Canadian Supreme Court Backs Same-Sex Marriage

Canada's Supreme Court gives approval for same-sex marriage
"Several centuries ago it would have been understood that marriage should be available only to opposite-sex couples," the Supreme Court of Canada ruled this morning. "The recognition of same-sex marriage in several Canadian jurisdictions as well as two European countries belies the assertion that the same is true today."

Canada's federal government may therefore change the legal definition of marriage in that country, the court said.

Those opposed to same-sex marriage are heartened that the Supreme Court did not rule that Parliament must change the definition of marriage. Many such groups in the U.S. have argued that the chief issue in this country's marriage debate has less to do with sexual ethics than with judicial overrides of the democratic process.

"The Court has clearly indicated that any changes to marriage must be made by Parliament and not through the courts," Focus on the Family Canada president Terence Rolston said in a press release. "Surely the Court would have ruled differently if traditional marriage was an attack on someone's basic human rights."

Religious groups may also be happy to see the court's extensive reiteration that "officials of religious groups [can] refuse to perform marriages that are not in accordance with their religious beliefs." Watch the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's website for response on this point.

But though the blow may have been softened, some Christian leaders are still troubled by the decision.

"It's a sad day for our country," Gordon Young, pastor of the First Assembly of God Church in St. John's, Newfoundland, told the CBC (quoted by the Associated Press). "God is in the DNA of this nation. We believe that changing the definition of marriage is changing the divine institution that God put in place for the order of our society."

Dozens arrested after Cairo Copts stone police
Thousands of Christians rushed Sunday to the main Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo to protest the abduction and forced conversion of Wafaa Constantine, the wife of a priest in Abou al-Matameer, Beheira province. Security officials say she converted to Islam and left her husband voluntarily.

The demonstration broke into a riot, with about 55 injured as the Copts threw rocks at police. The police reportedly retaliated in kind.

"The government is attacking Christians," priest Matyas Abdel Maseh told the Associated Press. "The army outside the gates is attacking us with stones."

Last night, Constantine's brother-in-law appealed for an end to the violence, saying the woman returned home.

"My brothers and sisters: my brother just told me that she arrived in a safe place and she is in good condition."

Thirty-four people were arrested during the clash.

"It was the second incident of sectarian strife in less than a week in Egypt," reports Reuters. "On Monday, police said they arrested 25 people and were keeping apart Muslims and Christians in a village south of Cairo after violence erupted. Muslims had set ablaze two Christian-owned pharmacies and a book store, thrown stones at Christian homes, and destroyed three police cars in Munqateen, 140 miles south of Cairo."

Baylor must cut $2 million from budget, won't fill many faculty positions
Lower-than-expected student retention rates, increased scholarship spending, and high energy costs are forcing Baylor University to cut $2 million from its annual budget, which is about $340 million, university spokesman Larry Brumley announced yesterday. That means that several open faculty positions will go unfilled in the next school year. Ordinarily, such cost-cutting measures might be seen as everyday business, but the news comes as faculty members debate the results of a faculty senate vote on university president Robert Sloan. For the third time in about a year, the faculty senate said they wanted to see him removed from office. Sloan opponents claim success, saying 85 percent of the senate members voted against retaining the president. But Sloan supporters say the vote was a joke: Only 59 percent of eligible faculty members even bothered to vote, and many other faculty members are not part of the senate.

But Baylor's board of regents has repeatedly supported Sloan and his efforts to make the university into a top-tier research institution with a strong Christian identity. And response to the hiring issue (which officials say is not a freeze) suggests that relations between Sloan and the faculty are better than the Senate vote suggests.

"I think we can work with it," physics department chairman B.F.L. Ward told the Waco Tribune-Herald. "The university is making its effort to move forward with Vision 2012, and any time you have a bold vision, you are going to encounter rough spots. Of course we would rather be able to fill all our positions, but I do believe the university is doing an outstanding job."

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Same-sex marriage | 'Don't ask, don't tell' | Homosexuality & religion | Marriage & family | Sexual ethics | Teen sex | Sex education | Education | Evolution | School, God, & the Declaration of Independence | December dilemma | December dilemma in Europe | Hanukkah | Holidays | Christmas | Beckham nativity | Church & state | Church & state in Europe | Mr. Bean & British religious hate bill | Religious freedom | Human rights | Islam | Iraq | Presbyterians & Israel | War & terrorism | Life ethics | Abortion | Religion & politics | Urban 'moral sewer'? | Missions & ministry | Church life | Religious advertising | Catholicism | Abuse | Fraud & crime | 'Values' | Film | Religion & media | The Passion | People | Books | Music | Theology | More articles of interest

Same-sex marriage:

• NZ recognizes same-sex unions | New Zealand's parliament has passed controversial legislation to recognise civil unions between gay couples (BBC)
  
• Unmarried gay couples lose health benefits | Many of the state's largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage (The Boston Globe)
  
• Also: Massachusetts firms drop domestic-partner benefits | To some major Massachusetts employers, this year's advent of same-sex "marriage" means the end of their domestic-partnership benefit programs (The Washington Times)
  
• Groups debate slower strategy on gay rights | Gay rights leaders are debating if they should moderate their goals after 11 states approved constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriages (The New York Times)
  
• Married in Mass., single in N.C. | Couple at heart of gay marriage debate (The Charlotte Observer, N.C.)
  
• 'Religious left' supports gay marriage bill | Leaders of San Francisco's "religious left" lined up Tuesday to declare support for a bill that would allow same-sex couples to get married in California, arguing that the measure was a logical extension of the principle mandating separation of church and state (Associated Press)
  
• Bills wed California to gay 'marriage' spotlight | Same-sex "marriage" promises to be a hot topic in California next year, as lawmakers introduce dueling bills this week and a high-profile lawsuit gets a hearing later this month (The Washington Times)
  

• Appeals court hears arguments on legalizing gay marriage | Three judges peppered attorneys on both sides of the gay marriage debate with tough questions Tuesday but put off making a decision on whether to allow same-sex marriages in New Jersey (Associated Press)
  
• Decision to delay partner benefits raises questions | Some say it was the will of Michigan voters, while others say the state should have waited for the courts (Associated Press)
  
• State justice rules against 13 couples seeking same-sex marriage | It was the second ruling in two months against plaintiffs in six separate civil suits seeking state recognition of same-sex marriage. (The New York Times)
  

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'Don't ask, don't tell' lawsuit:

• Some believe ruling undercuts 'don't ask' | Military appeals court overturned conviction of soldier on sodomy charge (The Washington Post)
  
• 12 gays who left sue over military's policy | The say the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays serving in the armed forces is discriminatory (The Boston Globe)
  

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Homosexuality & religion:

• Synod reprimands SB pastor | Hiring of associate pastor faulted (San Bernardino Sun, Ca.)
  
• Also: San Bernardino Lutheran mission loses its sanction over gay pastor | Central City congregation violated church's constitution, synod leader says (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Also: Synod denies request for mission | Ousted: Central City Lutheran is not restored as a congregation over its call to a lesbian minister. (The Press-Enterprise, Calif.)
  
• Gay cleric to deliver BBC sermon | Jeffrey John, the cleric at the heart of the gay row in the Church of England last year when he was forced to stand down from the suffragan bishopric of Reading, has been invited to preach the sermon during a BBC broadcast service over Christmas (The Guardian, London)
  
• Anti-gay group demands Matthew Shepard apology | Focus on the Family is demanding an apology from NBC News "on behalf of Christians disparaged by Today show co-host Katie Couric's 1998 insinuation that biblical principles incited the murder". (365Gay.com)
  
• Rio protesters oppose tax-funded 'cure' for gays | Hundreds of protesters descended on Rio de Janeiro's legislative assembly yesterday, revolted by state proposals offering to bankroll the psychological "conversion" of homosexuals (The Independent, London)
  
• Delgaudio rebuked by school officials | Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling) intensified efforts to connect his job as an anti-gay activist with his work as an elected official this week, prompting a sharp response from a board colleague and school officials (The Washington Post)
  

• We're still divine, darling | I want to do a religious reality show called The Spirit Is Willing, a weekly show on religion and sexuality (Kate Clinton, The Advocate, gay magazine)
  

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Marriage & family:

• Japan sounds alarm on birth rate | The Japanese government says urgent policy changes are needed to persuade women to have more children. (BBC)
  
• Over-50 divorce rate soars | The divorce rate among couples in their fifties and sixties is rising sharply, a report to be published this week reveals(Times, London)
  
• More Aussie couples delaying marriage | Two-thirds of Australian couples are choosing to live together before marriage (The Australian)
  

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Sexual ethics:

• High Court upholds firing of San Diego police officer | The justices overturn a ruling that said the sale of sexually explicit videos was protected (Los Angeles Times)
  
• We're not in g-rated Kansas anymore | Porn 'superstores' are thriving near rural offramps, causing the locals to debate obscenity and privacy, sometimes in court (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Opening the bedroom door | As Americans struggle with their curiosity about - and discomfort with - sexuality, researchers continue to make the case for knowledge (Newsday)
  

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Teen sex:

• Virtuous virgins give birth to US marriage boom | When Josie and Michael reach the altar next June, after spending £15,000 booking everything from the church to a European honeymoon, they fear they will feel "very old". Both will have just turned 22. The couple, who have dated since they were 17, are not unusual. As Americans discuss the "new morality" said to have helped George W Bush to win a second presidential term, the US government's statistical watchdogs have noticed a confluence of social and sexual trends that will warm the hearts of the American right. (Times, London)
  
• Saying 'no' is still the best choice, says fed 'chastity czar' | Teen sex: Critics say the focus on abstinence is just unrealistic for today's crop of young people (Salt Lake Tribune)
  

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Sex education:

• Frist backs review of abstinence programs | Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday that the government should review federally funded sexual abstinence programs, under fire from Democrats who say they contain false and misleading medical information (Associated Press)
  

• Parents organize to fight new sex-ed curriculum | Montgomery County parents met yesterday to organize against changes in the public school system's sex-education curriculum in which students are told that homosexuality is not a choice and that same-sex couples are one form of a family (The Washington Times)
  
• Writing on the rightness of sex-ed changes | Curriculum prompts hundreds to protest or voice support (Washington Post)
  
• Study faults abstinence courses | Some federally financed sex education programs that teach an abstinence-only approach have factual errors and are ineffective, a Congressional report says. (New York Times)
  
• School board in Texas reshapes textbooks | Publishers say they will tweak marriage and sex references but critics call it anti-gay ballyhoo. (Los Angeles Times, via The Detroit News)
  
• Writing on the rightness of sex-ed changes | Curriculum prompts hundreds to protest or voice support (Washington Post)
  
• A culture of bigotry | Fundamentalists bring not only their own strong and absolute opinions to the debate, they also bring their own facts. For instance, in the United States last week, a Congressional committee (composed solely of Democrats) discovered that born again Christians were spending millions of taxpayer dollars frightening young people about the dangers of sexual intercourse and telling them lies to reinforce their messages. (John Maxwell, Jamaica Observer, Jamaica)
  
• Abstinence-only: Breeding ignorance | The Bush-backed sex education programs are filled with errors (Mary-Jane Waglé, Los Angeles Times)
  

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Education:

• Religion policies clarified | Desert Sands school trustees act after complaints from parents about some activities (The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Ca.)
  
• Pledge 'under God' uproar dividing Estes residents | In Estes Park, there's discomfort on all political sides that the flap over a town trustee's refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance is redefining the community (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
• Boston College eyes divinity school merger | Brighton campus would be home (The Boston Globe)
  

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Teaching creation/evolution:

• A who's who of players in the battle of biology class | In the long battle over the teaching of evolution in American public schools, activists Eugenie Scott and Bruce Chapman both like to claim the role of underdog (The Christian Science Monitor)
  

• Wisconsin board revises policy on teaching creationism | Meanwhile, Pennsylvania school board member who voted with majority to require teaching of intelligent design resigns after panel refuses to reconsider decision (Associated Press)
  
• Darwin under fire (again): Intelligent design vs. evolution | Anti-evolutionists see 'design' theory as next hope for changing science education in public schools (Charles C. Haynes, First Amendment Center)
  

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School, God, & the Declaration of Independence:

• Battle over God in U.S. history class | Cupertino teacher sues to tell role of Christianity (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
• Cupertino history lesson | The Declaration of Independence is not banned from Stevens Creek Elementary School, or any classroom in Cupertino (Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle)
  
• School-religion spotlight on Cupertino | Teacher sues district over ban on materials, spurs e-mail flood (Mercury News, Calif.)
  
• Give teacher benefit of doubt amid uproar | In our effort not to offend, we err in treating religion like secondhand cigarette smoke. (Scott Herhold, Mercury News, Calif.)
  
• Cupertino teacher on Fox talk show | Religious ban debated on 'Hannity & Colmes' (Mercury News, Calif.)
  
• Cupertino controversy: straw man of an issue | One matter is clear. The district has not banned the Declaration of Independence, contrary to an assertion on the Web site of the legal coalition that has come to Williams' defense. (Editorial, Mercury News, Calif.)
  
• Public schools must teach about religion | Job isn't easy, but students should learn its role (Bill Evers, Mercury News, Calif.)
  
• Parents face off against teacher in religion vs. history dispute | Angry parents in the Northern California city of Cupertino lashed out yesterday at a public school teacher, a Christian legal organization, and the press for dragging the local elementary school into a national controversy over the role of religion in the classroom (The New York Sun)
  

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December dilemma:

• Carols okayed on school buses | Gurnee district reverses its ban (Chicago Tribune)
  
• Also: Beat goes on aboard buses | The sound you hear coming from Woodland Elementary Distict 50 school buses today could be a Christmas carol (Daily Herald, Chicago suburbs)
  
• Religious rite | Denver's Christmas display could use a new coat of hay (Westword, Denver)
  
• Summit would bring goodwill to holiday fight | The idea that Christmas needs to be "saved" from the rampaging evil forces of the "happy holidays" crowd is goofy (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)
  

• Why fear the 'Christ' in Christmas? | Am I imagining things or has the Grinch index gone up a notch this year? (Monte Leighton, Auburn Journal, Ca.)
  
• 'Save Christmas' crusader targets wrong enemy | The Alliance Defense Fund and I claim to have common cause: We want to save Christmas. But while representatives of the fund say they want to save Christmas from the American Civil Liberties Union, I want to save it from ignorance--specifically the brand of alarmist ignorance peddled by the Alliance Defense Fund when it attacks the ACLU (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)
  
• U.S. communities fail to keep 'Christ' in Christmas | Champions of creches, live Nativity scenes, Christmas trees, greeting cards and salutations offer compelling evidence that December 25 is still a religious holiday — not a violation of separation of church and state (The Washington Times)
  
• Symbols of the season causing a spirited stir | A community near Miami displays Jewish symbols, as well as secular. Now a lawsuit seeks to add Christian scenes (St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
  
• Debating Christmas celebrations in public places | Attempts at political correctness spark divisive debate (World News Tonight, ABC)
  
• Senator: Put Christ back in Christmas | A state senator announced Tuesday that he is contacting every New Mexico school district to "remind them and encourage them that the name Jesus can and should be mentioned in public schools." (The New Mexican, Santa Fe)
  
• The dark side of the lights | The animating spirit of the Judeo-Christian origins of our democratic government is alive and well despite attempts by those who quail at the very mention of God to eliminate all mention of faith in the public square (Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times)
  
• Sunday pops | Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper won't have to change his name to Burgermeister Meisterburger after all (Editorial, Pittsburg Tribune-Review)
  

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December dilemma in Europe:

• Christmas song revives religious debate | An Italian teacher's efforts to make a Christmas carol more acceptable to young Muslim students by removing the word "Jesus" has rekindled the debate over religious symbols in the Roman Catholic country (Reuters)
  
• Furor in Italy over scrapping of Christmas play | An Italian school's substitution of a Nativity play with Little Red Riding Hood so as not to offend Muslim children has raised the Vatican's ire and sparked debate on how much traditions should change to accommodate immigrants (Reuters)
  

• The PC creed is just nonsense | Muslims are NOT upset by Christmas and the message it gives to the world (The Sun, U.K.)
  
• Muscular Christians flex their muscles | Local Christian groups, tired of "getting pushed around," are rejecting government-enforced removal of Christianity from Christmas celebrations (S. T. Karnick, The American Spectator)
  
• Christmas song revives religious debate | An Italian teacher's efforts to make a Christmas carol more acceptable to young Muslim students by removing the word "Jesus" has rekindled the debate over religious symbols in the Roman Catholic country. (Reuters)
  
• In Germany, a Christmas-season contest: Santa vs. St. Nicholas | As commerce spreads, Germans seek lost element of charity (The Christian Science Monitor)
  

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Hanukkah:

• Hanukkah means we pray, play and eat | Here's the deal. A long, long, long time ago -- maybe 10 weeks ago -- some people called Maccabees wanted to pray in their own way. But mean people wouldn't let them. So the Maccabees had to fight. And not only did they win, something very important happened that had to do with candles and/or oil. (Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fla.)
  
• Giving the festival of lights a higher profile | Chabad's efforts led to more public Hanukkah observances. Reaction among Jews is mixed (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Menorah gets its night to shine | Wellesley, chabad reach compromise (The Boston Globe)
  

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Holidays:

• Holiday season brings cheer -- and fires | December, a month when temperatures drop and Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve arrive, marks the start of the worst season for home fires. (News Journal, Ohio)
  
• Church anger over 'devil' Santa | Church leaders in York say the Christmas display at one of the city's tourist attractions could expose children to "evil forces". (BBC)
  
• Nativity plays boosting tea towel sales | Sales of tea towels are booming as parents use them as headdresses for their children in primary school Nativity plays, Sainsbury's supermarket said Monday. (Reuters)
  
• Shedding light on the holidays | Lights at religious holidays illuminate the determination of most Americans to live happily in a nation of multiple religious denominations (The Boston Globe)
  

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Christmas:

• Perfect playlist: Christmas carols | They have pagan roots and were banned by Cromwell, but they have become the irresistible soundtrack to Christmas. Ian Bradley traces the unlikely history of carols (The Telegraph, London)
  

• Blinded by the bling | Local Christians struggle to maintain spiritual focus amid lure of material goods (Boca Raton News, Fla.)
  
• Holiday displays | Municipalities must walk a fine line in adhering to the law and pleasing residents, both religiously observant and nonobservant. Representing everyone's beliefs is at the heart of a seemingly annual controversy involving holiday displays (The Journal News, White Plains, N.Y.)
  
• A December turned upside down | We should not mistake Christ, who was born in a barn from a homeless teenager and who later admonished his friends to give away all they had to the poor, with the materialistic madness of Christmas (David Cook, The Chattanoogan, Tenn.)
  
• Then & Now: Room at the inn | Amid the busy malls and commercial onslaught of the Christmas season, San Antonio is one of a number of U.S. cities that has kept a centuries-old tradition that celebrates the holiday's true meaning. (San Antonio Express-News)
  
• This 'Nutcracker' production has a real Christmas theme | Dimmel conjured the notion to use Tchaikovsky's music from the famed ballet while changing the tale to tell the story of the first Christmas and the birth of Jesus. (The Kansas City Star)
  
• Newsmags' kibosh on Christmas | Among the conclusions in Time and Newsweek: Jesus was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem; there is little evidence of three kings following a star, and the story of the virgin birth may have been borrowed (New York Daily News)
  
• Do the write thing for Christmas | First, Arthur Stace did it with "Eternity"; now, Peter Rush wants to see "Merry Christmas" emblazoned on footpaths across Sydney (The Daily Telegraph, NSW, Australia)
  
• Silent (and cold) night: Live Nativity an outdoor event | A little bit of Bethlehem comes to Greensburg the first three weekends of every December, courtesy of Anna Marie Stevenson (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
• 'Davey and Goliath' back for holiday special | Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas will air on the Hallmark Channel at noon on Dec. 19 and Dec. 26 (The Orlando Sentinel)
  
• Serenity beckons in season of haste | Day of prayer sets tone for Advent (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
  
• Chaput: Keep Christian identity in holiday fetes | Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput is offering what he calls a modest proposal: scrubbing the words "Happy Holidays" from the Catholic vocabulary this month (The Denver Post)
  

• Banning Tiny Tim? Humbug! | "God bless us, every one!" gets axed (Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times)
  
• Generic season's greeting | Secular messages reflect the growing number of Christmas card senders forgoing the typical Christian message for a more generic one (Daily Herald, Chicago suburbs)
  
• Standing up to aggressive secularism | The anti-Christmas drive is out of touch with people of all beliefs (Miranda Devine, The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
• There is a 'Christian Grinch' | The words "Christian" and "grinch" should be contradictory, but yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a Christian Grinch (Steve Crain, The Pilot, Pinehurst, N.C.)
  
• Church carols cancelled after row | Council officials have cancelled a Christmas carol service after being refused the best seats in the church. (BBC)
  
• Holiday greetings for unbelievers and Scrooges | Merry Voidmas to you secularists (Marjorie Anderson, The Edmond Sun)
  

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David Beckhamnativity:

• Celebrity nativity scene draws ire in U.K. | Christian leaders on Wednesday denounced a Nativity scene at a London wax museum featuring soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl, as the parents of Jesus (Associated Press)
  
• "Beckham nativity" outrages churches | Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians united in calling the exhibit -- at Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London -- a new low in the cult of celebrity worship (Reuters)
  
• Church fury at nativity Beckhams | A nativity scene featuring David and Victoria Beckham and Graham Norton at Madame Tussauds has been branded potentially blasphemous (Evening Standard, London)
  
• Holy row over celebrity nativity in London | 'Posh and Becks' depict Mary and Joseph; Bush, Blair are wise men (MSNBC)
  
• Meltdown at Madame Tussauds | The only appropriate response to the nonsensical Beckham nativity scene (Editorial, The Times, London)
  
• 'Beckham Nativity' tableau outrages churches | Church leaders united Wednesday to condemn a Christmas nativity tableau depicting soccer star David Beckham as Joseph and his pop singer wife Victoria as the Virgin Mary (Reuters)
  
• So, is this really the most OFFENSIVE image in Britain? | Festive traditions are facing gradual extinction thanks to barmy bureaucrats who WRONGLY believe they are offensive to followers of religions other than Christianity (The Sun, U.K.)
  

• Was it a wise move to create Beckham nativity? | Senior churchmen reacted angrily last night to a Madame Tussaud's nativity tableau depicting Victoria and David Beckham as Mary and Joseph, calling it "a nativity stunt too far". A spokesman for one senior Church of England bishop condemned it as an outrage (The Times, London)
  

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Church & state:

• White House plugs 10 Commandments displays | The Bush administration on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to allow Ten Commandments displays on government property, adding a federal view on a major church-state case that justices will deal with early next year (Associated Press)
  
• Ministers propose prayer sign-up sheet | A sign-up sheet open to all is the best answer to the controversy over prayer at the beginning of government meetings, the Culpeper County Ministerial Association decided Tuesday (Associated Press)
  
• Suit targets fed cash for faith-based kids group | A Christian group that mentors children of Phoenix prisoners is the first target of a new effort challenging President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives as unconstitutional (The Arizona Republic)
  
• Money for missions: Keep the faith, baby | Ten million dollars is a bargain to pay for proof that we can be a nation that regards its old churches with the same dispassionate historical curiosity as it regards an Ohio canal boat or a Paul Revere silver cup (Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times)
  
• Oath under assault | Headline-making clash has left many Scouts — including thousands of adults who went through the Scout ranks decades ago — scratching their heads, wondering what could be unconstitutional about an organization basically devoted to camping, hiking and other outdoor skills (The Washington Times)
  
• Row over use of Pagan symbol in Queensland community | A row has broken out in Queensland over the use of an ancient pagan symbol as the logo for a country shire council (The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
  
• Minister disturbed by bill opponents | Paul Swain tells Parliament as a Catholic, he does not associate his values with what he saw at the Destiny Church rally (NZCity, New Zealand)
  

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Church & state in Europe:

• Turkey showcased as a center for religions | In a bid to showcase Turkey as a country that respects religions, the prime minister inaugurated a mosque, a synagogue and a church, just days before the European Union is to decide on whether to start membership talks with the largely Muslim nation (Associated Press)
  

• Targeting faith — Europe copies U.S. | It's not easy being a red-state politician on a blue continent. Just ask Rocco Buttiglione (William McGurn, New York Post)
  
• Perplexing New Year ahead | The reports about Christianity's death in the Northern Hemisphere have been premature (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)
  
• Assessing Europe's 'headscarf law' debates | Julia Doxat-Purser, Religious Liberty Coordinator of the European Evangelical Alliance argues that French politicians are wrong to believe that the acquiescence shown by most schoolchildren to the law banning the wearing of prominent religious symbols signals their acceptance of the law. (Forum 18 News Service, Norway)
  
• The secular inquisition | Christians are bad. Comrades are good. That is the lesson of the recently concluded parallel process by which the European Union Commission and the European Parliament accepted Laszlo Kovacs of Hungary as a European commissioner while vociferously rejecting Italy's European affairs minister, Rocco Buttiglione, for his views on marriage and homosexuality (Samuel Gregg, The Washington Times)
  

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Mr. Bean & British religious hate bill:

• Atkinson's religious hate worry | Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson has launched a comedians' campaign against a government bill to outlaw inciting religious hatred. (BBC)
  
• Blunkett faces revolt over religious hatred law | David Blunkett faced a growing revolt last night over plans to make incitement to religious hatred a crime (The Telegraph, London)
  
• Religious hatred Bill is being used to buy Muslim votes | Evidence for "Islamophobia" - as distinct from a justified fear of radical Islamist terrorism or a desire to protect our freedoms, institutions and values from those who hold them in contempt - is anecdotal and slight (Michael Burleigh, The Telegraph, London)
  
• You must be free to hate me | Persecution and poor taste are not the same (Cristina Odone, The Times, London)
  

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Religious freedom in U.S.:

• Bias trial opens | A mail carrier who sued the federal government four years ago testified Wednesday about workplace harassment in a Fargo post office (The Forum, Fargo, N.D.)
  
• So we're oppressed? | It's heck being a Christian in America these days. Insults and ostracism confront us daily (Linda Campbell, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
  

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Human rights:

• U.S. angry over U.N. membership policy | In a report last week, a U.N. panel established by Secretary-General Kofi Annan rejected the notion that there should be any standards at all for membership on the Human Rights Commission (Associated Press)
  

• Darfur: Where is Europe? | While a three-month U.N. mission slowly goes about its business, Darfur continues to disintegrate into a horror zone of killing fields, mass rapes and ethnic cleansing (Christian W.D. Bock and Leland R. Miller, The Washington Post)
  

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Islam:

• Anger as 'anti-Muslim' film aired | A group of Muslims has reported two Danish broadcasters to the police for airing the film Submission by murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh. (BBC)
  
• U.N. opens forum on tolerance to Muslims | Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened the first U.N. seminar on confronting Islamophobia with a plea not to judge Muslims by the acts of extremists who target and kill civilians (Associated Press)
  

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Iraq:

• Insurgents bomb 2 churches in northern Iraq city | The bombings in Mosul were the latest of a string of attacks seemingly intended to stir religious and ethnic divisions(New York Times)
  
• Pope condemns Iraq church attacks | Pope John Paul II has spoken out against attacks on Iraq's Christian community after the bombing of two churches in the northern city of Mosul (BBC)
  
• Iraq's Shiite clergy push to get out the vote | Suppressed majority urged to fulfill duty (Washington Post)
  

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Presbyterians & Israel:

• From churches, a challenge to Israeli policies | Some may wield an old financial tool - divestment - to register concern about peace prospects. (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
• Explaining issues of Presbyterians and Israel | It is possible to be unequivocal in support of Israel's legitimacy and security while being critical of particular Israeli policies (Leo Sandon, Tallahassee Democrat, Fla)
  

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War & terrorism:

• Aid workers in Iraq stung by hatred of West | International aid workers, whose pacifist-tinged neutrality once protected them from harm while they worked in combat zones, now find themselves as hated by militants in Iraq as the American soldiers there (The Washington Times)
  
• Ministry of Defense to recruit first chaplains for Muslims | Four chaplains are to be selected in March next year to represent Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, whose numbers have been steadily increasing in recent years (The Times, London)
  
• Should this man come to the U.S.? | Tariq Ramadan's renown has spread (US News & World Report)
  

• Sudan calls for normalized U.S. ties | Sudanese officials said they expected relations with the United States to normalize by the end of the month when they sign a U.S.-backed peace agreement with rebels in the southern part of the country to end 21 years of war (Washington Post)
  

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Life ethics:

• New hope for paralysed woman | A British woman who was left paralysed by a riding accident has regained some movement after taking part in a pioneering trial in which stem cells were transplanted from her nose into her spine. (Daily Telegraph, UK)
  
• Compromising bioethics | The demise of moral scruples always begins with a "debate," as the President's Council on Bioethics is demonstrating. (George Neumayr, The American Spectator)
  
• 'Sacred' shouldn't override science | The president now has the opportunity to lead the nation in a discussion concerning abortion and embryonic stem cells, beginning with the answers to some of the critical underlying questions (Mario Cuomo, USA Today)
  
• Disabled people want the right to die | Four-fifths seek legalisation of euthanasia for the terminally ill, reveals a poll that suggests a big change in British attitudes (The Observer, UK)
  
• Briton's assisted suicide is probed | An investigation has begun in Switzerland into the death of a chronically ill British woman who won a landmark victory in her fight for the right to travel abroad for an assisted suicide. (Times, London)
  
• Doctor attacked over 'miracle cures' based on aborted fetuses | Mr Shoham's "miraculous" recovery from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was the result of a visit to China where he received treatment using foetal tissue transplantation. The technique, developed by a Chinese doctor, gave Mr Shoham back the ability to walk, talk and eat. (The Telegraph, UK)
  
• New Calif. agency begins stem cell project | Californians voted by a wide margin last month to pass a landmark $3 billion initiative to fund stem-cell research. That may have been the easy part (Associated Press)
  

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Abortion:

• Lawmaker wants death certificates for abortions | Rep.-elect Roger Koopman, R-Bozeman, is sponsoring a bill that would require the filing of a death certificate for every aborted fetus in Montana (Independent Record, Helena, Mont.)
  
• Also: New lawmaker proposes death certificates for all abortions (Associated Press)
  
• Pro-lifers set sights on new Congress | The pro-life movement, which helped pass several initiatives in the 108th Congress, thinks Republican gains in the Senate will aid the chances for bills to enforce state parental notification laws and to alert pregnant women about fetal pain (The Washington Times)
  

• Abortion battle rages on in US | President Bush is expected to sign into law this month a controversial new piece of legislation on abortion, which has just been approved by Congress. (BBC)
  
• Pro-choicers told to rethink | Pro-choice activists need to rethink "the value of the fetus" to reach middle-of-the-road voters, says Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice in the winter issue of her group's magazine (The Washington Times)
  
• Document: Is there life after Roe? | How to think about the fetus (Frances Kissling, Conscience)
  
• Pro-lifers set sights on new Congress | The pro-life movement, which helped pass several initiatives in the 108th Congress, thinks Republican gains in the Senate will aid the chances for bills to enforce state parental notification laws and to alert pregnant women about fetal pain. (Washington Times)
  
• Bush 'disappointing' some pro-lifers | Some pro-life leaders are doing a slow burn over President Bush's early Cabinet nominations of Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales and his support of pro-choice Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (The Washington Times)
  
• Breaking down the abortion controversy | I don't see how so many righteous Christians can believe that it is immoral for a woman to choose not to bear a child whom she is not capable of properly loving and nurturing (Murvale Moore Jr., Lincoln Journal, Mass.)
  
• Be careful what you wish for | Overturning Roe v. Wade would be good for the Democrats (James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal)
  

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Religion & politics:

• Prepping for the next big battle: The Supreme Court | The vast machinery of interest groups, think tanks and pundits is awkwardly waiting for a conflict that will be bitter and divisive (The New York Times)
  
• Couple sue agency over marriage rule | Immigration services refuses residency to a man whose wife had a sex-change operation (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Don't institutionalize degeneration | Leaders of the black church are beginning to grasp that the welfare state and the politics of the liberal left damaged character in the black community (Star Parker, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.)
  
• Religion was not the deciding factor in election | The ubiquitous maps of red Bush states and blue Kerry states do reflect the all-or-nothing rule of electoral vote awards. But the campaign at large was not a black-and-white proposition, Christian zealotry on one side, godless Hollywood on the other. (John E. Mulligan, The Providence Journal, RI)
  

• Bush hardly a zealot | The bland truth is that Bush is unlikely to deliver on religious conservatives' expectations in any dramatic or immediate way simply because it isn't his style (Kathleen Parker, The Orlando Sentinel)
  
• No need to pander, blues | Abandoning your values to curry favor with a passionate minority that claims to be a majority would prove only that you had no values at all. It would be, simply, pandering (Eric Mink, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
• Is Bush's faith-based initiative for real? | I believe in the president's commitment to moral and spiritual values that will produce a richer, healthier America (Lonnie McLeod, The Washington Times)
  
• Blue America: The land of the easily offended | With the acknowledgment that there are many individual exceptions, a major defining characteristic of modern-day liberalism is the ease with which liberals take offense personally and/or on behalf of others (Dennis Prager, The Washington Times)
  
• Is Bush the Antichrist? | The Christian right and the Christian left are engaged in a debate over who 'owns' Jesus—and whether Dubya is a force for good or evil (Seattle Weekly)
  
• Also: The Antichrist through the ages (Seattle Weekly)
  

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Commissioner says urban blacks live in 'moral sewer':

• James apologizes for wording of remarks | Commissioner responds to furor over comments on urban blacks (The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 4)
  
• Leaders scold James for e-mail | 'Moral sewer' remarks widely condemned (The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 3)
  
• Blacks offer mixed reaction to James' assertions | Not all would disagree, but commissioner is no Bill Cosby, says pastor (The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 3)
  
• Bill James' slur | Racial stereotyping is inaccurate, insulting and divisive (Editorial, The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 3)
  
• Isn't 'sewer' cleanup part of James' job? | There is a moral sewer here in our inner city, Bill James has put himself in a good spot to clean it up. Instead he has sealed off the pipes (Tommy Tomlinson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 3)
  
• Past the 'moral sewer' | Saying 'parents are the problem' doesn't solve a thing (Mary Newsom, The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 8)
  

• Commissioners meet briefly, quietly | 3 speakers condemn James' e-mail, but business under way (The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Dec. 8)
  

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Missions & ministry:

• Closing the giving gap | Salvation Army regroups after Target retail chain bans soliciting at stores (The Boston Globe)
  
• Child advocates win $27M Calif. lottery | Debi Faris-Cifelli has made it her life's work to spread the word that scared and confused parents should drop their newborns at firehouses and hospitals — not in trash cans and alleys (Associated Press)
  
• Habitat founder honored Wednesday night | On Wednesday, in a church at Emory University, the World Methodist Council is to present a prestigious award to Millard Fuller and Habitat for Humanity International, the Christian home-building organization he founded 28 years ago (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  

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Church life:

• From 'liberal' pews, a rising thirst for personal moral code | Mainline Protestant congregations, known for emphasizing the social-justice and global-equity dimensions of the Gospel, are increasingly making space for airing parishioners' day-to-day moral dilemmas, which they used to leave largely between an individual and God. (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
• Churches oppose bill on disclosure | The major mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches of Massachusetts have decided unanimously to oppose legislation that would force religious organizations to make public their finances, throwing an obstacle in the path of efforts by some Catholics to require greater disclosure by the Archdiocese of Boston (The Boston Globe)
  
• Religion returns to ex-PTL site | Church holds first service at former Heritage USA (The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.)
  
• Church size goes before commission once again | St. Andrew's expansion headlines another City Hall meeting tonight, and the debate should be heated (Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Ca.)
  
• Also: Differing visions for future | Two sides square off on the St. Andrew's expansion (Nigel Bailey & Dave Young, Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Ca.)
  
• Also: 'Promise' was never that church wouldn't expand | There is nothing more important to me, as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, than my personal integrity (John Huffman, Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Ca.)
  
• Britons flock back to church - as tourists | Just 7 percent of the population attend services regularly. But visits to churches are up sharply (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
• Group sues to stop development | Neighbors say Arlington illegally approved church project (The Washington Post)
  

• Liberty Heights moving to Princeton Road facility/12-6 | Pastor: Visibility from I-75 key to reaching out (Journal-News, Hamilton, Ohio)
  
• Churches feel Whitlam's smiling wrath | When Gough Whitlam entered New College at the University of NSW it was like Daniel going into the lions' den. Except that Daniel was thrown in; Mr Whitlam went happily (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
• Another kind of Christianity hits Miami's South Beach | Christian conservatives have gotten a lot of press in the wake of the 2004 presidential election. NPR's Eric Weiner gives us a glimpse of another kind of Christianity, gaining followers in Miami's trendy South Beach neighborhood (Day to Day, NPR)
  
• Archbishop call to end 'infighting' | The Archbishop of York has warned that the Anglican church is on the brink of "implosion" over the issues of homosexual clergy and women bishops. (This Is London, UK)
  
• Church is imploding, says Archbishop of York | The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has warned that the Anglican church is on the brink of "implosion" over the divisive issues of the ordination of homosexual clergy and women bishops (The Telegraph, London)
  
• St. Albert's parishioners stay vigilant | From the young to the old, hundreds of parishioners filed into St. Albert the Great yesterday for prayer service and special activities to mark today's 100th day anniversary in round-the-clock vigil (The Boston Globe)
  
• Minister puts faith in mentor | Learning on job at Saugus church (The Boston Globe)
  
• Modern chapels, and robotics to aid the immobile | Randall Ott, dean of Catholic University's School of Architecture and Planning, has been designing unbuilt "theoretical chapels" for the past decade (The Washington Post)
  
• Youth groups test their knowledge at Bible trivia night | There's just one rule: "No Bibles or cellphones" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
• Mormon author says he's facing excommunication | Grant Palmer, a lifelong Mormon, church teacher and author said Wednesday he faced excommunication after he was accused of apostasy for publishing a book questioning the origins of the Book of Mormon (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Earlier: Mormon scholar under fire | Anthropologist says Latter-day Saints' teaching wrong about Native Americans (Christianity Today, Feb. 19, 2003)
  

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Religious advertising:

• Holy hypocrisy | Heaven help us when television networks that regularly pander to the lowest common denominator with titillating dramas and suggestive sitcoms refuse to air a church commercial because it's "too controversial." (Editorial, The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
  
• United Church of Christ tries local route | Banned by two networks, its advertisement finds an audience on cable, and is being welcomed by the local CBS affiliate (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
  
• A chill in the air | It could turn out that the head of the FCC is less of a threat to free speech in this country than the heads of CBS and NBC (Eileen McNamara, The Boston Globe)
  
• Why the big deal over church's ad? | At the heart of our campaign is an effort to reach out to those who feel alienated from God and disaffected from the church (Nancy S. Taylor, The Boston Globe)
  
• Holy hypocrisy | When inclusion is the message, the networks balk (Editorial, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
• 'Immaculate contraception' ad withdrawn | Morning-after birth control ad called inappropriate (Reuters)
  

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Catholicism:

• Immaculate Conception often a misconception | Catholic doctrine to turn 150 years old this week (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
• Parishioners won't give up or get out | Members of St. Albert the Great in Boston are coming up on the 100th day of a sit-in to save the Roman Catholic church from being closed down (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Pope keeps up tradition of Spanish Steps | Dec. 8 is the church and Italian national holiday of the Immaculate Conception, which marks the Roman Catholic dogma that the mother of Jesus was conceived without original sin. In the morning, he presided at a two-hour Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the 150th anniversary of the declaration of the dogma (Associated Press)
  
• Gregory named Atlanta archbishop | Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., will become the new leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
• Also: Atlanta names new archbishop | Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, who was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for three years during the height of the clergy molestation crisis, has been appointed by Pope John Paul II to serve as Archbishop of Atlanta, the archdiocese announced Thursday (Associated Press)
  

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Abuse:

• Religious order to build memorial to abuse victims | A Roman Catholic religious order has agreed to build a memorial for victims who filed a lawsuit last year contending they were sexually abused by one of its priests while he was assigned to a South Side parish in the 1970s and '80s (Chicago Sun-Times)
  

• Healing signs in O.C. abuse ordeal | Bishop Brown and parishioners laud moves toward reconciliation after a huge settlement (Los Angeles Times)
  
• A bishop's bold move | Tod D. Brown's role in settling O.C. abuse cases points out his contrasts with Cardinal Mahony (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Diocese's deal raises the bar across U.S. | The Roman Catholic Church in O.C. will provide an average $1.1 million per alleged sexual abuse victim, a record that will influence talks nationwide (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Finding strength in pain | Outside court, men and their families share stories of childhood abuse, forging a bond with other victims after years of silence (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Man claims friar abused him | State worker says he was victimized as a teen by the Rev. Frank Genevive (Times Union, Albany, N.Y.)
  
• Franciscan accused in abuse suit | Mark Lyman of Stillwater, N.Y., says he was sexually abused beginning at age 13 by Frank Genevive, whom he met when Genevive was assigned to St. Anthony's Church in Troy, N.Y. (Associated Press)
  
• Diocese asks judge to limit abuse lawsuits | The Diocese of Worcester asked a judge yesterday to dismiss or limit lawsuits filed by a dozen men who say that the church hierarchy was grossly negligent in its handling of sexual abuse by clergy dating back to the 1950s (The Boston Globe)
  
• Sylvia Demarest is a hero to Catholics and especially parents | Dallas lawyer Sylvia Demarest is one of my top candidates for The Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year. She has done a world of good for victims of child sex abuse by priests and more to reform the Roman Catholic Church than any bishop I can think of (Rod Dreher, The Dallas Morning News)
  

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Fraud & crime:

• Church embezzeler sentenced | Renee Kippley of Grand Island, plead guilty Friday to grand larceny in the third degree before Supreme Court Justice Russell Buscaglia in an Erie County Courtroom (WGRZ, Buffalo, N.Y.)
  
• Priest used parish money for gambling | A popular Grand Rapids priest has been relieved of duties at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church after revealing he squandered parish funds to feed a casino-gambling addiction (The Grand Rapids Press, Mi.)
  
• Parish vandalism draws a forgiving response | On Nov. 27, a statue of the Virgin Mary that stands in front of the church rectory was crowned with wire hangers and duct tape. On the pavement before it was painted, ''Get yr religion off our lives!" The symbol for a woman was spraypainted on its base (The Boston Globe)
  

• Experts: Men distort religion to justify 'honor' killings | Men all over the world distort the teachings of Islam and Christianity to justify abusing their wives and daughters, leading to thousands of "honor" killings a year for which courts provide virtual impunity, experts say (Reuters)
  
• Seductress of the saints | Inside the mind--and suitcase--of Sandra Bridewell, religious charlatan (Dallas Observer)
  

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'Values':

• Fighting indecency, one bleep at a time | Only popular culture and big media stand in the Parents Television Council's way (The Washington Post)
  
• My moral values are way better than yours | Each of us looks at the world in his or her own way, and it is not necessarily the way evangelicals look at it. Here's a key difference: We are not trying to impose our beliefs on others, let alone the entire society and the world (Bob Cuddy, The Daily Review, Hayward, Ca.)
  
• On a new high, Sharpton hits a new low | TV's Democratic minister of 'moral values' takes a hypocritical plunge (The Village Voice)
  
• Moral standards are holding their own | The more blood-letting and debauchery we're exposed to in mass media, the less inclined we are to emulate it (Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune)
  
• Who better than family to instill values? | Home-schooling isn't magic, but it does provide the opportunity for the quality of life many families desire (Michael Smith, The Washington Times)
  
• Evangelists are out of control | I'm getting tired of being lectured on morals by my moral inferiors (Donald Kaul, The Boonville Standard, Ind.)
  

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Film:

• Getting cross with God | Philip Pullman's anti-religious His Dark Materials fantasy series is to be made into a film. For commercial reasons there will be no mention of the book's main villain — the Church (Hugo Rifkind, The Times, London)
  
• God is cut from film of Dark Materials | The Hollywood adaptation of Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, in which two children do battle with an evil, all-powerful church, is being rewritten to remove anti-religious overtones (The Times, London)
  
• God cut from Dark Materials film | The director and screenwriter of the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is to remove references to God and the church in the movie (BBC)
  
• The plot against sex in America | Right-wing groups are targeting "Kinsey" as part of their larger goal of pushing sex of all nonbiblical kinds back into the closet (Frank Rich, The New York Times)
  

• The Dove Foundation swoops down | Dove doesn't only seek to promote. They seek to restrict programs, too. And their grassroots efforts are effective enough that I see a threat (Alex Richmond, The Trentonian, N.J.)
  

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Religion & media:

• New group of televangelists reaches TV generation | Television ministers find audiences in both red, blue states (World News Tonight, ABC)
  
• Christian radio, coming to a station near you | Ian Worby has a dream. He wants Christian radio "to be in every house in Australia" (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
  
• 'Expect God's Favor': Interview with Joel Osteen | A rising young televangelist says that by expecting the best, we can enjoy the abundant life God wants for us (Beliefnet)
  

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The Passion:

• Gibson blessed with £200m profit from biblical epic | Mel Gibson has scooped one of the biggest fortunes from a single film, amassing at least £200m after personally funding his controversial biblical drama The Passion of the Christ. (Times, London)
  
• 'The Passion' doesn't have a prayer | Don't be surprised if Mel Gibson's baby doesn't score an Oscar nod (Michael Ventre, MSNBC)
  

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People:

• Jay Van Andel, co-founder of Amway, dies at 80 | Jay Van Andel spun Amway from a soap-selling business in his basement into a global sales giant and contributed millions to conservative political causes (New York Times)
  
• Also: Amway co-founder Jay Van Andel dies at 80 | Philanthropist, who saw himself as a clean-living, Christian fundamentalist, also gave more than $500,000 to an eponymous creationist scientific institute in the desert of northern Arizona (The Washington Post)
  
• Eviction doesn't deter pastor | After years of servicing a community that most would like to forget, this skid row pastor is looking for a new church (Burbank Leader, Calif.)
  

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Books:

• Paradise guide makes its debut on Earth | Penned with humor and irony, "Guide to Paradise" makes no bow to religious sensitivities (UPI)
  
• French fatigue over Da Vinci Code | The announcement this week from Hollywood that Tom Hanks will star in the film adaptation of Dan Brown's thriller The Da Vinci Code may have excited the book's millions of fans around the world. But in France, there was a collective sinking of hearts. (BBC)
  

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Music:

• Rocking for Christ | Kanye West feels that using the word Jesus in songs offends some people as much as using the n-word would offend others (60 Minutes)
  
• When rock of ages revved up radio | The death of evangelist Billy James Hargis late last month was a good reminder that once upon a time, the good stuff on the radio didn't happen in the morning. It happened late at night (David Hinckley, New York Daily News)
  
• Flyovereasy | Smart Christian kids and freaky pop pervs rock red states (The Village Voice)
  
• Backstreet Boy signs deal with new label | Brian Littrell signed a deal Wednesday with the Christian label Provident Music Group's Reunion Records (Associated Press)
  

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Theology:

• The rapture debunked | One of the people doing the most to debunk the worldview of LaHaye and others who believe in the Rapture and Tribulation has been a woman who labels herself a conservative theologian: Barbara R. Rossing, an associate professor of New Testament studies at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (Christopher Shea, The Boston Globe)
  
• Starry, starry night | "As important as religion is, ultimately art is a step above," says Ossie Davis. Religion tells us what should be. Art tells us what can be." (The Washington Post)
  

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More articles of interest:

• DNA clears the fog over Latino links to Judaism in New Mexico | Tests confirm what tradition and whispers have alluded to -- a Sephardic community often unbeknownst to many of its members (Los Angeles Times)
  
• Gridders win a delay of game | Title match moved to Tuesday after Fontana players opt for church over a Sunday contest (Los Angeles Times)
  
• TV's message from the grave | We often avoid talk of death, unless it is fictional or someone not close to us (The Orlando Sentinel)
  

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