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It's a slow news day in the Christian world. Almost everything today is debates and statements, with little actual news. Not that Weblog's complaining; it's nice to have a break.

The top story today is Morris Cerullo's federal grand-jury indictment on three counts of filing false income tax returns. The indictment claims that the television evangelist failed to report more than $550,000 in income over three years, beginning in 1998.

It's not the first time Cerullo has had legal troubles over income; he was sued twice in 2000 by employees who said they were punished for raising questions about fundraising. The more prominent of these came from John Paul Warren, who said he was fired for confronting Cerullo about "unethical and fraudulent fund raising techniques."

A California appeals court in December 2001 said that the courts could not get involved in the case since it involved employment at a religious organization, and that state involvement would violate both the Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. (The Supreme Court in 2002 decided not to hear an appeal.)

Cerullo, a leader in the word-faith movement, is certainly an interesting figure. He says he converted to Christianity by a woman who worked at the New Jersey orphanage where he grew up. The twist: it was an Orthodox Jewish orphanage, and the woman was fired for giving him a New Testament. Cerullo says he ran away from the home at 14, sought the woman out, was given a home with her brother, and became a healing evangelist at 25. (This from Randy Balmer's Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism.)

Though he has largely conducted his healing revivals in South America, Cerullo has in recent years turned his eye to the Middle East, preaching in Qatar, Bahrain, and other Arab nations. His meetings in Saudi Arabia, attended by more than 1,000 people, were followed by government raids on local churches. "In 1992, authorities in India ordered Cerullo to leave the country after he was nearly lynched by an angry mob," reports the Associated Press.

He's had trouble in the West, too: In 1999, Britain's Independent Television Commission fined the Christian Channel £20,000 for a broadcast it found in violation of broadcast standards.

But Cerullo has had more success with television in the U.S. After a failed attempt to purchase all of Jim Bakker's PTL empire, including Heritage USA, Cerullo settled for ownership of the PTL television network. Now renamed the Inspiration Network and headed by Cerullo's son David, INSP is on more than 2,000 cable systems around the country.

If convicted, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune, Cerullo he faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. (The AP notes that this is for each of the three counts the evangelist faces, not the total.)

"Dr. Cerullo looks forward to an opportunity to respond to the allegations in a court of law," his lawyer said. "And he is pleased that after three years of investigation by the IRS, nothing was found to be inappropriate in the operation of the ministry."

The news comes one week after The Dallas Morning News reported that the IRS is investigating Benny Hinn Ministries.

Untested and speculative
Those in D.C. who aren't talking about Valerie Plame and Karl Rove are talking about Congress' stem-cell debate. "Leading Congressional Republicans have drafted a bill that promotes new, unproven methods of obtaining stem cells without destroying embryos," The New York Times reports.

The Washington Post picks up the theme in an editorial (emphasis added):

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49