The Pivot of Civilization was published in 1922. It contains Margaret Sanger's belief that civilization rises or falls on how it views the 'people problem.' It wasn't simply the fact that there were too many people. The kind of people roaming the planet were also a problem. What kind of people? Sanger says it explicitly: feeble-minded, defective, moronic, epileptic people. What should be done with them? They should be put into camps. They should be sterilized. They should be segregated. Does this sound familiar?It is but one small step to add: "They should be exterminated."10 years later, Sanger introduced her 'Plan for Peace' (included in this book) which made similar calls. So it was that some of the most devilish ideas carried out by the Nazis not more than a decade later were just as popular in America. Indeed, it appears the Nazis may have gotten their ideas from American eugenicists Sanger's book will give you a new perspective on the intellectual climate in the early 1900s and a new understanding of contemporary events and issues.

This year's collection of the winners in Athanatos Christian Ministry's 2013 short story and poetry contest reflects ACM's vision for the arts and Christianity, exhibiting theological understanding without browbeating. The stories grapple with true-to-life problems and difficulties that real people face in real life, and represent a realistic response to those difficulties. This year's contest winners could perhaps have their work summed up as, "Having faith when having faith is hard."

This is the anthology of winners in Athanatos Christian Ministry's fourth annual Christian short story and poetry contest. David Sable wins the short story contest with his work "The God of Oscar's Misunderstanding" and Therese Eby wins the poetry contest with her poem, "Herodias." This year's winners were hard hitting in their creativity, covering topics ranging from original sin to abortion to atheism and Jesus' hard teaching that "he who does not forgive will not be forgiven." Learn more at www.christianwritingcontest.com.

Have you ever wondered how it was possible that a large number of people could have ever come to accept the idea that it was all right for one set of men to enslave another set of men? Have you ever wondered how a society came to accept the mass extermination of the Jews? Fewer than a hundred years ago, doctors were doing experiments on people while they were still alive. Compulsory sterilization laws were on the books-in the United States-into the early 1980s. These are not events of the distant past. They occurred in our lifetimes, or the lifetimes of our parents, or grandparents. How did people come to not merely tolerate such things, but openly promote them, and even carry them out?

Every year, Athanatos Christian Ministries hosts a short story and poetry contest. The winners in these contests are compiled into an anthology and distributed at no additional cost to every entrant in the contests. This is the 2011 edition. Donna Frisinger won first and second prize for her poems "Permanent Houseguest" and "Bullets for a Hometown Hero." Robert Cely won first prize in the adult short story category for "Reading Wine." In the high school short story category, Elizabeth Russell wins for her story "The Friend I Didn't Choose." Details about this and other contests can be found at: http: //www.christianwritingcontest.com/

Informed at their twenty week ultrasound that their daughter had the debilitating condition called spina bifida, Anthony Horvath and his wife were offered the 'opportunity' to 'terminate.' Termination is a euphemism for abortion, a more polite and politically correct way to describe killing that which is growing inside the mother's womb. Anthony and his wife emphatically declined this offer. More than two years later, their daughter is alive and well, and despite the challenges- or perhaps because of them- she continues to bring them intense joy. In "We Chose Life: Why You Should Too" Anthony wants people to hear the reasons that he and his wife made the decision they did and hopes that they will persuade others to decide the same.