Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Bible-bending headlines and other news

Australian headlines found a variety of ways to connect the words "rape" and "Bible" to a story of a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity after she was allegedly raped as punishment for reading the Bible. Some headlines for the stories that covered the on-going trial:
In other Bible-bending headline news, copy-editors had a field day coming up with headlines for the story of a jail guard accused of attacking an inmate with the Bible:
  • "Jail Guard Accused of Bible Thumping -- Literally" WLKY (KY)
  • "Guard in hot water for Bible belting" West Country Times (CA)
Los Angeles Times (CA): Carl Amari, A Chicago entrepreneur, is hoping his 20-disc word-for-word dramatic reading of the New Testament will be a holiday sensation next Christmas. The audio-book features the voice of Jim Caviezel, star of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ," Terence Stamp as God, Michael York as the narrator, Luke Perry as Judas and Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene.

The L.A. Times reports that a team of Bible scholars was brought in to fret over every inflection and pronunciation and to ensure that every line is true to the St. James Version of the Bible. "When it comes to the Bible, you really can't get it wrong," Amari said. "You'll have people burning down your building. You don't want to get these people mad."

Amari hopes that the famous voices and dramatic touches such as the sounds of swords clanging, fires of hell burning, and ocean waves crashing will lure new audiences to the Bible. He is still however looking for the voice of Satan.

Jamaica Observer (JAMAICA): Dr. Al Miller, head of Whole Life Ministries, accused Dr. Philip Phinn of using his "gifts of prophesy" to "manipulate" rather than "influence" the democratic Process. Phinn publicly declared last week that God has ordained Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller will rule another seven years in Jamaica. Miller said that Phinn's prophesy did not follow biblical regulations for announcing God's will since he should have done so privately.

Rueters (UK): Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, told theology students in Toronto that anti-gay judgments were not in accordance with the Bible. Rowan pointed to a passage in Paul's letter to the Romans which warned of becoming self-righteous in condemning those who sin.

This interpretation will do little to quell the theological crisis now threatening the Communion who disagree on whether to embrace homosexual individuals into the community. Rueters reports:
"[This reading] would not help pro-gay liberals, he said, because Paul and his readers clearly agreed that homosexuality was 'as obviously immoral as idol worship or disobedience to parents.' [It] would also upset anti-gay conservatives, who have been "up to this point happily identifying with Paul's castigation of someone else," and challenge them to ask whether they were right to judge others, he added."

Christian News Wire (press release) (DC): The 18th annual U. S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon will begin at 8:00 PM on Sunday, April 29, 2007. For 90 continuous hours beginning with the reading of Genesis 1:1, every word of the Bible will be read aloud and without comment, culminating at 2:00 PM on Thursday, May 3 with the reading of the final chapters of Revelation. During those five days, hundreds of Bible believers will gather on the West Front of the U. S. Capitol to read a portion of the Bible, to listen and to pray. The U. S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon began in 1990, the year proclaimed by a Joint Congressional Resolution and Presidential Proclamation by President George H. W. Bush as the International Year of Bible Reading. The event serves to honor the Bible and the Holy Word of God, celebrate religious freedom and unite the diverse branches of Christianity around the Bible.

The State (SC): Chick-fil-A founder and owner S. Truett Cathy explains how someone can be religious and also successful in business:
"I see no conflict between good business and good biblical principals. The Bible teaches you have to treat your employees and customers the way you want to be treated. That’s the only lesson we need to learn. People like to eat in a place where they are respected and treated kindly."
The U.S. chicken sandwich chain is also famously closed on Sunday's because of the biblical imperative to honor the Sabbath.
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