Our Takes Daily

How much is your pain worth?
Los Angeles Times (registration site)
It's not something many survivors of priest sexual abuse talk about, even with each other. But behind the record $660-million settlement announced this week lurks an uncomfortable reality: Some people's pain is worth more than others'.

Killing abstinence programs
New York Times (registration site)
Abstinence education programs are fighting serious threats to their future. Eleven state health departments rejected abstinence education this year, while legislatures in Colorado, Iowa and Washington passed laws that could kill, or at least wound, its presence in public schools. Opponents received high-caliber ammunition this spring when the most comprehensive study of abstinence education found no sign that it delayed a teenager’s sexual debut. And, after enjoying a fivefold increase in their main federal appropriations, the abstinence programs in June received their first cut in financing from the Senate appropriations committee since 2001.

More Christian wizards in the wings
Washington Post (registration site)
As the days tick down until Saturday, when a breathless world learns the fate of the teenage wizard, a new breed of fantasy fiction, with Potter-style stories, is emerging. But, unlike the Potter books, this genre has overt Christian tones: messiah-like kings who return from the dead, fallen satanic characters and young heroes who undergo profound conversions. What you won't generally find: humans waving wands and performing spells.