More rain means fewer people go to church, said the study's author, Jonathan Moreno-Medina, assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The decline in church attendance is correlated with an increase in yearly rates of arrests for certain kinds of crime, including embezzlement, fraud, drug possession and driving under the influence.

Moreno-Medina said he has long been interested in discussions about the impact religion has on the broader culture. Some people argue religion can solve all of society's problems, he said. Others argue religion is irrelevant.

However, "It can readily be corroborated that Sundays are the days when fewest crimes are committed and that there is no jump in crime right after the time of church," Moreno-Medina argues in the study. Read more

On 6 February the local Seventh Day Adventist church administration instructed the law office of Schuster-Betham-Annandale to write to the Leauva'a-uta SDA members who are worshipping on Saturday telling them to refrain from using the church facility there.

This situation arose because the Samoan Government decided to align its time zone with key trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region by shifting west of the international date line.

When the clock struck midnight Thursday 29 December 2011, the country skipped over Friday and moved 24 hours ahead — straight into Saturday, Dec. 31.

SDA Pastor Uili Solofa says, "You have to know that all the other Christian religions in Samoa have publicly testified that they have moved to keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible."

Catholic Chancellor Ioane Ono does not appear to share that view.

"For Catholics or any Christian for that matter, Sunday is a day of rest, a day of giving thanks and praise to the Lord. It is also a day of joy and celebration because for the Catholic Church, Sunday is the day of resurrection of Jesus." (Samoa Observer, March 12, 2013)

Such statement by SDA leaders in Samoa and the Pacific that Sunday is the ‘seventh-day' in Samoa today contradicts why Christian churches worship on Sunday being the first day of the week to commemorate the day of Jesus' resurrection.

Last month, leaders of the SDA church in the South Pacific Division (SPD) met again in Australia with pastors from Samoa and Samoan pastors representing Samoan churches in New Zealand and Australia.

The Bible conference discussed the impasse in Samoa, which is detrimental to a fundamental doctrine of the SDA church.

The matter has been referred to the Biblical Research Committee of the South Pacific Division for further research.

Source

• NBCNews.com
• Talamua
• Image: Samoa Observer

Creating a rendition of the "wannabe weekend-party anthem," and giving it a holy twist, is the mission the Creative Arts Staff at the Community Christian Church gave itself.

"Sunday" lyricist Eric Bramlett told The Christian Post, "We wanted to make this thing as close to the original as we could, while trying to invite people to the Easter weekend service. We thought we could use this to spread the love and spread the fun so our attendees could invite their friends to our church too."

With addictive lyrics just like the original, "It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday " is replaced by "It's Sunday, Sunday, head to church on Sunday."

It's all about worshipping and looking forward to the Easter weekend for Sadie B., the main girl in the music video who happens to also be Bramlett's 12-year-old daughter.

While Rebecca Black ponders things like which seat to take in her friend's car, Sadie B. has more, or rather equally, important things to think about like ... front pew or back?

"Sunday's" popularity is quickly rising on YouTube. Released April 6, "Sunday" is already approaching 1,000,000 views.

Sources

• The Christian Post
• Sunday
• Image: YouTube