Our Takes Daily

A cure for thinness obsession
Christian Science Monitor
A recent survey about girls' obsession with thinness leaves one author wondering if the destructive trend occurs because of a lack of faith. "We were raised largely without a fundamental sense of divinity," Courtney Martin writes. "In fact, our worth in the world has always been tied to our looks, grades, and gifts -- not the amazing miracle of mere existence." A movement should be afoot to cherish a person's spirit and sacredness as a human being instead of their size.

Who are Mormons?
Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the fourth largest religion in the United States today, and one of the most misunderstood, according to PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. With the church in the limelight because of the presidential candidacy of Mormon Mitt Romney, church leaders answer questions about what they believe and respond to critics? claims, such as those who say there is little historical documentation for their teachings.

Kids behave with religion
Fox News
Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development, according to a new study by a Mississippi State University sociologist. The conflict that arises when parents regularly argue over their faith at home, however, has the opposite effect. Religion is beneficial to children for several reasons, not the least that it promotes values that are pro-family and self-sacrificial, the sociologist says.