"Mr. Bush told editors and reporters of The Washing-ton Times yesterday in an interview in the Oval Office that many in the public misunderstand the role of faith in his life and his view of the proper relationship between religion and the government. 'I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person,' Mr. Bush said. 'I've never said that. I've never acted like that.' ...Mr. Bush said he has 'still got a rigorous agenda' for his faith-based initiative. The federal govern-ment has funneled 'about $1.2 billion' to religious groups so far, the president said, and he hopes to improve on that in the next four years."

Grand Rapids Press: "It takes advertisements for booze, hangover medication, fast cars and cigarettes, but Rolling Stone magazine won't print one hawking the Bible. The influential music magazine with 1.2 million readers rejected Zondervan's advertisement for its 'Today's New International Version' Bible, a decision that deals a blow to the company's plans to market to young, hip readers. The ad campaign is the largest ever for the Cascade Township publisher as it rolls out the newly translated version of the Bible. And the ad it wanted to place in February's Rolling Stone was an important piece in its $1 million ad blitz before the launch in two weeks. ...Officials at Zondervan said Rolling Stone was concerned about a line in the ad about finding 'real truth' in the Bible."

Yahoo News: Steven "Bochco, the man behind such hits as Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, prevailed and got his gritty cop show on the air, but he thinks that wouldn't be possible in today's politically charged media landscape. 'The medium has become increas-ingly conservative,' he told reporters....The Emmy-winning police drama, co-created by Bochco and David Milch, will conclude its 12-season run March 1. 'I don't think today we could launch or sell a show like NYPD Blue,' Bochco said. He had hoped the series would pave the way for more sophisticated drama, but said the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction in the past five years.... [But] 'you're never going to put the genie back in the bottle,' Bochco said."

AsiaNews: "China’s new comprehensive regulations on religious affairs contain some positive elements but in other respects are even more restrictive than those they replace. The new regulations...will come into effect on March 1 and replace those issued in 1994 to administer places of worship and foreigners’ religious activities. Among the positive elements of the new rules are their nation-wide application. Under the 1994 rules religious activities such as opening of new churches and tem-ples and appointing religious personnel were adminis-tered by provincial authorities applying at least 50 different regulatory regimes. Under the new system the same rules apply to all religions and believers across the country."

Conservative Voice: "What was the reason for the slaughter of the Armanious family? Almost immediately, one came to light. Hossam Armanious was outspoken about both his strong Christian faith and his disagree-ments with the tenets of Islam....Unfortunately and un-conscionably, as of this writing only one news channel (Fox) is reporting this story in any depth. In fact, neither the alphabet soup networks nor the other cable chan-nels have even bothered to include it in their online news sites. Although the deaths of Muslims around the world are reported as front page news by the mainstream me-dia, apparently the death of Christians (ostensibly at the hands of Muslims) isn’t worth mentioning. And...none of our ‘moderate’ Muslim friends have said anything. In this case, both groups’ silence says a mouthful."

Lex 18.com: "For more than a year, Larry Caldwell tried to get the Roseville Joint Union High School District...to consider changing how it taught the theory of evolution in its biology classes. Caldwell, who has three children, says he wanted the district to correct factual errors in its biology textbooks as well as to introduce students to some scientific criticisms of modern evolutionary theory. Caldwell did not propose that the district teach creation-ism or alternatives to evolution....in the process ...Cald-well alleges the district repeatedly denied him rights and procedures normally afforded other citizens in the district, banned parents from speaking in favor of his proposals
...publicly attacked his personal religious beliefs, spread false rumors about him...even threatened to sue him and other parents if they continued to speak out."  

Reuters: "Christian Conservative groups have issued a gay alert warning over a children's video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon favorites. The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers—the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation—say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity. But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality. 'A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality,' wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association. "

Anthony B. Robinson, Seattle P-I: "For some today, all Christians are closed-minded religious bigots whose politics are somewhere to the right of the Terminator. For others, Christians can be explained in terms of two-party theory: There are liberal and progressive Chris-tians on one side and the conservative and evangelical Christians on the other. Both explanatory frameworks are inadequate to the diverse and complex reality.... Like much else in post-modern America, the situation is wonderfully messy. It doesn't lend itself to neat explana-tions or to a simple duality of liberal and conservative. ...today you have progressive evangelicals, theological post-liberals, the new orthodox, as well as ancient-modern Christians. Such stereotype shattering and boundary crossing strikes me as promising."

DrudgeReport: "Proposing new political language about abortion rights for an increasingly skittish Democratic Party, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that friends and foes on the issue should come together on "common ground" to reduce the number of "unwanted pregnancies" and ultimately abortions, which she called a "sad, even tragic choice to many, many women." Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for Roe v. Wade. But then she offered warm words to opponents of abortion and said that faith and organized religion were the "primary" reasons teenagers abstained from sexual relations. The NEW YORK TIMES is set to splash the Hillary speech."

Former Anglican Bp. Richard Holloway via International Herald Tribune: "God is dead, and we are alone in the world.... The only thing we can be certain of is that there is no certainty—including that one. Committed to being uncommitted, we should relish the irony of our position. Knowing what we know, we should stand closer to outsiders than insiders, remem-bering how the gods love to divide: So we should make alliances with poets and protesters, rarely with priests and politicians. We should not expect to win many battles against the world's tyrannous addiction to idols, but nor should we ever allow ourselves to be defeated by it."

Mark Moring and Jeffrey Overstreet: "Seems like there were saviors—and a Savior—all over the big screen in 2004. They came in all shapes and sizes— from a comic-book superhero to a kind-hearted music teacher, from a courageous soul trying to save over 1,000 of his fellow men to the King of Kings dying to save all of mankind. The films depicting these char-acters were all stories of redemption. They certainly weren't all "feel-good" movies which left you bouncing out of the theater with a smile on your face (though a few of them certainly did just that). But they were all stories that communicated truth, love, grace and redemption—and they're the movies that make up our first annual list of The 10 Most Redeeming Films of the year."

Ronald J. Sider in Christianity Today: "Whether the issue is divorce, materialism, sexual promiscuity, racism, physical abuse in marriage, or neglect of a biblical worldview, the polling data point to widespread, blatant disobedience of clear biblical moral demands on the part of people who allegedly are evangelical, born-again Christians. The statistics are devastating.... George Barna concludes, 'Every day, the church is becoming more like the world it allegedly seeks to change.' ...Professor Lamin Sanneh told Christianity Today recently that 'the cultural captivity of Christianity in the West is nearly complete, and with the religion tamed, it is open season on the West's Christian heritage. I worry about a West without a moral center facing a politically resurgent Islam.'"

Boston Globe: "In a speech at a fund-raising dinner for a[n]...organization that promotes faith-based solutions to social problems, [Senator Hillary] Clinton said there has been a 'false division' between faith-based approaches to social problems and respect for the separation of church of state. 'There is no contradiction be-tween support for faith-based initiatives and upholding our constitutional principles,' said Clinton....Clinton invoked God more than half a dozen times, at one point declaring, 'I've always been a praying person.' She said there must be room for religious people to 'live out their faith in the public square.' The issue of faith in politics has been at the center of debate...with some arguing that Bush's strong identification with religious values was a key to his victory over Senator John F. Kerry."

AP's Richard Ostling: "the novel has provoked unpre-cedented protest from serious scholars. First, it was Roman Catholic and Protestant conservatives, protes-ting that Brown's characters inaccurately malign Chris-tianity. Now, more liberal thinkers likewise say Brown's claim to present facts through fiction is itself fictional and misleads readers. The leader of this sec-ond wave is Bart Ehrman, religion chairman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code.... Ehrman, an expert in early church documents that are central to Brown's plot, says he wants 'to separate the fact from the fiction, the historical realities from the flights of fancy, for anyone interested in knowing about the historical beginnings of Christianity."

BPNews: "other polling by Gallup has shown Canadi-ans to be more liberal on moral issues. For instance, 53 percent of Canadians but only 40 percent of Americans say that abortion is 'morally acceptable.' On another issue, 60 percent of Canadians but 42 percent of Amer-icans say that homosexual behavior is morally accept-able. In fact, homosexuality may be where the two countries differ the most. Fifty-four percent of Canadians believe that homosexuality is 'something a person is born with.' Only 37 percent of Americans agreed with the statement. In addition, 51 percent of Canadians favor same-sex 'marriage' legalization while only 35 percent of Americans do so. Same-sex 'marriage' is legal in 7 of the 10 Canadian provinces, and the federal government is moving to legalize it nationwide."

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