1. Christian skate a no-no says state human-rights division

The Times Herald Record of New York state reports on a roller rink that is accused of human-rights violations for trying to attract Christian customers.

Skate Time 209 offers residents a new wooden roller skating rink and a fancy skateboard park. In its hunt for customers, the business has "tot" skates and "tween" (ages 6-13) skates. There are family nights and adult disco parties.

And there are "Christian skate times" on Sunday afternoons, Skate Time's ad in the April 19 Ulster County Press said. That ad is evidence of a human rights violation, according to the state Division of Human Rights.

A "Christian skate denies or at a minimum, discourages non-Christian patronage," a June 15 letter from the state division said. The weekly paper got the same letter, accusing it of "aiding and abetting" the violation, said its editor-at-large, Greg Childers.

Is it even worth pointing out that "tot" and "tween" skates equally discourage participation from non-tots and non-tweens? Weblog doubts that the person who composed the letters would be able to recognize the inconsistency.

2. Chinese Christian explosion

"It's like in South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, when the church was a leader in the democratic movement," says Yu Jie, a Chinese house church leader. Nicholas Kristof reports on the growth of underground churches in the country.

One reason for the boom in Christianity is that China is going through just the kind of turbulent social change, including alarm at the eclipse of traditional values, that often drives people toward faith. And in China's case, Maoism wiped out the traditional religions.

Despite persecution in some areas of the country, Christians are reshaping China after ...