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1. Multnomah Publishers is selling
PW Daily, the online newsletter from Publishers Weekly, reports from the International Christian Retail Show in Denver: "Multnomah had a huge hit five years ago with The Prayer of Jabez, which sold over 8 million copies in 2001, more than any other book that year. Multnomah made ambitious expansion plans based on those sales, but eventually took heavy returns and was forced to reduce staff and title output. Still, the company remains well positioned in the Christian market."

Now the Christian publisher is selling. Rumors reported by PW Daily say it's going to Random House (which owns WaterBrook Press) and that "the acquiring publisher will absorb Multnomah's backlist, but close down its operations." An announcement, due Friday, will clarify the rumors.

2. Sen. Grassley wants nonprofit crackdown
In what will certainly send shivers down the backs of many nonprofit leaders, Sen. Chuck Grassley says in an op-ed in today's edition of The Hill, "Nonprofit organizations must earn the privilege to keep their tax-exempt status." Complaining about excessive compensation, political activity, lack of financial transparency, and "nonprofit groups that act more like for-profit businesses than charities," he says, "Just as Congress has acted in the public interest to protect shareholders and workers from corporate mismanagement, so too must Congress demand transparency, accountability and good governance from the nonprofit sector." Well, it's not like nonprofits were untouched by The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to which Grassley is apparently referring. But it's not like there are no problems in the nonprofit world, either. But surely Grassley must agree that some organizations—churches, for example—should be tax-exempt simply by their very nature and shouldn't have to "earn the privilege."

In Ohio, for example, a fact sheet explaining a new effort to more tightly regulate nonprofits has this language: "Faith-based organizations that are not closely controlled by churches, including many hospitals and a few nursing homes, would be required to file an annual report under the new rules. However, the rules would clarify that churches and strictly religious organizations remain exempt from registration."

3. Speaking of churches, charities, and government intervention
Word comes from Australia that the megachurch (and international praise music juggernaut) Hillsong has a charity called Hillsong Emerge that is now "the biggest non-government provider of services to unemployed people in New South Wales under a new Federal Government welfare-to-work program." Other charities have boycotted the government's welfare-to-work program, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

4. Motto crossed
In Ohio, according to a new law signed Tuesday by the governor, if you give a school a copy of either the national motto (In God We Trust) or the state motto (With God, All Things Are Possible), the school has to post it. Apparently, the law counts even if the motto display is very, very tacky. Or very, very large. Or, one imagines, if it has offensive symbols on it. The aftermath of this law could be very, very interesting. Anyone want to sponsor a "craziest motto display" contest?

5. Texas tribe sues Abramoff, Reed
Don't miss the religious overtones of the suit filed by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas. The tribe emphasizes its "strong Christian values," and there's clearly a feeling of betrayal that Reed allegedly portrayed the fight against expanded gambling as a Christian duty.

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July (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50