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Another question: Back in February, the controversy over the casting of gay actor Chad Allen as missionary Nate Saint in The End of the Spear largely focused on whether one can separate art from the artist. Are those Christian leaders who argued against the casting of Allen encouraging a "second look" at The Passion in the wake of Gibson's comments? Are those who defended the Allen casting still using "separate the art and the artist" arguments in this case?

One issue that is getting a fair bit of press attention is whether in vino veritas is truly veritas. Weblog's brief take? Sometimes. I've seen alcohol and drugs definitely "loosen the tongue" and let secrets pour forth. Then again, I've seen drunken strangers tell me how much they love me, and seen others say absolutely outrageous things they don't mean at all just to start a fight. Gibson's apology can be similarly ambiguous: I've seen addicts get incredibly honest after a binge with bad consequences. That honesty that comes with "hitting bottom" is often the first step of recovery. And I've seen addicts, after a bad binge, say really wonderful things that they don't really mean simply to get out of trouble. So which statement is true? Which should we believe? Those who've had a lot of experience with addiction will tell you that the question is fairly irrelevant. You don't believe either statement. Rather, you watch the person's future actions, make sure that your trust is where it belongs, and hand the person over to God.

4. Navigators and Awana not in enough states?
Federal employees receive a list of about 22,000 nonprofit groups that they can contribute to for the Combined Federal Campaign, "the world's largest and most successful annual workplace giving campaign." This year, Awana Clubs International and the Navigators were booted from the list because the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) says they don't operate in at least 15 states. Not only is Awana in all 50 states—and let's not forget the District of Columbia—it "can also be found in over 3,300 churches in 109 other countries and six continents," according to its website. The Navigators is similarly ubiquitous. The groups appealed, but lost. Now they're suing for inclusion, The Washington Post reports, along with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, the American Association of Kidney Patients, the Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics, and the Sturge-Weber Foundation.

5. Word of the day: Procreationist
Ellen Goodman frequently uses a word today that's almost as certain to catch on as theocrat has been in political discourse. She's not the first to use procreationist, but it's the most prominent use yet. It brilliantly ties pronatalists (see the current CT cover story that we have posted today) to creationists as part of the same "backwards" movement. For sneer value, it's hard to beat, and is much better than "breeders." It's not like pronatalists are going to respond by talking about "design-er families" or the "unnatural selection" of choosing to have no children. Score one for the antinatalists.

Quote of the day
"Focus on the Family will not be attending future Faith Day events with the Atlanta Braves. Any further questions should be directed directly to the Braves."

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August (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50