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Theater chain changes mind on Passion ad
The AMC movie theater chain gained media attention this week for rejecting an ad from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which wanted to tie in a publicity campaign to the upcoming film The Passion of the Christ.

"You want to see the most scandalous story ever?" an actor says as the ad opens. That's followed by a series of words flashing on the screen: Betrayal. Sin. Adultery. Greed. Envy. Weakness. Poverty. Torture. Murder. Then the young actor again: "Redemption," he says, and the Baptist convention's logo appears, with the words, "Now playing at a Baptist church near you."

Too hot for the AMC, apparently. But when the BGCT offered to change the words murder, torture, and adultery to fear, anger, and deceit, the AMC said it would take the ad, which will now appear on about 150 screens in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

"I suppose AMC has the right to choose what they have on their screen, but this policy is hypocritical," Wesley Shotwell, vice moderator of the BGCT's executive board told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. "There's been a lot of sex and violence on their screens during the movies."

Still, since the BGCT and the Southern Baptist Convention have been at each other's throats lately, Weblog is eager to see if any Southern Baptists will accuse the BGCT of "watering down the gospel" by changing the words. (Just kidding, folks.)

Second grader suspended for mentioning hell
After a classmate said, "I swear to God," 7-year-old Brandy McKenith warned that such language was troubling to the Almighty.

She could have said, "You know, Scripture warns against taking the Lord's name in vain, and furthermore, warns against taking oaths. These are affronts to God's sovereignty and holiness, since he is displeased by us misusing his holy name and by us breaking our word—especially when we hang our word on his name."

McKenith didn't say that, though. What she said was, "You're going to go to hell for swearing to God." Okay, she's 7 years old.

Anyway, a classmate overheard the conversation, and reported the second grader for using the word hell. The principal suspended her for a day, citing the district's Code of Student Conduct ban on profanity.

McKenith's dad is pretty upset. Some school board members are surprised and are reviewing the incident. Civil liberties attorneys are salivating. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "McKenith returned to her second-grade class yesterday … where she had an uneventful day, talking about 'stuff' with her classmates. 'Not bad stuff,' she clarified."

Missing Massachusetts?
Did you expect Weblog to focus on yesterday's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that only gay marriage–not civil unions—is constitutional? Yeah, so did Weblog. Look for relevant links and analysis tomorrow. In the meantime, you know where to find all the usual suspects on this topic.

More on The Passion of the Christ:

• 'Passion' in check | How religious groups plan to deal with the uproar (New York Daily News)
  
  
• Mel Gibson's Passion might be 'brilliant,' but not good | A number of readers had heated things to say about The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's imminent blockbuster that's said to pin the death of Jesus of Nazareth on the Jewish people (Howard Goodman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
  
  
• Actress: Gibson's movie not anti-Semitic | The woman who plays Mary in Mel Gibson's passion-stirring Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ, says her parents were Holocaust survivors but she does not consider the film anti-Semitic (Associated Press)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48