Rep. J.C. Watts pushes for better faith-based initiative bill in Senate "The armies of compassion are waiting for the Senate to follow the House's lead and pass a solid faith-based bill," Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) told Connecticut Republicans yesterday while campaigning for candidates there. Watts wants the Senate to pass its bill and have the differences between it and H.R. 7, the House's faith-based initiatives bill, worked out in a House-Senate conference meeting. But many Democratic senators, including Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), who is sponsoring the Senate bill, want H.R. 7 to die. They would rather have the full House vote on the Senate bill once it is passed to avoid any compromise between the two bills. Lieberman spokesman Dan Gerstein tells The Washington Times a conference would "reopen old wounds," "inject some political controversy back into the debate," and perhaps result in nothing getting to the President's desk.

There are significant differences between the two bills. The House bill expands charitable choice and allows faith-based organizations to compete for federal funds without compromising their character. The Senate bill avoids charitable choice altogether.

Is the Southern Baptist Convention's Holman Christian Standard Bible gender-inclusive, too? As the Today's New International Version (TNIV) of the Bible gets ready for retail sale, Associated Baptist Press claims a scoop: the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), published by the Southern Baptist Convention's official publisher, Lifeway, is gender-inclusive, too. David Stratton, pastor of Brunswick Islands Baptist Church in Supply, N.C., chose a sample of seven books in the New Testament (Mark, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, James ...