9 of 9

Music:

• Johnny Cash movie may start filming soon | Walk the Line" stars Joaquin Phoenix as the "Man in Black" and Reese Witherspoon as his wife, June Carter Cash (Associated Press)
  
  
• Playing off of worship music | 'CrossTones' showcases top-notch artists who happen to be Christian (Boulder Daily Camera, Colo.)
  
  
• Smells like teen spirituality |Auckland band Eight put their success down to a diet rich in rock, pop and faith (The New Zealand Herald)
  
  

Books:

• Dr. Seuss — theologian? | James Kemp's favorite theological work? Horton Hatches the Egg. (Religion News Service)
  
  
• The smart money is on God, says odds-maker | In The Probability of God: A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate Truth, Stephen Unwin uses an actual mathematical theorem to determine the probability that there is a God (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  
  
• Local author's 'Mary' biography depicts resourceful village girl | Lesley Hazleton admits that she's an unlikely channeler for the life of Mary, mother of Jesus (The Seattle Times)
  
  

Youth:

• Virginity vows: back to the '50s | The virginity pledge, a written promise made by young people to stay chaste until married, which has been pushed by every evangelical preacher and home schooler with a pulse, is a campaign littered with broken vows (Robyn E. Blumner, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
  
  
• Some unhappy with Girl Scouts form group | American Heritage Girls was founded in 1995 by a Cincinnati-area woman and her friends who were unhappy that the Girl Scouts accepted lesbians as troop leaders, banned prayer at meetings and allowed girls to substitute the word "God" in the oath (Associated Press)
  
  

Other articles of interest:

• Kits seen as affront to Jesus | Trendy retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. canceled an order last week for 3,500 "magnetic dress up kits" that let users place a devil's costume, a tutu and other unusual outfits on an image of Jesus hanging on the cross, according to the New York artist who created the product (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Orthodox Christians icon venerated in Fridley | Known as the Kursk Root Icon of Our Lady of the Sign, the platter-size illustration is considered one of the holiest icons of the Russian Orthodox Church and is a significant piece of Russian history (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
  
  
• Who knows Jack? | For years Jack Kelley was a star at USA Today, filing amazingly vivid, detail-laden reports on virtually every major international story. His career imploded after he lied to editors looking into the veracity of his work (American Journalism Review)
  
  
• Fasting is a ritual to strengthen the spirit—and to send a message | Believers of every variety are going without food for longer and longer periods of time and for every conceivable reason: to enhance mental, physical and spiritual discipline, to purge the body and soul of impurities, to become humble, to empathize with the poor, to achieve clarity, to see God (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  
  
• US firms try to block cheap Aids drugs | The US, under pressure from its giant pharmaceutical companies, is trying to undermine the use in poor countries of cheap, copycat Aids drugs, made by "pirate", generic companies but validated by the World Health Organization, campaigners claim (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Folk piety links politics, 'Code' and 'Passion' | Imagine for one moment a country so suffused with religious sentiment that its bestselling novel and most widely seen film are constructed from popular pieties, a place where even politicians have to reckon constantly with the sensitivities of entrenched and influential theological traditionalists (Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times)
  
  

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March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48