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An Evangelical College in Manhattan, Where the Sin Is 

It is the King's College, an evangelical Christian school that is all but hidden in plain sight, occupying three of the building's floors -- two of them subterranean -- since 1999. On the one hand, it seems apt that a school claiming close adherence to God's word would occupy New York's tallest skyscraper.

On the other hand, most of the college's 258 students are politically and economically conservative, opposed to abortion and generally against gay marriage, drunkenness and premarital sex. The polar opposites, in other words, of the kind of boozing, godless, kick-up-your-heels, bed-hopping liberals that Manhattan supposedly draws.

Which raises a question: What is an evangelical Christian college doing in the middle of New York? . . .

Unlike many other Christian schools, the King's College does not ban dancing, drinking, gambling, smoking or premarital sex. Still, with the exceptions of smoking and dancing, its students say they are far less likely to indulge in such pastimes than most other college students in town.

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Native high school students create anti-smoking PSAs 

The Northern California Indian Development Council's Sacred Smoke Project has released a series of student-created public service announcements on the impact of commercial tobacco in the American Indian community.

The PSAs were created by NCIDC's Tobacco Use Prevention Education program, the goal of which is to introduce students to the dangers associated with the abuse of commercial tobacco in order to prevent future generations from becoming nicotine addicts. The short messages were the product of the Hoopa Valley High School.

According to the NCIDC's Tobacco Use Prevention Education Web site, in Humboldt County nearly 22 percent of students smoke commercial tobacco and 7 percent chew on a regular basis.

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Pilgrims to take Haj pledge to quit smoking 

Saudi Arabia under the Tobacco Control Program will launch a no-smoking campaign during Haj to ensure that the two holy cities and other ritual sites remain tobacco-free areas.

Dr. Abdullah Muhammad Bidah, Supervisor-General of the Tobacco Control Program (TCP), Ministry of HealthMinistry of Health, said preparations are underway to educate pilgrims about the harmful effects of smoking and other uses of tobacco.

He said for a pilgrim who is addicted to smoking, Haj would be the ideal time to quit the habit. "As part of our campaign we coined a slogan for this Haj - "Make Arafat Day, a Quit Smoking Day." The slogan will serve as a pledge taken on the spiritual day of Haj that will enable a pilgrim to quit smoking for the rest of his life," he said.

Among the total number of pilgrims coming from various countries for Haj this year, an estimated 700,000 will be smokers,

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Patriarch Aleksy II, Russian Orthodox Leader, Dies at 79 - Obituary (Obit)  

Patriarch Aleksy II, who as leader of the sprawling Russian Orthodox Church presided over its restoration as a powerful influence in Russian society after decades of Soviet persecution, died on Friday at his country residence in Peredelkino, outside Moscow. He was 79.

Doctors were still trying to determine the cause of death, the Moscow Patriarchate said Friday in announcing his death. Aleksy II was said to have been treated for years for myocardial ischemia, which is a shortage of oxygen to the heart muscle because of narrowed arteries.

Aleksy II oversaw the largest Orthodox church in the world as the spiritual leader of more than 140 million people. . . .

In the 1990s, as the tenets of Communism crumbled and Russia lunged into the free market, the church came under criticism when it was granted concessions for oil, tobacco and alcohol trading. The patriarchate said the money was needed to restore a ravaged church infrastructure, but its critics said the church should not have been involved in such businesses.

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Star athlete, student uses 'positive peer pressure' to keep peers tobacco-free  

Sitting in Central High School's athletic department office, Jauwan Scaife is unassuming and humble; amazingly so.

Scaife's quietness belies the power he has. Power the Central senior wants to use for good, or "positive peer pressure" as Judy Mays, program coordinator for the Minority Tobacco-Free Coalition of Delaware County, calls it.

Chosen as an Indiana High School Athletic Association Role Model for the winter sports season, Scaife is using his influence among his peers to keep them from smoking cigarettes and using tobacco products. The Tobacco Free Coalition of Delaware County and the Minority Tobacco Free Coalition has partnered with the IHSAA campaign to promote tobacco-free living.

Life-size posters of Scaife will be unveiled at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday in room 220 at Central. Southside High School football player Jamill Smith was chosen as the fall role model.

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Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World by Marcy Norton  

Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures, Marcy Norton's excellent new book, is proof that, in the right hands, even a seemingly narrow study can provide significant insight. Her history of tobacco and chocolate tells us much about those commodities and the broader intersection of culture, consumption and statecraft.

Before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, tobacco and chocolate were completely alien to Europeans. . . .

The book's final chapter on politics is a vivid demonstration of the value in cultural analysis. In 1626, Hapsburg Spain was near bankrupt and proposed new taxes on foodstuffs had caused rioting. Chocolate and tobacco, however, occupied a new place in Spanish society; they were prevalent but condemned by the church. "Vices" was the label the government chose, which justified a raft of special taxes that revived the treasury and became more valuable than gold bullion by 1800. It was because of their cultural position that the state could justify these exorbitant taxes in paternalistic terms. A profitable exploitation that, as any nicotine slave will attest, still endures.

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Ulema's conference on tobacco control being held today  

The Ministry of Health will arrange a day long Ulema's conference on tobacco control here on Thursday to build alliance with religious leaders. The objectives of the conference included making strategies to accelerate tobacco control through mosques and to raise the awareness of the Ulema on issues of tobacco use.

The conference will also review the progress since the last Ulema's conference and develop future implementation strategy. Tobacco is global epidemic infiltrating the poorest nations and is the second major cause of death in the world, killing 5 million people every year. Countless epidemiological studies establish that tobacco is the agent for death.

There are about 22 million smokers in the country

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LETTERS: MUI and anti-smoking laws  

House, ulema push for anti-smoking laws  

The continued might of Indonesia's far-reaching tobacco industry is being questioned, with the House of Representatives and an influential ulema group calling for anti-smoking laws.

Legislator Atte Sugandi of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party said Monday a bill being pushed for deliberation by the House would curb tobacco-related advertising, promoting, sponsorships, production and sales.

"Once it is passed into law, there will be no retail cigarette sales for students," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on tobacco farmers.

The House will set up a special committee before the year's end to deliberate the bill, a move that has been delayed for three years.

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• Indonesia Islamic body to debate ban on smoking 

Indonesia's top Islamic body will debate whether to issue a fatwa banning Muslims from smoking when it holds a national gathering early next year, a senior official said on Monday.

Religious councils in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, had previously agreed to ban smoking by children and in public areas, but have not implemented this and stopped short of a total ban.

"Cigarettes are not forbidden but the impact of smoking that tends to dangerous could lead to them being forbidden," said Ma'ruf Amin, head of the fatwa division of the Indonesian Ulemas Council, known as MUI, after meeting cigarette makers.

He said the council had received requests for a ban that would be discussed at its meeting in January, although ulemas from East Java and North Sumatra were opposed to it.

Amin said care should be taken before issuing a ban because the Koran did not explicitly forbid smoking.

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Fighting Cancer with Faith  

It wasn't a scientific or medical breakthrough that helped Chicago native Grace Vincent cope as she waged a successful battle with breast cancer, only to learn of her husband's Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. It wasn't countless hours in expensive psychotherapy that gave her the strength to help nurse her husband, Joseph Vincent, as he fought for his life. Rather, it was her faith in God and the Mayo African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Matteson, IL (a suburb of Chicago) that gave Vincent fortitude during the toughest time of her life.

"The simultaneous diagnoses that the doctors gave - me with breast cancer and my beloved husband with lung cancer - should have been a tragic day," Vincent said. "However, I have faith in God and I know that he will not put more on you than what you can handle, so I decided to not let cancer beat me down. I pledged I would be the strength and the rock that my family needed in order to get my husband through his difficult battle."

After her and her husband's cancer diagnoses, Vincent, then a smoker and mother of two, vowed to fight her addiction to tobacco. She made a plan to quit smoking and stay quit.

The month of November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month

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Methodists Order Pastors To Stop Smoking And Drinking Kava 

Pastors in Fiji's largest and most influential Christian church have been ordered to stop smoking and cannot drink yaqona, Fiji's kava, the Fiji Times reports.

The Methodist Church's 500 pastors and thousands of lay ministers were told to give up the vices for the betterment of their congregations.

The Fiji Methodist Church's vice president, the Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu, said Christians who have given their lives to God are living witnesses of the body of Christ.

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• MBC rejects SR500m deal for tobacco ads 

RIYADH: The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) — the region’s biggest and most popular television network — has made a decision to not telecast tobacco advertisements worth SR500 million, Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie said yesterday.

The minister, who was speaking at a press conference at the Health Ministry, said the decision to ban cigarette commercials on all MBC channels was conveyed to him by MBC Chairman Waleed Al-Ibrahim over the weekend.

Al-Ibrahim said tobacco companies tried to talk him out of the decision and offered to pay more money. “No matter what you do, I will not rescind my decision. No cigarette commercials will be broadcast on the MBC,” Al-Ibrahim told the companies.

Al-Manie said the MBC chairman reaffirmed the television network’s solidarity with the Health Ministry in its campaign against smoking. Al-Manie lauded MBC’s decision, adding that stamping out smoking is not only a religious duty but also a patriotic and humanitarian one.

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No matter what you do, I will not rescind my decision. No cigarette commercials will be broadcast on the MBC.
Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) Chairman Waleed Al-Ibrahim, to tobacco companies.

Butler Turned To God To Kick Nicotine Habit 

Movie star Gerard Butler had an epiphany at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Israel - but it wasn't enough to stop him smoking. . . .

Butler says, "I'm thinking, 'If this guy (Jesus) can die for mankind, the least I can do is quit smoking.

"I really felt an epiphany was happening. I even thought I saw a light around me. Four hours later, I bought a packet of Marlboro Reds. Who am I kidding? I need a cigarette."

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• Catholic Charities apartments are going smoke free in 2009  

A decision to ban smoking in 360 apartments in 18 different communities has drawn both praise and concern.

CCB Housing Management, an affiliate of Catholic Charities Bureau, provides housing to seniors and people with developmental disabilities. On Oct. 1, a letter from CCB to residents detailed a decision to turn the apartments smoke-free on Oct. 1, 2009.

“We’re putting this into effect system-wide,” said Gary Valley, director of housing for CCB Housing Management.

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