Megachurch Hit with $2 Million Suit

The Crystal Cathedral is being sued for more than $2 million in unpaid bills. The Southern California megachurch led by Robert Schuller produces the Hour of Power TV program each week. Several vendors claim the church owes them tens of thousands of dollars for services provided during the annual Glory of Christmas extravaganza. Crystal Cathedral has a $55 million budget deficit.

A New Kind of Christianity

A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren is getting lot of attention during its first month of release. A Christianity Today reviewer wrote, "Unfortunately, this book lacks the ‘generosity' of genuine orthodoxy and, frankly, I find little space in it for orthodoxy itself." Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler held a panel discussion on the book where panelists referred to McLaren's "rejection of the gospel" and "new kind of apostasy."

McLaren has written a dozen books including last year's A Generous Orthodoxy. He says he is "conflicted" about whether to consider himself an Evangelical.

"My background was evangelical, and I've never felt that I've left anything that was essential to being an evangelical, but on the other hand, if evangelical is defined by certain people, then I know they wouldn't want me there and I wouldn't be comfortable with the way they define it."

"If liberal means open to fresh thinking, open to asking questions, having an environment of free inquiry about the social dimensions of the gospel, then I'm happy to be liberal. But if it means disregarding the Bible, demoting Jesus to just another moral teacher, downplaying the need for personal commitment, being careless about personal spirituality and discipleship—then I think the label is very inaccurate for me."

You can watch a video of the panel discussion here.

$2 Million Giveaway

Corpus Christi's Bay Area Fellowship plans to hand out more than $2 million worth of gifts on Easter Sunday. The church meets at 7 different sites around the city. Senior pastor Bill Cornelius says every individual or family will receive $300 in gift certificates from local businesses, and drawings will be held at every service to give away cars, flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and furniture. Every child will be given a new bicycle at Bay Area Fellowship's new urban campus. He says its an illustration of what he calls "the ultimate giveaway" of salvation.

Supreme Court Free-speech Cases

Two of the free-speech cases being considered this term by the Supreme Court are of special interest to Christians.

The Christian Legal Society is suing California's Hastings College of Law over the state university's refusal to recognize the group on campus because it refuses to admit gay students and non-believers violates. This case will come before the court on April 19.

Another question coming before the court is whether the names of those who signed a petition for a state ballot measure against gay rights should be made public. The case will be argued April 28.

Woman Pastor Causes Stir

An Atlanta Baptist church could be kicked out of the Southern Baptist convention because one of its pastors is a woman. WAGA-TV has this video on a story we told you about yesterday.

Easter Becomes Spring Holiday

The city of Davenport, Iowa has removed Good Friday from its calendar on a recommendation from the Davenport Civil Rights Commission. A memo to municipal employees announced Good Friday in the city would officially be known as Spring Holiday. Complaints have poured in to the offices of city council members from citizens who say it's "political correctness run amok." Some members complain the city administrator made the change without giving the council a chance to vote on the matter which is required by law for a change in policy.

Baptists May Cut Ties Over Woman Pastor

The Georgia Baptist Convention wants to cut ties with a church because it has a woman as co-pastor. Mimi Walker has been co-pastor at Druid Hills Baptist Church sinc 2008. Her husband also is co-pastor. The executive committee of the state organization made the recommendation at a March 16 meeting. The full convention will consider it in November.

Kenyan Sign Language Bible

CBN takes a look at a Christian ministry translating the Bible into Kenyan sign language.

SIGN-LANGUAGE BIBLE - CBN.com
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Megachurch Not Paying Bills

Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral owes tens of thousands of dollars it hasn't paid to the people who help to produce the megachurch's Christmas and Easter pageants. Leaders of the Southern California church have said revenues are down 27% in the last two years and the church is facing $55 million of debt. One vendor who is owed $20,000 has designed props, decorated sets and provided wigs and special makeup for the productions for 25 years.

Abuse Accusatoin Against Italian Church & Pope

A group of deaf men who say they were abused in the Catholic church appeared on Italian TV. The three former students claim two dozen priests had for decades abused children at a school for the deaf in Verona. The accused include Bishop of Verona from 1958-78 who died in 1981 and some have sought to have beatified, a crucial step on the road to sainthood. The current Bishop of Verona accused them of “hallucinating” until one of the accused lay brothers admitted sexual relations with pupils. Last summer the diocese forwarded its files on the abuse to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which took no action until last month. The Italian Bishops Conference has agreed to form a “task force” to collect evidence of paedophilia.

The Church’s account of how much the current Pope knew about a German paedophile priest is being called into question since a memo came to light, showing he led a meeting in 1980 during which the transfer of an offending priest was approved and the information about the man's abuse of children was kept from the leaders of the place to which he was being transfered. Peter Hullermann had been sent to the Munich Diocese for “therapy” after molesting a boy. Hullermann was convicted of sexual abuse in 1986. He was still working in the church until this month when he was suspended for breaking a promise not to have contact with children and young people.

Missionary Leader Remains Behind Bars

The Idaho woman who led a group of Baptist missionaries to Haiti where they were arrested for kidnapping children is still in a Haiti jail. Terry Silsby's Internet business, Personal Shopper Inc. is closing down while her former spouse is asking the courts for sole custody of their two children, ages 15 and 5. Silsby tried to bus 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic. Her husband says he wants custody because he believes Silsby wants to move to the Dominican Republic and take his children there. Her attorney has not commented on the issue.

Catholic Leaders Defend Pope

Catholic leaders in Europe are rising to defend Pope Benedict. The former archdiocese of Munich insisted the Pontiff did not know about the abuse of children in the city's Catholic churches even though he was archbishop of Munich in 1980. That year, a priest was reassign to a post with access to children - even though he was undergoing therapy for being a suspected pedophilia. Just a few years later, the priest was convicted of molesting a boy at another parish. Several other cases of abuse in European Catholic churches have recently come to light as well. Also, the Vatican decided not to defrock a Wisconsin priest accused of sexually abusing as many as 200 deaf boys in Milwaukee during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

Vatican Knew Priest Molested 200 Deaf Boys

Some 200 deaf boys were molested by a priest who was never defrocked by the Catholic Church. The New York Times reports that Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI were a part of the decision. The situation become public because of a lawsuit that revealed correspondence between Wisconsin Bishops and the future pope Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Five men are suing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The letters show Ratzinger was more concerned about protecting the church from scandal than the welfare of the children. He and other officials did not alert the authorities or even discipline the priests involved in sexual abuse while he served as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

American priest Lawrence C. Murphy served at Wisconsin's St. John’s School for the Deaf from 1950 to 1974. He first taught classes and became effective at raising money for deaf causes and was eventually promoted to run the school in 1963 - even though church officials already knew he sexually abused children.

A group of deaf former students spent decades trying to get something changed, even handing out fliers outside the Milwaukee cathedral. Eventually, an internal investigation of Murphy showed he was not remorseful and he appealed to Ratzinger for leniency. Murphy died at the age of 72, buried in his priestly garments.

A 1st for Gospel Music

Marvin Sapp's new Here I Am collection hit #2 on the Billboard top 200 chart. That's the highest position of any gospel release in the chart's 54-year history. The project sold 76,000 copies its first week in stores, second only to the latest album from the country trio Lady Antebellum. The album's first single is a power ballad called The Best In Me. USA Today gave the album 3 and a half stars out of four.

Gay Jesus Play at Texas College

This Saturday Tarleton State University will host a play in which Jesus is portrayed as gay called Corpus Christi. Campus police plan to step up security at the school, located in Stephenville, Texas, some 70 miles outside of Fort Worth. Critics who say the play is blasphemous plan a protest.

Instructor Under Fire

A California college says it will take action against one of its instructors for telling students that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Fresno City College says Bradley Lopez, a science instructor, violated a campus anti-discrimination policy. Several students complained to administrators who now say Lopez was making comments unrelated to the course. Lopez has taught at the school for 18 years. Lopez also ran afoul of campus regulations by using the Bible in class. He plans to challenge the finding.

Hamas Spy and Convert

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of one of the founders of the Palestinian Hamas party who claims he worked for Israeli intelligence for years. He's also a Christian convert. Yousef tells his story in Son of Hamas which is #11 on the New York Times’ list of hardcover nonfiction bestsellers. He says it is "a message of hope – not because son of Hamas is a great person, but because son of Hamas followed the steps of a hero, my hero, Jesus Christ... When I think about Muslims, I think about my family. I’m not going to give up on them. They disowned me. I will not disown them." The fact he has gone public makes Yousef a potential target for extremists.

City: Bible Study Needs Permit

A Southern California city has told a group of Christians they can't meet in homes for a Friday night Bible study without a permit. Rancho Cucamonga wants to stop the meetings after a neighbor complained about the traffic. The permit requires public hearings, traffic studies and other costly procedures. The city doesn't require permits for other similar sized events. The group is affiliated with Shiloh Tabernacle Church.

Prof's Claim Denied

A University of North Carolina at Wilmington professor has lost his case against the school for discriminating against him because he's a Christian. Michael Adams is a prominent conservative commentator and associate professor of criminology. He says he was denied the position of a full professor because of his Christian beliefs and conservative views. The judge in the case said because Adams included his controversial work with the material he submitted for review in consideration of his promotion and that it could not be considered opinion outside opinion. He is considering an appeal.

Bible Studies Banned in Arizona Town

A small church near Phoenix Arizona has been ordered to stop holding Bible studies. Police in Gilbert cited the seven members of Oasis of the Truth Church after they put out signs inviting people to come and worship. There have been no neighborhood complaints or traffic problems. Other activities are fine, it's just "religious assemblies" and private schools that have been banned. The issue may wind up in court because the church believes the ordinance is unconstitutional. City counsel members plan to discuss the issue at their next meeting.