April (Web-only) 2007

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1. Faith of Cho Seung-Hui uncertain, but not that of many of his victims
Two days after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech, many questions remain unanswered. Among them are questions about Cho's personal religious beliefs and his attitude toward Christians. The few details that have emerged in the press so far seem to raise more questions than they answer. The Associated Press reports, for example:

Cho … left a note that was found after the bloodbath. A law enforcement official described it Tuesday as a typed, eight-page rant against rich kids and religion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "You caused me to do this," the official quoted the note as saying. Cho indicated in his letter that the end was near and that there was a deed to be done, the official said. He also expressed disappointment in his own religion, and made several references to Christianity, the official said.

Unanswered: What was "his own religion"? USA Today says that at least one point, he (like many South Koreans) was a Presbyterian: "Pastor Cha Young Ho of the Korean Presbyterian Church said that the family once belonged to his church and that Cho was a quiet boy."

McClatchy reporters talked with Young-Hwan Kim, president of the school's Korean Campus Crusade for Christ chapter. "No one knew him," Kim said. "We had no contact throughout four years. It's amazing. We could not reach out to him." It wasn't for lack of trying, Kim said. Members of Korean Campus Crusade repeatedly invited him to meetings, he said, but Cho wouldn't even provide personal contact information.

Another "reference to Christianity" comes from AOL blogger Ian MacFarlane's posting of Cho's now infamous plays. As The Washington Post summarizes, "The two plays are filled with diatribes against Catholic priests and Michael Jackson, along with references to government conspiracies to kill Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon."

If Cho's faith remains something of a mystery, Christianity is front and center in much of the memorial. Stories of the victims are trickling out. The Myspace page of Lauren McCain, 20, now continues her testimony. "The purpose and love of my life is Jesus Christ," she wrote. "I don't have to argue religion, philosophy, or historical evidence because I KNOW Him. He is just as real, if not more so, as my 'earthly' father."

McCain is becoming one of the more prominent Christian victims, but she's not alone. "Several of our students were killed," Campus Crusade leader Tony Arnold told Mission Network News. "Three that we know were involved with either Campus Crusade for Christ or with one of our sister affiliate ministries called Valor. There's also another student that is not officially listed yet, but since no one has been able to reach her, we believe she must be among the casualties."

Yesterday's public convocation also offered several notes of faith. WorldNetDaily complained that "speakers … called on Allah and Buddha in their efforts to minister to the survivors, family and friends of victims of the shooting massacre at the school — but Jesus wasn't mentioned by name."

Apparently quoting Jesus doesn't count: The thousands of attendees recited The Lord's Prayer. Both the speeches of President George W. Bush and Gov. Tim Kaine have also been noted for their religious references.

Kaine invoked Job and Jesus. Job, he said, "was angry at his Creator. He argued with God. He didn't lose his faith, but it's okay to argue. It's okay to be angry." It's also okay to feel despair, he said, pointing to "those haunting words that were uttered on a hill, on Calvary, "My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?'" But do not let go of community, Kaine urged both those directly lost family members and those able to help the grieving.

Bush sounded a similar note. "Across the town of Blacksburg and in towns all across America, houses of worship from every faith have opened their doors and have lifted you up in prayer," he said. "People who have never met you are praying for you; they're praying for your friends who have fallen and who are injured. There's a power in these prayers, real power. In times like this, we can find comfort in the grace and guidance of a loving God. As the Scriptures tell us, 'Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.'"

These are just a few of the faith tidbits appearing in the media so far. Christianity Today has a reporter in Blacksburg and will be looking for other news about campus ministry, the church, and what God is doing at Virginia Tech.

2. Supreme Court supports ban on partial-birth abortion
The government has a "legitimate, substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote today for the five-justice majority upholding the federal government's 2003 ban on partial-birth abortion. "The government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman."

But this won't save lives, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg responded in her dissent: "The law saves not a single fetus from destruction, for it targets only a method of performing abortion." (Strange bedfellows: The American Life League made the same claim in its 2003 "no compromise" dismissal of the ban.) The ban and the court's decision, Ginsburg said, "cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court — and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives."

And yet, Roe and the Supreme Court's later rulings on abortion have always allowed limitations on that right in theory. In this case, Kennedy wrote, the ban's opponents "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases." Nor is it "void for vagueness, or that it imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion based on its overbreadth or lack of a health exception."

We'll have an original reaction story on the decision shortly. In the meantime, be sure to read our editorial (most of which was originally written to address South Dakota's abortion ban). National Review's editorial is remarkable as well: "Four justices on the Supreme Court have accepted all the premises for a constitutional right to infanticide. They lack only the nerve to take their reasoning to its logical conclusion."

3. Christian publishing house attacked in Turkey; three workers' throats slit
From the Associated Press: "Assailants tied up three people at a publishing house that distributes Bibles in Turkey and then slit their throats Wednesday, adding to a string of attacks apparently targeting the country's tiny Christian minority." The BBC adds, citing unnamed local media: "Nationalists had protested at the publishing house in the past, accusing it of involvement in missionary activities." A German national was among the victims.

4. Zimbabwe deregisters all aid groups to fight "agents of imperialism"
Not much good news out of Zimbabwe. One exception: A prayer rally to pray for democracy occurred without violence. But that happened only after police forbade opposition figures from addressing the congregation. At another recent rally, lead opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was severely beaten by police and hospitalized. Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe praised the police for "bashing" those who attended the "illegal" prayer rally.

Now comes particularly bad news. The government has deregistered the more than 1,000 nongovernmental organizations in the country. Those who want to stay will have to reapply for new permits.

"Pro-opposition and Western organizations masquerading as relief agencies continue to mushroom, and the Government has annulled the registration of all NGOs in order to screen out agents of imperialism from organizations working to uplift the wellbeing of the poor," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told The Times of London.

Among the reasons, sources tell the Times: The government wants to control all food distribution so that it can reward political supporters and punish political opponents.

5. A curious Easter sermon
Holy Week is two weeks gone, but an article that ran on Holy Wednesday is still bothering me. The title of Diana Butler Bass's post on the Sojourners God's Politics blog is promising: "Believing the Resurrection." But the article is anything but. She writes:

One year, as Easter approached, I overheard an exchange between [Episcopal bishop Daniel Corrigan, an] octogenarian liberal lion, and a fellow parishioner. "Bishop Corrigan," the person asked, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" Frankly, I could not wait to hear the answer — like most of his generation, there was no way that Bishop Corrigan believed in a literal resurrection. He looked at the questioner and said firmly, without pause, "Yes. I believe in the resurrection. I've seen it too many times not to." …

Bishop Corrigan's comment — a comment upon which I have mediated for some dozen years — points to a different way of embracing, of believing, the resurrection. His answer both defies the conventional approach to the resurrection (as a scientifically verifiable event), and maintains the truthfulness (the credibility) of the resurrection as historically viable and real. The resurrection is not an intellectual puzzle. Rather, it is a living theological reality, a distant event with continuing spiritual, human, and social consequences. The evidence for the resurrection is all around us. Not in some ancient text, Jesus bones, or a DNA sample. Rather, the historical evidence for the resurrection is Jesus living in us; it is the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, bringing back to life that which was dead. We are the evidence.

There is a woman in my church in Washington, D.C., who was homeless for 15 years. Several years ago, she came to Epiphany Church and was welcomed by the congregation's ministry to homeless people. … Eventually, she moved off the street into Section 8 housing, secured both work and support, and pulled her life together. An active member of Epiphany, she helps run the homeless ministry, serves as a Sunday reader, and usher. When I see her on Sunday, she is a living, breathing, historical witness that the resurrection is true.

There is a truly orthodox sense in which Christ's resurrection is manifested in the transformation of our lives today. But Jesus' resurrection is not just "living theological reality." It is a living reality with no modifying adjective. The "transformative power of the Holy Spirit" is the gift of Pentecost, not of Easter. And without Easter—without a real empty tomb—there is no Pentecost. To say "I've seen the resurrection many times" is to deny the central truth of the Resurrection. Jesus' Resurrection was unique and cataclysmic. It was not a resuscitation, nor a life "pulled together." It was the turning point of history. We may see its effects, but we won't see anything truly like it until Jesus comes again.

Several of Bass's readers were troubled by her comment. Says Mark P : "It seems to me, though, that you're being intellectually dishonest if you can't answer that parishioner's question in one of three ways: Yes, no, or I don't know. … [W]hen you hem and haw about metaphor and 'resurrections' of homeless people, the subtext of your answer is, 'No, I don't believe the story, but I'm afraid to admit it.'"

"I am sorry to see that I will have to leave Sojourners to find a Christian call to activism," writes Tim. "I'll stick with what Paul wrote." JK similarly writes, "I am a strong supporter of many of the issues Sojourners addresses. … However, I cannot support an organization that allows blogger opinions that deny the very basics of the Christian faith."

It should be mentioned that the Easter blog posts of Sojourners head Jim Wallis—a three-part excerpt from his book The Call to Conversion—strongly support both the centrality and the reality of the Resurrection (especially the third part). But one wonders what he and Sojourners thought about Bass's column—and why they decided to lend the Sojourners name to it. One expects Wallis—whose career has been devoted to separating liberal politics from liberal theology—to hear that question more than once in the coming months.

In the meantime, Wallis may want to give Bass a copy of N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God. Or at least 1 Corinthians.

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Music:

• Music Review: Rev. Timothy Wright | Wright's new "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" album (Koch Records) offers more of his effortlessly timeless sound (Associated Press)
  
  
• SXSW fest erases indie/pop divide | In pop music, notions of "high" and "low" don't hold up under close scrutiny (Associated Press)
  
  
• Gospel label eyes country success for new trio | Austins Bridge brings to the table a new sound that is prompting Daywind Records to explore options in the country and adult contemporary formats (Reuters)
  
  
• Higher-powered music: Contemporary gospel finds a home in D.C. | Last week -- in a move curiously made possible by the demise of the nation's oldest commercial classical radio station -- the country's largest black-owned broadcasting company finally put Praise 104.1 on the air in Washington, on Easter Sunday (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Unsettling history of that joyous 'hallelujah' | A holiday favorite was originally meant to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem (Michael Marissen, The New York Times)
  
  
• Assault on Christendom | Wow. We didn't know. The "Hallelujah Chorus" is a paean celebrating Titus' sack of Jerusalem and the Christian's God's bloody vengeance upon the Jews. That was The New York Times' Easter Sunday gift to its readers, courtesy of Swarthmore professor Michael Marissen (Michael Linton, First Things)
  
  
• Alternative Christian rockers avoid the ruts | The Violet Burning has made a career of dodging musical trends (The Grand Rapids Press, Mi.)
  
  
• Charity, church, and puppies | Claira's Daze are cuter than you'll ever be (OC Weekly, Ca.)
  
  
• EMI Christian creates new post to oversee technology/marketing | Brentwood-based EMI Christian Music Group has promoted David Crace to the newly created position of senior vice president and chief marketing officer (Nashville Business Journal)
  
  

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Television:

• From here to Jonestown: PBS film tonight focuses on Peoples Temple | Rebecca Moore lost two sisters and a nephew to Jonestown mass suicides (Oroville Mercury Register, Ca.)
  
  
• 'Jonestown' vividly recalls horror of mass suicide | 'Jonestown' is darkly compelling (Sam Allis, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Producer: PBS dropped 'Islam vs. Islamists' on political grounds | Martyn Burke says that the Public Broadcasting Service and project managers at station WETA in Washington, D.C., excluded his documentary after he refused to fire two co-producers affiliated with a conservative think tank (The Arizona Republic)
  
  
• 'Secret Files of the Inquisition' continues revisionist trend | Fortunately, most Christians remain immune to the revisionists (David Yount, Scripps News)
  
  
• Former televangelist, ex-convict back on TV | Twenty years ago, Jim Bakker was a man in exile (The Muskegon Chronicle, Mi.)
  
  
• Preachers accused of sins, and crimes | ABC News investigation uncovers predators in Protestant churches (20/20, ABC News)
  
  
• Also: '20/20' investigates sexual abuse in SBC, other Protestant bodies (Associated Baptist Press)
  
  
• Also: Page says '20/20' segment one-sided (Baptist Press)
  
  
• TV star priest to leave Boscastle | A woman priest who starred in the BBC TV series Seaside Parish, is to leave Cornwall after four and a half years working around Boscastle. (BBC)
  
  

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Arts & Theater:

• 'Inherit the Wind' crackles with drama | It takes two larger-than-life actors to make "Inherit the Wind" really crackle, and its latest Broadway revival has come up with quite a pair — Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy (Associated Press)
  
  
• Plummer, Dennehy ride 'Wind' revival | To say that the play is at least as topical now as it was in 1955 is not to say that it doesn't show its age (USA Today)
  
  
• Bibles thumping, suspenders snapping | Since not one soul in this revival has a flicker of Christopher Plummer's fire, this play is not the crackling courtroom drama it was intended to be (The New York Times)
  
  
• Chocolate Jesus | Are these works distasteful renderings of a the most significant event in history, or comments on our own candy-coating of the events of the Crucifixion? (Ruth Gledhill, The Times, London)
  
  
• What's a little blasphemy? | Christians elsewhere contend with much worse - even death (Rod Dreher, The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Christian folk tale opens arts center | Dancers portray both the tragedy of Jesus' death and the redemptive power of the resurrection it presages (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Don't be afraid of the winged messengers | A 1,200-year-old carved figure of the Angel Gabriel has transcended history with its timeless message of hope (The Times, London)
  
  
• Dutch cathedral unveils 9/11 attack in stained glass | A new stained glass window in a Dutch cathedral containing an image of the World Trade Center attacks was blessed on Sunday by a Dutch bishop (Reuters)
  
  
• Eternal image, perpetual change | "The Last Supper" has become one of the most universally recognized artworks, hanging in countless dining rooms the world over (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
  
  
• Jacaranda returns to Santa Monica home place with a spirited 'Amazing Grace'| Jacaranda celebrates its return to its Santa Monica performance space with a spirited 'Amazing Grace' (Los Angeles Times)
  
  

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Radio:

• FCC's hands tied on airwaves | Activists are urging the agency to fine stations over Don Imus' racially offensive remarks. But that poses free speech problems, experts say (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• First religious radio licence awarded | The first nationwide Christian and religious radio licence has been awarded to a not-for-profit company headed by the former chairman of the Dublin Docklands Authority (RTE, Ireland)
  
  
• Religious broadcasters: A la carte is a 'dagger' | Cable A La Carte is a "dagger aimed at the heart of religious broadcasting in America." That is according to the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition, which represents religious broadcasters including Dr. Paul Crouch of Trinity, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson (Broadcasting & Cable)
  
  

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Internet:

• Blogging for Jesus, political junkies turn to CBN.com | David Brody, a journalist for Pat Robertson's TV network, develops a real web base among followers of the presidential races (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Christians have all the best laughs on GodTube | Many Christians appear delighted that there is now a corner of the internet where they can go for entertainment without risk of encountering mayhem or vice (The Times, London)
  
  
• Religious Web sites ape MySpace, YouTube | A number of religious Web sites are aping the names and styles of some of the Web's most popular sites. Chief among them are GodTube.com, a video-sharing site for Christians, and MyChurch.org, a social networking realm (Associated Press)
  
  

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Media & Entertainment:

• 'B.C.' and 'Wizard of Id' cartoonist Johnny Hart, 76 | Popular cartoonist died April 7 at his home in Nineveh, N.Y., near Binghamton (The Washington Post)
  
  
• 'B.C.' cartoonist Johnny Hart dies at 76 | Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy (Associated Press)
  
  
• Johnny Hart and his wham-wham world | Mr. Hart, who was known for his widely syndicated comic strip "B.C.," evoked an entire prehistoric world with eloquent simplicity (The New York Times)
  
  
• Divine wisdom | The Rev Robert Boulter's sermons incorporate art, music and lessons from other faiths. Anita Sethi visited his inner-city church to find out more (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Film editors say loophole allows cuts | Film editors were back in the cutting room just a few months after a federal appeals judge ruled last year that they could no longer edit movies to make them acceptable family fare (Associated Press)
  
  
• Jesus drinking Coca-Cola? Not this Easter | An Italian film showing Jesus Christ drinking Coca-Cola sparked such strong protest from the soft-drinks giant that it blocked the film's Easter weekend premiere (Reuters)
  
  
• Still obscure -- and that's fine with Relient K | Despite growing album sales, fame isn't a big deal for these guys (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Death In Guyana: Riveting film recounts the life of Jim Jones | Although Jones' sick tale is familiar, filmmakers Stanley Nelson, Marcia Smith and Noland Walker have produced a riveting documentary about it (Bloomberg News)
  
  
• Washington to star in 'Least of These' | Actor will play priest in indie thriller (Variety)
  
  
• They're disturbing and addictive, but game violence is no threat | Players of violent video games claim that they recognise the difference between brutality meted out on screen and violence in real life and play mostly to escape the humdrum, according to a new study (The Times, London)
  
  
• An outspoken magazine of Cuban church closing | Activists in Cuba's Catholic Church said the decision to close the church magazine 'Vitral' was the result of pressure by the government (The Miami Herald)
  
  
• Lionsgate finds the Lord | Lionsgate decides to dip into the Christian entertainment market (Cinematical)
  
  

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Zach Johnson:

• Born again … and born to win with God on his side | Zach Johnson, the 31-year-old golfer who won the US Masters at Augusta on Easter Sunday, holds religious convictions that reflect a strong evangelical undercurrent in the world of top-flight US golf (The Scotsman)
  
  
• Forget the coaching manuals; now the Bible is all you need | Christianity has a huge influence within professional sport, and possibly none more so than on the American golf tour (The Times, London)
  
  
• Winning on Easter makes Masters more special for Johnson | "I don't know if I was necessarily calm. I had some people looking after me today," Johnson said after he finished the 18th hole Sunday. "Being Easter, my faith is very important to me." (Associated Press)
  
  
• Masters champ Johnson returns to work | Johnson chooses to tee it up at the Verizon Heritage instead of taking a well-deserved rest (Associated Press)
  
  

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Books:

• 25 Books that leave a legacy | USA Today's book editors and critics choose 25 titles that made an impact on readers and the publishing industry over the past quarter-century (USA Today)
  
  
• A rare philosemitic Christian narrative | New biography on James Parkes reveals the interplay between his Christian convictions and his respect for his Jewish heritage (Jerusalem Post)
  
  
• Christian publisher gets Dungy memoir | Tyndale House Publishers is working with Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy on a memoir (Associated Press)
  
  
• Easter accord: Give faith a break | The mystery of why exploiting Christianity in thrillers is all the rage (Peter Kavanaugh, The Washington Times)
  
  
• How zealots made America a nation of lawbreakers | In his book Dry Manhattan, Michael A. Lerner accurately observes that "there was much more at stake in Prohibition than booze" (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post)
  
  
• Instant messages | Steven Heller on Church Signs Across America and other books (The New York Times)
  
  
• 'John Donne: The Reformed Soul' by John Stubbs | Reviewed by Wendy Smith (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Last 'Left Behind' Book Debuts | The last 'Left Behind' book in the series, Kingdom Come, is being released this week (Day to Day, NPR)
  
  
• 'Left Behind' series leaves behind a changed world for Christian novels | As booksellers hunt for the next big hit, the long-run future for a broad range of Christian books seems quite rosy (Josh Getlin and K. Connie Kang, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.)
  
  
• Ready for Romney? | Carrie Sheffield reviews A Mormon in the White House? by Hugh Hewitt (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Self-help's slimy 'Secret' | As 'The Secret' puts it, all you have to do is 'put in your order with the universe.' Ask. Believe. Receive. That's the mantra. (Tim Watkin, The Washington Post)
  
  
• Sociable Darwinism | David Sloan Wilson says evolution predisposes us to play well with others. Natalie Angier reviews Evolution for Everyone (The New York Times Book Review, first chapter)
  
  
• The observer | Unraveling the complexities, paradoxes of Tocqueville - a man admired by liberals and conservatives alike (Michael Kammen, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• The sanguine sex | Abortion and the bloodiness of being female. Caitlin Flanagan reviews The Choices We Made by Angela Bonavoglia and The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler (The Atlantic Monthly)
  
  
• The scale of Einstein, from faith to formulas | In his confidently authoritative new book, Walter Isaacson deals clearly and comfortably with the scope of Einstein's life. Janet Maslin reviews Einstein: His Life and Universe (The New York Times)
  
  
• The unbeliever | A minister who doesn't believe runs into the Devil who doesn't care. Ron Charles reviews The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Virgin territory | Is virginity a real condition or was it invented to control women and their sexuality? Marina Warner reviews Hanne Blank's Virgin (The Washington Post)
  
  
• What would Jesus read? | New religion-themed books span genres, faiths (Hartford Courant, Ct.)
  
  
• Einstein & faith | In an exclusive excerpt from a new biography, the great physicist wrestles with what it means to believe in God (Walter Isaacson, Time)
  
  
• 'Einstein': It's relatively good | Icon, genius, celebrity — Albert Einstein still enthralls, thanks to discoveries that made him the 20th century's lead scientist (Dan Vergano, USA Today)
  
  
• Part genius, part holy man: the life behind science's most beautiful mind | Michael Dirda reviews Walter Isaacson's Einstein (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Letter from Washington: Evangelical feared, but multifaceted | Authors of Applebee's America: "They're not all gun toting, gay-bashing Republican Party pawns." (Bloomberg)
  
  
• Weird and wonderful travels in Evangelicaldom | Richard John Neuhaus on Zev Chafets's A Match Made in Heaven (First Things)
  
  
• The evangelical surprise | Evangelicals are hardly identical with the Christian right, and moderate evangelical leaders have recently been making the distinction clear by publicly airing their differences with the right and challenging its positions on political issues. (Frances FitzGerald, The New York Review of Books)
  
  
• The atheist who went to church | Hemant Mehta on his new book, I Sold My Soul on eBay (Chicago Reader)
  
  

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Bible:

• Matters of faith | New views shine light on the words of an apostle, on understanding the Bible, and on the origins of religion (Rich Barlow, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart' tops poll of favourite Bible verses | A Verse from Proverbs has been voted the favorite Biblical quote in a survey (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Evangelical separation anxiety | What the Bible says about divorce (David Instone-Brewer, The Wall Street Journal)
  
  
• iPod Bibles, BibleZines? You name it, they've got it | Marketing manager says specialty Bibles "are born out of the intention of publishers to meet people where they are" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
  
• To hear the word of God, press play | "The Word of Promise," a lavishly produced, word-for-word dramatic reading of the Bible by Jim Caviezel and other Hollywood stars will fill 70 CDs. It stars Jim Caviezel as Jesus, Terence Stamp as God, Michael York as the narrator, Luke Perry as Judas and Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene. (Los Angeles Times)
  
  

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People:

• A belated ode to April Fool's | Bibfeldt is a voice in the wilderness that religion reporters cover (Manya Brachear, Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Auction of King documents called off | "The papers need to be further evaluated before they go on the open market," said Gallery owner Paul Brown (Associated Press)
  
  
• Audrey Santo, said to perform miracles, dies | After two decades of attracting believers and inspiring others to recommit to their Catholicism, Audrey Marie Santo has died. The 23-year-old was in a coma-like state since she nearly drowned in her family's pool in 1987, and died Saturday in her home of cardio-respiratory failure, according to her family's obituary issued by a funeral home (Associated Press)
  
  
• Billy Graham: A spirit unbowed | In an e-mail interview with Faith + Values reporter Pamela Miller, the Rev. Billy Graham, 88, talked about his declining health, his final resting place, his vision of heaven, the war in Iraq and currents in the evangelical world (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
  
  
• Carrollton man's suit against Pat Robertson dismissed | | Federal judge dismisses a lawsuit that claimed religious broadcaster Pat Robertson misused a Texas bodybuilder's image to promote the televangelist's protein diet shake (Associated Press)
  
  
• Meetings are part revival, part rally, but all Sharpton | When the Rev. Al Sharpton opens the doors of his National Action Network's headquarters, sometimes he raises money, and sometimes he makes national news (The New York Times)
  
  
• Minister Set World Records for Splitting Phone Books | Ed Charon, 71, a Christian pastor famous for his record-setting ability to rip apart dozens of 1,000-page telephone books within minutes, died April 8 at a hospital near his home in Sutherlin, Ore. (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Reginald H. Fuller, 92, New Testament scholar, dies | Reginald H. Fuller was a prominent British-born New Testament scholar who used his knowledge of Hebrew and Greek to hunt for the historical Jesus (The New York Times)
  
  
• The man who 'murdered' slavery | Two centuries ago, a British backbencher changed an entire way of seeing the world (Maclean's, Toronto)
  
  
• The press discovers Pat Robertson's real influence | Anyone insisting in spite of continuously mounting evidence that the Christian right is going to simply shrink into oblivion because the Democrats control Congress should learn from Goodling's example and take the fifth (Max Blumenthal, The Huffington Post)
  
  
• The Rev. R.H. Fuller, 92, dies after a fall | Scholar continued to teach at church as recently as Sunday (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
  
  
• Controversial healer Benny Hinn visits Auckland | Flamboyant and highly theatrical, the "faith healer" has long been the focus of allegations that he operates a successful prayer-for-profit regime, with reports his income exceeds US$100 million (The New Zealand Herald)
  
  
• Texas Baptist leader announces plan to retire | Director praised for diversity, faulted over church oversight (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Reginald Fuller, 92; biblical scholar | Known for solid critical analysis combined with what he once referred to as "a firm commitment to the orthodox teachings of the church," Fuller wrote more than 10 books, including "A Critical Introduction to the New Testament," published in 1965, which has been used as a textbook in some Christian seminaries (Los Angeles Times)
  
  

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Women:

• Easter story highlights role of women in Jesus' life and death | Scholars differ on the implications for women's roles in the church, but agree that women are an important part of Jesus' story (Religion News Service)
  
  
• Having faith in women| When it comes to women, the world of religion seems to be stuck in the past (USA Today)
  
  
• Centuries of progress | Though it has been a slow climb, women have risen to official religious leadership positions throughout the world and specifically in the USA (Victoria Shapiro, USA Today)
  
  
• Women of faith | Mary Magdalene and other women who followed Jesus were the first to learn of the empty tomb and to spread word of the Resurrection (Religion News Service)
  
  
• 'Equality' issue of women bishops | Women should be allowed to become bishops simply because of principles of equality and justice, the Church in Wales' governing body has been told (BBC)
  
  
• Vote in 2008 to decide women bishops issue | The issue of women bishops in Wales now faces a 2008 vote after clergy presented heated arguments for and against the move at an annual meeting (Western Mail & Echo, Wales, U.K.)
  
  

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Saints:

• Sainthood urged for friars killed in North America | Report makes up the official case urging the Roman Catholic Church to recognize the five Franciscan friars, killed in 1597, as martyrs — a first step toward having them canonized as saints (USA Today)
  
  
• Of the earth, not heaven | Whether or not those are her bones, Joan is my favourite saint. She gives a good name to sanctity (Roy Hattersley, The Guardian, Manchester, U.K.)
  
  
• How St. Joan Was Sniffed Out | French researchers used perfume experts — what else? — to determine that remains claimed for more than a century to be those of Joan of Arc are fake (Time)
  
  
• Some like the idea of a moratorium on declaring popes saints | Too much beautification may cheapen the gesture (National Catholic Reporter)
  
  
• Miracles and the fast track to sainthood | On Easter, a look at what it takes to become a saint (The New York Times)
  
  

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Catholicism:

• Among Catholic priests, Vietnamese are the new Irish | The refugee influx and a culture that exalts the vocation boost dwindling clerical ranks -- with a certain fervor (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Churches alter outreach to youths | Metropolitan religious leaders say they must find new ways to minister to young people as the community seeks to promote peace in the wake of 13 homicides in a recent two-week period (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Does refusal to accept Jesus shut heaven's gate? | The Catholic Church believes that if you live the best life you can live, you will be saved (Marc Gellman and Thomas Hartman, Newsday)
  
  
• Easter Monday - Why the Pope banned it in Rome | Pope declares Easter Monday a regular working day to prevent celebrants from becoming rowdy (New Vision, Kampala, Uganda)
  
  
• For some, a new beginning at Easter | Large class of converts at Mother Seton signals hope for once-troubled church (The Washington Post)
  
  
• In Mexico, powerful forces drive a furious debate over abortion | Catholic Church fights legislation (The Washington Post)
  
  
• In Second Life, nobody knows you're a lapsed Catholic | Virtual houses of worship await you in the online universe. Can that emu sing a hymn in tune? (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Israel, Vatican spar over WWII pope | The Vatican and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial got into a public spat Thursday over the wartime conduct of Pope Pius XII during the Nazi genocide, threatening to upset fragile relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish state (Associated Press)
  
  
• Mahony's influence is dwindling in L.A. | A recent political tiff underscores the toll the priest scandal has taken (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• More than an Easter in common | Renewed dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church is set to continue. (Demetrios, The New York Times)
  
  
• New study of U.S. Catholics cites young adults as problem for church | "Young adults' lack of participation in the church is a serious problem," book says (Catholic News Service)
  
  
• Old ritual, new version | Seeing girls at the altars of Roman Catholic churches is fairly common now, but the Vatican endorsed the practice only in 1994 (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Pope picks local bishop to lead Diocese of Dallas | The 59-year-old native of Dublin will be installed May 1 in Dallas (The Washington Times)
  
  
• 'Sanctity of life' fund launched for Catholics | ChariFaith fund has been set up to invest in companies whose activities accord with the Catholic faith (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Tangled Up in Bob | A little PR advice from one Catholic to another (Charles Pierce, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Vatican envoy to avoid Holocaust ceremony | The Vatican's ambassador to Israel has said he will skip the official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at a national museum to protest the museum's depiction of Pope Pius XII (The New York Times)
  
  
• Pope's envoy to attend Holocaust service | Vatican officials had earlier said they would skip the Sunday event because of a caption at the Holocaust museum describing the wartime conduct of Pope Pius XII (Associated Press)
  
  
• Cardinal at work, joking after fall | Cardinal jokes "I feel good except when it hurts" (Chicago Sun-Times)
  
  
• Cardinal in hospital after fall; Plans for Easter mass, Vatican trip canceled | Cardinal Francis George was hospitalized with a slight hip fracture Saturday after he slipped and fell inside a Chicago church while blessing Easter baskets, archdiocese officials said (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Cardinal: 'Oh, my gosh, that's all I need.' | Cardinal Francis George admitted today he was scared when doctors told him he fractured his hip after he slipped on holy water and fell in a Northwest Side church while blessing Easter baskets on Saturday, but was relieved when he was told it was just a crack (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Archbishop calls for release of BBC man kidnapped in Gaza | He is not your enemy, says Sentamu in Easter sermon (The Guardian, Manchester, U.K.)
  
  
• Archbishop prays for BBC Gaza man | The second most senior cleric in the Church of England is to hold a prayer vigil for BBC reporter Alan Johnston, who has been abducted in Gaza (BBC)
  
  
• Christians press Vatican on archives | A prominent evangelical Christian leader in Israel on Monday called on the Vatican to open its archives if they have any evidence that Pope Pius XII did not remain silent during the mass murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust (The Jerusalem Post)
  
  

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Benedict XVI:

• Pope describes his book on Jesus as a 'personal' view, not doctrine | Some church experts said Pope Benedict XVI's decision to write personally was aimed at reclaiming his vision of Jesus as the divine son of God rather than as a symbol or mere historical figure (The New York Times)
  
  
• Re-discover "real Jesus", Pope urges in new book | "Jesus of Nazareth," released on Friday, is a highly complex theological treatise on Christ as both God and man in which the Pope dissects and analyzes scripture passages like the old university professor he once was (Reuters)
  
  
• Pope, as author, portrays the 'real Jesus' | The pontiff's new book is a 'personal search for the face of the Lord.' (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Pope's book sells 50k copies in one day | The 448-page book went on sale in German, Italian and Polish on Monday. The English-language edition is set for release May 15 and translations are planned for 16 other languages (Associated Press)
  
  
• Activists ask pope to abandon fur | An Italian animal rights group is asking Pope Benedict XVI to give up his fur, including an ermine-trimmed red velvet cape and papal hat, in "a choice of high religious and ethical value" (Associated Press)
  
  
• Different theories to explain life's origins | Former students of Pope Benedict published a book in Germany on Wednesday showing how Catholic theologians see no contradiction between their belief in divine creation and the scientific theory of evolution (Associated Press)
  
  
• In Easter address, pope laments global violence | Benedict's remarks on woes in Asia and Africa resonate with war and death penalty foes who joined celebrants (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Pope Benedict the invisible | Benedict has been almost invisible in the places he's needed most (Joseph Contreras, Newsweek)
  
  
• Pope gets huge toy bear as birthday gift | The Pope sent it on to Rome's Bambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) children's hospital and received a letter of thanks from the young patients there (Reuters)
  
  
• Pope marks 80th birthday with huge Mass | Pope Benedict gave thanks for his 80 years of life dedicated to the Church with a special Sunday Mass, a celebration tinged with nostalgia which drew a huge crowd to St. Peter's Square (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pope says science too narrow to explain creation | Pope Benedict, elaborating his views on evolution for the first time as Pontiff, says science has narrowed the way life's origins are understood and Christians should take a broader approach to the question (Reuters)
  
  
• Pope set to make mark on U.S. church | Two years into his reign, Pope Benedict XVI is finally poised to make a major mark on American Catholicism with a string of key bishop appointments and important decisions about the future of U.S. seminaries and bishops' involvement in politics (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pope says evolution can't be proven | Benedict XVI says that Darwin's theory cannot be finally proven and that science has unnecessarily narrowed humanity's view of creation (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pope stirs up evolution debate | Pope Benedict XVI has made his first comments on evolution, saying God alone cannot provide an explanation for the variety of life on Earth (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Pope stokes debate on Darwin and evolution | Evolution has not been "scientifically" proven and science has unnecessarily narrowed humanity's view of creation, Pope Benedict has said (The Times, London)
  
  
• Pope puts his faith in the Book of Genesis, not Darwin | Pope Benedict XVI has stepped into the debate over Darwinism with remarks that will be seen as an endorsement of "intelligent design" (The Times, London)
  
  
• Pope walks tightrope on evolution | Has Pope Benedict embraced intelligent design? Not exactly—but many of those who back ID will draw encouragement from his remarks (Richard Owen, The Times, London)
  
  
• Pope's German birthplace open to public | At the pope's urging, the foundation that owns the home did not try to restore the structure to the state it was in 80 years ago. Instead, exhibits recount Joseph Ratzinger's life and teachings and stress the importance of his close family and the roles played by his parents, Josef and Maria Ratzinger (Associated Press)
  
  
• The anti-secularist: Keeping the faith | Pope Benedict XVI says he believes that the Roman Catholic Church in Europe faces a dire threat in secularism and that re-Christianizing the Continent is critical not only to the fate of the church but to the fate of Europe itself (Russell Shorto, The New York Times Magazine)
  
  
• The eyes of hope | The danger of Benedict's negativism about Iraq is that it will be interpreted in a way that will undermine the West in the war with the very extremist factions he seemed concerned about last year at Regensburg (Editorial, The New York Sun)
  
  
• The Pope and Islam | Is there anything that Benedict XVI would like to discuss? (The New Yorker)
  
  
• After 2 years, pope turns right | As he approaches the third year of his reign, Pope Benedict XVI is hardening into the kind of pontiff that liberals feared and conservatives hoped for (Associated Press)
  
  
• 1 million-plus Brazilians to see Pope | The Pope is expected to attract more than a million people to two open-air Masses during his upcoming visit to Sao Paulo, Brazil (Associated Press)
  
  

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Holy Week:

• Easter: a cross to bear| The outside world seems ignorant of the solemnity that surrounds the religious observance of Holy Week (Stephen Bates, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Embrace freedom | Christianity badly needs to reclaim the message of liberty so powerfully announced by Passover (Giles Fraser, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• No car in L.A.? Must be Lent | Lifestyle changes and lessons learned from going without wheels for 40 days (Robin Rauzi, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Pilgrims Make Trek to 'Lourdes of America' | New Mexico chapel, said to be built on sacred ground, is destination for thousands (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Thousands to walk 'via crucis' | Thousands of Roman Catholics are expected to commemorate Jesus Christ's last hours in street processions throughout the area today (The Washington Times)
  
  

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Easter:

• A cross that Iztapalapans are glad to bear | A Mexico City district has enacted a lively Passion for 164 years (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• A prayer that unites Christians amid their diversity | On Easter Sunday, when 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, many will be reading, reciting and singing the Lord's Prayer in hundreds of languages (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Ancient Easters caught in stone | Easter sepulchre tradition maintained in parish churches (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• 'Barmy' councillors snub the Easter Cross | Council bosses branded "completely barmy" after refusing to fund an Easter Cross because it might offend other faiths (Daily Express, London)
  
  
• 'Easter Everywhere' by Darcey Steinke | Growing up a minister's daughter, desiring glamour and faith. Review by Erika Schickel (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Easter 'holy fire' ritual draws crowd | Worshippers filled Christianity's most revered church on Saturday, lighting rows of candles, dripping hot wax on their faces and dancing in celebration of the Orthodox Easter 'holy fire' ritual (Associated Press)
  
  
• Easter hope in New Orleans | Themes of the Easter season resonate in new and poignant ways (Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, PBS)
  
  
• Easter is about life. That's why we make so much noise | Our faith is one of prayer and parties, of justice and joy, of love and life (John Sentamu, The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Easter on the road | As thousands brave the cold to celebrate the holiday in churches across the state, a handful of truckers prove worship is about spirit, not setting (The Denver Post)
  
  
• Easter service in cemetery reflects faith | For Lutheran church, an Easter morning gathering in or near burial grounds emphasizes their belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the salvation it represents (The Baltimore Sun)
  
  
• Easter Service In Daley Plaza Raises Concerns | American Jewish Committee director says, a religious service on government property is a violation of the law that separates church and state (WBBM, Chicago)
  
  
• Jewish leaders upset by cross at Daley Plaza | Leaders also object to holding Easter service there (Chicago Sun-Times)
  
  
• Cross quietly makes its way to Daley Plaza | City OKs permit that also will allow an Easter service (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Face to faith | In these troubled times, Easter's message of resurrection is a powerful one (Tom Wright, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Keeping the faith used to be easier | The lesson of Easter morning is this: That flesh dies but spirit lives (Beverly Beckham, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Man of Mystery | The enduring power of Christ's message and sacrifice (The Times, London)
  
  
• Orthodox, Western Christians mark Easter | From Moscow to Washington, Rome to Jerusalem, Christians of the Orthodox and Western faiths celebrated Easter on Sunday, prayed for a better future and relished their ancient rituals (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pastors feel the pressure on Easter morning | Most pastors prepare for Easter weeks, if not months, in advance (Los Angeles Daily News)
  
  
• Rare occurrence as 2 faiths mark Easter | From Moscow to Washington, Rome to Jerusalem, Christians of the Orthodox and Western faiths celebrated Easter on Sunday, prayed for a better future and relished their ancient rituals (Associated Press)
  
  
• Signs of good and evil | As Easter approaches, a Connecticut photo store put up this sign: "Beep for Christ." The owner of the tattoo shop next door responded with a sign that suggested honking twice for Satan. The local zoning board stepped into the dispute and ordered both signs removed, saying signage should pertain to business. But the "Beep for Christ" sign remains up (Morning Edition, NPR)
  
  
• The flesh and blood hopes of Easter | Only when good news is within one's grasp can it be enjoyed (Editorial, The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Tsunami victims fill churches on Easter | Scores of villagers descended from hilltop camps to attend Easter celebrations in the Solomon Islands on Sunday, praying for the victims of last week's magnitude-8.1 earthquake and killer waves (Associated Press)
  
  
• Two Variations on the Easter Sermon | The Right Rev. Mark S. Sisk, Episcopal Bishop of New York and Pastor David Crosby of the First Baptist Church in New Orleans talk about the messages of their Easter Sunday sermons (Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR)
  
  

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Anglicanism:

• Anglican meeting set on gay issue | Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, visiting Canada for a spiritual retreat with the country's Anglican bishops, said he would meet with U.S. Episcopal leaders in the fall. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Church is bogged down warns Archbishop | Archbishop of York says the Church of England is failing in its duty to spread the message of Christ because it is preoccupied by issues such as the ordination of homosexual priests (The Observer, U.K.)
  
  
• Episcopal Bishop Bolts to Anglicans | A retired Oklahoma bishop charged with violating church law resigned this week from the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church and has been accepted into the Anglican Diocese of Argentina (Tulsa World)
  
  
• Episcopal bishops castigate Williams | Several American Episcopal bishops as well as the archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada have -- in a rare show of public pique -- castigated the English prelate for his handling of the homosexuality issue (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Episcopal diversity | This is a confusing story, and sometimes it can be miscast simply as a battle over theology or a dispute over church finances. It is that, but there's more at play here -- and newspapers don't always have the time or space to get into the nuance (Colorado Springs Gazette Religion Blog)
  
  
• 'Let women be bishops'—Morgan | The leader of the Anglican church in Wales has called for his church to allow women priests to become bishops (BBC)
  
  
• No penalty, no atonement | Are the views of the Dean of St Albans, Jeffrey John, orthodox or not? (Ruth Gledhill, The Times, London)
  
  
• Primate says Williams is indecisive leader | An Anglican primate has launched a stinging attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury's "indecisive" leadership (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Why the church must ease the pain of Rowan's Passion | The archbishop has the ideal qualities to counter his critics over his support for homosexuality - inner strength and humility (Richard Harries, The Observer, U.K.)
  
  
• Williams says gay-marriage split would hurt church | Everyone would lose if the Anglican Church splits in two over the issue of gay marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Monday (Reuters)
  
  
• Anglican church head will try to mend Episcopal rift | Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion, announced Monday he'll visit with U.S. Episcopal bishops this fall in what may be a last ditch effort to patch fractures over views of the Bible and the roles of homosexual clergy (USA Today)
  
  
• Church's gay policy 'shambles' | The Church of England's position on homosexuality was described as "a shambles" after a senior bishop refused to appoint a gay man as a youth worker (BBC)
  
  
• Primate warns church over gay row | The Anglican Church risks being torn apart by the rows over gay clergy, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned (BBC)
  
  
• Review panel clears Episcopal leader | Rift remains over consecration of gay bishop (The Hartford Courant, Ct.)
  
  
• Church no smoking signs 'overkill' | A Church of Ireland archdeacon has branded a requirement under the new anti-smoking legislation for churches to display no smoking signs as "overkill" (BBC)
  
  
• S.C. Diocese will try to elect bishop again | The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina will again attempt to elect the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence as its new bishop after his election was invalidated last month by the head of the national church (The State, Columbia, S.C.)
  
  
• Williams bemoans loss of listening to Scripture | The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has lamented what he called the lack of "rootedness" in the Anglican approach to Scripture and said "we've lost quite a bit of what was once a rather good Anglican practice of reading the Bible in the tradition of interpretation" (Anglican Journal)
  
  
• National Episcopal Church gets only limited intervention in property dispute | In limiting the scope of the intervention, the court required that the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church be represented by the same attorneys as are representing the Diocese and that DFMS may not conduct separate discovery without permission of the court (Religion Clause)
  
  
• Canada's primate criticizes Archbishop of Canterbury | Anglican leader lacks 'decisive' leadership on homosexuality, he says on eve of visit (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
  
  

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Grace Church:

• Grace asks court to protect property from state diocese | The leaders of Grace Church filed a complaint in El Paso County District Court on Friday to secure Grace's landmark building (The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo.)
  
  
• War over Springs church escalates | Reverend fires legal salvo after bishop bans him (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
  
• Episcopal group ditches pastor | Conservative clergyman faces church charges (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
  
• Anglican group cuts ties with Armstrong | Alan Crippen, spokesman for Grace and Armstrong, said he wasn't sure how the Anglican Communion Institutecould split from the church. "They just walked away from 85 percent of their funding," he said. "I don't know what ACI is without that." (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)
  
  
• Colorado Springs rector faces supporters, critics | "I have done nothing wrong so I actually sleep well at night," Armstrong told more than 300 people gathered for a lively, sometimes contentious, three-hour meeting in the sanctuary of Grace and St. Stephen's Church in Colorado Springs (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
  

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Church life:

• A personal resurrection | This United Methodist minister can't talk, but she can preach (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  
  
• At the local abbey, singing unto the Lord an old song | Tourists flock to an 11th-century monastery to hear Gregorian chant, bringing unwanted fame to the reclusive monks (The New York Times)
  
  
• Chapel looks for a saving grace | Landmark structure on West L.A. VA campus is dilapidated, but there's little money to fix it (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Church for Men | No hymnals. No pews. No steeple. No stained glass windows. And no women. "We try to make it interesting for them. We meet in a gym and we talk about issues that mess men up," said 46-year-old Mike Ellis, the church's founder (Associated Press)
  
  
• Church has faith it can unite S. Florida's Brazilians | A wealthy church thinks local Brazilians are ready for their own TV network (The Miami Herald)
  
  
• Feuding monks in bad odour over sewage | A blockage to the 19th century lavatory block's solitary outflow pipe caused sewage to leak just yards from Golgotha, the rocky outcrop where Jesus is believed to have been crucified (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• In the season of hope, a story of renewal | Ormewood Park's Church of the Holy Comforter ministers to neighbors who are mentally ill, developmentally disabled, sick or elderly (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• Jesuits say they'll close Boston urban center | South End church faces financial woes (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• In church closing, city loses a ritual | Weekly Latin Mass will move to Newton (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Jesus on the side | An Alexandria church gives students pizza every week, but the sermon served up with it bothers some of them (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Lakewood church in search of new flock | Jackson building boom has pastor eyeing expansion (Asbury Park Press, N.J.)
  
  
• Mega-church weathers gay sex scandal | "Weekly attendance has dipped a bit since the dismissal of pastor Haggard but the bottom has not fallen out and we have had a comparatively smaller drop in revenue," said New Life Church associate pastor Rob Brendle (Reuters)
  
  
• Presiding over a congregation filled with pride | West Angeles Bishop Charles E. Blake has been named to national office, to the delight of those in his church (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Rites of Spring | Houses of worship in the region renew the religious traditions of the season (The New York Times)
  
  
• Sex offenders test churches' core beliefs | Sustained by the belief that embracing all comers is a living example of Christ's love, Pilgrim United Church of Christ now faces a profound test of faith (The New York Times)
  
  
• Does church welcome all? | Congregation, like others across country, debates accepting sex offender freed from jail (The Detroit News)
  
  
• Trading pews for couches | More faithful are gathering for home-based worship (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
  
  
• Traditional tent revival is born again in Dallas | Missing old-time religion? 40-day event may answer prayers (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Treasure on Earth | Ghana's charismatic church offers material wealth to its believers. This troubles Kofi Owusu of Joy FM, who while a committed believer in the church, is uncomfortable with the requests for the congregation to make offerings (Soundprint)
  
  
• Also: Treasure on earth (Radio Netherlands, version of same story)
  
  
• Priest forgives men who shot him | A missionary priest shot in South Africa says he wants to meet and forgive the men who nearly killed him (BBC)
  
  
• Economic boom, not pope, helps Catholic Church in Germany | It's taxes, not church collections, that make German dioceses the world's richest (Deutsche Welle, Germany)
  
  
• Finding God on the river | Many church groups are taking to the water to get closer to God (The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville)
  
  
• Mrs. Pastor | Though Winkler's case is, to say the very least, extreme, her apparent frustrations are not (Newsweek)
  
  
• Newly fit youth minister inspires health, too | A few years ago, Lee Claypoole, 41, of Greenville, S.C., realized he had a lot to lose if he didn't shape up (USA Today)
  
  
• Pastor resurrects humor in church | Sunday after Easter brings joking and joy (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
  
  
• Pastors plan to tackle disorder | Street pastors have become a familiar sight in big towns and cities in England and could soon be playing a role on the streets of Scotland (BBC)
  
  
• Placement of Wren cross decided | The W&M icon will have a permanent home - back in the Wren Chapel, but off to the side (The Daily Press, Hampton Roads, Va.)
  
  
• Benedictine monks make £116,000 from Bible sale | A community of Benedictine monks has made £116,000 by auctioning its collection of bibles and first editions of religious texts. The Roman Catholic community at Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, is preparing to move out because of dwindling numbers (The Independent, London)
  
  
• Local Chaldeans want relatives with them | U.S. clearance sought to get families out of danger (Detroit Free Press)
  
  
• Religion 'rules sex belief, not actions' | God may influence Australians' attitudes towards sex but religion plays little role in what they actually do in bed, a landmark survey has found (AAP)
  
  
• Strong: burn pews and save churches | The architectural historian and committed Anglican Sir Roy Strong has proposed a drastic solution to the problem of tiny congregations in country churches: burn the pews and share the buildings with community centres and farmers' markets (The Times, London)
  
  
• Member of church demands an apology | Police were called over man handing out cards (The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
  
  
• Church controversy quiets in Chesapeake | Services at Holy Temple Ministries lately have been unusually peaceful. Police officers, who used to arrive at the church routinely, haven't been there (The Virginian-Pilot)
  
  
• Salem council reconsiders church sign | Vote controversy prompts review of earlier approval (The Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore.)
  
  
• SBC baptisms down amid other growth | While the number of Southern Baptist churches in 2006 increased by 524 and reported more than $11.3 billion in total receipts, LifeWay Christian Resources President Thom S. Rainer reported April 17 that total baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention fell for the second consecutive year (Baptist Press)
  
  
• Church divided: Disagreements, international issues fracturing congregations | More and more congregations are finding themselves divided over financial, administrative, and theological conflicts (Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.)
  
  
• New pastor lets gay man join church | New pastor tells the congregation to accept the man's transfer from a Baptist church (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Pastor accepts once-rejected gay man as member | Rev. Barry Burkholder accepted the man's transfer of membership from a Baptist church to South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church (United Methodist Church News)
  
  
• Church promotes 'Pure Sex' | A complaint is being aimed at RiverTree Christian Church for 10 billboards around Stark and Summit counties advertising a four-part sermon series entitled "Pure Sex" (The Repository, Canton, Ohio)
  
  
• Driver's test stays | Church committee was 'crushed' by idea of moving site, says Theodorakos (The Journal-Register, Medina, N.Y.)
  
  
• Mass exodus: Why are churches leaving downtown Fond du Lac? | The most common reasoning I hear is to increase church attendance, but there are other reasons too (Fond du Lac Reporter, Wis.)
  
  

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Missions & ministry:

• Lending a hand | No long-term study has measured how often microcredit borrowers graduate to the middle class (Time)
  
  
• Missionaries | Not more than 25 years ago, they were the first outsiders to come to Irian Jaya. Outsiders who will never become insiders, the missionaries of Irian Jaya introduced the twentieth century to the native peoples. Although they came to educate, offer health care and save souls, ultimately, the greatest effect of their work is on their own personal development (Soundprint)
  
  
• Walking the beat, bridging a gap | Police, clergy target residents in Grove Hall (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• What would Jesus really do? | When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues, abortion and homosexuality? (Roland Martin, CNN)
  
  
• Where the table is open to all | Brad and Libby Birky wanted to feed the hungry without setting them apart. At their cafe, customers pay what they can, or not at all (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Catholic Charities dropping foster care | Insurance coverage lost after settlement (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Loaves and missions | In Durham, people from across the economic spectrum would tell you that the Durham Rescue Mission truly is a city set on a hill (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
  
  
• Meet the God squad | Masters Champ Zach Johnson is just one of millions of athletes who belong to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (ABC News)
  
  
• Religious groups enlist the most help, even as volunteers decline | While religious organizations continue to be the most popular arena for volunteer service, the rate of volunteering declined between 2005 and 2006, mainly due to volunteer attrition (The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy)
  
  
• Off the streets, on the payroll | Feed by Grace's Neale Mansfield is recruiting faith-based groups willing to adopt and mentor a homeless person (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
  
  
• Porn shop morphs into nonprofit | Building that used to house The Pink Palace now set to help ex-convicts (Gresham Outlook, Ore.)
  
  
• Why we need religion | The world Elton John dreams of -- a world in which religion is banned -- is one we have already glimpsed (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe)
  
  

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Pan Africa:

• Africans must return to ancestral worship | It will take much more scientific evidence and stress among the Africans to dissipate the biblical story of Jesus (Rampholo Molefhe, The Reporter, Gabarone, Botswana)
  
  
• Africa's lethal web net of AIDS | The quiet acceptance of informal polygamy is spreading the risk (Helen Epstein, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• In Senegal, a life of begging and beatings | Officials do little