Church Festival Shooting

A man opened fire at a church festival in Los Angeles this morning, putting his ex-wife and two bystanders in the hospital. The annual event was being set up at the St. John Baptist de la Salle Roman Catholic parish when he showed up with a semiautomatic rifle. The suspect was reloading the weapon when festival-goers wrestled him to the ground and held the man until police arrived.

Soft Opening for Narnia Film

Prince Caspian didn’t bring in as much money in its first day on the big screen as the first film in The Narnia Chronicles series, The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe. Prince earned $18 million at the box office while Lion took in $23 million. It’s estimated that the sequel will wind up with just over $50 million by the end of the weekend. That would be more than a forth less than the first Narnia installment. The next film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is already in production and should be out in two years.

Southern Baptist Church is Dying

“The Southern Baptist Convention is dying rapidly, and resistance to change could kill more than half the denomination’s churches by 2030.” Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page in a conference call with pastors

Journey to Narnia

If you’re inspired by the new film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian you might want to get a closer look at the live of CS Lewis on whose writings the movie is based. You could read his classic series of seven books on Narnia, of course. But you also could take a trip to his old stomping grounds. One option is Globus’ Christian England & The World of CS Lewis, a 10-day tour includes visits to Oxford’s Magdalen College, where Lewis was elected a fellow in 1925, and Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry, where he is buried.

Sex Sting Arrest

A minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas has been caught in an Internet sex sting. Police in Bryan, Texas say Joe Barron faces charges of soliciting a minor. An investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl had sexually explicit conversations with the megachurch minister. Barron was arrested when he went to meet the teen in person.

Iran Makes Movie about Jesus

A new Iranian film called Jesus, the Spirit of God tells the story of Christ without the death and resurrection described in the gospels. In the $5 million movie, funded by Iranian state broadcasting, Judas Iscariot is crucified in his place. The plot is based on the Koran and the Gospel of Barnabas, a book not included in the Christian Bible and in which the prophet Muhammad appears. Few Iranians went to see it at theaters. It’s now being broken up for a run on national television as a series.

Judas in Arkansas

The name of one of Jesus’ disciples is being invoked in an Arkansas political race. Mark Haroda is trying to unseat incumbent Tracy Pennartz for a seat in the state house. Haroda has mailed out flyers that show a photo of his opponent and the line Judas! Betrayed With A Kiss. The charge stems from Pennartz’s alleged support for raising the cost of gas and electric rates.

Steven Curtis Chapman

Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman is in China with his band to promote international efforts to help orphaned children. He raised more than $340,000 in the last six months for Shaohannah's Hope through the Change for Orphans campaign. Families in need of financial aid to adopt a child will benefit from the funds.

Caspian Hits the Big Screen

It may be standing room only for today's opening of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The film is likely to be one of the summer's top earners because of the success of the franchise's first film and relatively weak competition this weekend. Exhibitor Relations predicts the movie could top $750 million in worldwide ticket sales. Critics have been generally positive about the film, though some Christian writers say some spiritual aspects of the book have been cut out - including a lessor role for the lion Aslan who represents Christ.

Einstein's Letter

A letter written by Albert Einstein has sold for $330,000 at a London auction. Written in the year before he died (1954) to philosopher Eric Gutkind, Einstein said, "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. For me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions." The Nobel prize-winning physicist offered several conflicting views on faith and religion over his lifetime, suggesting he believed that some intelligence was working its way through nature but not a conventional Christian or Judaic religious view.

Petition Against Bush

More than 200 students and faculty members at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolinastatement opposing President Bush’s visit to the school over the war in Iraq. He’s due to give the graduation speech on May 31. It would be the first visit to the University by a sitting president. The school has historic ties with Baptists.

Georgia Baptists

Southern Baptists are on the decline in Georgia. The number of residents who say they belong to a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention has dropped from 20% in 1970 to just 10% in 2007. During the same period, Georgia’s population has exploded – especially around Atlanta.

Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned

The California state Supreme Court has overturned a ban on same-sex marriage. The vote was 4-3. Voters have already rejected the idea and will have a chance to do so again in November. Concerned that the court may rule this way, pro-family groups gathered more than a million signatures to get an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. That vote will supersede today’s ruling which goes into effect in 30 days. The Liberty Counsel plans to ask justices to hold off until after November. Otherwise, county courthouses are likely to be flooded with requests from couples that could be rendered invalid after the November vote. Under state law, gays and lesbians in California are already entitled to equal treatment in every legal area except marriage. Massachusetts is the only other state where the Supreme Court has ruled that the state's constitution gives gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.

Online Dating Services

Online dating service Chemistry.com has been targeting eHarmony.com in a recent ad campaign. The marketing strategy criticizes eHarmony for refusing to match people of the same gender. It also goes after the Evangelical beliefs of founder Neil Warren, who's had several books published by James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. A year ago, Chemistry ran a set of ads called Rejected by eHarmony. Chemistry’s 7 million registered users are dwarfed by eHarmony’s 17 million. eHarmony dismisses Chemistry as only a casual dating site and not in the business of fostering lasting relationships. Warren has said he personally believes premarital sex can increase the likelihood of one’s marrying the wrong person.

False Papers Used to Sell Church?

New York’s Free Mission Action Movement Church is fighting over its property with a developer who claims the church sold the land to him. But the pastor says the deal was cut with a con man who posed as a member and used fake deeds to make the $50,000 deal. The Brooklyn Supreme Court will take up the matter soon.

The Give Project

The pastor of the Lifehouse Church East in Hagerstown, Maryland decided to give to his congregation the money he had saved for a car. Patrick Grach handed out the $6000 in various amounts and asked members to do something good with it. You can read stories of what they’ve done online.

Pastor Threatened over Flag Removal

The pastor of the First Baptist Church in DeLand, Florida is taking a leave of absence to get away from threats he’s been getting. Sean Oliver removed the American Flag and Christian flag from the church sanctuary a few months after he came to church. Some church members objected to the change.

Lutheran Gay Clergy

A Canadian Lutheran church plans to move forward on the ordination of a non-celibate gay man on Friday over objections from the Bishop of the Eastern Synod in Canada. Pastor Dawn Hutchings says she expects dozens of clergy from across the country to join her at the ordination of Lionel Ketola at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Newmarket, Ontario. Although the Evangelical Lutheran church require that gay ministers remain celibate – the denomination also has told bishops in the church not to fire anyone who violates the rule.

Free Gas

The First Baptist Church of Snellville, Georgia is giving away gas. One catch, however. You have to attend a revival led by Ronnie Hill where you are given a raffle ticket for a chance to win a $500 gas card. The north Atlanta megachurch is getting so many calls about the offer, an extra phone line has been installed to deal with the flood of inquiries.

In Search of the Ark

A group of German archaeologists claim they’ve found what’s left of the palace of the Queen of Sheba – where many believe the Ark of the Covenant is located. The chest once held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched. A professor from the University of Hamburg is supervising a dig in northern Ethiopia that started more than ten years ago. They believe the Ark was taken by the Queen from Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. The quest to find the lost ark was the inspiration for the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The latest sequel in that film series, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, conveniently hits the big screen May 22.