Christian Post Report – To mark his contributions to world peace, United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is awarded the Great World Peace Award from the Oughtopia Peace Foundation of South Korea at Seoul’s university on March 29, 1996.
Former U.N. Chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali Dead at 93
UNITED NATIONS — Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has died, Venezuelan U.N. Ambassador Rafael Dario Ramirez Carreno, president of the U.N. Security Council for February, said on Tuesday. He was 93.
An Egyptian, Boutros-Ghali served one five-year term as U.N. chief from 1992 to 1996.
The 15-member Security Council observed a minute’s silence. No further details on his death were immediately available.
As the United Nations’ first secretary-general from Africa, Boutros-Ghali associated himself with the famine in Somalia and organized the first massive U.N. relief operation in the Horn of Africa nation.
But success eluded him there and elsewhere as the United Nations tottered in an increasingly disorderly post-Communist world, with the world body and the big Security Council powers underestimating the deep animosity behind many conflicts.
(Photo: Reuters)Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali (L) speaks before the General Assembly as part of Human Rights Day activities at the United Nations in New York, December 10, 1996. The Security Council at the U.N. will hold informal balloting later December 10 to test the popularity of four candidates vying to succeed Boutros-Ghali as secretary general. The General Assembly President Razali Ismail is at left in photo.
He was criticized for the U.N’s failure to act during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and for not pushing hard enough for U.N. intervention to end Angola’s civil war in the 1990s, which was at the time one of the longest running conflicts in the world.
Boutros-Ghali found himself jeered in Sarajevo, Mogadishu and Addis Ababa. His style was to wade into crowds and confront protesters when security guards permitted. “I am used to fundamentalists in Egypt arguing with me,” he told Reuters.
He shocked many in Sarajevo when he said he was not trying to belittle the horrors in Bosnia but that there were other countries where the “total dead was greater than here.”
In Ethiopia, he told Somali warlords and clan leaders to stop accusing the United Nations and him of colonialism, adding that Somalis should be worried that former colonial powers would ignore their plight if they continued to fight.
“The Cold War is finished,” he said. “Nobody is interested in the poor countries in Africa or anywhere in the world. They can easily forget Somalia in 24 hours.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bill; Trott and Howard Goller)
Source : Christian Post
UK Church Hosts ‘Blasphemous’ Play Portraying Jesus as Trans. Woman ‘Queen of Heaven’ for Queer Festival
Christian Post Report – A controversial play that reimagines Jesus as a transgender woman who refers to God as “Mum” was performed at a church in England during the annual LGBT “sparkle weekend,” offending many Christians and Church leaders.
The one-woman play by award-winning Scottish playwright Jo Clifford, who has herself changed gender, is called “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven,” which imagines Jesus returning to Earth as a “trans woman” and retelling the parables with a transsexual slant.
The play was staged Sunday at St Chrysostom’s church in Manchester’s Victoria Park as part of the city’s Queer Contact festival, U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
During the play, Jo Clifford says, “I love my Mum. I am the daughter of God and almost certainty the son also.”
Clifford continues: “Our Mother who art on Earth, blessed is your name. … Give us this day our daily kisses, for yours is the Queendom …,” as the attendees could see images of gay couples kissing.
“It is quite clear from the Gospels that the identity of Jesus is male, his ‘mum’ is Mary and He always refers to God as ‘Father,’ so to suggest otherwise is contrary to Christian teaching,” former Bishop of Rochester, Rt Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, was quoted as saying.
The Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, chose not to stop the performance.
“That an artistic performance is offensive to Christians does not of itself amount to grounds for seeking to prevent it taking place,” he was quoted as saying. “In a richly diverse society, of which Manchester is a proud standard bearer, none of us has the right to be protected from being offended. It is only when offence reaches the level of incitement to hatred that the law properly comes into play.”
He said the laws of the Church of England say the responsibility lies solely with the local minister, “unless he or she elects to refer it to the bishop for determination.”
“That I cannot support this particular performance, and have urged that consideration be given to transferring it to a less contentious venue, in no way weakens the support I and my colleagues continue to give to the transgendered members of our community and our churches, not least during the annual sparkle weekend in the city centre,” the bishop added.
The play was aired in Belfast, Northern Island, as part of Outburst Queer Arts Festival last November, according to BBC.
In 2009, the same drama was performed at Tron Theatre in Glasgow, even as about 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside, BBC reported.
Pastor Jack Bell of the Zion Baptist Church in Glasgow, was quoted as saying at the time: “You can’t blaspheme God and use freedom of speech as an excuse for that. … True biblical Christianity is becoming marginalised through political correctness.”
Source : Christian Post
Should Christians Use Contraceptives to Combat Zika? Catholic Bishops Say No
Christian Post Report – Geovane Silva holds his son Gustavo Henrique, who has microcephaly, at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, January 26, 2016.
A number of Roman Catholic bishops in Latin America, where the dangerous Zika virus is spreading, have said that despite health warnings, Catholics should refuse to use contraceptives.
“Contraceptives are not a solution,” said Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, an auxiliary bishop in Brazil, according to Gospel Herald. “There is not a single change in the Church’s position.”
Organizations such as the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control have said that contraceptives need to be used by infected patients in order to prevent the spread of Zika, which might be linked to hundreds of babies being born with deformed brains in Brazil and neighboring countries.
The World Health Organization has since called on a global effort to fight the spread of Zika, with reported cases coming from America and other countries around the world. Although the virus is not known to be deadly, there is currently no treatment or cure for it.
“A coordinated international response is needed to improve surveillance, the detection of infections, congenital malformations, and neurological complications, to intensify the control of mosquito populations, and to expedite the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines to protect people at risk, especially during pregnancy,” said WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan.
The Catholic Church in Brazil, which is strongly pro-life, has already rejected calls by the U.N. to loosen abortion laws in order to prevent more babies being born with Zika.
Steiner warned earlier in February that “abortion leads to eugenics, the practice of selecting perfect people.”
“Microcephaly has been occurring in Brazil for years. They are taking advantage of this moment to reintroduce the abortion topic,” he added.
Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani echoed those concerns, and said that the threat of Zika should not be used as an excuse to kill unborn children.
“Today we are surrounded by Herods, but Herods with neckties, public posts and budgets,” Cipriani said at the time, referring to the New Testament king who ordered that all of the babies of Bethlehem be killed in order to stop Jesus from growing up.
“The United Nations, in the face of this Zika mosquito virus, has decreed that we should approve abortion everywhere so as to kill the children,” he added.
Steiner further reflected on the Catholic stance against contraceptives, and encouraged couples to live in chastity or use natural family planning, a method in which women observe their menstrual cycles.
Though international polls, such as one carried out by Univision in 2014, have showed that Catholics in Brazil are growing in opposition to the Church’s stance against artificial birth control, the Vatican has not yet made any indications that it is willing to alter its stance.
Rev. Thomas Rosica, a media representative to the Vatican’s press office, said that Pope Francis knows how concerning the issue is.
“The Vatican is very well aware of the seriousness of this issue, and the Holy Father is very aware of it,” Rosica said. “We’re waiting to see how the local churches in those countries respond.”
Rosica added, however, that the Zika outbreak is “an opportunity for the Church to recommit itself to the dignity and sacredness of life, even in very precarious moments like this.”
Source : Christian Post
Pope Francis Condemns Mexico’s Drug Cartels, Calling Them ‘Dealers of Death’ for Mass Murders, Kidnappings
Christian Post Report – Pope Francis waves to the crowd after celebrating a Mass at San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, February 15, 2016.
During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis condemned the country’s drug trade and government corruption that has led to hundreds of thousands of murders and missing persons cases.
The pope made his comments on Saturday while speaking to the country’s bishops at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, urging religious leaders to take a more pro-active stance in fighting the drug trade and warning of “the temptation of aloofness and clericalism.”
The country’s Catholic Church has also received criticism in the past for turning a blind eye to government corruption and drug-related violence.
The pontiff also encouraged “drawing in and embracing the fringes of human existence in the ravaged areas of our cities.”
“I urge you not to underestimate the moral and anti-social challenge, which the drug trade represents for young people and Mexican society as a whole,” the religious leader continued. “The magnitude of this phenomenon … and the gravity of the violence … do not allow us as pastors of the Church to hide behind anodyne denunciations.”
The pope made his comments at the start of his week-long Mexico trip, where he is expected to address issues such as government corruption, treatment of the country’s indigenous population, and immigration relationships with the U.S.
(Photo: Reuters/Max Rossi)
Indigenous women attend a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis (not pictured) in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, February 15, 2016.
The pope has long spoken out against corruption and its affect on the poor and disadvantaged, and he reiterated this message during his Sunday mass held in Ecatepec, considered to be one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities.
During his homily, the pope decried “a society of the few and for the few,” and warning of “wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering.”
“This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children,” the pope added.
Francis also called on Mexicans to make their country “a land of opportunities where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream” and where the drug cartel, described as “dealers of death,” would not affect younger generations.
“You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win,” the pope added.
Ecatepec is considered to be one of the epicenters of Mexico’s powerful and illegal drug trade, with one of the highest murder rates in the entire country.
As Fox News Latino reports, the suburb of Mexico City is known for a weak economy, high unemployment rates, youth crimes and missing person cases.
Francis will conclude his five-day visit to Mexico on Wednesday with a prayer gathering held in the U.S. border city of Juarez. There, Francis will engage undocumented migrants from both Mexico and the U.S., focusing his invocation on unity and compromise for the immigration crisis.
The International Business Times reported in 2014, “Under Operation Gatekeeper, a border security plan implemented under President Bill Clinton in 1994, the federal government ramped up Border Patrol staffing, fences and security equipment along the San Diego border area to deter migrants from crossing. But immigration activists say the move effectively pushed migration eastward into the more perilous mountain regions of eastern California and the Arizona desert, contributing to the heightened death toll over the last two decades.”
Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute, one of the groups participating in the prayer event, told Crux Now earlier this month, “When Pope Francis comes to our border to recall all those who perished, hundreds of migrants will be there to welcome him on the this side of the Rio Grande, in solidarity with a Latin American pope who defines himself as a migrant.”
Source : Christian Post
Megachurch Pastors, Other Than Perry Noble, Publicly Support Mark Driscoll’s New Trinity Church
Christian Post Report – Pastor Mark Driscoll (R) and his wife Grace (L).
In contrast to his precipitous fall from grace in October 2014, Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Feb. 1 Twitter announcement that he is planting a new congregation, The Trinity Church, in Phoenix, Arizona, has received some positive responses.
On the same day of Driscoll’s announcement, Paul Kidd, pastor of North Carolina-based Thrive Church, took to Twitter to express his support for Driscoll: “@PastorMark We support you and the church. As a ministry kid and now Pastor, I have seen all sides … you have our prayers!”
Support for Driscoll’s new venture extends to the Mountain West where the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Brady Boyd, celebrated the news in a brief tweet: “@PastorMark congratulations!!”
Pastor Joe Pena of Relentless Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, also expressed excitement for Driscoll’s return. “@PastorMark met you at the Let’s Talk Church event in PHX. Excited for you guys!”
One of Driscoll’s most prominent and outspoken supporters, Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in South Carolina, recently slammed Driscoll’s critics in a Facebook video, as previously reported by The Christian Post.
In that video: “How I Personally Feel About Mark Driscoll Starting a New Church,” which garnered nearly 120,000 views and was shared more than 500 times (as of the publication of this article), Noble stands by his fellow clergyman.
“I’m going to choose to believe in Pastor Mark and Grace [Driscoll’s wife] as they set out on this endeavor to plant a church. And I just want to say that I support him 100 percent.”
Yet despite growing support for Driscoll, the pastor is not without a considerable number of dissenters regarding his return. Former Mars Hill deacon Brian Jacobsen is one of them. Jacobsen doesn’t understand the groundswell of support for the pastor, according to The Seattle Times.
Along the same lines, former Mars Hill elder Dave Craft respectfully challenged Perry Noble’s recent defense of Driscoll via Facebook, writing on Noble’s Facebook page that the NewSpring Church pastor didn’t know the whole story.
“Perry, I appreciate your heart in all of this, but do wish you had done your homework and exercised due diligence by finding out what really happened at MHC [Mars Hill Church]!” wrote Craft. “I’m afraid you are in the dark about the truth of what transpired and why The Acts 29 network, Paul Tripp and 30 former elders believe that Mark Driscoll disqualified himself and needs to make some things right before stepping back into pastoral ministry! I appreciate your ministry, read your books and value your leadership wisdom.”
As early as just days after the former Mars Hill pastor stepped down from his post, Driscoll had the public support of Pastor Robert Morris of Texas-based Gateway Church — the fourth largest church in the U.S. in 2015 according to Outreach magazine — who gave Driscoll a warm welcome in 2014 at a Gateway Church conference, and told attendees not to believe everything they read about him on the internet.
“I want to introduce you to a friend, a good friend of mine,” Morris began. ” … He’s going through a difficulty that most of you have probably read about … First of all I want you to know that everything you read on the internet is not true … There are some pastors, myself included, and some others that you would know, that were speaking into his life — and he’s listening.”
Morris encouraged participants to ” … restore him [Driscoll] with a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves, lest we are also tempted.” He went on to say, ” … It’s very sad that in the church, we’re the only army that shoots at our wounded, and I want you to stop it … ”
According to an early February report by The Seattle Times, Morris is on the governing board of Driscoll’s new church.
Source : Christian Post
Pope Francis Condemns Mexico’s Drug Cartels, Calling Them ‘Dealers of Death’ for Mass Murders, Kidnappings
Christian Post Report – Pope Francis waves to the crowd after celebrating a Mass at San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, February 15, 2016.
During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis condemned the country’s drug trade and government corruption that has led to hundreds of thousands of murders and missing persons cases.
The pope made his comments on Saturday while speaking to the country’s bishops at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, urging religious leaders to take a more pro-active stance in fighting the drug trade and warning of “the temptation of aloofness and clericalism.”
The country’s Catholic Church has also received criticism in the past for turning a blind eye to government corruption and drug-related violence.
The pontiff also encouraged “drawing in and embracing the fringes of human existence in the ravaged areas of our cities.”
“I urge you not to underestimate the moral and anti-social challenge, which the drug trade represents for young people and Mexican society as a whole,” the religious leader continued. “The magnitude of this phenomenon … and the gravity of the violence … do not allow us as pastors of the Church to hide behind anodyne denunciations.”
The pope made his comments at the start of his week-long Mexico trip, where he is expected to address issues such as government corruption, treatment of the country’s indigenous population, and immigration relationships with the U.S.
(Photo: Reuters/Max Rossi)
Indigenous women attend a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis (not pictured) in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, February 15, 2016.
The pope has long spoken out against corruption and its affect on the poor and disadvantaged, and he reiterated this message during his Sunday mass held in Ecatepec, considered to be one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities.
During his homily, the pope decried “a society of the few and for the few,” and warning of “wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering.”
“This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children,” the pope added.
Francis also called on Mexicans to make their country “a land of opportunities where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream” and where the drug cartel, described as “dealers of death,” would not affect younger generations.
“You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win,” the pope added.
Ecatepec is considered to be one of the epicenters of Mexico’s powerful and illegal drug trade, with one of the highest murder rates in the entire country.
As Fox News Latino reports, the suburb of Mexico City is known for a weak economy, high unemployment rates, youth crimes and missing person cases.
Francis will conclude his five-day visit to Mexico on Wednesday with a prayer gathering held in the U.S. border city of Juarez. There, Francis will engage undocumented migrants from both Mexico and the U.S., focusing his invocation on unity and compromise for the immigration crisis.
The International Business Times reported in 2014, “Under Operation Gatekeeper, a border security plan implemented under President Bill Clinton in 1994, the federal government ramped up Border Patrol staffing, fences and security equipment along the San Diego border area to deter migrants from crossing. But immigration activists say the move effectively pushed migration eastward into the more perilous mountain regions of eastern California and the Arizona desert, contributing to the heightened death toll over the last two decades.”
Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute, one of the groups participating in the prayer event, told Crux Now earlier this month, “When Pope Francis comes to our border to recall all those who perished, hundreds of migrants will be there to welcome him on the this side of the Rio Grande, in solidarity with a Latin American pope who defines himself as a migrant.”
Source : Christian Post
Future NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dungy: ‘If You Follow the Lord, You’re Going to Be OK’
Christian Post Report – NBC Sports analyst Tony Dungy speaks to reporters during the NBC Sports Group Press Conference at Media Center-Press Conference Room B., Phoenix, Arizona, January 27, 2015.
National Football League head coach Tony Dungy told audience members at the Super Bowl 50 breakfast earlier this month that no matter what happens in life, the only thing that matters is whether or not they are following the will of the Lord.
Dungy, a devout Christian who was the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl when he did it in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts, spoke from the heart when he talked in detail about the struggles of his 15-year-old son, Jordan, who was born with a rare congenital defect that prevents him from feeling pain.
“You’d think that would be good, but it’s not,” Dungy was quoted as telling the crowd at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel by CNS News. “He’s had a lot of operations, he’s broken a lot of bones … he’s had about 30 surgeries.”
Dungy, who was recently elected to the NFL Hall of Fame, admitted that his son’s conditions have caused a lot of challenges for the family, but added that he is able to see the beauty in how God is working through his son to teach others about the importance of pain.
“He’s a wonderful kid. … Throughout this whole life experience with him, he’s taught us why God allows us to feel pain. … He’s taught us a lot about life, he’s taught us not to complain about things that are insignificant. … He’s always got a smile on his face, always helping people. We’ve learned from him,” Dungy said, according to the Gospel Herald. “When people meet him, they understand where God is. He has a tremendous outlook on life and how the Lord has taken care of him. … He doesn’t look at the downsides of things.”
Dungy explained that one of the biggest issues with his son’s condition is that the lack of pain makes it easier for him to lose focus on the Lord.
“There are different types of people and God created us all and God doesn’t make mistakes and He is giving us opportunities to see Him in the right light,” Dungy continued. “There are people out there like Jordan, going through life thinking everything is fine, and they don’t feel pain. But they’re really doing damage to themselves, and they’re doing things that take them off track and away from the Lord. And the Lord is trying to get their attention and they aren’t seeing it, they aren’t feeling it even though there are things wrong. God is still out there for them and still hoping they’ll come back.”
Even though there are different reasons for why people veer away from the path of the Lord, Dungy assured that God is just waiting for them to come to Him.
“In contrast there are people who all you do is feel pain. Everything hurts. You can’t understand why these things happen in your life, why you got fired, why you’ve had these problems,” Dungy noted. “God is still there for you also, He’s just waiting for us to say, ‘I need to follow the Lord and have things respond in the right way.’ I know that’s been the impact that Jordan has had on his peers — no matter what is happening in your life, if you follow the Lord, you’re going to be OK. Physical pain, physical deformities, that’s not a big deal. But if spiritually you are right, you are intact, you’re going to be in great shape.”
Dungy warned players and coaches in the audience that there needs to be something more important in their lives than football and careers.
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Dungy asked. “If football is your entire life, and you don’t have a relationship with the Lord, you’re going to be messed up, no matter how your life turns out. Even if you achieve fame and riches, if you forfeit your soul, it won’t profit you.”
“Where are you in terms of the Lord, spiritually?” Dungy asked. “That’s the most important thing in life.”
Source : Christian Post
Megachurch Pastors, Other Than Perry Noble, Publicly Support Mark Driscoll’s New Trinity Church
Christian Post Report – Pastor Mark Driscoll (R) and his wife Grace (L).
In contrast to his precipitous fall from grace in October 2014, Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Feb. 1 Twitter announcement that he is planting a new congregation, The Trinity Church, in Phoenix, Arizona, has received some positive responses.
On the same day of Driscoll’s announcement, Paul Kidd, pastor of North Carolina-based Thrive Church, took to Twitter to express his support for Driscoll: “@PastorMark We support you and the church. As a ministry kid and now Pastor, I have seen all sides … you have our prayers!”
Support for Driscoll’s new venture extends to the Mountain West where the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Brady Boyd, celebrated the news in a brief tweet: “@PastorMark congratulations!!”
Pastor Joe Pena of Relentless Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, also expressed excitement for Driscoll’s return. “@PastorMark met you at the Let’s Talk Church event in PHX. Excited for you guys!”
One of Driscoll’s most prominent and outspoken supporters, Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in South Carolina, recently slammed Driscoll’s critics in a Facebook video, as previously reported by The Christian Post.
In that video: “How I Personally Feel About Mark Driscoll Starting a New Church,” which garnered nearly 120,000 views and was shared more than 500 times (as of the publication of this article), Noble stands by his fellow clergyman.
“I’m going to choose to believe in Pastor Mark and Grace [Driscoll’s wife] as they set out on this endeavor to plant a church. And I just want to say that I support him 100 percent.”
Yet despite growing support for Driscoll, the pastor is not without a considerable number of dissenters regarding his return. Former Mars Hill deacon Brian Jacobsen is one of them. Jacobsen doesn’t understand the groundswell of support for the pastor, according to The Seattle Times.
Along the same lines, former Mars Hill elder Dave Craft respectfully challenged Perry Noble’s recent defense of Driscoll via Facebook, writing on Noble’s Facebook page that the NewSpring Church pastor didn’t know the whole story.
“Perry, I appreciate your heart in all of this, but do wish you had done your homework and exercised due diligence by finding out what really happened at MHC [Mars Hill Church]!” wrote Craft. “I’m afraid you are in the dark about the truth of what transpired and why The Acts 29 network, Paul Tripp and 30 former elders believe that Mark Driscoll disqualified himself and needs to make some things right before stepping back into pastoral ministry! I appreciate your ministry, read your books and value your leadership wisdom.”
As early as just days after the former Mars Hill pastor stepped down from his post, Driscoll had the public support of Pastor Robert Morris of Texas-based Gateway Church — the fourth largest church in the U.S. in 2015 according to Outreach magazine — who gave Driscoll a warm welcome in 2014 at a Gateway Church conference, and told attendees not to believe everything they read about him on the internet.
“I want to introduce you to a friend, a good friend of mine,” Morris began. ” … He’s going through a difficulty that most of you have probably read about … First of all I want you to know that everything you read on the internet is not true … There are some pastors, myself included, and some others that you would know, that were speaking into his life — and he’s listening.”
Morris encouraged participants to ” … restore him [Driscoll] with a spirit of gentleness, considering ourselves, lest we are also tempted.” He went on to say, ” … It’s very sad that in the church, we’re the only army that shoots at our wounded, and I want you to stop it … ”
According to an early February report by The Seattle Times, Morris is on the governing board of Driscoll’s new church.
Source : Christian Post
CDC Says Early School Day Is Bad for Kids. Is Homeschool the Answer?
Christian Post Report – The Romeikes homeschool their children
A lack of sleep can have serious consequences in a school-age child’s life. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it can affect not only their academic success but also their health and safety.
A study published in the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that fewer than one in five middle schools and high schools in the United States began their school days at or later than the recommended 8:30 a.m. start time during the 2011-2012 school year. It’s a tough problem to solve for public schools, but it could be one reason that homeschooling has grown in popularity over the past decade.
The study was conducted by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Education. They reviewed data from nearly 40,000 public middle school and high schools and determined that the early start times made it nearly impossible for students to get the amount of sleep they need to function at proper levels. It is recommended that children get between 8.5 and 9.5 hours of sleep per night and schools that start before 8:30 a.m. do not allow that to consistently happen. The time it takes to travel to school, especially on public school bus systems makes the problem even worse.
For some, the solution may be found in homeschooling. Data published in May 2015 by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that in 2012, the number of homeschooled children had grown to 1.7 million, or 3.4 percent of elementary and secondary school-aged children that year. That number represented a 61.8 percent increase over the 677,000 homeschooled students reported in 2003.
Brian D. Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute and editor-in-chief of the academic journal Home School Researcher, is not surprised by the CDC report.
“Findings on the sleep needs of adolescents are clearly another case of how the individualization and flexibility of homeschooling can serve children and teens well,” Ray said. “Institutional schooling struggles to meet the needs of children, while home-based education naturally meets a whole variety of needs.”
Ray cited a 2013 study conducted by sleep psychologist Dr. Lisa Meltzer. Meltzer’s study for National Jewish Health found that homeschooled students generally slept 90 minutes longer a night than the average high school student, and they woke up almost 20 minutes after most high schools had started.
Consistent lack of sleep contributes to several problems among middle school and high school students, including drug use, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco products, and obesity. According to a study published in the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report, two out of three students do not get sufficient sleep, and those students are much more likely to engage in risky behaviors.
The CDC report found that the time at which school began varied by state. Louisiana had the earliest school start time at an average of 7:40 a.m., and the latest average start time was in Alaska at 8:33 a.m. In Hawaii, Wyoming and Mississippi, no schools started at 8:30 a.m. or later, but in North Dakota, more than 75 percent of schools started at 8:30 or later. The CDC researchers wrote, “Among the possible public health interventions for increasing sufficient sleep among adolescents, delaying school start times has the potential for the greatest population impact by changing the environmental context for students in entire school districts.”
The solution is not solely in the hands of the schools. The study encouraged parents to take steps to make sure their children get a sufficient amount of sleep. Setting regular bedtimes and waking times and removing video game systems and televisions from bedrooms can help make sure they are getting enough rest.
Some experts say that parents are fighting a losing battle when it comes to making sure their teens get to sleep. Changes in circadian rhythms during puberty can make it difficult for teens to fall asleep. Dan Flanders, a pediatrician and director of Kindercare Pediatrics in Toronto, told Forbes, “The inner clock that drives the sleep-wake cycle tends to push the natural bed time later and later as a child progresses through adolescence, so whereas an ‘earlier to bed’ approach may help to improve cumulative sleep times for a younger child, the adolescent body will naturally resist this approach. It seems that the practical way to enable sufficient sleep for an adolescent is by allowing for a later wake-up time.”
Not only are teen’s biological processes working against them, but their hectic schedules also play a role. Sports, other extracurricular activities and homework all combine to clutter their schedules and force them to stay up later to get everything accomplished.
In schools in the northern part of the country, earlier school start times affect all students – especially in the winter. Physician Chad Hayes told Forbes: “Another consideration is cold weather during winter months, especially for children who do not have adequate warm clothing. Earlier start times mean colder temperatures at the bus stop.”
This may explain why schools in North Dakota and Alaska have the latest start times on average.
The CDC report provides ample reasons for those homeschooling families to ensure their kids get a good night’s sleep before cracking the books. It’s one more tool parents have for keeping their kids safe and healthy.
Source : Christian Post
(Photo: Facebook/David’s Tent DC)