Since its publication on May 23, the latest installment of the Left Behindseries has sold 1.9 million copies-and that doesn't include figures from Christian bookstores. A New York Times article calls it"an unparalleled achievement for an evangelical novel," but the article's statistics show what an understatement that is."In the last five years," writes Dinitia Smith,"[the series] has sold some 17 million copies in the United States, about three million less than the Harry Potter series."

Three churches in two different states in southern India were bombed Thursday. Though several people were hurt, none was killed. The bombings come a day after a Roman Catholic priest was killed in the northern India city of Mathura, near Delhi.

Sadly, India wasn't the only place to discover a murdered priest this week. Thomas Wells, monsignor at Mother Seton Catholic Church in the D.C. suburb of Germantown, Maryland, was found dead at the church Thursday, apparently beaten to death.

The Church of England is calling its parishes to recapture healing ministries, saying it is one of the church's greatest ways of sharing the gospel. The report is careful not to place the healing ministry of the church in opposition to (or even completely outside) medical practice, saying that the church should partner with medical practitioners."It also recommends the setting up of a review group to assess the compatibility with Christian teaching of widely used forms of complementary medicine and alternative therapies," reports the BBC.

Popular Web sites ...