From Christianity Today.

A provocative, troubling, and thought-provoking read, especially for anyone who has a young daughter.

No News Flash: The West is facing an economic collapse whose effects will stretch on for decades. News flash: The West is also facing a challenging marketplace economy in sex and marriage, at least according to Mark Regnerus. “Neither a strong gender constructionist nor a strong gender essentialist, but a sociologist” (at the University of Texas-Austin), Regnerus describes the traditional marriage economy this way: Most men want sex more than do women and have traditionally gained access to sex via marriage. In turn, most women have given sex for marriage, which has brought economic security and commitment.

Take some time and read the entire interview, especially if you are a parent of a young child. Then reflect on what it has to say and start talking to your kids about sex and marriage, if you have not already. What is apparent from Regnerus’ interview is that these topics cannot be limited to just “The Talk” that both parents and kids of age dread. It must be an ongoing conversation if you really love them.

Memorize [God’s] laws and tell them to your children over and over again. Talk about them all the time, whether you’re at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. Write down copies and tie them to your wrists and foreheads to help you obey them.
–Deuteronomy 6.6-8 (CEV)

Yesterday I wrote about how real faith always leads to action. I agree with what Jim Wallis says below but I also want some follow-up data to this survey, data that would tell me why evangelicals support what they do. Could be that many do believe in supporting the poor and most helpless in our society, just not via governmental agencies. The proof would be in looking at how much and to whom evangelicals as a group give their money.

That said, I absolutely think we need voices like Jim Wallis and Sojourners to be continually vocal in their reminder to us as Christians to care for the least, lost, and most marginalized in society. Real Christian faith is always transformative. Always.

“The moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that is exactly what the Bible says, over and over again,” said Sojourners president Jim Wallis. “Taking the cutting knife to programs that benefit low-income people, while refusing to scrutinize the much larger blank checks we keep giving to defense contractors and corporate executives, is hypocritical and cruel. I’ll go even further and say that such a twisted moral calculus for the nation’s fiscal policy is simply not fair, and not right. It is not only bad economics, but also bad religion.”

Do take some time to read it all and reflect prayerfully on these data.