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 ...