Fired Over Button

A Home Depot worker in Florida has been fired because he wore a button with an American flag on it that reads, One nation under God, indivisible. Trevor Keezer says he wore it for more than a year, partly to honor his older brother who's headed to Iraq in December for his second tour of duty. After Keezer brought his Bible to work, a supervisor told him to take off the button and fired him when he refused. Several local businesses in the Okeechobee area are having employees wear similar buttons in support of Keezer. Home Depot isn't commenting.

Book Burning Goes Forward

A church is planning to go forward with its Bible and book burning even though it is illegal according to the local fire marshal in Canton, North Carolina. The pastor of Amazing Grace Baptist Church says he's going through with the Halloween night event despite the fact it goes against open burning laws. If firefighters put the fire out, the church could be fined as much as $25,000. A group of protestors is planning to attend the event at 7 pm, Eastern on October 31st.

Dueling News Conferences

Here's is a report on a decrimination lawsuit against Without Walls International Church in Tampa

America's Prophet

A new book casts Moses as "bigger than Jesus" in US political and cultural history. Bruce Feiler's new book is titled America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story. He looks at Moses in American history from the Pilgrims onward, suggesting the man who led his people out of Egyptian slavery to the Promised Land, had more to do with shaping American self-indentity than Jesus.

Robber Stops to Pray

An armed robber stopped to pray with a store clerk for nearly 10 minutes in Indianapolis on Monday. The crime took place at Advance America, a check cashing business. Even though the man fleed with a cell phone and $20 after the prayer, he turned himself in to police the next day. The man told the clerk he had a two-year-old child to support and wanted prayer about overcoming his hardships.

View of Bible Changing

Only 67% of college age adults say the Bible is a sacred text. That compares to more than 80% of 26- to 41-year-olds and 91% of those older than 42. A Barna Group survey also found less than a third (30%) of adults under 25 say the Bible is totally accurate in the principles it teaches. Less than half (40%) say they've read the Bible in the last week.

Former Dobson Employee Sentenced

A former Focus on the Family radio employee won't get any jail time for attempting to lure an underage teen into having sex with him. A Colorado judge gave Juan Alberto Ovalle five years probation after he plead guilty to attempted sexual assault of a child . He worked for Spanish-speaking arm of the ministry founded by James Dobson where he narrated Christian CDs for the organization.

Wrong Bible-Burning Church

A Mount Airy, North Carolina is getting negative feedback from around the country about its plans to burn Bibles and Christian literature on Halloween. Trouble is, it’s not the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Mount Airy that’s planning the book burning but a church by the same name in Canton, North Carolina. Pastor Jonathan Barker is not happy about all the unsolicited publicity from people who’ve confused the two congregations.

USA Today quotes Barker as saying, “We do use the King James Bible and I preach why we do but I'm sure not going to jerk a different Bible out of someone's hand and say, 'I'm burning this.' No. No. That's wrong. And I would never tell anyone or put on our website that someone is going go hell… We're just a country church in the hills where we believe Jesus is the Savior of the world. And we welcome visitors.”

Cult Leader Dies

Elizabeth Clare Prophet has died at the age of 70 in California. The leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant was known for threading together various religions. Her New Age group once stockpiled weapons and supplies in Montana in anticipation of a coming nuclear nightmare.

Lottery Reversal

Harding University has reversed itself on the Arkansas state lottery. The Little Rock-area Christian school affiliated with the Church of Christ had exempted the new lottery from a student gambling ban. But now Harding’s president says that was a mistake. The lottery began at the end of September with the sale of scratch-off tickets. Arkansas starts Powerball sales at the end of this month.