5 of 5

• Sexual identity hard-wired by genetics, study says | Study discounts the concept that homosexuality and transgender sexuality are a choice, California researchers reported on Monday (Reuters)
  
  

Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ:

• Gibson to market 'Christ' on his own, sources say | The film, rejected by Fox, has been praised and condemned by religious leaders (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Reports: Gibson's 'Passion' film finds distributor (Reuters)
  
  
• Gibson talks with U.S. film distributor (Associated Press)
  
  

Music:

• Amazing Grace | Christian quartet Point of Grace brings conference for teen girls to Louisville (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
  
  
• Beyoncé's dad colors her words | The father of pop songstress Beyoncé Knowles is mulling a lawsuit against a British newspaper for what he says is a "cut-and-paste job" that paints his daughter as a homophobe (Newsday)
  
  

Other religions:

• Witch gets state grant | A witch has won subsidies from the Norwegian state to run a business of potions, fortune-telling and magic (Reuters)
  
  
• Bush's "spirit" cursed with black magic, tossed into Thai river (AFP)
  
  
• If it sounds like anti-Semitism, maybe it is | What we have here — to gloss a phrase from the Gospels — is old wine of a particularly bitter vintage in glitzy new skins (Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Christianity, Islam on collision course | There's bad news for secularists, agnostics, and atheists who lust for — and have for ages predicted — an end to all religion. Ever since the 19th and throughout the 20th century there were thinkers who prophesied that humanity was about to enter a golden age without a trace of gods or any need to worship. (Toronto Star, Canada)
  
  

Books:

• Thomas Nelson finding success with inspirational line for teens | Thomas Nelson continues to find success with targeted publishing through its Transit line. (MSNBC)
  
  
• Former Mafia boss embarks on new life as Christian youth worker | Tells story in new book, Blood Covenant (Voice of America)
  
  

Catholicism:

• Next archbishop of Hartford cites a need for new priests | Bishop Henry J. Mansell, the next archbishop of Hartford, said that the church needs to attract new priests and deal with fallout from the sexual abuse scandals (The New York Times)
  
  
• Casting an online net for priests and nuns | Harnessing the Internet is one strategy church officials are trying to reverse the sharp decline in the number of Catholics committing themselves to lives as priests or nuns over the last four decades (The New York Times)
  
  
• New cardinal sets out vision | The "re-Christianisation" of Scotland is one of his goals (BBC)
  
  
• What kind of pope next? | Fanatics, discipline, and youth will be defining issues (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
  
  
• A sacred symbol arrives | The faithful carry an image of the Black Christ into church (Los Angeles Times)
  
  

Other stories of interest:

• Virgin Mary appears in New Jersey tree | The piece of wood, whose shape believers say resembles a veiled Virgin Mary with a bowed head, was noticed by passers-by over the weekend on state-owned land alongside a street that residents say is a hangout for illegal drug users (Reuters)
  
  
• Victim's son is given award for forgiving father's murderer | A striking act of forgiveness for a gruesome murder earned Brandon Biggs a $10,000 college scholarship on Wednesday from an equally unlikely group of donors: prisoners on death row (The New York Times)
  
  

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Suggest links and stories by sending e-mail to weblog@christianitytoday.com

What is Weblog?

Check out Books & Culture's weblog, Content & Context.

See our past Weblog updates:

October 22 | 21

October 17 b | 17a | 16 | 15 | 13

October 10 | 9 | 8 | 6

October 3 | 2 | 1 | September 30 | 29

September 25 | 24 | 23 | 22

September 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15

September 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8

and more, back to November 1999

first page |  5 of 5

share this page

October (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47