Thomas Nelson Sues International Bible Society, Visual Bible

Thomas Nelson sues International Bible Society in Visual Bible dispute Few publicly traded Christian companies have had woes anywhere near that of Visual Bible Inc., a company that makes video versions of the Bible, using only the words of popular translations. Through various takeovers and bailouts, the company has changed CEOs and boards more frequently than other company execs change neckties. (See earlier coverage of the company’s troubles here and here.)

The latest change came back in June, as the company finally climbed (mostly) out of its debt hole and got funding to make more films. Shooting of The Gospel of John, in Toronto and Spain, is scheduled to begin in January with a release date in September. (It’s not totally out of the woods yet: in August the company reported a June 30 shareholders’ deficit of $1.2 million and liabilities of $5.8 million).

Many presidents and board members ago, the company told CT that it would shoot The Gospel of John using the New International Version of the Bible. Now they say they will use the Good News Translation.

That might have something to do with the company’s ongoing legal disputes with the International Bible Society (IBS), which holds the copyright to the New International Version. According to the Nashville Business Journal, the IBS says Visual Bible defaulted on its royalty agreements, and terminated their deal in late April.

Visual Bible and the IBS went to the Institute for Christian Reconciliation to sort out their differences. The institute issued a legally binding injunction, prohibiting Visual Bible “and others in active concert with it” from selling videos.

That’s a problem for Thomas Nelson, reports the Journal. Back in early 2001, the publisher struck an exclusive deal with Visual Bible to sell Visual Bible videos in the CBA market (Christian bookstores and the like).

Thomas Nelson says it shouldn’t be bound by the injunction since it had a deal with the IBS to pay it direct royalties if Visual Bible defaulted. The Nashville publisher sued both Visual Bible and the IBS to get relief from the injunction.

Visual Bible Inc., meanwhile, says IBS shouldn’t have terminated its royalty deal in the first place.

Weblog has said it before, but it’s still true: the creation of the original Bible was hardly more contentious.

Halloween:

Primeval terror (since 1929) | You think Halloween has pagan roots? Guess again. Two new histories of America’s second favorite holiday reveal the truth. (Salon)
Halloween changes for religion, safety | This year, the spooky and the spirited almost weren’t invited back (The Times, Trenton, NJ)
How hallow an eve? | Some churches rebel against the dark side of Halloween (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Churches offer alternative to ghoulish gatherings | Harvest festivals, celebrations of saints among activities (The Ann Arbor [Mich.] News)
Leave the treaters alone | Pay no heed to those who read Satanism even into a deviled egg. (Addison Bragg, The Billings Gazette)

Islam:

Public opinion vs. Islam | A surprising new ABCNews/Beliefnet poll shows that after starting out tolerant, public opinion has turned against Islam (ABCNews/Beliefnet)
Damned if you do | Historians dare to criticize Islamic dhimmitude at Georgetown and pay a price (Rod Dreher, National Review Online)
Straightforward message, strict morals attracting American believers to Islam | The majority of American converts are African-American (The Dallas Morning News)

Interfaith relations:

Faiths agree: God wants peace | Judaism, Islam and Christianity all have a vision of peace and teach that war should be used only as a last resort, participants in an interfaith dialogue agreed Sunday (Lincoln Journal Star)
Messianic Jews’ letter upsets Jewish leaders | A letter inviting Christian professionals to bring Jewish friends and co-workers to a messianic Hanukkah/Christmas party aboard a chartered yacht upset area Jewish leaders. (The Palm Beach [Fla.] Post)
Vatican: Jews are our brothers | Anniversary of a major Second Vatican Council document was celebrated amid fresh debate over the Vatican’s attitude toward Jews that was sparked by a recent, unofficial document saying it was no longer theologically acceptable for the Church to target Jews for conversion (Associated Press)
Meet the new Zionists | The members of the Christian Coalition of America are some of the most passionate defenders of Israel in the United States. There’s just one catch: they want to convert all Jews to Christianity. (The Guardian, London)
Torn between cross and crescent | Some U.S. Muslim parents say their religion has become a sticking point in child custody cases. (The Dallas Morning News)

Evolution:

‘Teaching the controversy’ over evolution could be disastrous | Without adequate teacher preparation, reasonable-sounding approach would actually be confusing, dangerous (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
Earlier: Stop the fighting: Use ‘creation-evolution’ conflict as teaching tool | We’ll never get beyond the battling until we help students understand the range of views — religious and non-religious — about the claims of science (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
Darwin debate spreads | Teachers in Danish primary schools have been warned against being overly critical of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when teaching biology (The Copenhagen Post)

Books:

The sachems of Satan | A new theory to explain the Salem witchcraft crisis (David Gates, Newsweek)
400 years ago, male witches were well cooked | Women weren’t only ones executed: book (The National Post, Canada)
A slight difference of opinion | A new book explores the life of Michael Servetus, who burned for his beliefs (Savannah Morning News)
Religious write: Author carves niche | You could prowl the aisles of bookstores for days and you’ll never find a sign designating the genre Patricia Haley has claimed as her own — G-rated contemporary Christian African-American romance (Times Herald, Greater Norristown, Penn.)