| | Oxford study links birth control to increased risk of breast cancer | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Monday, April 3, and today's headlines include research on birth control, nearly 200 congregations suing the UMC North Georgia Conference, Liberty University announcing a new president and chancellor, and the latest in faith-based entertainment news. | | A study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford has found that hormonal contraceptives slightly increase women's risk of breast cancer. Ths study, which was published in the journal PLOS Medicine, drew upon data from approximately 10,000 women between the ages of 20 and 49 who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 1996 and 2017 in the U.K. Researchers also collected data from just over 18,000 women who did not have breast cancer. Findings suggest that "there is a relative increase of around 20% to 30% in breast cancer risk associated with current or recent use of either combined (estrogen+progestagen) oral or progestagen-only contraceptives," according to the researchers. The study noted that "44% of women with breast cancer and 39% of matched controls had a hormonal contraceptive prescription, with about half the prescriptions being for progestagen-only preparations." | | Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, who co-founded the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, told The Christian Post that such findings are nothing new and pointed to a CitizenGo petition on hormonal contraceptives that also concluded that certain types of birth control can elevate a woman's risk for breast cancer. Meanwhile, a 2017 Danish study concluded that there are 68 annual cases of breast cancer for every 100,000 women on hormonal birth control. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration indefinitely postponed a meeting last November to review an application for an over-the-counter birth control pill. The application review happened amid debates about over-the-counter birth control and access to abortion-inducing drugs following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Continue reading. | | P.S. Get rewarded for sharing our newsletters! Sign-up for the CP referral program—the more you share, the more you earn. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to get started today! |
|
| Listen to the CP Daily Podcast |
|
|
| 186 churches sue UMC North Georgia Conference for halting disaffiliation process | | Last week, 186 congregations in Georgia filed a lawsuit after their regional body of the United Methodist Church refused to allow them to disaffiliate amid a denominational schism over homosexuality. The lawsuit, which was filed against the UMC North Georgia Conference in Superior Court in Cobb County, came as a result of the conference's decision last December to prohibit any more congregations from leaving the denomination. The Wesleyan Covenant Association of North Georgia, an unofficial conservative advocacy group that helped conservative churches form the Global Methodist Church breakaway denomination, released a statement explaining that the decision to sue comes "with a heavy heart," adding that it recognized that taking legal action "is a drastic step." The North Georgia Conference maintains that it "paused" the disaffiliation process for congregations to "allow churches to gain more information about the real, rather than the false or hypothetical, future of our church." In June 2022, before the disaffiliation pause, 70 congregations representing 9% of the conference's churches and 3% of its members disaffiliated from the UMC. Read more. | | Poll shows younger generations less interested in religion, patriotism | | A survey from The Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago's NORC has revealed that just 38% of Americans believe patriotism is a "very important" value, down from 61% who said the same in 2019 and 70% in 1998. Findings also showed a significant drop in the prioritization of religion, with just 39% characterizing religion as "very important" in 2023, compared to 48% in 2019 and 62% in 1998. By contrast, the number of Americans who think money is "very important" has risen over the last 25 years, reaching 43% in 2023 compared to just 30% in 1998. Results varied across generational lines, with the majority of respondents 65-plus characterizing patriotism (59%) and religion (55%) as "very important." Meanwhile, just 23% of respondents 18-to-29 identified patriotism as "very important," while 31% similarly characterized religion. Read more. | | Liberty University appoints new president, chancellor | | Liberty University has unanimously appointed a new president and chancellor more than two years after the resignation of former President Jerry Falwell Jr. amid a personal scandal. Retired Maj. Gen. Dondi E. Costin, the former president of Charleston Southern University, has been named the school's new president, while Pastor Jonathan Falwell has been named as chancellor. The newly-appointed leaders are set to step into their roles ahead of the 2023-2024 school year. Read more. |
|
|
| 'All religions are the same' and other lies | | In this editorial, Christian apologist and author Robin Schumacher discusses why it is Christ who makes Christianity unique and distinguishable from all other religions. "Christianity diverges from all other religions because it is built upon the person of Christ, who, in His Person, embodies all approaches to spiritual truth," Schumacher explains. Read more. | | Do people belong in nature? | | John Stonestreet, Kasey Leander, and Shane Morris reflect on anthropology and ecology to explain why humans belong in nature. While there is a desire to protect the "pristine" natural world, they note that humans are part of that natural world and conclude, "Humans steward a world that is incomplete without us. The human capacity to cause destruction is because of the human power to heal and restore." Read more. |
|
|
| Junior and Shanda’s story | | Instead of you choosing from hundreds of pictures of children who need sponsors, your picture goes to the kids, and one of them will choose you. And in doing so, people like Shanda are experiencing God’s goodness through the simple act of a child. | | Shanda and her family said yes to sponsoring a child with World Vision while attending Soul City Church in Chicago. "We believe it's a part of our mission as believers in Christ," says Shanda about helping others. Their photo was taken, then sent to Mwala, Kenya, along with photos of hundreds of other Soul City congregants, to be displayed at a large community event. Learn more | | |
|
|
| Michael W. Smith: 'Jesus is the answer' | | Michael W. Smith, who is currently featured in Andrea Bocelli's "The Journey: A Music Special from Andrea Bocelli," opened up about his testimony and his faith in Christ during the film's red carpet premiere. "I think a lot of people maybe have been burned by the church and they've had some not-so-good experiences in church. I'm one of them. But it wasn't catastrophic for me. Thank God my mom and dad were amazing. But to me, this whole thing is about identity. It's all about identity," he told CP, declaring, "Jesus is the answer. That's just plain and simple." Explaining that his testimony is of "one who was dead and got brought back because of my Savior," Smith shared how his faith in Christ has "propelled" him and inspired his multi-decade career. "I believe there's a destiny on your life, and I pray that you'll not only sense it, but you'll feel something well up inside of you, and then your life is forever changed," Smith said. "The Journey" is in theaters through Easter Sunday (April 9). Watch Smith's full interview here. |
|
|
| Former Nickelodeon creator launches Bible-themed series | | Butch Hartman, the creator behind Nickelodeon's most successful animated children's series, "The Fairly OddParents," has recently launched a 40-episode cartoon titled "The Garden." The series, which Hartman launched with his wife, also includes an app and a companion Bible with illustrations of the series' characters. "The Garden" centers around the characters Lenny the lion and Lucy the lamb. Together they live in a garden where everything that's beautiful grows and they get to talk to God daily. God, whom they refer to as "the boss," comes down as a rainbow, talks to them and gives them an assignment or task, which they are successful at once they look to Scripture to learn how best to accomplish their goal. Bible verses are shared through song, which helps children memorize the verses. The first six episodes were recently released on PurFlix, Yippee and Christian Cinema, with Hartman telling CP, "Our point is to get Scripture as early into the hearts of children as we can" via song, much as Gen Xers memorized key U.S. history and civics facts by watching "Schoolhouse Rock!" To read Butch and Julieann Hartman's full Q&A with CP, click here. | | Roma Downey credits God for ‘On a Wing and a Prayer’ film | | During a recent interview with CP, Roma Downey reflected on how a series of "coincidences" that would have only happened if God allowed them enabled her to bring the film "On a Wing and a Prayer" starring Dennis Quaid to viewers. The faith-based family drama tells the true story of a small-town family that survived a harrowing flight after the pilot died in midair. Passenger Doug White (Quaid) is forced to land the plane safely to save his family on board. The film also stars actors Heather Graham and Jesse Metcalfe. "For whatever reason, for this particular script, I picked it up and read it myself," Downey explained. "I was hooked from the get-go. On 'Touched by An Angel' we used to say all the time, 'There were no coincidences. It was God's way of remaining anonymous.'" She met with Quaid shortly thereafter to discuss his idea for a new podcast. During that meeting, she learned he liked to fly planes. "So, of course, the minute he said that, the light bulb went off in my head, and I said, 'I have this amazing script. Would you take a look at it?'" The film drops on Amazon Prime on April 7. Read more. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors |
|
|
|
