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In her book, Burnham suggested that the Philippine army was arming, feeding, and colluding with the Abu Sayyaf group. She later said that she did not witness any collusion firsthand, but was relying on what her captors and other hostages told her. This week, Burnham will talk about what she did see firsthand. But we may not know what she says—her stay in the Philippines is apparently under the highest security.

Other kidnappings:

• Gospel for Asia missionaries forcibly abducted | The Lord had blessed their evangelistic outreach in an area of Karnataka, India, but their ministry did not go unnoticed by anti-Christian elements in the community (Press release, Gospel for Asia)
• Colombia troops hunt for kidnapped bishop | Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ordered his troops to launch a rescue operation if they locate a Roman Catholic bishop being held by Marxist rebels in jungle-covered mountains (Associated Press)
• Yesterday: Colombian rebels kidnap Catholic bishop | The smaller of Colombia's two main leftist rebel groups kidnapped a Catholic bishop but planned to set him free bearing a political message for the government, officials said Monday (Associated Press)

Religion at the Democratic National Convention
Christianity Today has gone to the political conventions in past election years, but there's seldom major religion stories (or, for that matter, any major stories) afoot there. So this year we've stayed home. Other reporters, however, are scouring the FleetCenter for the smallest crumbs of religion. Keep your eye on Steve Waldman's convention blog over at Beliefnet, for example.

Other journalists are noting that Thursday's invocation will be delivered by John Ardis, director of the Paulist Center where Kerry worships when he's in Boston, and not by Sean O'Malley, the city's Roman Catholic archbishop. Jonathan Last has an article about the Paulist Center in the new issue of The Weekly Standard, picking up where Jody Bottum left off in April.

The other name of note for CT readers inside the FleetCenter is Roberta Hestenes, formerly president of Eastern College (now Eastern University) and senior pastor of Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, and current minister-at-large for World Vision. She gave last night's benediction. Tonight's benediction will be given by Imam Yahya Hendi, the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University. The invocation yesterday was offered by Stephen Ayres of Boston's Old North Church, and today's will be delivered by Ernest "Gunny" Branch of Sermon on the Mount Baptist Church in Roxbury. James Forbes, senior minister at Manhattan's Riverside Church, actually has a speaking slot today. Bebe Winans performed the National Anthem yesterday.

Other than that, it looks like today is stem-cell research day.

Stem cell research:

• Kerry makes plea for stem cell research | Democrat John Kerry said Monday that America needs a president who "believes in science," making a plea for stem cell research that the son of the late President Reagan was highlighting in a speech at the Democratic National Convention (Associated Press)
• What would Reagan do? | A consistent ethic on life (Francis J. Beckwith, National Review Online)
• When is cloning not "cloning"? | When John Kerry proposes a ban on it (Wesley J. Smith, The Weekly Standard)
• Stem cell proponents enter campaign fray | Nearly three years after Bush announced his compromise position permitting federally funded research on a limited number of embryonic stem cell colonies, there is growing frustration among scientists and patients advocates that the restrictions have severely slowed potential medical breakthroughs and left the United States lagging behind other nations in research (The Washington Post)

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July (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48