AUTHORS CALL ON CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERS TO "CLEAN UP" YOUTH CURRICULA:

               STOP DEATH EDUCATION & UNDERMINING AUTHORITY

                                                                                                                    Vol. XII, No. 7, August 1999

Responding to the cultural debate surrounding the recent student suicide/killings in Littleton, Colorado, authors of the newly released book, Spiritual Junk Food: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth, are calling on major Christian publishers to clean up curricula written for Sunday School and church youth groups claiming they are feeding-into and embracing the same liberal teaching methods that share in the responsibility for a confused generation of American youth.

Drawing from 15 years of experience in public education issues, co-authors, Cathy Mickels, and Audrey Mckeever, state, "Given the magnitude of moral chaos in our nation, we need adults to start acting like they know more than the kids. Instead, today, we have popular material for Christian youth leaders instructing them to 'discourage the group from thinking of you as the authority' claiming that with teenagers, the leader's opinions will carry more weight 'the less of an authority figure they appear to be.' Still other material falsely teaches youth leaders that 'youth gain a new respect for leaders when students are allowed to tell leaders what to do.'... THIS IS A 60's RECIPE FOR DISASTER!!"

Mickels and McKeever also say contemporary curricula publishers are embracing the tentacles of death education by distributing material that suggests taking youth to a cemetery to contemplate what they would want on their tombstone, and encouraging group discussion that asks Christian youth, "What do you think is worth killing yourself over?" In addition, they call into question teens role-playing that they are considering suicide, while being instructed to say, "I wish I were dead."

Mrs. Mckeever, who has taught in both public and private schools stated, "We need to ask Christian publishers why are they publishing material that embraces the same teaching methods, and activities deemed ineffective in America's public schools?"

Spiritual Junk Food: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth has the endorsement of leading authorities in their field including: John MacArthur, "Grace To You Radio" pastor and teacher; Gene Edward Veith, cultural editor of WORLD magazine; and Dr. W.R. Coulson, former colleague of Drs. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Audrey McKeever has been a parental rights advocate in her school district for the past 15 years, and Cathy Mickels is the Washington state president of Phyllis Schlafly's conservative organization, Eagle Forum and has been a spokesman on many different pro-family issues in Washington state.

For more information or to schedule an interview, call Cathy Mickels at 360-354-5644 or Jakasa Promotions at 1-800-981-6179.