponsored the notification law, said the findings show that more parents are becoming involved in their daughters' "life-altering decisions." "That was my intent," she said. Last year, Texas went further and enacted a law requiring parental consent. The Baruch researchers studied Texas because of its large and ethnically diverse population and because more girls there live far from states that do not require parental involvement before an abortion.

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2 comments:

Joey said...

My friends and I watch Osteen when we get the chance, because it's sadly entertaining to count the number of times he actually mentions Jesus Christ in his "sermons." Actually, one friend bought his Larry Kind interview from CNN for me for Christmas.

I was ticked Northwestern Bookstores were carrying his book. I wonder if they actually filter anything out, or just accept everything labeled "Christian?"

Chris Meirose said...

My guess is that Northwestern Books is a business first, run by Christians, with Christian merchandise. So that means carrying Osteen. While I really don't doubt whether Osteen is a Christian, I don't think he's doing anything (in his TV show anyhow) to advance the Gospel.