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1. Korean Christians deported, banned from Afghanistan
Thousands of South Korean Christians reportedly traveled to Kabul for a "peace festival and educational and entertainment programs,"  sponsored by a group called Asian Culture and Development. (Other reports say that only 927 Koreans made it into the country.) Hundreds more were en route when Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that the festival was cancelled and that all Korean Christians would be deported. Ministry officials apparently told the group that it was over "security concerns," but Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai has a different story: "The program was against the Islamic culture and customs of Afghans."

"Rumors that Korean prostitutes had entered the country and that the Christian groups were carrying 'giant crosses' marching through downtown did little to defuse the situation," Chosun Ilbo reports dryly.

About 300 Koreans were in India and were forbidden from boarding planes to Kabul. Their group leader says they'll sue the Foreign Ministry in Korea "for damages caused by Seoul's campaign to exaggerate the danger of holding such an event in Afghanistan," the Korea Times reports. "They also plan to file a protest with the Afghan embassy in Seoul for issuing visas that were useless due to the prohibition of entry into Kabul airport."

Interested? Be sure to read our March cover story on the eagerness of South Korean missionaries. It explains a lot about the Afghanistan controversy.

2. Christian sympathy for Hezbollah? Depends what side of the border you're on
 "Christian villages across Lebanon's mainly Shiite Muslim south have been spared the death and destruction wrought by Israeli warplanes," the Associated Press notes today. "As a rule, Christians in southern Lebanon have little sympathy for Hezbollah."

That's a contrast with a Reuters report out of Syria, which reports, "Bishops and priests say Syria's Christians, a devout community of around three million out of a population of 18 million, identify strongly with [Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah's battle with Israel." The paper quotes Father Elias Zahlawi telling his Catholic congregation, "Pray for the resistance, pray for Hassan Nasrallah. He is defending justice."

The Pew Global Attitudes Project has an interesting report about how Lebanon's Muslims and Christians view each other and how they view the U.S., Islamic extremism, and other issues. One thing Muslims and Christians agree on: the Jews. "No one in our Lebanese sample, Muslim, Christian, Druze, or otherwise, said they had a favorable view of Jews," Richard Wike and Juliana Menasce Horowitz report.

Here's another statistic: Catholic persecution watchdog site AsiaNews.it reports that 70 percent of Christians want to emigrate from Lebanon. Pity that AsiaNews only sources that statistic to "some suggest that."

An even greater pity: We probably won't get better details from the mainstream press. It seems that the only Christian angle they care about in the conflict is whether evangelicals think this is the end of the world.

3. Mel-tdown
Lots of links on responses to the Gibson statements. But there are still some stories not touched, believe it or not. Here's one Weblog would like to read: Do those church and ministry leaders who so vociferously defended Gibson against charges of anti-Semitism during The Passion controversy now feel burned? The Passion launched a wave of efforts to get churches and pastors directly involved in film marketing. Churches bought out theaters for the film (and then for Narnia, Cinderella Man, End of the Spear, and even The Da Vinci Code). Movie posters were placed on the cover of church bulletins. Will pastors now be more skittish about such direct involvement?

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August (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50