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Today's Top Five

1. Nazareth riots after church attack
A Jewish man with a reported history of mental illness was arrested along with his Christian wife and daughter after he set off fireworks in Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation. The church was crowded with Lent pilgrims, and the attack and subsequent response from police forces set off a riot. Local Arabs claimed the attack proves that Israel does not take action against violent Jews. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem Michel Sabah "said that the person who tried to perform the terrible deed was born and bred on racist views and wild incitement against Christians in particular and Arabs in general," reports Haaretz. One imagines that there will be more coverage on this over the weekend.

2. Orthodox Church in America leaders say no to 1990s audit, but yes to more recent ones
The Washington Post headline says "Orthodox Leaders Reject Call for Audit," but the church's Holy Synod actually approved outside audits for 2004 and 2005. It's just that it won't audit its finances for the late 1990s, which is when the church's former treasurer says funds were diverted "to cover credit card debts and pay sexual blackmail." The synod also said it would "adopt a set of 'best practices' for financial management."

3. Missouri resolution would make Christianity official "majority" religion
Missouri's House Concurrent Resolution No. 13 declares that "our forefathers of this great nation of the United States recognized a Christian God and used the principles afforded to us by Him as the founding principles of our nation" and that "we the majority also wish to exercise our constitutional right to acknowledge our Creator and give thanks for the many gifts provided by Him. … As elected officials [we] recognize that a Greater Power exists above and beyond the institutions of mankind." The Anti-Defamation League and other groups are trying to stop the resolution from passing, but Alternet's Joshua Holland says it's a trap: "People who write bills like this aren't trying to make law. Their intent is to further the Right's narrative that Christians are a persecuted minority under siege. They want to guarantee that the good folks at the Anti-Defamation League, the ACLU, and Americans United fight to have their silly legislation overturned, proving that those civil rights groups have an anti-Christian agenda (and perhaps even a direct association with Satan)."

4. Death penalty foe has day in court
North Carolina's Jim French says the state's death penalty is offensive to Christians, since the last meal given to inmates Thursday nights before early Friday morning executions is similar to the Last Supper. In related news, when North Carolina Christians were informed that the state's procedure offensively mocked one of the holiest moments in their religion, they did not riot in the streets and issue death threats against government officials.

5. Time says assassination report illuminates Benedict XVI's challenge
Yesterday's Italian report about the Soviet Union's involvement in the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II will add to his "legacy as being right up there with Reagan and Gorbachev as the decisive players in the end of the Cold War," says Time's Jeff Israel. But that's a reminder that Benedict XVI faces a bigger challenge than John Paul II's Communism. "Not only does Pope Benedict XVI not have first-hand experience 'behind the lines' in a Muslim society, like John Paul's background in Krakow, but the reach of his words may be inherently limited. Rather than facing a godless society's attack on the freedom to believe, Islamic terrorism presents a warped interpretation of a competing faith. … Like his predecessor, the preacher's message is clear. Only this time, one wonders if it will ever reach beyond the choir."

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March (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50