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"Our mission is different," Women of Faith president Mary Graham tells the Chicago Tribune as 17,700 women nearly sell out Chicago's United Center for the latest conference. "They were calling men to action. We take a much softer approach to women. We are not so much challenging women as we are encouraging them where they are." The Tribune's Barbara Brotman notes, "There are other significant differences. Promise Keepers is a non-profit organization that has grappled with controversy over its belief that men should be the leaders of the family, and with financial difficulties [Note Graham's speaking of Promise Keepers in the past tense … ]. Women of Faith is a successful for-profit concern that takes no thorny stands." That's not completely true. Barbara Johnson, who has a gay son, criticized Christians for not showing homosexuals unconditional love. But as a general rule, Women of Faith founder Steve Arterburn says the organization says "women can figure out what's right and wrong. We didn't come in with this agenda to teach women what the right position was on some controversial theological issue. … They're able to find out what the truth is; they don't need to be told by an organization."

The church hasn't been allowed to own newspapers, broadcasting stations, or other media for years, but Vicente Fox, a Roman Catholic who became president July 2, said during his campaign that he wanted to change that. He has also said he wants the church to be more a part of Mexico's national and civic life. Until recently, Catholic priests couldn't even wear clerical collars. (See a similar Reuters story.)

"I thought this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Willie Aames tells The New York Times about hearing the original pitch for Bibleman, Pamplin Entertainment's superhero video series. Actually, what he thought was dumb was how it was based on Superman. He thought a Batman approach would be more appropriate. The last eight installments have sold about 75,000 copies each. The ninth, Shattering the Prince of Pride, is out this week.

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August (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44