PUTTING MONEY WHERE IT ACTUALLY DOES SOME GOOD:

Religious Groups Get Chunk of AIDS Money (RITA BEAMISH, January 29, 2006, Associated Press)

President Bush's $15 billion effort to fight AIDS has handed out nearly one-quarter of its grants to religious groups, and officials are aggressively pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use.

Award recipients include a Christian relief organization famous for its televised appeals to feed hungry children, a well-known Catholic charity and a group run by the son of evangelist Billy Graham, according to the State Department.

The outreach to nontraditional AIDS players comes in the midst of a debate over how best to prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Report Finds Parental Influence, Faith Are Teen Pregnancy Prevention Keys (Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker, January 26, 2006, AgapePress)

A recent study on influences that prevent early teen pregnancy has reinforced a host of other studies. A report from "Child Trends" and the "National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy" found that parents and religion are the key elements that keep teen pregnancy from occurring.

Dr. Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute believes the report's findings should send a strong message to parents. "If parents would convey what their strong religious beliefs are, attend service regularly, live out their faith in their life choices, and be very active in the church -- and have their kids active -- that provides the best possible armor for our kids," she says.

The information reported comes as no surprise to Crouse. In fact, she notes, "There's been a whole body of research that says exactly this, and so it was really nice to see that Child Trends and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy conducted their own study that confirmed all the data that is already out there."

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 29, 2006 8:36 PM