To tell the tooth Luke, is that really you? Just in time for the Feast of St. Luke (Oct. 18), Italian scientists have announced evidence that the remains said to be the evangelist’s are real. Radio carbon dating of the body dates the death between A.D. 72 and 416, and analysis of the teeth indicate that the corpse’s DNA is “characteristic of people living near the region of Antioch.” Dr. Guido Barbujani of the University of Ferrara, who extracted the DNA, is still cautious. “I think we should accept that there is no way to tell if it was the Evangelist Luke,” he told The New York Times, “but the genetic evidence does not contradict the idea.”
Crossing the line? The Chicago Tribune took aim Friday at Providence, a Cincinnati-based firm that aids families of victims killed in catastrophes. It seems that Providence sent out a packet to 76 families of passengers killed in the September 11 hijackings, with a recommendation that they contact various law firms to sue the airlines. “This is a company that is preying on grieving widows and orphans,” says the lawyer of Jeffrey Mladenik‘s widow. “It’s despicable.”
The packet also included an “inspirational story about Rev. Scott Willis and his wife, Janet, who lost six children in a fiery van-truck crash in 1994.” The very end of the Tribune story notes that Jonathan T. Jannis, a representative for Providence, “acknowledged that the story was included in the packet without the Willis family’s knowledge, saying a Christian publishing company received payment from his firm for the information.”
Apparently that’s a reference to Good News Publishers, which published an evangelistic tract titled “Through the Flames: The Willis Family Story.” The Willis family’s lawyer told the Tribune that the couple was upset—the story was intended for evangelizing souls, not soliciting business. “They’re a bunch of vultures,” he said.
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