The Food and Drug Administration announced its approval of making Plan B or the "morning after" pill available for women as young as 15 years of age without a prescription.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg said in a statement Tuesday that the FDA approved an amended application by Teva Women's Health, Inc. to begin marketing Plan B to women 15 and older sans a prescription.

"Research has shown that access to emergency contraceptive products has the potential to further decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies in the United States," said Hamburg. more >>

Among various Christian groups in the United States, evangelicals were found to be the most "Christ-like," according to the findings of a recently released study on Christians.

Overseen by the Barna Group, the results, released Tuesday, showed that 23 percent of evangelical respondents exhibited both Christ-like actions and attitudes. The 23 percent number puts evangelicals above the other categories, which included "Practicing Protestant" (16 percent), "All Christians" (14 percent), "Practicing Catholic" (14 percent), "Non Evangelical Born Again Christians" (13 percent), and "Notional" (13 percent).

The findings were derived from 1,008 telephone interviews of which 718 respondents self-identified as Christian from Nov. 11 until Nov. 18, 2012. Respondents who identified themselves as Christian were asked 20 questions, ten of which compared their responses to Jesus' actions and attitudes and ten of which compared their responses to the Pharisees of the New Testament. more >>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the nation's largest sponsor of the Boy Scouts of America, is being criticized for endorsing a BSA proposal that would allow gay youths to join local troops while continuing to exclude gay leaders.

"While the church has not launched any campaign either to effect (sic) or prevent a policy change, we have followed the discussion and are satisfied that BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address issues that, as they have said, remain 'among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today,'" said a statement by the church.

The BSA has been considering a change to its current ban on open homosexuals. It released a proposal earlier this month that states: "No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone." While allowing gay members, the Scouts would at the same time maintain its gay ban when it comes to leadership. The BSA's National Council is scheduled to vote on changing its membership policy on May 23. more >>

A ban on gay therapy in New York has been proposed in a bill introduced on Friday, modeled after the 2012 California law that first banned the service.

The bill seeks to ban licensed therapists from helping minors change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.

"There are often challenges to any manner of legislation that is protecting of the LGBT community and you can't sit on your hands and wait until things get resolved somewhere else," said Sen. Deborah Glick, a New York Democrat who proposed the bill alongside fellow Democrat Sen. Michael Gianaris. more >>

The head of an evangelical organization committed to the care and defense of children believes that combatting child abuse and neglect is "putting the Bible into practice."

Tom Pearce, national director for Shepherding the Next Generation, told The Christian Post about the growth of efforts by churches to deal with the issue of child abuse and neglect.

"I see it as something that is going to continue to grow. More and more pastors all around the country are realizing … the need within their community," said Pearce. more >>

NEW YORK – Slamming New York City's public education system as having the worst record in America in educating black and Hispanic Americans, president of the New York Divinity School, Paul de Vries, pitched a Bible-based cure for the crisis to a group of church leaders on Thursday.

Speaking at the "Educate: Empower" conference held at Calvary Baptist Church on Manhattan's West Side, de Vries outlined an alarming picture of New York's record on educating black and Hispanic students and called for churches to step up and be a part of the solution.

"We enslave, literally, huge portions of our urban folk with the education systems we allow to develop especially among Hispanic and black populations in our urban centers," said de Vries. more >>