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• a John McArthur broadcast said Jesus was the only way to heaven
• an Adrian Rodgers broadcast contained an oblique reference to "the devil's counterfeits,"
• a Greg Laurie broadcast said that it's "technically true" that "pagans … [will] burn in hell for all eternity" (but said emphasizing this was "the best way to burn a bridge")
• an unnamed speaker said reincarnation "has no place in Christianity, and no place in reality."

Crazy complaints? What's crazier is that the Radio Authority took them seriously. "It seemed to us that [pagan] was used here in … an historical context," the agency said about the Greg Laurie broadcast. "However, we told the complainant we understood their point and would discuss it with Premier Radio." And taken as a whole, the Radio Authority seems to think that Premier has a problem. "Premier has told the Authority about its considerable efforts to remedy and redress matters; however, the Authority will be keeping matters under review," a Radio Authority press release noted. Premier is already in danger of losing its broadcast license. Imagine what might happen to Premier if Britain's anti-religious-hatred legislation gets passed. Imagine what could happen to anyone who dares to "denigrate or attack the beliefs of other people" in such ways.

In case you didn't hear me the first time …
Some columnists have favorite topics they keep returning to. Here in Chicago, John Kass loves making connections between the mob and city officials. Peggy Noonan is still beating up on Bill Clinton in The Wall Street Journal—even though the man has been out of the White House for more than 10 months. But Kass and Noonan manage to come up with fresh angles. Not so with The Washington Post's Colbert I. King. Of the five King columns posted on the Post's site, two are almost completely identical—Pat Robertson is a bad, bad man. Both articles, which ran less than a month apart, start with a rehashing of those infamous remarks made on The 700 Club by Jerry Falwell—remarks which Falwell apologized for and Robertson duplicitously claimed he misunderstood. Both columns then move quickly to discussing Robertson's gold-mining deal with Liberian president Charles Taylor, one of the worst human rights violators in world leadership today. "The U.S.-educated but Libya- trained Taylor is a menace to all that's decent," Colbert wrote in his September 22 column.

Ironically, it was Christmas Eve 1989 (get that Mr. Robertson) when warlord Taylor and his band of rebels launched their bloody invasion of Liberia. They took on a despot in then-president and former sergeant Samuel Doe. But Taylor's crowd turned out to be no better. Twelve years later, with tens of thousands of Liberians slain, hundreds of thousands displaced throughout West Africa, a generation of young Liberian boys ruined by their conversion to child soldiers, women raped and mutilated, his country is in absolute ruins and is ostracized by the world community—except for hustlers, mercenaries and the preacher/entrepreneur from Virginia Beach.

Colbert's October 20 column gets more detailed, focusing on five nuns murdered in October 1992, "when then-warlord Taylor and his rebels launched their surprise attack on Monrovia."

In summary: Businessmen/clergymen like Robertson shouldn't partner with despotic warlords. Businessmen/clergymen like Robertson shouldn't partner with despotic warlords.

Responding to terrorism:

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October (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45