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Today's New York Times contains a column by William Safire denouncing World Magazine's current cover story of John McCain: "When its editor is Bush's trusted Austin adviser; when its reporter bears the name of the school being abused as a Bush tool in the campaign; when its not-for-profit's funds are used to print, illustrate and distribute a hatchet job on a political opponent to a list of officials and media biggies on a primary election eve—then such backdoor backing of candidate Bush strikes me as religio-political sleaze in action." Expect the magazine to respond in its next issue. And the one after that. …

The Call to Renewal conference attendees vow to "prioritize people who are poor." "We want to put poor people on the national agenda—they're not there now," says Call to Renewal founder Jim Wallis. (The Covenant to Overcome Poverty is available on the Call to Renewal site)

The Barrington, Illinois church already seats 4,500. But the church has grown 20 percent over the last five years, and so it's rushing to build a $50 million auditorium that will seat nearly 9,000.

So says the lead sentence in a Times of Zambia article about a conference on "The role of religion/church in the fight against HIV/AIDS." The Times coverage of the conference echoes the current Christianity Todaycover story.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom wants to stop Sudan from using American stock markets to finance its projects. But the Treasury Department says trade sanctions can't be applied against capital markets. Expect this battle to heat up.

According to an opinion piece in yesterday's Chicago Tribune, that's what South Carolina board of education member Henry Jordan said about potential Muslim and Buddhist opposition to posting the Ten Commandments in schools. The article was written by Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University.

"Some evangelical clergy enforce such demanding preparation courses that all but the most determined parents are put off churchgoing for good," says the London Times. "Liberal clergy will baptise almost any baby with no preparation for the parents, which can mean that the parents feel no obligation to return." The upcoming General Synod will face a motion aimed at making baptism preparation more consistent.

Easther Bennett, of the British gospel group Eternal, was taping a religious program for the BBC when a member of the audience shouted, "You should be more modestly dressed in the House of the Lord!" Bennett, dressed in a low-cut top according to UK Web site dotmusic, immediately left the show in tears. The incident will be edited out of the BBC airing.

"These incidents do not reveal a sectarian strife," said Egyptian Organization for Human Rights President Abdelaziz Mohammed of his organization's preliminary report about the January riots in Al-Koshh that left 23 dead. "These incidents were spontaneous, and they were transient. Things of the sort happen every day in the villages of Upper Egypt … which is known for its zealousness and for people being hot-tempered." Things of the sort happen every day? From the UPI story, the EOHR report seems to contradict everything that's known about the riots.

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February (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44