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3. Is Paulk trying to move assets?
Mona Brewer, the former church employee who is suing pastor Earl Paulk for sexual misconduct, says Paulk and his megachurch are trying to transfer property to protect it from the suit. "We wanted to make sure we had funds available for legal fees," Chapel Hill Harvester Church treasurer Dan Rhodes told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

4. Amazon.com changes coding after abortion activists complain
As you probably know, Amazon.com has various automated suggestions to correct spelling errors and display related items. These are based on computer algorithms of other users' activity. Type in plaque, and Amazon asks, "Did you mean: plague?"

But the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice suspected bias at work, and complained to the company that when you typed in abortion, Amazon asked, "Did you mean: adoption?"

"I thought it was offensive," retired Episcopalian minister James Lewis told The New York Times. Actually, Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith explained, "Adoption and abortion are the same except for two keystrokes." But to avoid offense, the company went in and changed the coding so that the question is no longer asked. "Amazon's sensitivity and willingness to act are rare," the RCRC responded in a press release. "Anti-choice bias is so deeply ingrained in American culture that even fair-minded people fail to notice it."

Hmm. Think Amazon would have been so amenable if Christians had complained that the first search that comes up when you type Jesus is a book that denies all the central tenets of Christianity? (Don't complain about it. I'm just saying … )

5. Turkmenistan President's messianic complex
There's a new holy book on the market: It's Rukhnama (Book of the Soul), written by Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov. "A person that reads Rukhnama becomes smart … and after it, he will go straight to heaven," Niyazov said Monday. "I asked Allah that for a person who reads it three times — at home, at sunset, and at dawn — to go straight to heaven." The book "has been deemed a sacred text by the government," reports the Associated Press. "It is required reading for every child in school." Niyazov has long been one weird dude.

Quote of the day
"The answer is — I haven't really thought of it that way. … The first I've heard of that, by the way. I guess I'm more of a practical fellow."

—President Bush, asked if he believes "that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the apocalypse."

Afghan Christian's capital case | Christianity and Islam | War and terrorism | India | Church and state | Politics | Pastor tapes politician in Minn. | Immigration | Life ethics | Abortion | Michigan ultrasound bill | Plan B in Conn. | Family | Gay adoptions and Catholic Charities (news) | Gay adoptions and Catholic Charities (opinion) | Soulforce Equality Ride | Education | Tex. suit on Bible study ad | Evolution | Astronomy | Rowan Williams on creationism and other subjects | Church life | Missions & ministry | After Katrina | Catholicism | The new cardinals | Catholic-Orthodox relations | Orthodox finance probe | Alabama church fires | Abuse | Crime | Courts | Da Vinci Code | Books | Art, entertainment, and media | Money & business | People | Theology | Other stories of interest

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March (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50