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Focus on the Family Heads East


China Mapx390 (Photos.com) | Advocate.com

Focus on the Family is teaming up with the ministry of education in China's Yunnan province to bring its abstinence-only curriculum to the region's teenagers.

More than 500 teachers from half the school districts in Yunnan were trained to teach the curriculum in government-backed seminars last week, according to The Washington Post.  Focus on the Family officials said they plan to pilot the abstinence programs at two school districts this year. However, provincial officials said the training is primarily for teachers, and the curriculum will not necessarily be taught directly to students.

The partnership is a milestone for the conservative Christian organization, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., which has struggled to make inroads in Chinese society. While the Communist Party has shown skepticism over evangelical organizations, the Chinese government wants to control the population, therefore possibly boosting Focus on the Family's presence in the most populous country in the world. In contrast to its more traditional material, Focus on the Family had to agree that the information taught in China be void of politically sensitive messages or religion.

Still, as premarital sex and HIV/AIDS are on the rise in China, condom companies are also vying to capture the massive market of 1.3 billion people.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: JasonBR
    Date posted: 9/8/2010 2:37:04 PM
    Hometown: Baton Rouge

    Comment:

    Like they don't already have enough problems in China...

  • Name: Greg
    Date posted: 9/8/2010 7:44:19 AM
    Hometown: Providence RI

    Comment:

    sjames6621: What is this strange obsession some Catholics have with wanting Hitler to be barred from receiving communion? That's all "excommunication" is, you know!

  • Name: sjames6621
    Date posted: 9/8/2010 1:09:13 AM
    Hometown: baltimore

    Comment:

    Focus of the fascists only real goal is more minds to corrupt. Hardly different then the cAtholic church. BTW, hitler wanted more babies also, but he was more explicit about it - he needed them for his wehrmacht (self defense forces - their draftee army). He is also still an UNexcommunciated catholic.

  • Name: corrective_unconscious
    Date posted: 9/7/2010 9:54:43 AM
    Hometown: Altoona, PA

    Comment:

    The article failed to include even semi explicit photos of the baggage handlers whose time Focus on the Family will buy when heading to China....

  • Name: Carl
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 10:42:49 PM
    Hometown: Omaha

    Comment:

    Hey Focus on the Family: guess what happens when you add abstinence-only sex education to a country with a one-child policy? Oh, that's right, geniuses, forced abortion.

  • Name: Tom
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 7:35:01 PM
    Hometown: Cocoa Beach

    Comment:

    By the year 2020, China is going to have something like 20 million more bachelors than bacheloretts. If these boys can't find each other they're already going to be practicing abstinence only. And for those that can't make abstinence work, there is still only one child per family. Accidents, and unexpected problems can quickly turn into a forced abortion, or a forced sterilization. Perhaps the Family needs to reconsider their focus? The overpopulation problems in China are at odds with ignorant birth control practices, and 1.3 billion people aren't likely to risk a single chance at a child to a risky practice.

  • Name: Jay
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 6:37:27 PM
    Hometown: Nashville TN

    Comment:

    Good. Let those Focus on the Family yahoos waste their time and money in China for a while. Taking bets on how long it will be before China to get irritated by them and tosses them out of the country.

  • Name: Cris
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 4:48:50 PM
    Hometown: Austin

    Comment:

    There's plenty of research indicating that abstinence only education is ineffective. Our government needs to tell Yunnan Province's government that it's being misinformed - before their teen pregnancy rates increase, FOF makes scads of money unethically, and LGBT rights in China is potentially set back. Btw Advocate, you might want to say "heads to China" instead of "heads east" in your headline. I skipped over this article a couple of times thinking that they were just heading to the East Coast.

  • Name: I Ching
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 4:02:31 PM
    Hometown: Hexagram 10

    Comment:

    Six in the third place means: A one-eyed man is able to see. A lame man is able to tread. He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune.

  • Name: shawn
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 3:53:10 PM
    Hometown: shawn's peak

    Comment:

    Wonder if these poor chinamen know exactly what their getting into here? I'm somewhat curious as to know how and WHY these folks ever signed on with the Focus On The Fascists mob to begin with. Can't their own government implement population lowering legislation on their own???



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