Q, the Adventist Church's Sabbath School quarterly for college-age youth and young adults is celebrating 25 years of continuous publication this year. First published under the title Collegiate Quarterly, CQ made its debut in 1979. The creative result of efforts by students and staff on the campus of Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, it initially involved other Adventist college and university campuses in North America.

Collegiate Quarterly is often described as "a kaleidoscope of Christian thought." In 1987 the publication was moved to the General Conference Sabbath School Department where it has assumed an increasingly important role in the overall religious education curriculum for the church worldwide. At first it involved only those who were on campuses of higher learning; but since 1991, emphasis has been expanded to include young adults generally. This has led to participating groups of writers representing educational and medical institutions, the military, local churches--even a group of prison inmates.

"Because so many of our readers were calling the publication CQ for short," says editor Gary B. Swanson, "we've adopted the shorter form as its name because it further encourages a more inclusive participative readership."

Based on the same outline as that of the Adult Bible Study Guide, CQ features the writings of young adult Seventh-day Adventists around the world. Each week's lesson is organized into a succession of seven articles written by seven young adults--more than 90 contributors each quarter. "This kind of diversity of expression," Swanson says, "nurtures a rich breadth of content, and we have a great many readers who are no longer young adults but who appreciate CQ as a supplement to the Adult Bible Study Guide."

"CQ gives me a better understanding of the Scriptures," writes 20-year-old Marcelina Corpuz of the Philippines. "Every lesson leaves me with a clearer and wider perspective and with strength to live on. It leads me closer to Him."

Each issue of the quarterly publication is illustrated graphically by a young adult; and as a part of the celebration of its 25th year of ministry, CQ has produced a colorful limited-edition sheet of stamps, each stamp reproducing a recent cover of the publication.

Currently published in nine languages, its worldwide circulation is 70,000.

Swanson reports that since 1990 CQ has grown into a full-fledged ministry that includes creative teacher's materials, training events, production of training videos and the weekly satellite broadcast Sabbath School University, a monthly e-bulletin (What's Up With CQ?), and a busy interactive Web site at http://cq.adventist.org.

"If there is one excellent Bible study guide for people who think young, it is CQ," writes 28-year-old Moses Kayongo of Uganda. "I have witnessed the amazing things God does with this Bible study resource. If you've ever wondered why young people aren't interested in studying Scripture, it's probably because they haven't seen CQ."

NEWS COMMENTARIES

BY MARK A. KELLNER, assistant director for news and information, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

n Feb. 4, 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts lowered the boom: it told state legislators that civil unions for same-sex couples weren't enough to satisfy the court's earlier demand for "equal" marriage rights. It had to be marriage, and nothing else.

"Either the institution of marriage will be protected, or it will be redefined out of existence," declared Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. Not even a 1996 bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, the "Defense of Marriage Act," offers total protection, he claimed.

The issue of who can and can't marry isn't merely a question for religious bodies. Marriage confers certain legal rights--and responsibilities--that people have to take seriously if the institution is going to work.

In "The Beginning of the End for America?" Rebecca Hagelin writes, "To redefine marriage--the very core of what we know as family--is to wreak havoc on every other institution that holds our country together. From the legal system, to interstate commerce, to health care, to your neighborhood, everything would eventually fall apart. Why? Because the nuclear family--starting with the marriage of one man and one woman--is the very foundation of the entire human race and every single civil society since the beginning of time."

Stanley Kurtz, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, says traditional marriage is important not just for the partners, but also for their offspring: "Children are helpless. They depend upon adults. Over and above their parents, children depend upon society to create institutions that keep them from chaos . . . They are us, and they are our future," he wrote in National Review Online.

Let's hope the Massachusetts legislature--if not the U.S. Supreme Court--can protect what four judges in Boston are trying to break.

An Aftermath of Apologies

BY DICK DUERKSEN

onday was about apologies. The NFL apologized. CBS apologized. MTV apologized. Janet Jackson apologized for the "accident." Justin Timberlake apologized for the "wardrobe malfunction." And New England quarterback Tom Brady apologized for missing it.

Sunday was the greatest show on TV, the National Football League's annual XXX Super Bowl. More than 143 million people around the world tuned in as the New England Patriots took on the Carolina Panthers for three hours on the coliseum gridiron in Houston, Texas. Seventy thousand others actually attended the game while thousands more partied in the parking lot. It was "America at its best."

Millions watched as cameras took you inside the helmets of spit-stained linemen. High quality microphones broadcasted the crunches and grunts. Between plays the world met America's Salesmen: an aged couple who fought with each other to steal a bag of potato chips from their son; grizzly bears attacked a hunter, emptied his cupboards, and stole his ID to buy a pack of Pepsi at the wilderness Quick Mart. The ads touted consumerism, violence, selfishness, alcohol, and winning "at all costs."

Somewhere between the commercials ($3.2 million per 30-seconds) and the musical extravaganzas, a very good football game happened. But no one talked about the game on Monday. All memories were on Timberlake and Jackson as they gyrated to a halftime song about "getting naked."

During the song Timberlake detached part of Jackson's costume, revealing her breast. Hide Your Eyes America! Apologize Everyone!

Where were the apologies for the dancers who stripped to their underwear during the song? Where were the apologies for lyrics and tones that begged to be called music? Where were the apologies for Kid Rock's praise of prostitution and drugs and for the violence, consumerism, gambling, and "look at me" extravagance of the night?

Off in the distance you can hear Nero playing his violin.

___________________________
Dick Duerksen is assistant vice president for mission development at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.

To learn how you can voice your objections to the Super Bowl halftime program, click here.

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