Christian Web Site Kept Away from Jesus

iBelieve.com banned from advertizing during Jesus, Touched by an Angel

Christian Web site iBelieve.com, the online effort of Family Christian Stores, can’t advertise during this weekend’s miniseries Jesus. According to iBelieve.com, CBS told them, “CBS will not air a commercial if the product or content relates too closely to the content of the prime time entertainment programming. If this is the case, the commercial becomes a program length commercial. It then proselytizes the show or commercializes the programming.” A CBS spokesman said the same rule means the site can’t advertise during Touched by an Angel, either. Think of it this way, iBelieve.com: the free publicity you’ll receive now that the story has hit the AP wire may be worth more than those two $225,000 ads.

Church protests ads for the Pill

In other advertising news, commercials for oral contraceptives are hitting Canada’s MuchMusic cable channel, which is dominantly viewed by teens and preteens. “Advertising in a medium such as a music channel and others that are aimed at very young people is giving a clear message that sex outside of marriage and sex at a young age without personal commitment is okay,” says Suzanne Scorsone, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto.

Love virus a punishment for infidelity, suggests Slate author

In his column for Slate, Nonzero author Robert Wright applies the old argument that AIDS is God’s punishment for licentious behavior to the “I love you” virus, saying it must also be a punishment for infidelity. “If you get the love letter from your wife,” he asks cheekily, “and it sends itself to everyone in your address book, why should any of these acquaintances find it plausible enough to open—unless you’ve been exchanging precious bodily fluids, or at least flirtatious glances, with some of them?”

Ten Commandments out of Kentucky courthouses, schools

Even when you surround the Decalogue with other historical documents, the Ten Commandments are still religious in nature and serve no secular purpose, ruled U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman. “This is the first inning in what some might view as a long nine-inning game,” says the attorney representing those who want the Commandments to stay. At least one county judge-executive says he won’t comply with the ruling.

Marriage laws won’t change before consultations, says Indian government

As noted earlier in the ChristianityToday.com Weblog, Christians have protested the ruling party’s plans to change marriage laws in hopes of discouraging interfaith weddings. Meanwhile, six masked men assaulted nuns and looted a convent in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, desecrating a tabernacle after the robbery.

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