In conclusion, Watkins draws an important link between teen childbearing and poverty, which takes this discussion past morals and values and moves it into socioeconomic territory. Half of all mothers currently on welfare assistance "were teenagers when they had their first child," Watkins writes. Also, a) less than a third of teen mothers "ever finish high school"; b) the children born to teenage mothers "are twice as likely to raise

Western Religion In his book, "Western Ways of Being Religious," (Kessler, 1999) the author Gary E. Kessler identifies the theological, philosophical and societal ramifications of the evolution of religion in the West. Christianity, Judaism and Islam can be traced to a single origin but their divergence has been very marked. Kessler sets his thesis very early in the book. He avers that there are two approaches to religion. One is to

SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT AND VOCATIONAL COUNSELING PAPER INSTRUCTIONS Directions: The purpose Personal Position There are a number of decision-making factors that one should consider when attempting to determine where and what form of education or occupation that an individual should pursue. These factors are generally stratified into those that pertain to the individual and his or her own concerns, those that directly relate to God and God's will/specific purpose for that person, and

However, certain elements of traditional Christian theology are centered on Mary, and the degree of emphasis that those elements receive can be very telling about Mary's actual role in the religion. For example, the connection between female chastity and religious observance seems to have been established by God's choice of a Virgin to carry his son. God did not have to choose a virgin to bear his child, but

" Although Carey's journal reportedly ends prematurely, he continued to write letters for the next thirty years. Carey understood the value in/of education, medicine, and other works. He continually encouraged missionaries to travel to the hinterland "and build an indigenous Christianity with vernacular Bibles and other writings and native-led churches." For his mission to succeed, hile it simultaneously retained its core, Carey purported, it had to not only fill the eternal needs of

He indicates that even what Paul writes to people through his epistles is the Word of God. He is (again presciently) aware that the words might be twisted and misunderstood). But he has no doubt that Paul's writings (more prolific that his own were) as well as his own are divinely inspired Scripture. Paul, writing in Corinthians sums up the closeness of the role of the Holy Spirit in