Related articles and links |  1 of 11

Send in the clones
The British government approved of human cloning for stem-cell research (but banned it for reproduction) in 2001. Yesterday, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gave the first license to actually go ahead and do it.

Suzi Leather, chairwoman of the regulatory body, said the license was granted "after careful consideration of all the scientific, ethical, legal and medical aspects of the project. … This is an important area of research and a responsible use of technology. The HFEA is there to make sure any research involving human embryos is scrutinized and properly regulated."

Pro-life groups are trying to figure out if they can mount a legal challenge to the experiments.

"This is a deplorable step down the slippery slope," said Jack Scarisbrick, chairman of the pro-life charity Life "We should be ashamed of it. Stem cells from adults are likely to be just as good, if not better. The reason for seeking this is probably as much about power, forbidden fruit and breaching taboos as curing diseases."

Who's going to the Republican convention?
Ralph Reed told the Associated Press yesterday that invitations to the Republican National Convention "just started going out to evangelical figures, but he would not release any names." The rest of the AP story says that Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson haven't yet been invited. Well, um, maybe that's because invitations just started going out?

The AP story is titled, "Top Evangelicals Still Await GOP Invite," but Rachel Zoll knows better, quoting the recent PBS/U.S. News survey of evangelicals that shows few evangelicals consider Robertson and Falwell their leaders. Graham? Definitely. (But what about the just-as-popular Jim Dobson?)

Everyone's favorite religion-and-politics scholar, John Green, says the Republicans don't need to invite these guys anyway. "Evangelicals are likely to be strongly represented at the convention, but within the ranks of the GOP and the Bush campaign," Green said. "Key movement leaders, like Ralph Reed and Gary Bauer, may well attend, but as party leaders, not evangelical figures."

Or as Christian Coalition president Roberta Combs puts it, "We'll have a huge presence there. We have the president."

Well, okay, so they'll also have Michael W. Smith.

Christianity in China
Wow, like, Bibles are so rare in China that people are paying HK$850,000 (US$ 109,000) for copies of it. Oh, wait. That's not what this story says.

The Passion of Saladin
The New York Timespreviews a movie that won't be out until next May, but it sounds pretty cool. It's a period action-drama directed by Ridley Scott and starring Orlando "Legolas" Bloom. Oh, and it's about killing Muslims. Or Christians. Or at least it's about the Crusades. The Times, predictably, suggests that now may not be the best time for Hollywood to release a movie about the Crusades, what with us fighting a war against Islam and all. (What? We're not fighting a war against Islam? Then what's the problem? Oh … I see.)

Not to worry. "For a movie about holy war, Kingdom of Heaven has surprisingly little religious oratory, or even religious content," reports Sharon Waxman. "The only overtly religious figures are extremists: marauding Knights Templar on the Christian side and murderous Saracen knights on the Muslim side."

So the good guys are the ones who don't care about religion, and the bad guys are the ones who do. What's to worry about? Sounds great!

next page... |  1 of 11

August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48