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So far, he's getting support instead. "I stand with Dr. James Dobson," Laura Schlessinger said on her April 9 show. "Take your kids out of public schools." (While Schlessinger was apparently talking about all public schools, Dobson was more limited. "There are other states where that's not happened. And there are many states where there are a lot of Christian people and Christian influences still there, particularly in the South and to some degree in the Midwest," he said. "But where that happens, we cannot sacrifice our kids on the altar of some kind of public schools ideal.")

Radio host Marlon Maddoux similarly supported Dobson on his show that day.

The Alliance for Separation of School and State, an anti-public school organization, told conservative Web site WorldNetDaily that its "Proclamation for the Separation of School and State," which was getting about five signatories a day, jumped to 100 a day after Dobson's broadcast.

Bible:

• Familiar words, revised and updated | More and more churches are experimenting with new vocabulary to refer to God and gender (The New York Times)
  
  
• The high priests of Bible-bashing | Those who insist that every part of the Bible is false are just as closed-minded as those who insist the reverse. (Gregg Easterbrook, Beliefnet)
  
  
• Reflecting on body and spirit | In her new book, Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice, Stephanie Paulsell, a Harvard Divinity School lecturer, argues that Christian Scriptures hold the key to protecting and respecting human bodies (The Boston Globe)
  
  

Science:

• Should science look for God? Search could be interesting | Can we live with a scientific answer about the real purpose of the universe? (Jane Eisner, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
  
  
• Evolution vs. creation | Creationism should be taught at home and in churches, where it can be given its proper religious context. It doesn't belong in schools (Reggie Rivers, The Denver Post)
  
  
• Stop the fighting: Use 'creation-evolution' conflict as teaching tool | We'll never get beyond the battling until we help students understand the range of views — religious and non-religious — about the claims of science (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
  
  
• 'Intelligent design creationism and its critics': Supernatural selection | In the essays compiled in this anthology, intelligent-design creationists and their opponents go head-to-head. (The New York Times Book Review)
  
  

Church life:

• The Father, the Son, and the Holy JumboTron | In the new Media Reformation, churches employ high-tech gizmos and hip spin to boost their diminishing flocks. (Salon.com)
  
  
• Fewer Americans in church | Some pollsters say at best, religion is losing its grip on American society; at worst, growing amounts of Americans are finding the institution irrelevant (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Bishop refuses to censor speaker | The Episcopal bishop of Virginia has told his churches that he won't censor a talk by a Bible scholar who has said Christianity began as a diverse spiritual movement later oppressed by male bishops. (The Washington Times)
  
  
• House moves to maintain housing tax break for clergy | Pre-emptive strike against potential court decision (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Also: House considers clergy tax breaks (Associated Press)
  
  

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April (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46