..has failed to reduce, and in some cases has even exacerbated, the social ills plaguing children in Latin America, concluded a UNICEF-sponsored seminar which called for the urgent formulation of alternative models of development. The economic model predominant in the region and the process of globalization accompanying it today accentuates the poor distribution of income, poverty, and unequal access to social services and food security. Latin America is the region

9%-11.2% while the proportion of Hindus decreased from 84.9%-82.7%. He could not attribute the proportional changes to differences in migration or mortality, but to differences in fertility. Census and survey data show fertility is higher among Muslims than among Hindus, he claims. The total marital fertility rate for Muslim women was 11% higher in urban areas and 20% higher in rural areas than the rate for Hindus in those same

Religion State Shinto As the BBC points out, "Shinto can't be separated from Japan and the Japanese." This fact led to the fusion of Shinto with Japanese national identity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Prior to the age of nationalism, Shinto was used to create a sense of allegiance not necessarily with the state but with the lineage of emperors that were the spiritual and political leaders of the

This book, written from a scholarly viewpoint by professors of religion, looks at the dynamics of seven major religious traditions and how those traditions are adapting to the world of globalization. Rifkin, I. Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization: Making Sense of Economic and Cultural Upheaval. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing. Print. For author, speaker and journalist Ira Rifkin, globalization is changing how humans live at a very rapid, and sometimes unpredictable, rate.

Diana Eck's new book about religion, entitled, "A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation" talks about the growing diversity in religious affiliations in America especially among its immigrants and native people. Eck provides her readers a new issue that is controversial politically, sociologically, and personally among America's citizens. The book was released before the September 11, 2001 bombings at the

Culture: The Olmec Religion The Olmec Culture: Religion The Olmec people are part of the ancient Mesoamerica cultural group. Their history, cultural beliefs, and customs are quite similar to those of the ancient Maya group; in fact, the group remained understudied for many years because archeologists perceived them as a component group of the Maya people. They run an interesting culture, with interesting views on, among other things, the economy, science, their