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"Slippage." That was by far my favorite word in the letter Andover's West Middle School Principal Denise Holmes e-mailed to parents regarding their children's attire, or lack thereof, at school. Her note was prompted by the outfits a group of girls was wearing on Valentine's Day, with skirts so short that ... well, let Ms. Holmes explain. "This one girl had the cutest pink underwear on," she said. "I shouldn't have known that." Well, no. But she's not the problem. The problem is that all the boys knew it as well. So Holmes sent out a gentle reminder. Very gentle....

When Denise and Roger Friesen planned a Valentine's Day dinner for their Omaha, Neb., church, they immediately knew their theme: the Song of Solomon -- sometimes called the Song of Songs -- the sexiest book in the Bible. "O, that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!" says a woman to her lover as the book begins. "For your love is better than wine." Later language compares male legs to alabaster columns and female bosoms to clusters of fruit on a tree. The Friesens, both 47, credit the little book in the Hebrew Bible with helping to...

Many times born again believers find themselves accepting the ways of society instead of the ways of God. The temptation to do this is tricky and in many cases has become the norm. You can simply pick up a magazine or turn on the TV, and instantly, you are exposed to compromising lifestyles. We must remember, however, that just because an idea, concept or way of life seems acceptable doesn't mean it is right in God's eyes. Popular shows display people living "cheerfully" in a manner that opposes God and his word. A prime example of this is the cohabitation...

Too bad Ginger White, a Bradenton figure artist and director of the Anna Maria Island Art League, found it necessary to go to Sarasota to exhibit her work. White experienced censorship at the Manatee County Public Library in Holmes Beach last year and had to relocate her work to the Digital 3 Gallery in Sarasota. Chalk drawings, which included bared breasts, were taken from view at the library because they were said to be too near the children's section. As if children haven't seen breasts since birth. As if children think of nudity in the same way adults do. Not...

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on Feb.11 during the Respect Life Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Alexandria. As we participate in this monthly Respect Life Mass, the Word of God, proclaimed in our hearing moments ago, contrasts two women: Eve and Mary. Eve said “no” to God’s command; she and Adam committed the first sin. Yet, even as the first sin was being committed, God in His mercy promised victory over sin and eternal death. On the other hand, Mary said “yes” to God’s command and through her the Victor came to...

When Sarah Johnson hears kids talk about having oral sex, she’s surprised when they claim to be virgins. In her mind, they lose that distinction once they engage in such intimate behavior. But Johnson, 15, admits her views aren’t the norm. ... Johnson’s peers in the Black Hills seem to reflect the views of kids nationwide. A recent study showed that teens are having oral sex in high numbers and view it very casually. More than half of the kids surveyed, age 15 to 19, had already had oral sex, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The...

While one convention promoting sex wrapped up a weekend at the Colorado Convention Center on Sunday, another gathering that promoted abstinence drew some 4,000 people to the Denver Coliseum. The coincidence was not lost on Bob Lemming, the executive director of Pure By Choice, which organized the one-day event that featured hip-hop music, prayer and literature urging teens not to engage in pre-marital sex. Along Brighton Boulevard, within blocks of the Coliseum, a billboard advertised the "Sex and So Much More Show" at the Convention Center. "We're both talking about sex, but from a totally different perspective," said Lemming, who...

PRINCETON, New Jersey, FEB. 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Marriage's role as a public institution is increasingly under attack. In the midst of pressures for legalization of same-sex marriage, formal recognition of de facto couples, and the continuing problem of divorce, the traditional view of marriage is no longer clear to many people. But a volume of essays just-published collects an impressive array of evidence by leading scholars defending marriage and arguing that it serves the common good. "The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals" (Spence Publishing) is edited by Robert P. George and Jean Bethke Elshtain, professors at Princeton...

There is a body of water in Eastern Canada that has the improbable name of "Lake Despair". This sinister appellation is an accident of language. The French originally called it Lac d'espoir (Lake of Hope). English-speaking settlers in the region, accustomed to hearing only their own language, misperceived its name. And so it became known, culturally and cartographically, as Lake Despair. This type of metamorphosis occurs just as easily on a moral plane. Pornography takes human sexuality, with its hope of love, fidelity, family, and fulfillment, and turns it into an empty and lifeless husk. It does this as a...

'Roses Are Red, Viagra is Blue...' Pfizer Knows Better - Shame on You! Says AHF LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation, (AHF) the nation's largest AIDS group and a direct provider of HIV/AIDS medical care to tens of thousands of AIDS patients in the US, Africa, Central America and Asia, issued a warning today that it expects Pfizer, Inc., the world's largest pharmaceutical company, to run a Valentine's Day-themed ad for Viagra as part of its ongoing shameless holiday-themed advertising campaign for its blockbuster sex drug. For the past several months, Pfizer has been running a direct-to-consumer...

The people who are running from bed to bed creating disasters for themselves and everyone else don't seem to know what they are doing. They just don't get it. But why should they? There is a mythology about infidelity that shows up in the popular press and even in the mental health literature that is guaranteed to mislead people and make dangerous situations even worse. Some of these myths are: 1. Everybody is unfaithful; it is normal, expectable behavior. Mozart, in his comic opera Cosi Fan Tutti, insisted that women all do it, but a far more common belief is...

One Night Stranded Should Tell Woman Something DEAR SUSAN: I am 45 and soon to be divorced. I raised three children, who are now grown and married. My husband and I grew apart in the last years of the marriage, and I've been celibate for two years. Lately, though, I've been feeling very alive and sensual. Recently, I asked a wonderful single man I know if he'd consider a few hours of "pleasure," no strings attached. He said he would, but then he changed his mind. He didn't give a reason. How do I ask another man in a way...

“The Ten Worst Valentine’s Day Gifts” — I clicked on this MSN.com heading because Valentine’s Day is near and like most guys I'm ... well, the word is “clueless.” The article was, unfortunately, not encouraging. Roses (I assumed I had a perpetual winner here) and chocolate were deemed too predictable. OK. Next advice — “anything that looks like an appliance” should be avoided like the plague. Even a Norwegian knows that (to my personal dismay). Ditto for gift certificates — pragmatism, rationality, you see, are out. What's a guy to do? Here's the advice: be creative (right!), prove to her...

Teens fight for a chaste Valentine's ABSTINENCE: Some high school students suggest honoring Feb. 14 as a "Day of Purity. BY STEPHANIE SIMON LOS ANGELES TIMES High school sophomore Ally Hall plans to exchange valentine cards with her friends today. But her true tribute to the romance of the season was Monday, in the principal's office at Lebanon High School in the small town of Lebanon, Ohio. Hall wrote a brief script to be read over the public-address system. Her message: The most romantic way to celebrate Feb. 14 is to honor it as a "Day of Purity," by pledging...

SINCE it's Valentine's Day, let's dwell for a moment on the profoundly bizarre activity of kissing. Is there a more expressive gesture in the human repertoire? When parents kiss their children it means one thing, but when they kiss each other it means something entirely different. People will greet a total stranger with a kiss on the cheek, and then use an identical gesture to express their most intimate feelings to a lover. The mob kingpin gives the kiss of death, Catholics give the "kiss of peace," Jews kiss the Torah, nervous flyers kiss the ground, and the enraged sometimes...

Say goodbye to diaries — those small books with breakable locks that little brothers could easily get their hands on. Today’s women have computer programs that help them track their most cherished secrets. Women practicing Natural Family Planning (NFP) can throw away their paper charts and store that information in their palm pilot. And there is no worry about this sensitive information falling into the wrong hands — with the click of a button, the intimate details of a woman’s life can be protected by a password. Woman Calendar, a program by BEIKS LLC, is a simple program that any...

...Dr. (Mrs.) Imelda Wallace presented her keynote address on 'Law and the Family'. ... The family, she said, unites and it is something everybody has in common. In families, people are not accepted for what they have or for what they do but for what they are. Family, she said, is the most basic communion of persons and hence the first vital cell of society. Her presentation covered family as a communion of persons, the human person, the dignity of human person, marriage, sexuality, fatherhood and motherhood, education and the law. She insisted that if the family is healthy, invariably...

Arlin Robinson first saw his future bride from the back of the mule he rode when delivering the mail in Laurel County. "She go to the window and peek out, so I winked at her through the window," he said, grinning over at his wife of 73 years. The Robinsons will celebrate their 74th anniversary on March 3. "He was handsome," she said simply. "And I bought him then and there," she added, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. The Robinsons' married when he was 19 and she was 18. They left Kentucky's mountains and moved to Owen...

School looks to expand single-gender classes MURRIETA ----- How do you get middle-school students ---- many of whom who are going through puberty and discovering the opposite sex ---- to pay attention to their classroom studies? One Murrieta principal thinks he has the answer, and it's a pretty simple one. Separate the boys from the girls. Thompson Middle School Principal Dale Velk is scheduled to go before the Murrieta Valley Unified School District board of trustees this week to talk about his plans to start a pilot program at his school next August in which a handful of classes would...

When two halves don't make a wholeA Christian Science perspective on daily lifeIt was going to be the perfect visit. My girlfriend and I curled up on either end of our living room sofa, each with a cup of tea, in anticipation of some needed girl talk. We'd both recently come through some difficult times. Intuitively we knew that the thread of love we felt for each other was perfect for mending some of our ragged edges. As we started talking, I was taken aback by a flood of tears, regrets, and fear of the future, which poured out of...