A french bishop has acknowledged the issue of spiritual abuse in religious communities. Also: the Scientology cult has removed an illegal sign from a temporary building, but makes no promises.
Self-proclaimed psychic Sylvia Brown, who notoriously claimed Amanda Berry was dead, has died.
Plus: Saudi Arabia’s religious police demonstrate the effects of religious insanity.
In today’s issue: Your Amish whatever is probably not Amish after all. Televangelist Robert ‘Dr. Shine’ Freeman jailed. And a TV station staff entirely by veiled women.
Also: Philip Jenkins recounts a scary experience in Amsterdam.
Plus: Spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate, and… Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Stephen Colbert team up.
A Dutch religious broadcaster has condensed the books of into 20 minutes worth of film.
The makers believe this a good way to introduce today’s digital generation to the message of the Bible. Not everyone agrees.
As Rupert Murdoch presides over the News Corp media empire and is a desperate fight for his reputation after being forced to close his scandal-laden British newspaper News of the World, the most widely read English tabloid in the world, it has been revealed that Murdoch also owns Zondervan, the world’s largest publisher of Bibles.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that involves people in the acceleration of Bible translation efforts, is raising funds to accelerate the work of Bible translation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—a Central African nation that has been plagued by civil wars over the past 15 years.
The fighting has resulted in the deaths for more than 5 million people and the displacement of more than 2 million.
Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true.
“You know. Probably not. … No, I’m not a literalist…”
The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs.
Jeffrey McQuain, coauthor of Coined by God (Norton) and The Bard on the Brain (Dana Press), is the longtime language consultant for William Safire, who is on vacation. “In religion,” George Gray challenges a contestant on TV’s Weakest Link game show, “what is the third book in the Old Testament of the King James Bible?” The player replies, “Revelations.” That’s wrong on two counts. The third book of the Bible is actually Leviticus, which chronicles the laws and rituals overseen by the priestly Levites. Less obvious, however, is the mistake in saying “Revelations,” because the Bible contains no such book.