Russian Information Agency: "Russia views Gibson's film not as totally exotic, but rather as yet unseen apo-theosis of suffering shown through the 'Catholic-Protes-tant perspective.' Those who have seen this movie, which has stirred critical passions in the West, know that Christ is being turned into a bloody pulp throughout the film. Audiences shudder in horror at every whip (which always comes unexpectedly). Masterly applied face-paint and special effects help enhance the impres-sion. Many spectators shut their eyes, cry or bless themselves, but do not leave. What I saw in the cinema during the show of The Passion of Christ and nearby gives no less food for thought than the film itself."

AP via Baltimore Sun: "Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted governing party says it is on a mission: to prove that Islam is compatible with democracy. So, Turkey appears to be an ideal host for a two-day summit that began Tuesday at which political and civil leaders from Muslim countries are addressing the struggle for democracy in the Islamic world. Yet, even within Turkey the idea of combining democracy and Islam is a tense issue. Erdogan's push has been hailed by some in the West who are looking for an example of an overwhelmingly Muslim country that has embraced democracy."

Robert Novak via CNN: "There is hardly a more reso-lute supporter of Israel in Congress than Rep. Henry Hyde [which] is why his March 25 letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell is so important. It is a plea to deflect Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's wall around the Holy Land from its planned position blocking the Scriptural pathway of Jesus Christ. 'I fear that impor-tant religious sites will become museums for commer-cial purposes and will no longer be maintained as places of spiritual worship shared by billions across the world,' Hyde, a prominent Roman Catholic layman, told Powell....That raises the question of whether the Bush administration will confront Israel on this issue."

In Christianity Today: "'I want to articulate as best I can the university expectation that, with respect to employment as well as student behavior, we will continue to follow our policy that sexual relationships are reserved for a man and a woman in marriage,'
[EMU President Loren Swartzendruber] told the Richmond Times Dispatch. 'That is the expectation of the Mennonite Church U.S.A, which is the denomina-tion to which we are accountable.' ... Last year, two EMU professors were fired for engaging in homosexual behavior. Swartzendruber emphasizes that they were not fired for homosexual orientation."

Cybercast News Service: "In a potentially ground-breaking case, an evangelical Christian is taking a major Australian television network before a legal tribunal, arguing that profanity in a popular police drama vilifies Christians. Andre van der Linden, a retired teacher, says it's time Christianity was afforded the same respect in the media as other religions. He is taking advantage of the state of Victoria's two-year-old anti-discrimination laws, which are at the center of a controversial case in which Muslims have accused two Christian pastors of vilifying Islam."

Albert Mohler in Crosswalk: "E. Michael Jones ar-gues, most modern ideologies are, at base, efforts to rationalize sexual behavior. In fact, he identifies moder-nity itself as 'rationalized lust.' We should expect the secular world, which is at war with God's truth, to be eager in its efforts to rationalize lust, and to seek leg-itimacy and social sanction for its sexual sins. We should be shocked, however, that many within the Church now seek to accomplish the same purpose.... Paul's classic statement in Romans 1 sets the issues squarely before us. Homosexuality is linked directly to idolatry, for it is on the basis of their idolatry that God gave them up to their own lusts...."  

NTV-MSNBC: "Daniel P. McGivern, president of Shamrock - The Trinity Corporation of Honolulu, Ha-waii, said a joint US-Turkish team wanted to inves-tigate a large object buried in the snow on the side of the mountain [Ararat]. The object, some 14 metres high, 22 metres widen and 140 metres long, became partly visible last summer during a heat wave. How-ever, McGiven said the expedition only aimed to take photographs to prove the object was the Biblical Ark. 'We are not excavating it,' he said.'We are not taking any artefacts. We’re going to photograph it and, God willing, you’re all going to see it.'"

CT Post: Cardinal "Arinze, a Nigerian whose Congreg-ation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sac-raments issued the document, said the church's pos-ition was clear and that U.S. bishops should decide in Kerry's particular case. 'The norm of the church is clear,' Arinze said. 'The Catholic Church exists in the United States and there are bishops there. Let them interpret it.' ... Bishop Raymond Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis, has said he would refuse to give Kerry Communion; Kerry's own archbishop, Sean O'Malley of Boston, has endorsed that principle without naming the senator." 

San Francisco Chronicle: "During his years in Scien-tology, [Gerald] Armstrong says he worked as an intel-ligence officer and communications officer and compil-ed documents for a church-sponsored biography of [Scientology founder L. Ron] Hubbard. He says he has been in Scientology's sights since the church filed its 1984 lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court to get control of Hubbard's private papers. Judge Paul Breckenridge Jr., who presided over that case, issued a ruling in which he called Hubbard 'virtually a pathol-ogical liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements.' "  

J. Grant Swank, Jr., in MichNews: "Of course Kerry, who basically has gotten on his terms what he wants from life, thinks that when it comes to Christian-ity, he can write his own religion. Those who adhere to Holy Scriptures as the base for all doctrinal truth know that that can't be done. Scriptures are divinely revealed truth' one must not take away from nor add to the revelation. When it is attempted, it is known as Pharisaism; that is, claiming to be defender of right-eousness while practicing sin. When it is tried, it is regarded as hypocrisy."

EUbusiness: "Poland, one of 10 mainly ex-communist countries to join the European Union on May 1, will elect 54 representatives to the...assembly. The church urged Poles to turn out and vote on June 13, warning against opting for those who 'attack human life and the family.' More than 90 percent of Poles say that they are Catholic, but some...candidates to the European Parliament are supporters of [liberalizing] Poland's strict anti-abortion law. 'The bishop's conference... continues to protest against the legalisation of abortion and euthanasia, as well as homosexual partnerships whose legalisation attack the...institution of marriage and the family,' the bishops said."

Brown Daily Herald: Judge Guido "Calabresi con-trasted the First Amendment's egalitarian idealism with the 14th Amendment's pragmatic realism. The 14th Amendment recognized slaves' status as out-siders and called for 'affirmative action' to integrate them as equals, Calabresi said. The 14th Amendment lacks the perfect egalitarianism of the First Amend-ment and embraces the reality that outsiders exist. 'Sometimes you have to treat people in a different way in order for them to be equal,' he said. Calabresi ap-plied this theory to modern issues of equality, such as gay rights and women's rights, and asked which kind of equality these groups should seek."

Variety's (and former NYTimes writer) Peter Bart: "The 'correction' was buried under the news summary of the April 16 New York Times, and it was somewhat arcane, even by Times standards. Contrary to an ear-lier report, the correction said, Mel Gibson did not 'de-ploy' TV talkshow hosts like Bill O'Reilly to urge aud-iences to see The Passion of the Christ. Gibson dis-cussed his movie with them, but did not 'deploy' them. ...Prior to its release (and prior to anyone on the paper seeing it), the Times declared The Passion an outrage and threat to social harmony....[but] there have been no signs of anti-Semitic outbreaks tied to the film's re-lease—not even in places like France and Argentina."

Brian Wiele in Modesto Bee: "Homosexual marriage is the subject...and it's likely public opinion will sooner or later relax about one more concession to the tides of societal change. Gavin Newsom, Rosie O'Donnell and friends will eventually 'win,' but at what cost to us all? The debate has already been won...because the advocates have managed to shift the focus. No longer is it simply a moral issue; they claim that their civil rights are being withheld, and that's the trump card today. ...The moment some fool like me voices his opposition—especially if he has religious affiliations—he is [put in] the camp of fundamentalist reactionaries and a name tag is pinned on him: 'homophobic.'"

Focus on the Family: "Several well-known liberals— including ultra-liberal documentary producer Michael Moore—will reportedly release movies just ahead of the November elections. The liberal movie offensive follows one already happening in entertainment TV. According to Christian producer Phil Cooke, things will get even more intense. 'There's no question that we're going to see a lot of liberal issues projected into programs as we ramp up to the election in November,' Cooke said. Now, there are reports of movie projects designed to harpoon conservatives. 'A lot of people in Hollywood are angry (people),' says Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission."

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