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• Gibson surprised by controversy over 'Passion' | "It was a surprise to have shots being fired over the bow while I was still filming, and then to have various loud voices in the press—people who hadn't seen the work—really slinging mud," Gibson said (Reuters)
  
  
• Gibson's 'The Passion' won't sow anti-Semitism, Memphians say | Defenders say the subtitled movie, in which characters speak Latin and Aramaic, shows Christ's death as the result of man's sin - making everyone responsible (The Commercial Appeal, Memphis)
  
  
• Controversial 'Passion' presents priceless opportunity for education | A toxic film delivers a dangerous, but teachable, moment (Paula Fredriksen, The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• Gibson's right to his 'Passion' | Overreaction will cause more anti-Semitism than movie itself (Michael Medved, The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  

Books:

• Codes of conduct | In The Science of Good and Evil, professional skeptic Michael Shermer tries to find evidence for morality in the natural order (The Washington Post)
  
  
• The searchers | On the importance of being dubious: A review of Doubt: A History (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Religious comic artists draw on a higher power | Anointed is one of the comic books produced by a growing breed of Christian artists who are intent on taking wholesome, exciting and visually sophisticated works to a young generation nurtured on MTV, computer games and the Internet (The Washington Post)
  
  

Religion and politics:

• Christian foot soldiers battle for Bush | An increasingly polarised presidential election appears to be in the offing. One of the fault-lines is religion and, in particular, President George W Bush's evangelical faith and how that guides his political beliefs (BBC)
  
  
• Clergy play slots politics, not Bible card | Listen in on the debate among ministers, because they're not thumping the Bible on this one. They're engaging like politicians, weighing competing interests and looking for safe haven (Marc Fisher, The Washington Post)
  
  
• The 'religion gap' | Analysis of the religion gap and what it means for the election is far from complete (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
  
  
• Debate over shelter forces town to confront its beliefs | The debate over a makeshift homeless shelter proved much bigger for the city than the shelter or even the broader problem of homelessness in the San Francisco Bay area (The New York Times)
  
  

Episcopal Church rift:

• Virginia Episcopalians avert split over gay bishop | Episcopalians of Virginia voted yesterday to set up a year-long "reconciliation commission" to examine ways of maintaining their unity in the face of deep theological differences over what the church's stance on homosexuality should be (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Heresy better idea than schism? | Heresy is better than schism, the Episcopal bishop of Virginia said yesterday in a speech that gently chided church conservatives for imperiling the unity of the country's largest diocese over the consecration of the denomination's first homosexual bishop last November (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Virginia Episcopal Church reaffirms marriage | Virginia Episcopal Church leaders reaffirmed a 10-year-old resolution saying sex should be restricted to heterosexual marriage and appointed a panel to smooth over differences among local parishioners about last summer's election of the denomination's first openly homosexual bishop (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Diocese says gay bishop should not be cause of split | The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia urged church members not to let the consecration of the first openly gay bishop to create a split in the church (Associated Press)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48