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4. Africa Bible Commentary released
For a better idea on how to deal with witchcraft in African churches and communities, check out the 1,700-page Africa Bible Commentary, which was officially released this week. There's a full entry on witchcraft, as well as entries on HIV and AIDS, polygamy, debt, syncretism, blood, Christians and politics, and other subjects. Zondervan offers a sampler, which contains the full commentary of the Book of James and some introductory material. This will almost certainly be hailed as the most remarkable Christian publication of the year.

5. Yemen Times: The missionaries did it better
Even before the deadly 2002 shooting at Jibla Baptist Hospital in Yemen, the Baptists had planned to turn over control of the facility, providing medical care but not administration. Now Jibla Hospital is run by the government, and the Yemen Times says the administration is doing poorly. "Locals maintained that like other public hospitals, Jibla Hospital would last only six months or a year at best," Nashwan Dammaj reports.

Quote of the day:
"What we've got to do in the music business is destroy the image that has got through … which has [given] God Almighty and Jesus Christ … an image of a weakling. A slightly effeminate image. A sort of Sunday image. A religious image. This is not the case. … This is something we're trying in U2 to do something about."

—Bono, in a 1981 presentation to a weekend retreat for Christian musicians with fellow band members the Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. While the fan site @U2 reports bootleg recordings of the presentation have been making the rounds for years, the organizer of the retreat is now offering an official CD for sale.

Life ethics | Politics | Church and state | Crime and abuse | Ken Lay | Money and business | Entertainment and media | Books | Church life | Missions and ministry | Other stories of interest

Sexual ethics:

1. N.Y. court rejects challenge to gay marriage ban | The court did not rule that the state should not or could not allow gay marriages, only that the state constitution did not require that it allow them (The New York Times)
   
   
2. Also: N.Y. top court rules against gay marriage | New York's highest court ruled Thursday that gay marriage is not allowed under state law, rejecting arguments by same-sex couples who said the law violates their constitutional rights (Associated Press)
   
   
3. Gay marriage ban upheld | Georgia Supreme Court reinstates Constitutional amendment (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
   
   
4. Group sues to halt to same-sex benefits | A conservative group on Wednesday sued to stop Michigan State University from offering health insurance to the partners of gay and lesbian workers and said the school is violating the state constitution (Associated Press)
   
   
5. Pope visits Spain to hail traditional family values | Pope Benedict makes a lightning trip to Spain this weekend to glorify traditional family values in a country whose government has been sharply criticized by the Catholic Church for legalizing gay marriage (Reuters)
   
   
6. Leaders oppose bid to ban gay marriage | 165 prominent names ask state to drop issue (The Boston Globe)
   
   

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Life ethics:

1. Abortion foe priest assigned to Elgin | Clinic attack in 2000: He pleaded guilty to criminal damage to property in Rockford (The Courier News, Elgin, Ill.)
   
   

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July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50