“SCREWBALLS & NUTS”

A district attorney candidate in Houston says people who attend Joel Osteen's megachurch in the city are "screwballs and nuts" and she tries to keep them off of juries. Republican Kelly Siegler mad the remarks about Lakewood Church when trying to explain why she cut a man from a jury pool. She also objected to his membership in the NAACP. But Siegler is backtracking now. She tells the Houston Chronicle she’s not only read Osteen’s books but considers him “genuine.”

MEGACHURCH LAWSUIT DISMISSED

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against several leader of a megachurch in Nashville. The judge said the court lacks jurisdiction over the case involving the pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church and two other staff members. The suit was filed by 75 members of the church against Jerry Sutton for allegedly failing to abide by church rules and punishing those who question his authority. Sutton and others denied the allegations. Although the suit was dismissed, the judge decided the the members were entitled to see financial documents they had been denied access to.

ORU RESIGNATIONS

Benny Hinn and I.V. Hilliard have resigned from the board of Oral Roberts University. The university has also settled with John Swails, one of the three professors who have filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school. The suit sparked a spending scandal involving its former president, Oral Robert’s son, Richard Roberts. There’s no word on why they quit. Televangelists Jesse Duplantis and Creflo Dollar resigned from it last month. Both Hinn and Dollar are being investigated by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. He questions whether th`ey and four other ministers are violated their organizations' tax-exempt status by their extravagant lifestyle. Both deny doing anything wrong.

PENTECOSTALS AND CHARISMATICS

More Americans associate themselves with Pentecostalism and charismatics than ever before. A Barna Research survey found 36% say they fit into those categories. That’s about 80 million people and has risen from 30% a decade ago. Here are some other findings. According to the survey, Pentecostals and charismatics make up:

• 40% of all non-denominational churches are now
• 36% are Catholics
• 22% are Catholic
• 7% of Southern Baptist churches
• 6% of mainline churches

RULING ON WEARING CROSS

A court in Britain has ruled against a British Airways worker Nadia Eweida. She took the airline to court after banning her from wearing a small cross around her neck and put her on unpaid leave when she refused. But the judge in the case said it did not constitute religiously discriminated. Eweida plans to appeal the decision even though BA has changed its policy and she has returned to work.

MORE NOT ATTENDING CHURCH

A survey of adults who say “I never attend church”.

2007 - 22%
2004 - 17%

Source: National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago

THEY SAID IT: SAINTS MENTALLY ILL?

"I have a theory that you can’t find any saints anymore because of psychotropic medication. I think that (in) the old days, the saints were hearing voices and they didn’t have any Thorazine to calm them down. Now that we have all of this medication available to us, you can’t find a saint anymore. That’s why Mother Teresa had issues." - Joy Behar on The View

ROBERTSON’S PREDICTIONS

Pat Robertson says a recession and a major stock market upheaval will hit the US this year. The Christian broadcaster says oil will hit $150 a barrel in 2008. Robertson admits his prediction of a serious terrorist attack in the US did not happen this past year. But he says that was a display of God’s mercy.

BIBLE GIVEAWAY STOPPED

A Federal judge has ordered a southeastern Missouri school district to stop giving out Bibles to grade school students. The Gideons International has been handing out the Bibles to fifth graders at the South Iron School District in Annapolis for more than 30 years. But the ACLU filed suit on behalf of several parents to put a stop to the practice.

WHAT NON-CHUCHGOERS THINK

A survey of non-churchgoers who agree with these statements:

• I have at least one close friend who is Christian - 71%
• I can have a "good relationship with God without belonging to a church - 86%
• Christianity today is more about organized religion than loving God and loving people -79%
• I would "be willing to listen" to someone tell "what he or she believed about Christianity - 78%
• God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists - 72%
• The church is "full of hypocrites - 72%
• The God of the Bible is "no different from the gods or spiritual beings depicted by world religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. - 61%
• Jesus died and came back to life - 52%
• Christians get on my nerves - 44%

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points
Source: LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention

SATANISTS ARRESTED

Two Satanists are behind bars in Phenix City, Alabama. Police say they are responsible for a series of arson and vandalism at rural churches. Graffiti like Teach children to worship Satan!! was scrawled on walls at some of the churches. The two men plead not guilty. A task force of federal, state and local authorities tracked them down when the grandmother of one of the men called police. She had found a brass cross in the home along with other items taken from churches.

THE GOSPEL OF MANAGEMENT

Villanova University's School of Business is launching a master's degree in church management in May. The courses will have a Catholic focus because as a Catholic university. The degree being offered primarily online, with only a one-week residency on campus and costs $23,400.

THE GREATEST REVOLUTIONARY

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he’s a devout Christian and that Jesus Christ was "the greatest revolutionary in history, for defending the poor against the powerful." The left wing leader made the comment in an interview with supermodel Naomi Campbell. She was hired by GQ magazine to interview Chavez.

SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM

The National Academy of Sciences has released a new book intended for lay public that promotes the group’s viewpoint that acceptance of evolution does not require abandoning belief in God. Science, Evolution, and Creationism points to DNA research, fossil discoveries and emerging diseases as evidence for evolution, denouncing intelligent design as “disproven” and “false.” The book will be promoted to school board members and high school educators.

CROSS BLOCKED

Ervin Wagner’s plan to build a large cross on his property is being blocked by the St. Joseph, Michigan. The 30-foot cross would sit on property he owns located on a bluff facing Lake Michigan. Wagner wants to stream a shot of the cross over the internet but the city says it’s too big meet zoning standards.

WOMAN THROWN OFF BUS

Christine Lutz was told to get off the city bus she was riding on because she was reading the Bible aloud to her children. The Fort Worth Seventh Day Adventist was on her way to church when the bus driver made the demand.