A federal appeals court has ruled that a suburban Chicago student should be allowed to wear an anti-gay T-shirt at his high school
-- a decision the teen's attorneys describe as a victory for First Amendment rights. In its ruling, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals instructed the district court to order the Neuqua Valley High School to suspend its ban on the "Be Happy, Not Gay" T-shirt while a civil rights lawsuit in the case proceeds. The Sun-Sentinel NewsWhen a 15-year-old girl flashes a hint of her green bra in a playfully naughty photo on the Internet, hardly anyone -- aside from perhaps her parents -- blinks.
But when the teen is Miley Cyrus, the face of the billion-dollar "Hannah Montana" Disney Channel franchise, everyone stares. The provocative images risk tainting the squeaky-clean image that's made her a hero for young girls. LA TimesHe's one of the biggest box-office draws in history, but in recent years Tom Cruise has become more than just the face of his films.
He has also become the face of his religion -- Scientology. A recent video of Cruise -- made for a Scientology event and leaked online -- showed the star's unbridled passion for his religion and piqued the public's interest in a belief system that has long been surrounded by controversy. "I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist," Cruise said in the video. ABC NewsThe Southern Baptist Convention is "a denomination in decline" due to drops in baptisms and membership, one of its lead researchers says.
Southern Baptist churches reported their third straight annual decline in baptisms last year and are down to their lowest rate of baptisms in two decades. Baptisms dropped five percent to 345,941, while membership dropped less than a quarter of a percent, to 16,266,920, according to newly released figures for 2007. "This report is truly disheartening," said Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, the SBC agency that gathers the statistics. "...We are a denomination that, for the most part, has lost its evangelistic passion." Courier Journal NewsJohn McCain's pastor ends his sermons with an altar call, beckoning any stirred souls to the front of his 3,500-seat``worship center'' to publicly dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
In McCain's 15 years of attending Dan Yeary's North Phoenix Baptist Church, the pastor says, the Arizona senator has never made that walk. Yahoo News
