"Roy Moore will announce today whether he'll honor Commandments removal deadline, advertisers tell churches to drop the whole cross thing, and other stories from online sources around the world."
"Fans of European soccer star David Beckham show their appreciation by filling the Internet with 'Becks is God' posts," writes Matt Ehlers.
Some replica jerseys have replaced the name "Beckham" on the back with "God." St. Louis Cardinals phenom Albert Pujols has been praised with an "Albert is God" sign at the ballpark. A check of recent news stories finds similar references to Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, with "Lance is God" signs held aloft along the race route; a connoisseur who described a particular Belgian beer as "God in a bottle"; and an article from South Africa in which Nelson Mandela is referred to by a supporter as "the second Jesus."
Russell Bush, academic vice president at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, disapproves. "It's not something to play around with," he tells the paper. "The Bible says we shouldn't take God's name in vain. People should be cautious about using the name of God for something that's purely secular."
Kristine L. Fitch, an associate professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, suggests that the trend is, in Ehlers's words, "a form of subtle resistance to the increasing fundamentalism" in American culture.
Or, of course, it may be a sign that the Judeo-Christian ethic that says you don't go around blaspheming at the drop of a hat is diminishing in American culture.
More articles
Fight over Roy Moore's Ten Commandment monument:
Judge Roy Moore's lawless battle | The Alabama chief justice can spare the nation a divisive constitutional showdown by announcing that he will stop ignoring the separation of church and state (Editorial, The New York Times)
No place for religion | The issue here is religious freedom, not voting rights or school desegregation, but the principle is the same: If Alabama Chief Justice Moore can decide which federal court opinions he likes, nobody's rights are safe from state officials who don't believe in them (Editorial, The Washington Post)
Moore's motives | Why didn't chief justice ask 11th Circuit for stay? (Editorial, The Birmingham News)
Justice Moore should obey federal court | The time has come for Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to obey the lawful order of U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson that he remove the Ten Commandments monument from the State Judicial Building rotunda (Editorial, Mobile Register, Ala.)
A briar patch for Pryor? | Alabama attorney General Bill Pryor should have little problem meeting a noisy challenge from longtime liberal activist Barry Lynn (Editorial, Mobile Register, Ala.)
U.S. answers to higher law | No matter how many laws we have against murder, how many police we have to catch the culprits, how many courts we have to prosecute and punish them and how many prisons we have to lock them up, only a conscience informed by a law greater than a human law can stop a murder before it happens (Rob Schenck, USA Today)
La Crosse mayor vetoes monument appeal | La Crosse Mayor John Medinger on Wednesday vetoed the Common Council's decision to appeal a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments from Cameron Park. An override is likely (LaCrosse Tribune, Wisc.)
Where's Moses? | The ACLU searches for the Ten Commandments in Utah (The Wall Street Journal)
Federal court upholds its ban on VMI prayers | An evenly split federal appeals court yesterday upheld its decision striking down the Virginia Military Institute's suppertime prayers as unconstitutional, refusing to reconsider an earlier ruling that said the 50-year tradition violates the First Amendment rights of cadets (The Washington Post)
Gladstone revises solicitation ordinance | New ordinance specifies that no city permit is required for political or religious canvassing. The old ordinance required a permit for most door-to-door activities (The Kansas City Star)
Christian tutors don't cross line | Even though critics charge it pushes the boundaries of church and state, it's hard to argue with the anecdotal evidence provided by teachers (Editorial, The Denver Post)
Board's not hired to evangelize | I am not, by any stretch of either conscience or imagination, an expert on anything concerning religion. Except for two things: It starts an awful lot of cruel, bloody wars, and it doesn't belong in government (John Hamner, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla.)
Also: 'Designer' ad campaign for church | Churches are being urged to launch an advertising campaign stressing the social side of services to attract successful people in their thirties and forties (BBC)
Also: Church must stop preaching to the converted, say ad agencies | Traditional images of Christ on the cross and biblical quotations in bill-board adverts are a turn-off for church goers, advertisers have proclaimed today (The Guardian, London)
Jesus in the passing lane | Maybe "How Would Jesus Drive?" is a better question (Marshall Essig, The Denver Post)
Missionaries murdered in Solomon Islands:
Solomons warlord in court | Harold Keke surrendered to the Australian-led peacekeeping force (BBC, video)
Also: Solomons' PM embroiled in deaths of captured missionaries | There are growing calls within the Anglican Church of Melanesia for an independent inquiry into the deaths of six missionaries held hostage by the Solomon Islands warlord Harold Keke (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Right wing fears being terminated | The Schwarzenegger phenomenon is so disturbing for those who have staked their careers on their unwavering conservative credentials (Diane Carman, The Denver Post)
George Bush's Terminator problem | Arnold Schwarzenegger may be the GOP's best shot yet at a California comeback. But his playboy ways and pro-choice politics make him anathema to the president's allies on the Christian right (Tim Grieve, Salon.com)
The Passion:
Passions collide over movie about Jesus' last day | So far, 300 religious leaders, scholars and cultural critics — Catholic, Jewish and Protestant — have screened the film since mid-June (USA Today)
Gibson film 'fuels hate mail' | Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the center had already received dozens of hate letters and calls he said were prompted by advance screening of the Gibson-directed film The Passion (BBC)
Don't crucify 'Mad Mel' | These busybodies tried to edit Mr. Gibson's film. Now they want to rewrite the Bible itself (Ezra Levant, The National Post, Canada)
Gibson says he has 'softened'crucifixion story in new Jesus movie | Paul Lauer, marketing director for Gibson's Icon Productions company, said Gibson has edited the film to show more "sympathetic" Jewish characters who were not calling for Jesus to be crucified (Religion News Service)
Mel Gibson vs. "The Jews" | The "Mad Max" and "Braveheart" star says his new Jesus biopic "The Passion" could never be anti-Semitic because it's historically correct—a dumb, and dangerous, claim to make (Christopher Orlet, Salon.com)
Church land use debates:
Protect our right to worship | Several metro and outlying jurisdictions have tried assorted subterfuges, from impossible zoning to draconian parking rules, to keep modern "megachurches" from disturbing their bucolic tranquility (Editorial, The Denver Post)
Church plan splitting Pullman | Two sides battle over a proposal for a massive church-sports complex in the historic area, and race becomes an issue (Chicago Tribune)
Our better angels | Riley's tax-and-accountability plan uses faith in the right way (Editorial, The Huntsville Times, Ala.)
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Why the Coalition's stance is import | There's a good reason why the national Christian Coalition's endorsement of Alabama's tax reform proposition was on the front page of newspapers around the state (Editorial, Mobile Register, Ala.)
Seeking a moral majority | We felt compelled to bring our message of support to Alabama because nowhere in the country has the issue of taxation and its effect on families been so clearly framed as a moral question for people of faith as it has been in Alabama (Roberta Combs, Mobile Register, Ala.)
Moral focus or political? Views vary | The Christian Coalition of Alabama's strong anti-tax stance has sparked questions about the chapter and its leaders (The Birmingham News, Ala.)
Conservative groups align against tax rise in Alabama | Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, and other national conservative organizations have condemned Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's proposal for sharp tax increases (The Washington Times)
Also: Integration comes one church pew, and $5, at a time | About a dozen white folks came, most of them forgoing the controversial $5 that Bishop Fred Caldwell offers—from his own pocket—just for coming to Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Baptist Church (The Christian Science Monitor)
New clerics seek ways to reach aging flocks | More than 60 percent of those 65 and older go to religious services other than weddings and funerals at least once a week, according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (The New York Times)
Church serves two generations of immigrants | The loss of a church that served four and five generations is being eased by its future as the house of worship for the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship (Associated Press)
Derided, ignored, and unstoppable | Sydney's most prominent evangelicals, the Jensen brothers (Paul Sheehan, The Sydney Morning Herald)
'I just want everyone to be godly' | Meeting His Holiness Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews II, the supreme head of the Indian Orthodox Church (Indian Express)
New bishop turns down a big house | Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, the new leader of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has chosen to live in a small rectory behind the Cathedral of the Holy Cross instead of the large residence that has housed Boston's archbishops for 75 years (The New York Times)
Youth ministry:
Some kids just have a mission | For at least a week this summer, hundreds of area teens took a break from their summertime leisure in search of something life-changing (Palm Beach Post, Fla.)
In their footsteps | Teens find path to spiritual renewal (Erie Times-News)
Back to school | Local church service provides inspiration, along with backpacks and school supplies for needy children (Chronicle-Tribune, Grant County, Ind.)
An ageless comfort in times of pain | The 23rd Psalm, one of the most beloved passages in the Bible, offers solace to many people confronted by life's problems (Los Angeles Times)
Earlier: Text Criticism and Inerrancy | How can I reconcile my belief in the inerrancy of Scripture with comments in Bible translations that state that a particular verse is not 'in better manuscripts'? (J.I. Packer, Oct. 22, 2002)
Internet and technology:
Beatified by e-mail: the lives of a new collection of saints | Josh Gosfield has turned all sorts of friends and strangers into holy apparitions, as well as vehicles for his cultural obsessions, political gripes, and artistic experiments (The New York Times)
Cyber-mom's creed: Make her daily weblog a spiritual boost | Lee Anne Millinger has been working nearly every day on her own spiritual blog full of the ups and downs, laughter and anger that's part of religious life (David Crumm, Detroit Free Press)
Believers in the lost Ark | Treating myth as fact misunderstands the meaning of religion (Karen Armstrong, The Guardian, London)
Rare bell shrine found in Ireland | "This is among the most important archaeological objects ever found in the course of an excavation in Ireland." (The Guardian, London)
Vestments have history, meaning | With some of them dating to the 18th Century, the 24 religious garments from the Catholic Church displayed at the Cuneo Museum and Gardens in Vernon Hills are an inspiring sight of ornate embroidery and intricate designs (Chicago Tribune)
Austin, Minn., police link six youths to church break-ins | Investigators recovered checks from parishioners made out to several churches, bank bags, a computer and software that was stolen from one of the churches (Associated Press)
Church divided in wake of scam | As treasurer of Dupont Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southeast Washington, secretly invested and then lost $1.3 million of church money (The Washington Post)
Three charged with rape to be tried as juveniles | Two factors that played a major role in the decision were that none of the Eastside teens has a criminal history and none was living "an adultlike lifestyle" before the arrests at a Christian youth conference, the judge said (The Seattle Times)
Bishop held hostage | The controversial head of the Anglican Church, Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, was yesterday briefly held hostage by parishioners of St Philip's Anglican Church in Harare's New Tafara suburb, who accused him of snubbing them and protecting church leaders who are alleged to be abusing funds (The Daily News, Harare, Zimbabwe)
Inquest into U.S. priest's death | An inquest into the death of a controversial American priest opened on Monday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, two years after the FBI said he had died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound (BBC)
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Argentine priest held on 'dirty war' rights case | Argentine authorities detained a Roman Catholic priest on Wednesday and accused him of helping police and army torturers extract information from leftists during a 1976-1983 dictatorship (Reuters)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
We must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture.
