K.A. Paul Gets Attention After Hastert Meeting

Opinion

Ted Olsen

Weblog

K.A. Paul Gets Attention After Hastert Meeting

Plus: The New York Times and The Boston Globe look at special treatment for religious groups, Amish forgiveness shocks the nation, Billy Graham's grandson preaches his first crusade, and other stories from online sources around the world.

Compiled by Ted Olsen

[ posted 10/12/2006 4:02PM ]

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Today's Top Five

1. Will K.A. Paul face more scrutiny after moment in spotlight? Or will his platform grow?
You won't find much about K.A. Paul on the Christianity Today site. Every reference to the Indian preacher is from a Weblog, mostly from outlets raising questions about his ministry. (One exception: The New Republic was mildly positive, apparently because he talks about poverty more than he does about abortion.) We didn't report on his expulsion from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability over oversight and financial transparency concerns. We didn't report on the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention taking the unprecedented step of issuing a vote of no confidence in his ministry, or of the Assemblies of God leadership similarly criticizing his work. We haven't followed up on reports that his orphanage ministry spends more on jet fuel for Paul's plane than on actual orphans, nor that he has taken credit for other people's work. We have no plans to report his recent claims that the Republican Party is delaying the Second Coming of Christ and that the Iraq war is "genocide." Quite honestly, we haven't covered him because there are many self-promotional ministers out there with grossly exaggerated claims, outrageous statements, and problematic finances. Paul has had more success in getting himself into The New Yorker and other publications, but getting such clips seems to be his ministry's real focus. So why give him more attention?

Well, he's certainly getting attention this week. Amid the Mark Foley scandal, Paul scored a meeting with House Speaker Dennis Hastert at the speaker's home. What's more, Paul claims that Hastert promised him he'd resign. He told Mother Jones, "God convinced ...

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Weblog

Launched in 1999, Christianity Today’s Weblog was not just one of the first religion-oriented weblogs, but one of the first published by a media organization. (Hence its rather bland title.) Mostly compiled by then-online editor Ted Olsen, Weblog rounded up religion news and opinion pieces from publications around the world. As Christianity Today’s website grew, it launched other blogs. Olsen took on management responsibilities, and the Weblog feature as such was mothballed. But CT’s efforts to round up important news and opinion from around the web continues, especially on our Gleanings feature.

Ted Olsen

Ted Olsen is Christianity Today's managing editor for news and online journalism. He wrote the magazine's Weblog—a collection of news and opinion articles from mainstream news sources around the world—from 1999 to 2006. In 2004, the magazine launched Weblog in Print, which looks for unexpected connections and trends in articles appearing in the mainstream press. The column was later renamed "Tidings" and ran until 2007.