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"Nationwide, the number of adults being baptized as Catholics is up by as much as 10 percent this year, and the number of Catholic adults who were baptized as infants but who are just now receiving First Communion and being confirmed is rising slightly faster," reports The Boston Globe. Though the article doesn't mention specific statistics, it says many of these converts are coming from Protestantism.

"I feel ridiculed, humiliated, raped," Francisco Santana tells the Miami Herald. Santana, the paper says, "has been a personal religious advisor to the Miami Gonzalez family and a key player in negotiations with the U.S. government." But other religious leaders in the community are no less bombastic. "They say in the Scripture that a shadow fell on Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified," pastor Humberto Cruz says. "A shadow has once again fallen, this time on our city." Fortunately, not all pastors equate Elián's removal with the crucifixion of the Son of God. Emilio Vallina, for example, was content with saying, "This is all part of God's plan."

The Air Force inspector general is investigating charges that Brig. Gen. Lorraine Potter, Air Force deputy chief of the chaplain service, said, "African-American chaplains are good pastors and preachers but cannot do staff work." Another source says the inspector general is also looking broadly into whether the chaplain service discriminates against African Americans.

Winnipeg-based standup comedian Al Rae takes a look at a few boxes worth of Christian stand-up videos. He finds Nazareth Rizkallah offensive and racist (for the record, ChristianityToday.com Weblog has never heard of him), and Phil Snyder "borderline," but Chonda Pierce is "a real comic … a comedic and religious natural." Still, as a whole, Rae isn't a big fan of the Christian comedy circuit: "Hearing the stories—'testimony' is the preferred term—and viewing the dozens of Internet sites that celebrate Christian comedy, it all starts to sound cliché."

The United Christian Forum for Human Rights says a motor scooter deliberately ran down three nuns in Haryana, India. One was seriously injured.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers says television shows like Buffy are heightening interest in "satanism, blood-letting and wicca" among children. A survey commissioned by the group found that 54 percent of children between the ages of 11 and 16 were interested in the occult and the supernatural. Nearly one-quarter said they were "very interested." But if Christian children were asked if they are interested in the supernatural, how would they respond? How would you?

Focal Point, a Christian charity in South Wales, hired an actor to play a crucified Jesus on Good Friday. But the effect was too real for some passersby, who called for an ambulance. "I don't agree with this sort of thing being forced on people, especially children," said one critic in The Times. "I saw one young lad crying. It was very realistic." (see also The Guardian's report.)

Steven Curtis Chapman won six of the Gospel Music Association's annual awards, including Artist of the Year. Michael W. Smith's "This Is Your Time" won Song of the Year, and Sixpence None the Richer was awarded Group of the Year. See a full list of winners at DoveAwards.com

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April (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44