2 of 4

Visual Bible has bled through $10 million in a year and wants $10 million more
Canada's National Post is strangely optimistic about the prospects for The Visual Bible, a $400 million effort to produce a word-for-word film version of the Bible. The facts, however, seem pretty dim, whatever the spin. "We are at ground zero and have nowhere to go but up," Doug McKenzie, the company's new CEO, tells the paper. In a brief overview of the company's history, the Post reports that a handful of investors ponied up $7.5 million during a reverse takeover by American Uranium. "That capital was used to start production on the Book of Mark. But those funds didn't last that long and earlier this year Hong Kong-based Pan Zone Inc., a new investor, kicked in another $3.6-million," the Post's Barry Critchley notes. But Visual Bible still doesn't have anything to show for all that money, and McKenzie is now trying to find $10 million in the next months. Meanwhile, the company is still promoting its two films by South African director Regardt Van Den Bergh, Acts and Matthew.

Worth ignoring
Syndicated columnist Robert Scheer's latest column is a hackneyed screed against religion. "The pretense that religion is inevitably an ennobling experience stands in absurd denial of a harsh reality reported in daily headlines," he writes. His list of religion's ill effects are so predictable you'd think it was written by a high school sophomore: Middle East terrorism, Northern Ireland's troubles, and the shooting of abortionists are as creative as Scheer's examples get before he then draws parallels to Bush's stem-cell decision. The article is lamentable, but rather than waste electricity with a response to such drivel, Weblog has instead found a silver lining: that the Los Angeles Times would print such a hackneyed column gives hope to bad writers everywhere. No matter how weak your arguments, you too can write for the country's fourth-largest newspaper.

DiIulio's resignation and Bush's faith-based initiative:

• Defense of John DiIulio | That the Bush administration is about to lose its most vocal advocate for the poor sends exactly the wrong signal. (Samuel K. Atchison, Religion News Service)
• DiIulio's loss poses test for Bush initiative | Prospects for passage of President Bush's faith-based initiative in new peril (The Boston Globe)
• Falwell to Bush: Pick director with care | New leader of faith-based initiatives should 'know the clientele,' he says (The Dallas Morning News)
• DiIulio's good-faith effort | DiIulio was an honest body slammer rather than a charming fraud. Too bad that he is leaving. (Sebastian Mallaby, The Washington Post)

next page... |  2 of 4

share this page

August (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45