CALIFORNIA
Ministers cool to discussing notion of hell
MyInKy.com
"Bill Faris believes in hell, that frightful nether world where the thermostat is always set on high, where sinners toil for eternity in unspeakable torment. But you'd never know it listening to him preach at his south Orange County, Calif., evangelical church. He never mentions the topic; his flock shows little interest in it. 'It isn't sexy enough anymore,' said Faris, pastor of Crown Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship."
Research material:
"Evangelicals And The Annihilation Of Hell, Part One" (an article from the Christian Research Journal, Spring 1991, page 14) by Alan W. Gomes.,
"Evangelicals And The Annihilation of Hell, Part Two" (an article from the Christian Research Journal, Summer 1991, page 8) by Alan W. Gomes.",

FLORIDA
Bible translation incites debate
St. Petersburg Times
"Critics say Today's New International Version doesn't reflect God's intentions. Others say it merely reflects changes in English usage. A new version of the Bible has the local Christian community buzzing."

GEORGIA
Cult leader ignored his own rules
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"EATONTON --- For more than three decades, Dwight York was a god to his people. But the way he lived as a man was decidedly unholy, says a group of his former followers."

ILLINOIS
Deal struck in deputies' yarmulke, scarf
The Chicago Sun-Times
"Two Cook County sheriff's deputies have reached a partial compromise with Sheriff Michael Sheahan on the issue of wearing religious garb while on duty. Deputy Larry Davidson, a Jew, was allowed to return to work in the Daley Center on Friday as long as he agreed to wear his sheriff's hat over his yarmulke, or skull cap."

KANSAS
Introducing another financial gimmick: Life Diversification
Lawrence Journal-World
Personal Finance, Jeff Brown
"I've always wanted to run a cult. I'd like to be showered with adoration and money. But these jobs don't open up very often. Not a single cult headhunter has called. So I've decided to start one from scratch.Other people have done it. If you are an insomniac, you know what I mean. In the middle of the night, guys on TV tout all sorts of personal finance cults."

MISSOURI
Ex-Muslims in Hot Seat for Calling Islam a Violent Faith
The Associated Press
"Ergun and Emir Caner sat in the cavernous domed stadium with hundreds of other preachers in St. Louis and listened intently as the Rev. Jerry Vines thundered about the difference between Christianity and Islam."

NEW YORK
University's Quran Reading Stirs Controversy
FOX News.com
"NEW YORK - What could be a better way to start a college career than by reading from a Good Book? Plenty, if the book in question is the Quran and your country has been attacked by Muslim terrorists, according to one pro-family group."

OHIO
Camp teaches kids about atheism
The Associated Press
"HAMILTON -- At Camp Quest, it's OK to be an atheist. Most campers and counselors are. Forty-six children from throughout the United States and Canada recently attended the week-long camp in this southwest Ohio community to learn about humanism, naturalism, secularism and atheism."

Protestant denominations to seek greater diversity
The Associated Press
"CLEVELAND -- After a steady drop in membership over the years, leaders of seven predominantly white Protestant denominations -- from liberal to conservative -- have joined forces to try to reverse the trend."

TEXAS
Some Hispanics turn from Catholic church
The Dallas Morning News
"DALLAS -- With his hands lifted high and his eyes closed tightly, Nery Fajardo sings praises to his God. Next to him, wife Martha clutches her chest as she sings. And the hundreds of others in the sanctuary of Iglesia Evangelica Bethania (Bethany Evangelical Church) in Farmers Branch, Texas, do the same as a nine-member choir and a band that includes guitar, bass, keyboard and drums, lead them in worship that lasts more than an hour."

WASHINGTON, D.C.
John D. Lee Statue Vexes Washington
The Salt Lake Tribune
"Washington city officials are considering lopping off the top of a larger-than-life statue of Mormon pioneer John D. Lee they commissioned for a new city park and replacing it with the torso of a less controversial founding father."

AUSTRALIA
Spooked by spells
news.com.au
"Spooked residents believe witches may have used a lock of hair to cast a spell outside a Melbourne school. Police are investigating the discovery of what is believed to be a pagan shrine under a tree outside the Fawkner primary school grounds on Lorne St last week."

EGYPT
Egyptian church dismisses 13 clerics
BBC News
"Details have emerged in Egypt of action taken by the Christian Coptic Church against a group of clerics accused of extremism and heresy."

ENGLAND
Potter and the archbishop
The Guardian
"The archbishop of York yesterday called on believers to pay more attention to the Harry Potter generation and restore a sense of wonder and mystery to religious worship."

ITALY
Accused Murder's Mom Blasts Vatican
The Associated Press
"ROME- Vatican officials have failed to bring justice in a 1998 apparent murder-suicide within the walls of the city-state, lawyers for mother of the accused said Friday, urging the Vatican to turn the case over to civil authorities."

Nude Prophet in Hell
Religion News Service
"A 15th century fresco showing the naked figure of the Prophet Muhammad among the damned in Dante's Inferno is causing a 21st century fuss in the Italian city of Bologna. Abdel Smith, president of the Union of Muslims in Italy who has led a series of peaceful demonstrations against the fresco for the last year, called the fresco a worse offense to Muslims than Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses."
Other religious news briefs at this site.

KENYA
Police Tell Mungiki: We're Ready for You
The East African Standard
"NAIROBI -- Security has been beefed up in Kiambu District where followers of the unregistered Mungiki sect have threatened to forcibly circumcise women today. Central Provincial Police Officer (PPO) Enock Cheserek yesterday said police are on high alert to ensure no woman is hurt by the sect members."

NIGERIA
27 Arrested in Rivers Over Cultism
This Day
"The Rivers State Police Command has arrested 27 persons for alleged cult activities. Most of those arrested are said to be students of the State Polytechnic, Bori. The State Police Public Relations Officer Mrs Ireju J. Barasua (ASP) who disclosed this in her office said the cult suspects were arrested at three difference operations carried out by the command."

Nigerian woman fights death sentence
BBC News
"An appeal hearing is due to open in northern Nigeria on Monday for a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning under controversial Sharia, or Islamic, laws. This is the second such case to come before the Sharia court of appeal."

PHILIPPINES
Drug evidence against Ecleo strong, says police officer
Inquirer News Service
"CEBU CITY - A police investigator here testified that the affidavit of the jail guard and the positive laboratory results on the illegal drug seized from the luggage of detained cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. were sufficient to pin him down."

SAUDI ARABIA
The women that time forgot
New laws may help blow cobwebs from Saudi Arabia's ancient restrictions
The Guardian
"Saudi Arabia is to gender what apartheid South Africa was to race. In public life a woman is almost entirely segregated from men: excluded from the workplace, penned in special "family sections" in restaurants, taught in separate schools and colleges, and forbidden to drive."

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