Bus crash sends 35 Young Life campers to hospital A bus rolled off a Colorado highway Friday, injuring nearly all of its passengers: 45 teens and leaders from a Minnesota chapter of Young Life, a Christian youth outreach program. At last report, two of the teens were still in serious condition at Denver-area hospitals. The driver of the bus has been charged with 45 counts of careless driving causing injury and other charges, but friends, family, and his employer say that’s ridiculous. “It was an accident, and he was really a hero, but you’re not hearing or reading anything about that,” the driver’s son says. “He did a lot to help. He pulled kids out of the bus, rescued them.” Likewise, the bus company says that police treatment of the driver “is not right,” but they’re also defending themselves against charges that the rear brakes were out of adjustment and that the bus was two months overdue for inspection. Police explain that the driver was arrested because it would be difficult to file charges once he returned to Minnesota; the charges, said a state trooper, may be dropped if crash investigators determine there were other reasons for the accident. Young Life spokesman Pep Jackson said the group had specifically requested the bus driver, whom had driven them on a previous trip. “He loves kids, and the kids love him,” Jackson said. “Our people are concerned about him and how this will affect him.” In the meantime, the Christian youth, most now reunited with their families, say they want to finish their trip to Young Life’s Frontier Ranch.
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Episcopal Church battles:
- Civil, religious courts mulled | Accokeek rector plans to file case against bishop, saying she broke church law (The Washington Times)
- Accokeek rector vows to stay despite Episcopal bishop’s suit | lawyer says he may ask denomination’s leaders to act (The Washington Post)
- Their truths shall set them apart | Citing biblical validity over unity, conservative Episcopalians boldly move toward a likely breakaway church. It’s a pattern as old as Christianity. (Los Angeles Times)
Church and State:
- Reading freebie becomes flash point | Deleting biblical verse from coupons in giveaway goody bags sparks row over censorship (The Sun, Baltimore)
- Hawaiian church to sue county for refusing expansion permit | Maui Planning Commission denies plans to expand agricultural building (Associated Press)
- Two sides close to settling Illinois dispute over school prayer | Agreement would permanently bar school from sponsoring prayer at its annual graduation ceremony (Associated Press)
- Nebraska city officials defend Ten Commandments display | ACLU files federal lawsuit over monument in Plattsmouth city park (Associated Press)
- Faith-based work gets mixed reviews | Verdict still out on Bush’s success among current initiatives in Texas (Houston Chronicle)
Religion and politics:
- Satcher’s sex report puts Bush in hot seat | Focus on the Family, other conservative groups calling for Surgeon General’s dismissal (Los Angeles Times)
- Ashcroft says Bush welcomes prayer at White House | Seeking “wisdom and presence of God” regular at Cabinet meetings, Attorney General tells church audience (Associated Press)
- Increasingly, U.S. stands alone on Sudan | EU nations move towards engagement (The Boston Globe)
Life ethics:
- Anti-abortionists adopt U.S. extremist tactics | Controversial Nuremberg Files Web site crosses the Atlantic (The Sunday Times, London)
Crime:
- Making amends | Program lets ex-convicts, victims find ‘healing relationship of forgiveness’ (Las Vegas Sun)
- Murder case sparks unlikely friendship | Parents of murder victim, suspect bond over Christian faith and sorrow for their children (Associated Press)
- David Yonggi Cho’s son charged with tax evasion | Kookmin Ilbo, mainly read by members of the Full Gospel Church, charged along with other Korean newspapers (International Herald Tribune)
- Christian hip hop artist charged | Raze’s Ja’Marc Antoine Davis waived his right to a preliminary hearing without a plea agreement on rape and molestation charges. (Associated Press)
Abuse:
- Indian nun from Mother Teresa order fined for torturing girl | Sister Francisca fined 1000 rupees ($21) for putting a hot knife on a girl’s hand because she had stolen a few pieces of bread. (AFP)
- Churches ask referee for details | Public servant to negotiate cost-sharing on lawsuits brought over residential schools (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
Homosexuality:
- Religions divided over gays in clergy | Gays and lesbians in the clergy continue to declare their sexual orientation and many demand ordination with no commitment to celibacy (The Seattle Times)
- Compromise keeps gay pastor in ministry | Mark Williams will be allowed to continue ministering to his North Seattle congregation for now, but only under the supervision of an interim pastor (The Seattle Times)
Bible and theology:
- Love thy neighbor | Interfaith group asks publishers to erase anti-Jewish language from children’s Bibles (Detroit Free Press)
- About 1 in 4 Americans believe Satan is real | Mormons are most likely to accept that he is more than a mere symbol of evil, says Barna study (Religion News Service)
Evangelism:
- Shrinking church considers recruiting | Traditionally opposed to proselytizing, Church of the Brethren weighs change (The Sun, Baltimore)
- Missionaries to spread word in ‘heathen’ Britain | Foreign churches have sent at least 60 missionaries to Britain (The Sunday Times, London)
- 1,000 lower-caste Hindus convert to Christianity in India | Move is protest at treatment by upper-caste Hindus (AFP)
- U.S. doctor brings sight, Bibles to the poor in Chinese province (Cox News Service)
- Not tiny anymore | Paul Lemons used to smuggle matchbook-sized Bibles into the Soviet Union. Now he ships Scripture around the world (Associated Press)
- Cardinal focuses on spreading word | Cardinal Jozef Tomko of Slovakia explains evangelism (The Boston Globe)
Church life:
- Flocks in need of shepherds | Do Americans value their clergy enough to make it a viable calling in the next generation? (The Washington Times)
- Playing his way in piped array | Inside the organ—and organist—at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Arlington (The Washington Post)
- Christians call on God and bone | Satirical Christian Web site launches text messaging worship services (The Times, London)
- Frivolous exhumation requests cause Church grave concern | Increase in requests signifies shift in public theology (The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Clergy to receive pay rise of £1,000 a year | Church of England study finds many have debts of up to £10,000 (The Daily Telegraph, London)
- Washington city wary of megachurch | Casey Treat’s Christian Faith Center already is a very big church. It wants to get bigger. (The Seattle Times)
Ecumenism:
- Anglicans, Lutherans prepare for historic ‘marriage’ | Communion of Canadian churches acknowledges common bond with the Reformation (The Ottawa Citizen)
- Theologian William G. Rusch makes ecumenical switch | Top NCC ecumenical officer leaves group to head Foundation for a Conference on Faith and Order in North America (UPI)
Black church:
- The tough love miracle | America’s black community leaders are driving down crime by mixing faith with attitude (The Sunday Times, London)
- Black preacher helps Bush find inner peace | Kirbyjon Caldwell’s emergence as the only black figure in a very select group of presidential friends reflects both an intriguing private relationship and a potentially explosive political trend. (The Sunday Times, London)
Baptists:
- Carter seeking alliance of moderate Baptists | Former president wants Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist General Convention of Texas, other groups to work together (The New York Times)
- Also: Carter woos unhappy Southern Baptists | Meetings help yield consensus statement with moderate groups (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
- Baptist group to reconsider stance on gays | The moderate Baptists of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship struggled Friday with how to both stay together and take a position on homosexuality. (The Dallas Morning News)
Denominational life:
- Mennonite groups to complete merger | Two largest U.S. Mennonite denominations will form Mennonite Church USA (Associated Press)
- Greek Catholic Patriarch Dies at 93 (Associated Press)
Mormon Olympics?
- Salt Lake City mayor frets over ‘complicated’ liquor laws | Concerns over alcohol bigger than those about transportation, lodging and security challenges (The Denver Post)
- Games being used as Mormon pulpit? | Critics worry the Temple will be the sole icon of the Olympics (The Denver Post)
Other stories of interest:
- Robertson’s bid to build power plant is rejected | Energy Commission says proposed electric plant would be too small for fast-track approval (Los Angeles Times)
- Unfair game: Scientologists get their man | Keith Henson file an international human-rights claim after he’s found guilty of a single misdemeanor count of interfering with a religion (LA Weekly)
- Music festival attracts thousands | Celebrate Freedom has become one the largest one-day Christian music events in the country (Associated Press)
- Policy on military women assailed | Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead asks Bush administration to reconsider a military policy that requires female enlisted personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear traditional Muslim head-to-toe clothing at all times when they leave the military base. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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