A new study in Italy showed recently that twins, while in utero, make deliberate and directed movements to touch each other from the 14^th week of gestation.

This is the first time that a study of twins in the womb showed that they touch each other intentionally. In the past similar studies were conducted past the 11^th week of gestation, but only examined reflex actions, LifeSiteNews reported.

The new study was conducted by Dr. Umberto Castiello, University of Padova and his associates, using advanced ultrasonography that recorded the movement of the twins in 3D, LifeSiteNews said.

In the study, the researchers said, “Unlike ordinary siblings, twins share a most important environment – the uterus. If a predisposition towards social interaction is present before birth, one may expect twin fetuses to engage in some form of interaction,” LifeSiteNews reported.

Methodology

The premise of the study recognizes that when babies are born, one-to-one interactions are the beginning of social cognition. But, the study said, babies can’t develop just by watching, but need to also touch and have reciprocal interactions, like copying facial movements.

The study questions further, do babies have a propensity to interact even before birth, when they are still in the womb? The study differentiated reflex movements from intentional movements, referring to a 2007 study by Zoia et. al.

In the Zoia study, 22-week-old fetuses were seen in utero to have three hand movements that were goal directed, namely “movements ending at contact of fingers with the mouth, movements ending at contact of fingers with the eye, and movements directed away from the body, towards the uterine wall.”

In the experiment, five pairs of twins from low-risk pregnant mothers were examined in utero on the 14^th and 18^th weeks of gestation. Each recording session was 20 minutes long, LifeSiteNews reported.

On the 14^th week the twins were seen touching themselves and the uterine wall. There was also contact “head to head, head to arm and arm to head,” the study said. However, from the 15^th to 22^nd week, “intra-pair contact becomes a constant and increasing feature of all twin pregnancies.”

LifeSiteNews reported that interest in their twin rose three times as high, and 30 percent of total movement was aimed at the sibling. The movements also lasted longer, LifeSiteNews said.

The study said “[Between the 14^th and 18^th weeks] kinematic analysis revealed that movement duration was longer and deceleration time was prolonged for other-directed movements compared to movements directed towards the uterine wall. Similar kinematic profiles were observed for movements directed towards the co-twin and self-directed movements aimed at the eye region.”

The study showed that the increase of movement towards the twin was consistent among all sets of twins that were examined in utero adding, “When the context enables it, as in the case of twin fetuses, other-directed actions are not only possible but predominant over self-directed actions,” LifeSiteNews reported.

Some Christians feel the BBC TV series, The Nativity, is not faithful enough to the bible, while others believe that by lending a human perspective to the story, the birth of Christ becomes a more genuinely felt experience for both the churched and unchurched.

The Nativity, written by Tony Jordan, is a four-part series that is being aired on BBC during Christmas week. The Daily Express said some Christians are outraged at scenes where a 15-year-old pregnant Mary is being accused by Joseph of “whoring” or rape, and another where people attack her because they don’t believe she was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Stephen Green of Christian Voice said the gospels only say Joseph was suspicious, but mentions no violence or verbal abuse. He also said children who do nativity plays at school may be confused, The Daily Express said.

Green told The Daily Express, “They wouldn’t mock the birth of Muhammad, or anything to do with his life story. They wouldn’t ridicule Hinduism or Sikhism, but Christianity is their big target.”

Churched and unchurched

Jordan however said that he wanted a film that both the churched and unchurched would appreciate. He told The Telegraph, “I want people who have no particular faith, who don’t watch the God Channels, to watch this nativity. And if they have faith, to reinforce it. And if they haven’t, to make them think, ‘Wow, I don’t know, maybe…’”

Noting that unbelievers tend to laugh at the idea of Jesus being born to a virgin, Jordan made that the centerpiece of the story. “The story has been hidden because people couldn’t get past that first bit,” He told The Telegraph.

The Nativity focuses on the tension and romance between Mary and Joseph. Jordan told The Daily Express, “I think it perfectly believable that Joseph should get angry with his betrothed and only agree to take her with him to Bethlehem when she risks being stoned by angry neighbors.”

The journey to Nazareth takes on a new twist. Jordan told The Telegraph, “In my version they hate each other for the whole journey, but come together at the end through Joseph discovering faith.”

Some might say it is “wholesale revisionism,” but Jordan kept true to the essence of the gospel and researched so carefully as to call NASA scientists to get a detailed understanding of the Star of Bethlehem, The Telegraph said.

The writer’s favorite character is a shepherd burdened with debt and an ailing wife. People tell him God will take care of him, but Jordan tells The Telegraph, “When you’re unemployed and your wife is dying, that’s…hard to take.” At the end of the story however the shepherd kisses the feet of Baby Jesus.

Actress Tatiana Maslany, who plays Mary, said the story is about enduring love “even in the most difficult circumstances.” Andrew Buchan, who plays Joseph compares his character to any man today “who goes away and comes back to find his wife or girlfriend pregnant. Of course he’s going to … challenge her,” The Daily Express reported.

The Church of England says the series is “a gritty interpretation of the events of the first Christmas. We hope it will bring home the story of Jesus being born in a humble stable to many new viewers,” according to The Daily Express.

Independent Catholic News notes that Jesus is described throughout the series as a “bridge between heaven and earth,” and cites the irony of the couple’s journey through a barren desert of extreme temperatures looking for a place where Mary can safely give birth to Jesus.

The Church Media Network clarifies that the series is a drama that is sourced from the gospels but is not an exercise in evangelism. However, the series can be used as a tool to open up dialogue about Jesus and what his birth means to the world, according to their website.

Amid stepped up violence against Christians in Iraq, many Iraqis have fled to neighboring Jordan as a stepping stone to get to the U.S., Australia, Canada or Europe.

According to the AFP, many Christians fled to Jordan because of threats from the radical Shiite Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr. However, after the Oct. 31 attack on Baghdad’s Syriac Catholic cathedral, the numbers have increased.

One Christian, Moayed (who would not give his last name), told the AFP he fled Iraq after the radical Shiite Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr blew up his supermarket and told him to leave because “there is no room here for Christians.”

Mohannad Najem told the AFP, “Churches in Iraq no longer issue birth certificates in order to contain the exile of Christians.” He fled to Jordan with his wife and four little children because the Mahdi Army told him that unless he paid $1,000 a month, his children would be killed one by one.

Uday Hikmat, 33, told the AFP he and his parents left Iraq three days after the church massacre. With his birth certificate, he hopes to complete documentation for an emigration visa to Canada.

Flawed U.S. State Department report

Meanwhile, Muslim and Christian leaders in Jordan disputed report recent U.S. State Department report on religious freedoms, which said Jordan discriminates against citizens who convert to other faiths, The Jordan Times said.

The report said, “While relations between Muslims and Christians generally were good, adherents of unrecognized religions and Muslims who converted to other religions faced societal discrimination and the threat of mental and physical abuse,” The Jordan Times reported.

According to The Jordan Times the report said, “The [Jordan] government continued to harass some citizens and resident foreign groups suspected of proselytizing Muslims and a few Muslim converts to Christianity, including by attempting to induce them to revert to Islam. But the intensity of the harassment declined during the reporting period.”

Muslim and Christian leaders said the report cites individual cases that don’t represent the country. Father Nabil Haddad of the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center told The Jordan Times, “We have never had any difficulties in setting up churches or religious schools to teach our congregation the rituals of Christianity.”

Hamzah Mansour of the Islamic Action Front, the political wing of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood told The Jordan Times, “Muslims and Christians…are one people and we have never had any problems with coexistence.”

Both faith leaders agreed that the resistance is against foreign missionary activities in Jordan–not against both faiths, according to The Jordan Times.

The U.S. State Department report said Jordan’s Constitution, penal code and civil law do not ban conversion, nor proselytizing Muslims. However, because primacy is given by the government to Sharia law, it takes precedence over Muslims’ personal lives and prohibits conversion, The Jordan Times said.

The State Department report said that Sharia “infringes upon the religious rights and freedoms laid out in the Constitution by prohibiting conversion from Islam and discriminating against religious minorities in some matters relating to family law.”

A Philippine tourist guide pleaded “not guilty” to charges of “offending religious feelings” when he went inside a Catholic cathedral in Manila by himself while an ecumenical church service was going on, and decried the stand church’s stand on birth control.

Carlos Celdran was arrested on Sept. 30 when he entered the Manila Cathedral alone, dressed as Filipino national hero Jose Rizal, and carrying a sign that said “Damaso,” (a corrupt and abusive priest in Rizal’s novel, “Noli Me Tangere”), GMA 7 said. As Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales was preaching, Celdran stood at the cathedral’s main altar and yelled, “stop getting involved in politics.”

He was referring to the Catholic Church’s stance against RH bill 96, which would allow government hospitals to distribute condoms and other means of artificial birth control to the public, GMA 7 reported. The Catholic Church had threatened President Benigno S. Aquino with civil disobedience, and one bishop talked about excommunication, if Aquino pursued the bill. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/09/aquino-appeals-to-philippine-bishops-amid-civil-disobedience-threat-13891).

Celdran had walked into an ecumenical mass that was attended by the Papal nuncio Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, other dignitaries of the clergy, heads of other faiths, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and other government officials, according to GMA 7. He has been charged by Monsignor Nestor Cerbo, rector of Manila Cathedral, for violating Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code which forbids “offending religious feelings,” GMA 7 said.

Article 133 says “the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony, shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful,” according to GMA 7.

The tourist guide has gained local cult status for his bitingly humorous, historical/political city tours, which are often attended not just by foreigners but by Filipinos who live in the city, as well. Celdran is known to distribute condoms—which are available in any drugstore–to residents of Intramuros, where the Manila Cathedral is.

At his arraignment Thursday at the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Celdran, again wearing his Jose Rizal suit, pleaded “not guilty” before Manila Judge Alfonso Ruiz. He told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he wore the costume again to remind the public of the RH bill, and “because it is Halloween.” He added that he pleaded not guilty because “I did not say anything offensive.”

During his arraignment some 20 supporters showed up wearing white shirts that said “DAMASO” and “Pass the RH Bill.” Also present at the court hearing was Atty. Reynaldo Reyes, counsel for Cerbo (who filed the charges against Celdran), the Philippine Daily Inquirer said. Reyes said his client may consider forgiveness if Celdran makes a public apology, noting that the Catholic Church does forgive those who repent, ABS-CBN reported.

Celdran told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he has already apologized for his method of protest, but he refuses to apologize for his support of the RH bill. Celdran’s counsel, Atty. Marlon Manuel said his client would consider settling if the Catholic Church will not insist that Celdran admits that he offended religious feelings.

Judge Ruiz set Celdran’s pre-trial hearing for December 7, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III urged recently the Catholic bishops to calm down and to await a planned dialogue, after the bishops had threatened to launch a civil disobedience campaign over the pending reproductive health bill.

The Palace said they will hold a dialogue with the powerful and influential Catholic church after it has consulted with lay leaders on R.H. bill 96, which is pending in Congress, GMA News said.

If passed, the bill will require sex education in primary and secondary public schools, and call for the purchase of contraceptives by state hospitals as part of its essential medicines and supplies, according to the CBCP website.

The Catholic church only permits natural methods of birth control and claims that artificial methods of birth control will promote promiscuity and increase abortions. Eighty percent of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic, GMA News reported.

The church went up in arms after Aquino (who is on a seven-day visit in the U.S.) said in a U.S. televised interview that determining the size of one’s family is a personal choice, the AFP said.

Aquino said, “The government is obligated to inform everybody of their responsibilities and their choices. At the end of the day, government might provide assistance to those who are without means if they want to employ a particular method,” the AFP reported.

Aquino added, “I believe the couple will be in the best position to determine what is best for the family, how to space (the births), what methods they can rely on and so forth. They face the responsibility for the children that they bring in and government is willing to assist them,” according to the AFP.

Civil disobedience threatened

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said, “If the RH bill becomes law, we will advise Catholics not to follow it…the Church considers as non-negotiable its opposition to artificial contraception,” GMA News reported.

Iniguez blamed Aquino’s stance on artificial contraception on the fresh aid from the United States which includes a $434-million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corp., GMA News said.

In the CBCP website Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the bishops’ Commission on Family and Life said, “It’s no secret that the US and other foreign nations have tried to pressure the Philippine government for a more aggressive birth control program.”

In the past the bishops had often condemned the USAID, United Nations Population Fund and other international aid agencies which Castro said have been pressuring lawmakers to push the reproductive health (RH) bill, according to their website.

Castro expressed fear that with Aquino’s recent support for artificial contraception, the possible passage of the RH bill is further strengthened. He noted that while Aquino was always a strong advocate of the measure, he was relatively silent on the issue during the campaign period, the CBCP website said.

The Philippines estimates its 2010 population at 94.01 million, up from 76.5 million in the 2000 census and making it the 12th most populous nation in the world AFP.

The president of a Christian association was invited recently to attend the international Islamic Conference in Llorin, Nigeria.

Bishop Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria will attend the formal opening of the Islamic Conference on Sept. 16. The event, which is being organized by the World Muslim Conference, seeks to promote understanding, interaction and world peace, All Africa said.

The World Muslim Conference seeks “to work for a world of co-existence through inclusiveness and participation. As a member of diverse family of religions…we believe what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world, and vice versa, to sustain it,” its website says.

They also say on their website, “To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation.”

The World Muslim Conference has been active in causes that forward greater tolerance of different faiths. Recently it protested a decision by Malaysia’s Penang High Court which denied Siti Hasnah Banggarma, 28, the freedom to return to Hinduism, her faith of birth, Free Malaysia Today said.

Banggarma was forced to convert to Islamism at age seven when she was in a government orphanage. She married a Hindu at a later age but could not register her marriage nor place her husband’s name on the birth certificates of their children, Free Malaysia Today said.

Under Malaysian law, non-Muslims who marry a Muslim must first convert before the marriage is considered legal. In a statement the World Muslim Conference asked for a reversal of the judge’s decision citing their scripture which said, ” … Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error …” [2:256]” Free Malaysia Today said.

Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim of the organizing committee said the congress will seek to educate and enlighten people on the teachings of Islam, and particularly, to raise the awareness and knowledge of Islam among the youth, All Africa said.

A Pew survey released last month showed that four out of ten infants, or 41 percent, are born to unmarried mothers.

The Pew Research Center study compares women who gave birth in 1990 to those who gave birth in 2008.

It also showed that out of the 41 percent (or 1.7 million babies of unwed mothers), more than half or 59 percent were younger than 25, their website says.

In terms of ethnicity, the highest ratio is blacks (72 percent) followed by Hispanics (53 percent).

However, Hispanics and whites (29 percent) showed the most increase. Asians were a t17 percent, the Pew Research website showed.

Many of the single mothers were living with their partner although unmarried at time of birth. However unwed couples separate twice as much as do married couples, the Sunday Gazette Mail said.

President Obama launched recently a Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative to strengthen families.

 In his speech he said, “My own father left my family when I was 2 years old. I was raised by a heroic mother and wonderful grandparents who provided the support, discipline and love that helped me get to where I am today, but I still felt the weight of that absence throughout my childhood. It’s something that leaves a hole no government can fill. Studies show that children who grow up without their fathers around are more likely to drop out of high school, go to jail, or become teen fathers themselves,” Sunday Gazette Mail reported.

However Obama’s speech also raised controversy when he acknowledged gay parents saying, “nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a stepfather, a grandfather, or a caring guardian,” CNN said.

This raised the ire of Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council who said, “The President couldn’t resist a shout-out to his homosexual base, marring what should have been a powerful acknowledgement of the family’s importance in American life,” CNN said.

However John Sowers of The Mentoring Project, a Christian group from Portland, Oregon, did not object to the inclusive statement. “We pretty much work with Christian churches. We pretty much have a conservative base. We engage in faith based Christian training, based on love. We don’t discriminate. We focus on the kids,” CNN reported.

Sowers, who also grew up fatherless since he was two years old, authored the book Fatherless Generation. He said, “I had a father shaped hole in my heart [but] the Bible says God is father to the fatherless,” CNN reported.

In his speech Obama said, “Our children don’t need us to be superheros. They don’t need us to be perfect. They do need us to be present. They need us to show up and give it our best shot,” the Sunday Gazette Mail said.

The birth control pill has turned 50.

However, today birth control has evolved into many new forms of hormonal contraception.

At the same time, new forms of natural birth control have emerged, too.  Women have more options, and yet on the birth control pill’s 50^th anniversary, new information has emerged widening the debate on the safety of the pill, enlarging the potential side effects, and leading millennial Christians to rethink their positions on birth control.

New natural birth control methods

The website Christian Contraception has listed new natural methods of birth control, aside from abstention and the calendar-rhythm method.  These include the more accurate symptothermal method using a basal thermometer and watching for body signs that indicate ovulation.  Couples require training from a certified natural family planning instructor to use this method effectively.

Another method is the standard days method, which uses CycleBeads and works best for women with regular menstrual cycles.  A third innovation, the fertility computer, is a handheld device that tells a woman which days she is fertile.  Some devices test a woman’s urine, others test her basal temperature.  All these natural methods are approved by the Roman Catholic church.

New hormonal contraception

The birth control pill uses synthetic hormones to inhibit the release of an egg to prevent fertilization.  It can also prevent implantation.  Hormonal contraception comes in new forms aside from oral contraceptives, including the vaginal ring, contraceptive patch, the mini pill, injectables and some intrauterine devices.  Christian Contraceptives says all these methods may pose a risk to preborn life in the earliest stages of development, and they advise against its use.

Changed Perceptions

Here are some changed perceptions that have emerged in the last 50 years since the birth control pill was introduced.

• Initially, Protestants, Catholics, Western and Eastern Orthodox faiths were against the pill.  Today, the Catholics still endorse only natural birth control methods.
• Sex was once considered immoral even among married couples if it was done outside of the purpose of procreation.
• Women’s primary role was that of wife and mother.
• Protestants began to endorse the Pill in the middle of the 20^th century.

New reasons for old beliefs

Christian women today are also finding new reasons for old beliefs.  For example Amy Julia Becker, in Christianity Today, wrote of how she had used the pill for a decade so she could enjoy life more with her husband.  Today she still has no regrets about taking the pill, but says that her reason is more for stewardship than for the pleasure of being a young bride.  By being able to plan her family she has experienced greater economic stability, improved health, and had greater access to education and career choices.  “Choosing to limit family size can be a way to demonstrate care and stewardship of God’s creation more generally,” Becker said.

Dr. Walter L. Larimore, MD on the other hand experienced a change in attitude towards hormonal contraception after having used it himself and having prescribed it since 1978.

The change of heart came after he encountered studies indicating the pill could have a post fertilization effect, causing the unrecognized loss of preborn children.  Larimore did his own research, consulted ethicists and pastors, debated and prayed.  In 1998 he stopped prescribing the pill.  In the Christian Contraception website he wrote, “As a family physician, my career has been committed to family care from conception to death. Since the evidence indicated to me that the pill could have a post fertilization effect, I felt I could no longer, in good conscience, prescribe it–especially since viable alternatives are available.”

Continued debate

Fifty years after the birth control pill, the debate has enlarged to include new considerations—including the larger role that women play in society today, and external issues families face, including economics and overpopulation.  Individual choice in the end must primarily be guided by prayer, counsel and biblical reference.