Most Republicans doubt Darwin. Republicans are far more likely to doubt the theory of evolution than Democrats, a new Gallup Poll revealed. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans say they doubt humans evolved from lower life forms over millions of years; only 40 percent of Democrats hold the view. In a separate Gallup poll this May, respondents were asked to choose between three hypotheses about human origin and development. Just 14 percent believed God had no part in the process, while 43 percent believed God created man in present form. A full 38 percent took a centrist view, affirming that man evolved but God guided the process. The poll also found a correlation between church attendance and belief in evolution. Those who seldom or never attend church are three times more likely to be evolutionists than those who attend church weekly. (RNS)
Bishop urges three-minute Sabbath in transit. An Anglican bishop has asked thousands of British rail commuters to spend a few minutes each day doing precisely nothing. To help them keep track of the three minutes of stress-beating silence he was urging upon them, Stephen Cottrell handed out miniature egg timers—which he called the “gift of time”—to travelers as they rushed by him at the train station. “By learning to sit still, slow down, by discerning when to shut up and when to speak out, you learn to travel through life differently,” Cottrell said. The cleric took his cue from a recent study by Britain's University of Hertfordshire that found the walking speeds in 32 cities around the world had increased by 10 percent over the past decade. (RNS)
Ministry seeks to make fishers of men. Ed Trainer takes men and boys out fishing on the waters of British Columbia, Alaska and beyond to teach them about God. His group, International Fishing Ministries, rose up out of Trainer's passion for fishing, his frustration with traditional worship and statistics suggesting women populate most church pews. “Church is too boring for men,” Trainer said. “Church is set up like a country club for women. For me, after five minutes of a sermon, I'm off in my mind fishing on some stream somewhere. … We decided to go out into God's creation, pointing men to a Christian experience through fishing.” Trainer figures about 10 to 15 percent of the men who go fishing with him make a lasting faith commitment to Jesus Christ. (RNS)
Twins provide unique perspective on cell debate. When President Bush vetoed a bill June 20 that would have provided federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Mike and Nicole Bell of Traverse City, Mich., rejoiced. The Bells have two children, 17-month-old twins Michael and Paige, born via a relatively new method called embryo adoption. Michael and Paige once were so-called leftover embryos, stored frozen in a lab—the same type of embryos many scientists want to use for research. The Bells adopted Michael and Paige as embryos through the National Embryo Donation Center (embryodonation.org), a Knoxville, Tenn.-based organization that works to promote both embryo donation and adoption. The nonprofit center stores embryos donated from couples who have undergone In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and then matches those same embryos with infertile couples. (BP)