Disney phone offers parental controls
Now parents who want to give their children the independence associated with carrying a cell phone can also monitor how long the kids talk on them and even who they exchange calls with, thanks to a new wireless service introduced by Walt Disney Co. April 5.
The phones, designed for 10- to 15-year-olds, allow parents to set spending limits on phone bills by restricting the number of minutes they can use and the number of text messages and photos transmitted. Parents can set the hours the phone can be used, which means they can block out school time, and they can determine what numbers the children can dial. Disney Mobile even comes with Global Positioning System technology, which allows parents to track the location of their children’s phones. For additional safety, parents can program the home number always to be available in case of an emergency.
The phones, which cost about $60 with a two-year service agreement powered by Sprint, should be available in June.
Amendment support doesn’t violate IRS code
Churches can support proposed constitutional marriage amendments without any fear of losing their tax-exempt status, an attorney with a religious liberty organization says. Seven states are scheduled to vote on marriage amendments this year, and conservatives in two others – Arizona and Colorado – are gathering signatures with the goal of being added to that list.
Gary McCaleb, senior counsel with the Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, said pastors can voice support for the amendments from the pulpit and churches can assist in petition drives without fear of reprisal from the Internal Revenue Service. “In respect to their Internal Revenue Service tax exemption, they have a lot of liberty and leeway to support a ballot initiative,” McCaleb said. “As long as what they do is an insubstantial amount of their total budget, they’re pretty much free to do whatever they want in support of, or opposition to, the ballot initiative.”
Nineteen states have adopted marriage amendments, and churches have been critical to their passage in nearly every instance.
The seven states scheduled to vote on marriage amendment this year are Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Majority of Americans don’t believe in evolution
Once again, a nationwide poll shows that Americans are prone not to believe in evolution – even if many academic leaders and media members do.
The CBS News poll, conducted April 6-9, asked two subgroups of adults different questions about man’s origins. Although their answers varied depending on the question, in each instance they rejected secular evolution – that is, the belief that God was not involved at all in the process.
In the first subgroup, 53 percent of adults agreed that “God created human beings in their present form.” Twenty-three percent believed that “human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, but God guided the process,” and 17 percent believed that human beings evolved but “God did not directly guide” it. The subgroup included 468 adults.
In the second subgroup, 44 percent agreed with the statement that “God created human beings in their present form within the last ten thousand years.” The rest of the question was identical to the one posed to the first subgroup. In this instance, 30 percent believed that God guided evolution, and 17 percent believed in secular evolution. This subgroup included 431 adults.