MUST SEE Documentary Films. Mapping & Cartography. John Shook, Ph.D.: Church-Goers Now a Minority in America. One measure of the decline of church strength and authority is church membership and attendance.
And by that measure, US secularity is rising to surprising heights. Churches try to keep track of their members, and if their numbers get a little inflated, you could understand why. People who hardly ever attend services, or who get listed just because the whole family has been listed for many years, can get included in church membership rolls. Still, there's no need to suppose that serious membership inflation is that rampant. In recent decades, many denominations have seen slow declines in attendance and membership, declines impossible to hide. The March 2012 Gallup poll on religious behavior in the United States exposes how lots of people are avoiding church. About a third of Americans now report that they seldom or never go to a religious house of worship.
America's congregations could only wish that 68 percent of Americans were showing up once in a while. Act for sustainable land consumption : Natural Resources : Campaign Actions. How Corporations Corrupt Science at the Public's Expense. Facebook. Most Americans, Including Catholics, Find Birth Control 'Morally Acceptable,' Poll Finds. May 23, 2012 — The majority of U.S. residents -- including Catholics -- believe that contraception is "morally acceptable," according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday, Politico reports (Mak, Politico, 5/22).
The data were released one day after 43 organizations -- including Catholic dioceses and universities -- filed lawsuits challenging new federal rules that will require nearly all health plans to include birth control. The poll found that 89% of respondents said they believe birth control is morally acceptable, including 90% of non-Catholics and 82% of Catholics.
Responses were divided fairly evenly across party affiliations, with 87% of Republicans, 90% of Democrats and 89% of independents agreeing that birth control is acceptable. The Washington Post's "Election 2012 Blog" notes that public opinion is more sharply divided on the contraceptive coverage rules than the morality of birth control. Global Subsidies. Bee-hive, how to make. The Earth is being killed. Cuts? Axe the monarchy. Serco investigated over claims of 'unsafe' out-of-hours GP service. A leading private health company, poised to win much of the new wave of NHS outsourcing contracts, is under investigation for allegedly providing an "unsafe" out-of-hours GP service, and over claims that it manipulated results where it failed to meet targets.
Serco, which runs a large range of outsourced services for the government and local authorities, was subject to an unannounced inspection by NHS watchdogs in Cornwall last month in response to whistleblowers who claim that it: • allowed queues of up to 90 patients at a time to build up at its telephone helpline; • met its targets, in part, by adjusting figures to blame delays on patients; • rang at least one patient who had waited too long to see a doctor to give them a new waiting target instead; • repeatedly took visiting doctors off roving duties in order to operate clinics and hotlines because it had too few staff on duty to cover the county.
Serco has also confirmed some of the allegations.
Facebook. Police chief leaves the force with £247K payout. We are used to senior public sector workers departing their post with more than generous payouts.
There are some who leave one council with a large redundancy cheque, only to start work for another council or quanqo shortly afterwards. Mark Hammond is a prime example. He was made redundant from West Sussex County Council, trousering a juicy £256K for his troubles. Eight months later he pops up at the Equality and Human Rights Commission on a £130K a year job supervising inquiries into whether the Coalition spending cuts are being made fairly. Today, Grahame Maxwell, the former Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, comes under the spotlight. This is because he had spent a total of twenty eight and a half years as a serving police officer, and under existing rules, he is entitled to receive compensation because his contract was not renewed, and was therefore unable to hit the magic figure of thirty years service. Not all the blame lies with the police authority though.