Moral climate poor, Americans say. Three out of four Americans grade the country’s moral climate at a “C” or below, according to a recent poll. The Public Religion Research Institute/Religion News Service poll found Americans older than 65 (46 percent) are more likely than adults under 35 (25 percent) to grade the country’s moral climate with a “D” or an “F.” The poll found that half of Americans rate the country’s moral climate as the same as other industrialized nations; 22 percent thought it was better; and 24 percent thought it was worse. The PRRI/RNS Religion News Poll was based on telephone interviews of 1,006 U.S. adults between Jan. 13 and 16. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
British YWCA drops Christian affiliation. The British branch of the YWCA has dropped “Christian” from its official name because it “no longer stood for what we are or what we do,” the women’s charity has announced. After 155 years, the Young Women’s Chris-tian Association will now be known as Platform 51, the charity said in an announcement carried on its website. The organization said its new name “more accurately represents what we are or what we do—51 percent of people are female, and girls and women use us as a platform to have their say.” According to the Daily Mail newspaper in London, the name change underscores a growing rift between the charity’s members in England and Wales and the global YWCA. The newspaper quoted YWCA spokeswoman Sylvie Jacquat at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva as saying none of the YWCA’s other 124 branches around the world are contemplating a similar change.
Religious leaders praise new Cuba policy. Faith leaders with long-term ties to Cuban organizations hailed a change in White House policy that reduces limits on religious travel to the island nation. The White House announced Jan. 14 President Obama had directed changes that include permitting religious organizations to sponsor trips through a general license. The administration also will create a general license that permits remittances to religious institutions in Cuba that support religious activities. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, called the change “an important first step toward more just and open relations between the U.S. and Cuba.”
–Compiled from Religion News Service