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• Networks push family fare in bid to attract fall viewers (The Wall Street Journal)

Star Wars as religion:

• Census Jedis not 'true believers': fans | The Australian Star Wars Appreciation Society says most of the people who listed their religion as Jedi on the 2001 census were probably not 'true believers' (ABC News, Australia)
  
  
• May the farce be with you | More than 70,000 Australians identified their religion as Jedi, Jedi Knight or Jedi-related in last year's national census (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Bioethics:

• Couples asked to donate to embryo bank | Stem cells from thousands of human embryos are to be stored for use by medical researchers (The Times, London)
  
  
• A Christian role in stem cell research | To place God on one side in the debate is misleading, as we all stand to benefit from this research (John Yeo, The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  
• Churches condemn stem cell bank | Couples undergoing IVF treatment could feel forced into donating unused embryos for research following the creation of Britain's first stem cell bank, critics claimed yesterday (The Scotsman)
  
  
• Scientists deny 'burying' news of stem cell bank | The medical research council yesterday denied accusations in a tabloid newspaper that it had chosen the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks to announce the setting up of a stem cell bank, in the hope of "burying" the news (The Guardian, London)

Politics and law:

• Candidates see eye to eye on issues | About the only measurable difference between Republicans Jerre Wilson and John Stargel is their age (The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla.)
  
  
• Candidates walking theological tightrope | A bloc of candidates in a Collier County School Board election is suspected of being — gasp — Christians (Brent Batten, Naples [Fla.] Daily News)
  
  
• House needs to reject bill on church politics | Americans should be outraged by the religious right's latest attempt to divert federal tax dollars into political campaigns (Editorial, Florida Today, Melbourne)

Sex abuse cases:

• Means found to prosecute decades-old abuse cases | Prosecutors in several states are finding an important loophole in the statutes of limitations that stops them from charging priests with sexual abuse that occurred decades ago. (The New York Times)
  
  
• Breach of faith | So far in the storm of allegations about the Catholic Church and sexual abuse, the offenders have been priests and brothers. But now the victims of abuse by nuns want the story of their dreadful experiences to be heard. (The Bulletin, Australia)
  
  
• Nuns accused in orphanage abuse claim | More allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church have been raised, this time involving a Brisbane orphanage operated by nuns (ABC News, Australia, also video and audio)
  
  
• Also: Nuns allegedly raped orphans: report | Nuns at a Brisbane orphanage allegedly raped children and forced them to eat faeces, rotting food and their own vomit. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  
• Also: Abuse spotlight on Australian nuns (BBC)
  
  
• Also: Horror tales as women sue church and nuns (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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August (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46