"Weblog: Censoring Christian Films, Continued"

New Zealand government body wants Christian videos on homosexuality banned In January, Weblog noted a few occurrences in which some critics and agencies sought to censor several films made by Christians. Now comes a more egregious example. A committee of the New Zealand parliament, wants to ban Christian films because they’re critical of homosexuality.

The committee was critical of a 2000 decision by the Court of Appeal of New Zealand that allowed the distribution of two 1989 videos from the American company Jeremiah Films, calling them “hate speech” in violation of the country’s Human Rights Act. Since the court supported the films, the parliamentary committee wants the law changed so that Christian films critical of homosexual practice can be forbidden.

The films don’t appear to be the kind that will win many awards (or, for that matter, converts). Still, as Stephen Franks of the libertarian group ACT New Zealand tells The Dominion Post, “A vibrant free society needs robust debate on every issue. Censorship is justified when it is about putting age ratings on films or stopping child pornography but not when it tries to close down debate on issues that people feel strongly about.”

War with Iraq:

Pope has zeal, but no answer on Iraq question | He calls for “noble diplomacy” and “honest dialogue,” but does not say what should happen if diplomacy and dialogue fail, as they have so often over the 12 years of international confrontation with the Iraqi regime (Marcus Gee, The Globe & Mail, Toronto)
The pope and the president | One person, George W. Bush, will decide whether there will be war. (Editorial, Des Moines Register)
Peace activist implores Pope to be `ultimate human shield’ | `Only person’ who can stop Iraq war. Helen Caldicott sets up the campaign (The Toronto Star)
Bush and his God are scary in Europe | “The God thing” replaces “the Israel thing” as the latest European attempt to figure out why the Americans are so eager to go to war in Iraq (Richard Reeves)
Bush, the Bible, and Iraq | What scares so many people outside the U.S. is the President’s religious, apocalyptic rhetoric. Is he really ready for Armageddon? Not likely (Stan Crock, Business Week)
Baptist leader says Iraq war would be ‘self-defense’ | The president of the Southern Baptist Convention supported President Bush’s call for war with Iraq on Thursday, saying it would be “self-defense and protective and preventive of future problems.” (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Dangerous waters | Will the U.S. nurture an Islamist Iraq? (Paul Marshall, National Review Online)
Bush must ask himself if war is righteous | This is an anti-war column. (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)
Finally, a rapid response | Why didn’t sex-abuse scandals stir Vatican action the way war has? (Rod Dreher, The Wall Street Journal)
In the Name of God | Bush’s rhetoric suggests that he feels God has chosen him to lead the U.S. against “Evil.” (Jack Beatty, The Atlantic Unbound)
Churches forsaking traditional neutrality | It’s a radical departure from the neutrality espoused by churches in previous wars – including Vietnam (Diane Carman, Denver Post)

Church life:

Deep cuts loom in spending by church | Scandal, economy cited in fund-raising shortfall (The Boston Globe)
Confidence trick | Rowan Williams gives the church hope (Editorial, The Guardian, London)
Lee County attorney argues against clergy toll tax exemption | Commissioners discussed the exemption in January when county transportation officials told them the exemptions are causing problems at toll plazas. (Bonita [Fla.] Daily News)
Yukon Anglican head offers self as ‘flying bishop’ for B.C. diocese (Canadian Press)
South L.A. church’s troubled waters | An ethnically mixed parish is split among those who want its next priest to be African American and those who want a Latino (Los Angeles Times)
Embattled local pastor will return to pulpit at new church | David Tyrell Moore tried to stay away. From the spotlight, from scrutiny—and from the pulpit. It was not to be (The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, Calif.)
Maronite bishop announces first synod since 1736 | Bishop Youssef Beshara said that church rules call for holding regular synods, “but because of civil wars in this country,” it was not possible to hold such a synod in recent decades (The Daily Star, Lebanon)
The growing religious mission to protect God’s creation | Churches are clearly going beyond green rhetoric (Environmental News Network)
Also: Religion’s green roots | Green religious activism is not taking place in a vacuum but reflects principles articulated in many of the world’s sacred texts (Environmental News Network)
Dispute divides Serbian Orthodox parish | The arrest of the pastor has exposed simmering tensions among older, American-born parishioners and younger, European-born congregants who have joined more recently (Associated Press)

Missions and ministry:

People of faith do good works | It was Christians who built hospitals, helped the mentally ill, staffed orphanages, brought hope to prisoners, established 100 of our first 110 American universities, and spread literacy (Randy Beaverson, Juneau Empire)
Family seeking justice for murdered missionary wants trial in absentia | The New Brunswick relatives of a missionary murdered during the bloody Guatemalan civil war want the suspected killers tried in absentia in Canada as they continue their tireless search for justice in the case (Canadian Press)
Friends, neighbors view Burnham home | More than 300 people and nearly 100 companies joined together to build the missionary’s 1,700-square-foot Rose Hill home (The Wichita Eagle)
Called to serve Hispanics | Venezuelan finds his spiritual place bringing the Gospel to Hispanics (The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.)

Church and state:

Sometimes a flag should make you a bit cross-eyed | A church’s sanctuary is the wrong place for the American banner—or that of any other nation. (J.R. Labbe, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Keeping God in the pledge | The intrusion is minimal enough that these references shouldn’t be altered. Neither should the pledge (Editorial, The Oregonian)
9th Circuit didn’t diminish God | God has made more comebacks than Michael Jordan. Every time we think he has vanished from the public arena, he manages a return (Bill Cessato, The Wichita Eagle)
Ten Commandments challenge awaits ruling | The challenge involving a deposed Ten Commandments display at the Rutherford County Courthouse has been delayed until a federal appeals court rules on a nearly identical case from Kentucky (Associated Press)

Politics and law:

Confessions | With an intense lobbying campaign, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick managed to kill in 48 hours a proposed Maryland law that would require priests to report suspected child abuse they heard about in the confessional (Editorial, The Washington Post)
Pawlenty salutes faith-based initiatives | Gov. Tim Pawlenty took to the pulpit Thursday night at the NAE convention to endorse President Bush’s efforts to funnel public money into faith-based social-action programs (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Also: Wooddale fitting host for evangelicals | When Gov. Tim Pawlenty welcomed the nation’s leading evangelical Christians to the Twin Cities on Thursday, he did so in the sanctuary of his home church (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.)
Angel of the apocalypse | Texas is Bibles and guns, patriots and born-again Christians, righteous folk who believe in just retribution for murderers, whether in Dallas or Baghdad (Sydney Morning Herald)

Persecution and violence:

Bush’s hometown seeks Sudan peace | A Washington human rights group is trying to get President Bush to pay more attention to beleaguered Christians in war-torn Sudan by using pressure from people in his hometown (The Washington Times)
N.H. emigres lose daughter to terror | Family members are messianic Jews (The Boston Globe)
Also: Daughter of Christian Pastor killed in Haifa Blast (Come and See)

Science and health:

Kirk plans to tackle taboo of possession by evil spirits | Campaigners feel church could add to stigma over mental illness (The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)
Also: Mental health warning over Kirk’s devil possession group (The Times, London)
Politics of abortion delays $15 billion to fight global AIDS | President Bush’s international AIDS initiative is getting bogged down in disputes over how to spend the money and whether it should be steered away from clinics that promote abortion. (The New York Times)
Bad theology is worsening spread of AIDS | Antiquated teaching and misplaced moral judgments could well prevent both Catholic and Protestant traditions from making the wholehearted effort needed (Steve Gushee, Palm Beach Post)

Columbia and NASA:

Faith strong within NASA ranks | Faith is strong among NASA’s astronauts, engineers and researchers (The Orlando Sentinel)
Small voice amid wreck speaks of life | The pieces of Columbia had barely floated to Earth when self-appointed messengers of God began to declare that the space shuttle’s destruction was an act of divine retribution (Jonathan Gurwitz, San Antonio Express-News)

Pop culture:

Saints before soaps on Italian TV | While reality television shows are attracting large audiences in countries around the world, in Italy that format is taking second place to another ratings grabber – religious fiction (BBC)
Neighborhood menace | Mr. Rogers would have had nothing but kind words for the Rev. Fred Phelps (Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Mel Gibson’s unholy Sunday | Mel Gibson is furious at The New York Times over a story that will depict him as a pope-hating, conspiracy-minded cultist (New York Post)
Also: Actor Mel Gibson takes up traditional Catholicism | After waging war against what they see as radical changes made by the Vatican, Catholic traditionalists have a new weapon: star power in the person of actor Mel Gibson, according to an article to be published on Sunday in the New York Times Magazine (Reuters)
Also: The greatest story, newly told | Mel Gibson on “The Passion,” and the passion behind it (Raymond Arroyo, The Wall Street Journal)

Books:

A Christian Science Monitor guide to religion bestsellers | The Monitor’s quarterly review of bestselling religion books offers a one-stop opportunity to survey the resurgent interest in religion and spirituality (The Christian Science Monitor)
Book review: A Long Way From Rome: Why the Australian Catholic Church is in Crisis | What would be really surprising is if the Australian Catholic Church were not in crisis (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Former defender of evolution now promotes creationism | Author and lecturer Mike Riddle isn’t out to change anybody’s mind. (Plano [Tex.] Star Courier)
Hymn-writing saved even a wretch like him | The author of ‘Amazing Grace’ was indeed transformed by faith (The Christian Science Monitor)

Swing low, sweet chariot | Miraculously, slaves plucked real inspiration from their masters’ religion (The Christian Science Monitor)

America’s first superstar preacher | Jonathan Edwards made saints rejoice and sinners quake (The Christian Science Monitor)
The thirst for living water in a dry land | Obery Hendricks’s debut novel imagines the life of that woman who met Jesus at the well – and drew up more than she bargained for (The Christian Science Monitor)
A return to primitive Christianity in a modern age | The earliest texts provide shelter from currents of change (The Christian Science Monitor)
Pope goes from bard to verse | The pope has ended a self-imposed 25-year silence by publishing a poem, with verses about undulating slopes, silvery cascades of mountain streams, life, death, love, and eternity (CNN)
Also: Not the greatest of the poet-priests | John Donne, George Herbert and Gerard Manley Hopkins are all poet-priests who would find their way into anyone’s anthology of the best in verse. Should they be joined by Karol Wojtyla? (Michael Gove, The Times, London)
Also: Pope’s book of poetry looks like a bestseller in his native Poland | John Paul II’s verse uses nature for imagery and touches on death and his succession (Los Angeles Times)
Professor hits roadside to find religion in all the odd places | Life-size replica of Noah’s ark prompts him to write new book (Religion News Service)

Other religions and interfaith relations:

Jewish group seeks better ties with allies | Council wants to work with evangelical Christians on Israel, religious rights (The Baltimore Sun)
Uneasy partnership for Jews, evangelicals | Some in the Jewish community are uneasy about evangelicals they see as supporting Israel but not Judaism (Associated Press)
Report: Nazareth court orders demolition of disputed mosque | The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court issued Thursday a demolition order for the Shihab al-Din mosque, across from the Basilica of the Annunciation, Israel Radio reported. (Haaretz, Tel Aviv)

Money and business:

Tax reform a moral issue, professor tells churches | Since publication of her 112-page article in the fall 2002 Alabama Law Review attacking the state’s tax system on theological grounds, Susan Pace Hamill has spoken to about a dozen churches and many civic groups, making the case that Christian morality cries out for tax reform (The Birmingham News)
Religion motivates expat donors: Study | The study—for which 150 Indian Americans in Washington, DC were surveyed—found that Christians contribute more frequently and in higher amounts than Hindus (Rediff.com, India)
Christian retail on a mission | Specialty Christian stores have more competitors than ever (The State, S.C.)

Life ethics:

Activists angry rape victim, 9, punished | Catholic Church excommunicates Nicaraguan girl who had abortion (The National Post, Canada)
Also: Rebellion forces Vatican u-turn in child rape case | The Roman Catholic church has responded to a rebellion of 26,000 people worldwide demanding to be excommunicated by withdrawing its threat to punish the parents of a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl who had an abortion after being raped, campaigners said yesterday (The Guardian, London)
When comic strips aren’t always ha-ha, hee-hee | Why is Gil Thorp, the eternally youthful comic-strip coach of the Milford High School Mudlarks, getting involved in the issue of abortion? (Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune)
Also: Gil Thorp archives (Chicago Tribune)
Anti-abortion group sues in leaflet arrest | Keith Mason was charged with unlawful conduct on public property, but the charge was later dismissed (Denver Post, third item)
The meaning of 8-1 | If the case against pro-lifers was this clear, what was all the fuss about? (Joel Belz, World)

Sexual ethics:

State lawmakers seek to ban gay marriages | Such a move would supersede any court ruling (The Boston Globe)
SJC peppers lawyers on same-sex marriage | During the half-hour hearing, the justices pummeled the lawyers with questions about the purpose of the state’s marriage laws, the role of the court, and an earlier court decision allowing gay couples to adopt children (The Boston Globe)
Mass. asked to allow same-sex marriages (The Washington Post)
Minister didn’t set out to be a spokesperson for lesbians | But now Anita Hill says she feels called to the task (La Crosse [Wisc.] Tribune)

Education:

Wheaton grub rates all A’s with students | For four consecutive years, Wheaton has landed at the top of a list ranking campus food compiled by The Princeton Review Guide: The Best 345 Colleges (Chicago Sun-Times)
Wheaton College changes behavior ‘pledge’ | In the world of evangelical colleges, it was a moment to remember—a shift on roughly the same level as a single-sex school turning into a coed institution (Associated Press)

Catholics adopt more liberal attitudes during college | A survey described in the Catholic World Report finds that Roman Catholic students, whether in Catholic or nonsectarian schools, shift toward more liberal views in college (The New York Times)
Religious holiday question proves vexing to Nashoba school board | Committee debates whether to hold school on Yom Kippur next year (The Beacon Villager, Concord, Mass.)
Teacher’s talk on Jesus broke rules | A substitute music teacher at Millard’s Black Elk Elementary violated school district policy Wednesday by turning a music lesson into a discussion of Jesus and the possible war on Iraq, a spokeswoman said (Omaha World Herald)
Also: Millard teacher asked to leave over Jesus remark | District: expressing personal views against policy (KETV, Omaha)

Prayer and spirituality:

Lebanese women come together to lead prayers in global day of worship | Liturgy will focus on plight of locals touched by war, loss and dislocation (The Daily Star, Lebanon)
Rationality reigns but prayers can still serve a need | The persistence of prayer (especially petitionary prayer in which a specific outcome is requested) is something of an anomaly in our time (Chris McGillion, The Sydney Morning Herald)
Pastor not backing down over 9/11 prayer | The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod must not hold itself at arm’s length from the world if it expects to fulfill Christ’s mission, said David Benke (Omaha World-Herald)
Gallup notes links between faith, life | Large percentages of Americans link faith to their everyday lives, a new poll reveals. But overall, faithful Americans acknowledge a gap between what they believe and how they act (Religion News Service)

Gambling:

Ministers express aversion to slots | The gambling world has a saying that “the house always wins.” But what many church leaders in Washington County fear is that the losers will be the people of Maryland, both financially and spiritually. (The Herald-Mail, Hagerstown, Md.)
Religious leaders urge rally against Md. slots (Associated Press)

Other stories of interest:

Religion News in Brief | Black church statistics, historic religious buildings in Pittsburgh, Disciples of Christ leader retires early, and other stories (Associated Press)
Morality amid technology | Gadgetry’s brave new world tests our virtue (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Europe needs to remember religion | The “old” Europeans can become young again if we manage to rediscover a balance of reason and faith – if we counter the exuberance of Christian zealots in the New World with the wise insight of their history, and if we fight the inhuman excesses of Islamic extremism rather than showing cowardly tolerance (Heinz-Joachim Fischer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Village churches take fight for stolen brasses to U.S. | Parishioners at two churches in East Anglia have taken on America’s museum establishment by demanding the return of three priceless tomb brasses stolen from the churches’ flagstone floors in the 19th century (The Guardian, London)

Scotland is no longer Christian, says Pope | He said young people were beset by declining morals and indifference to religion, blaming the “powerful forces” of the media and entertainment industry (The Herald, Glasgow)