Thanking God for Earthquake

A video making the rounds appears to feature a blonde American college student thanking God for the earthquake in Japan. The young woman thanks God for "shaking Japan awake" from the slumber of secularism but it is apparently a fake which she revealed in a later video. Here's the original one that stirred the controversy.

High Court Declines "In God" Case

The Supreme Court will not consider a case challenging the In God We Trust slogan printed on our money. Atheist Michael Newdow, who has filed many such suits claims it is a religious endorsement. He plans to refile his lawsuit in another district.

New Translations

There are two new Bible translations coming out this week. Zondervan is printing the newest edition of the NIV, the most widely used translation by Protestants. Meanwhile, the US Roman Catholic bishops are will offer The New American Bible, Revised Edition.

Church Drops Baptist from Name

Two Rivers Baptist Church is changing its name. The prominent Nashville church is dropping the word Baptist and will soon call itself the Fellowship at Two Rivers, effective March 20. Located near the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, the church drew some 3000 people at one time. Now, only about 650 come each Sunday.

Scumbags Welcome

A Central Florida church has put up a billboard reading 'Scumbags Welcome!' The Saturday Night Live (SNL) church in Tavares paid for the sign on Highway 441 between the towns of Tavares. The pastor says complaints have been pouring in but there are no plans to take the billboard down. In fact, SNL has another potentially controversial billboard going up in a few months that references sex. The church is about a year old and has around 50 members who meet on the campus of the Tavaras First United Methodist Church.

Who Goes to Heaven & Hell

A new book is stirring controversy before it hits book shelves at the end of the month because the author offers his view of who is going to hell. Rob Bell, pastor of Michigan's Mars Hill Bible Church is catching flack in social media for his book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Publicity material suggests Bell argues in the book that a "loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering." Here's a video of Bell about his views on hell.

TV Preacher Called Fraud

Peter Popoff is offering "debt cancellation kits" that he claims can wipe out all debt. Despite the fact it was revealed he used radios to fool audiences during services, the TV preacher and faith healer reported more than a million dollars in income to his family from his nonprofit organization in 2005. KABC-TV has this video report on what many media watchdogs call a ministry based on fraud.

Prof Fired

Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia has dismissed a part-time professor for being gay. Officials at the Catholic school say they discovered James St. George sexual orientation from a post on his blog. Some students have told local media that an Internet search easily reveals George's sexual orientation and they question how the school could not have known his views when he was first hired. He's been working at the private college for two years, teaching classes in theology, justice and world religions. George is a member of the Old Catholic Apostolic Church of America, which is not affiliated with the Vatican and allows commitment ceremonies for gays and lesbians.

Abortion Billboard Removed

Pirates Murder Couple Giving Out Bibles

African Pirates have killed an American couple delivering Bibles around the world. Jean and Scott Adam were sailing around the world when their yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates. A US Navy ship was following the yacht when the Adams and another couple were killed. The Adams passed out Catholic Bibles from the American Bible Society and New International Version Bibles from the International Bible Society. Scott Adam earned a master of theology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California last year.

Hate Crime in Washington State

Someone wrote disparaging remarks about Jesus, and painted swastikas on vehicles at a residence in North Spokane. Someone left a burned Bible on a nearby porch. Police are looking into it as a hate crime.

Couple Denied Entry at Museum

Kentucky's Creation Museum would not allow a same-sex couple entry during a date night event. The two men claim they also did not get a refund. The two tickets cost them $71.90. A Museum spokesperson said the promotional material indicated the event, including a talk from founder Ken Ham about love and marriage, was for heterosexual couples only. A local writer had suggested on his blog that it was the "duty of his readers to send a flamboyantly gay couple" to the event.

Church Attendance

The number of people attending mainline churches is dropping, according to a yearly report, produced by the National Council of Churches. Meanwhile, the only religious groups showing increases are Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-Day Adventists (up more than 4%), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (up just over 1%), the Catholic church and the Assemblies of God (up just over one-half of one percent), and the Church of God Cleveland (up about a quarter of one percent).

Here are the mainline churches reporting declines in membership:

United Church of Christ, down 2.83%
Presbyterian Church, USA, down 2.61%
Episcopal Church, down 2.48%
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. down 1.96%
American Baptist Churches USA, down 1.55%
Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), down 1.08%
United Methodist Church, down 1.01%

The Southern Baptist church also fell about half of one-percent.

Benny Hinn Lawsuit

A lawsuit against Benny Hinn claims the televangelist broke a morality clause in a contract between them. Strang Communications says it gave Hinn $300,0000 for three books he was going to write and Strang was going to publish. But the suit claims he violated a morality clause in the book contract when he started what's described in the document as an "inappropriate relationship" with another popular charismatic figure, namely, Paula White. The court document says Hinn admitted to having an "inappropriate relationship" with White this past fall and agreed to return the money but he never has given it back. A tabloid newspaper printed pictures of the couple last year entering and leaving an Italian hotel, holding hands. Both have denied a romantic relationship, although White has been divorced twice and last year Hinn's wife left him and filed for divorce.

Dove Award Nominees

SONG OF THE YEAR:

"All of Creation" (MercyMe)
"Beautiful, Beautiful" (Francesca Battistelli),
"Get Back Up" (TobyMac),
"Hold My Heart" (Tenth Avenue North),
"Lead Me" (Sanctus Real),
"Let The Waters Rise" (MIKESCHAIR),
"Love Came Calling" (Triumphant Quartet),
"Our God" (Chris Tomlin),
"Sometimes I Cry" (Jason Crabb)
"Starry Night" (Chris August)

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Doug Anderson
Chris August
Jason Crabb
Brandon Heath
Israel Houghton
Marvin Sapp
Chris Tomlin

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:
Audrey Assad
Francesca Battistelli
Natalie Grant
Britt Nicole
Janet Paschal
Kerrie Roberts
Laura Story

GROUP OF THE YEAR:
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Gaither Vocal Band
Sidewalk Prophets
Tenth Avenue North
MercyMe
MIKESCHAIR
NEEDTOBREATHE

ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Francesca Battistelli
Jason Crabb
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Natalie Grant
Marvin Sapp
TobyMac
Chris Tomlin

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Audrey Assad
Chris August
Forever Jones
John Mark McMillan
No Other Name
Kerrie Roberts
Kristian Stanfill

Bieber Docu Taps into Christian Audience

There is an article about the new Justin Bieber film in the Boston Herald. Read it here.

Southpark Creators on Broadway

A new play will appear on Broadway starting February 24th called The Book of Mormon. It's the creation of Matt Stone and Trey Parker - the guys behind the satirical TV cartoon South Park. The new musical purportedly tells the story of two mismatched Mormon missionaries preaching in Uganda.

The LDS Church has posted on its website a note about the show, saying, “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.”

Grammy Winners

• Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album-Hello Huricane/Switchfoot
• Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album-Love God, Love People/Israel Houghton
• Southern/Country/Bluegrass Gospel-The Reason/Diamond Rio
• Contemporary R&B Gospel Album-Still/BeBe and CeCe Winans
• Traditional Gospel Album-Downtown Church/Patty Griffin
• Best Gospel Song-“It’s What I Do” by Jerry Peters & Kirk Whalum, songwriters (Kirk Whalum & Lalah Hathaway)/The Gospel According To Jazz Chapter III
• Best Gospel Performance-"Grace" by BeBe and CeCe Winans/Still

Freshman Religion

An annual survey by UCLA's finds this breakdown of religion among college freshman.

Roman Catholic 26.6%
None 23%
Other Christian 12.6%
Baptist 10.1%
Church of Christ 5.1%
Methodist 4.1%
Lutheran 3.3%
Jewish 2.9%
Presbyterian 2.9%
Other religion 2.9%
Episcopalian 1.5%
Buddhist 1.2%
Muslim 1%
Hindu .8%
United Church of Christ/Cong. .8%
Eastern Orthodox .7%
Mormon .3%
Seventh-Day Adventist .3%
Quaker .2%

Emotional Health of Freshman

A yearly survey of college freshmen finds record-low levels of emotional health. The UCLA survey of first-year undergraduates also gave themselves high marks for ambition to achieve. College counselors say students are putting more pressure on themselves to excel. Depression, formerly at the forefront of students' emotional-health concerns, has taken a back seat to anxiety. 51.9% in 2010 reported good or above-average emotional health. That's down from 55.3% the previous year and the lowest level since 1985.