The city of Philadelphia has an important message for its 11-year-old residents: sex can be loads of fun, but it’s better “when you’re not worried about getting pregnant or getting an STD.”

That’s right! Through its health department, the “City of Brotherly Love” is reaching out to kids ages 11 to 19 through a new website, takecontrolphilly.org, that appears to exist for one reason: to convince the city’s youth to wear condoms, and to offer to mail them to kids for free.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (left), who for nearly 16 years was one of the most consistently pro-life lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, continued his track record by signing two new state laws April 13 aimed at protecting pre-born babies.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has struck down a law passed by voters in 2008 that prohibited cohabiting couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents, limiting the process to single individuals or married couples.

The city known for country music and hospitality can now boast a new “gay friendly” business atmosphere. By a vote of 21-15 the Nashville City Council passed an “anti-discrimination” ordinance on April 5 making it illegal for companies that do business with the city to discriminate in their hiring policies based sexual orientation or gender identity.

In what an abortion research group has called a first in the United States, pro-life Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed legislation outlawing abortion based on the race or gender of a baby.

On March 29 the Indiana State Senate overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage. The 40-to-10 vote came on the heels of passage of the amendment in the state House by a 70 to 26 margin. “The basic unit of our society is a family, and I think the cornerstone of a family is a marriage, a man and a woman having children,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican State Senator Dennis Kruse.

A recent survey supposedly showing that Catholics are increasingly supportive of homosexual marriage was actually funded in part by a homosexual activist group, charged a prominent Catholic writer and cultural observer.

A recent report from American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that teens who spend too much time texting and surfing social media websites may be placing themselves at greater risk for depression. While Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social media sites can help young people keep in touch with friends and relatives, the report in the April issue of Pediatrics noted that too much time on such sites, along with other online activities such as texting and instant messaging, can keep young people isolated and may lead to depression.

The founder of the creationist group Answers in Genesis (AIG) and one of the chief architects of the planned “Ark Encounter” creationist museum in Kentucky, has been un-invited from two important home school conferences because of controversial comments he made about another conference speaker. As reported by OneNewsNow.com, the sponsor of the conferences, Great Homeschool Conventions, e-mailed noted creationist Dr. Ken Ham to inform him that he was no longer welcome at scheduled or future events because of “ungodly” and “mean-spirited” statements he had made about the convention and other speakers.

Skeptics, it seems, have been trying to kill religion for the past several decades. Back in 1966, playing off the famous declaration by unhinged German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a Time magazine cover story asked the rhetorical question, “Is God Dead Yet?” In the ensuing years, He has proven Himself very much alive, with a continuing interest in the affairs of men. But humanity’s apparent interest in Him has waxed and waned depending on its collective mood at any given time — with enthusiasm for all things divine being at a sufficiently low ebb for three American researchers to predict recently that religion itself may actually become extinct, or close to it, in nine nations over the next several years.