Related articles and links |  1 of 8

Expensive book burning
Anglican priest Graham Taylor's bestselling fantasy novels deal with occult themes, including human sacrifice. So one may not be surprised to hear that, just as copies of Harry Potter novels were burned in earlier years, Taylor's novels too have been put to the flame.

But these weren't just any copies of Taylor's books. These were original manuscripts: one for Shadowmancer, one of only two originals for the sequel, Wormwood, and the full manuscript of his new book, Tersias, which wasn't due to be published until fall 2005.

And the book burner? Taylor himself. He says he accidentally destroyed them when cleaning out his house, which he'll be moving out of shortly.

They're now "a very expensive pile of ash," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile, it appears that the film versions of Shadowmancer and Wormwood may be animated. Variety reports that Fortitude Films, which bought the rights in July, just bought Film Roman, an animation studio run by former Simpsons and King of the Hill producer and Charlie Brown director Phil Roman. Fortitude executives had earlier told Variety that it planned to ask Mel Gibson to direct.

Update
The Supreme Court will consider the prisoners' religious freedom case after all. See yesterday's Weblog for commentary on this case.

Books:

• Faith-boosting genes | Dean Hamer's The God Gene details the search for the genetic basis of spirituality (Scientific American)
• Blood in the aisles | Jonathan Bartley assesses Stephen Bates's straight-talking account of the profound divisions in the Church of England, A Church at War (The Guardian, London)
• Theologian delves into what's holy in Hobbits | Ralph Wood found himself turning to Tolkien in the 1970s when he wanted to revitalize theology classes for students who had adopted a more secular outlook on life (The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.)

Education:

• Suit planned over gender definition | Westminster School District trustees say a new law allowing people to define their own sex is unconstitutionally vague (Los Angeles Times)
• Safe-sex activists oppose abstinence-only texts in Texas | Texas education officials and activists on all sides of the sex-education debate are battling over the adoption of new health textbooks for the state's 7,800 public schools (The Washington Times)
• Creationist sees clear proof in volcano | Ex-pastor's small museum lets doctrine speak for itself (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Home school parents sue state over religious freedom | Four Pennsylvania families have filed suits across the state, saying the home-schooling law restricts their religious freedom in a way that violates the law (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• In a shift, Catholic U. approves NAACP | Chapter must obey church teachings (The Washington Post)
• Christian school 'failing pupils' | A privately-run Christian school in North Lanarkshire is the subject of a critical report by inspectors (BBC)

School board proposals:

• School board considers censoring books, handing out Bibles, teaching creationism | Some teachers decry list of ideas as attempt to inject Christian values into curriculum (The Washington Post)
• School board considers censoring books, handing out Bibles (Associated Press)
• 'Value in diversity' | The proposals in Charles County, taken together, seem more about advancing a sectarian agenda than reinforcing the diversity to which the Board of Education pays lip service (Editorial, The Washington Post)

Catholic teacher alleges loses job for not marrying in church:

next page... |  1 of 8

share this page

October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48