Religion Today Summaries – August 1, 2003
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
- Gospel Inundates Cambodia Despite Opposition
- Despite Dealer's Arrest, Debate on James Ossuary Continues
- Christian TV Broadcasters Embroiled in Legal Dispute
- Proposed Animated Cartoon on Vatican -- `Popetown' -- Draws Protests
Gospel Inundates Cambodia Despite Opposition
Christian Aid Report
In spite of efforts by some "opponents of the gospel" to get the government to stop evangelical ministries, the message of Christ continues to take Cambodia by storm. A group of people aimed to stop the spread of Christianity in Cambodia by pressuring the government to change its registration procedures. Instead of letting ministries register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, these people tried to switch the registration process to the Ministry of the Interior, a change that would have threatened many evangelistic activities. In the face of this threat, five Cambodian evangelical missionary organizations formed a coalition. Leaders from the coalition pleaded with government officials to keep the registration process the same. Their efforts were rewarded. With this worry resolved, Cambodian ministries can now concentrate fully on spreading the gospel and raising new missionaries. Today, the coalition organizes seminars and conferences for Cambodian pastors. One of the ministries is focusing on expanding its discipleship and leader training programs. The ministry has a vision extending beyond Cambodia into neighboring closed nations. Many Khmer speakers live in surrounding countries, so new Khmer Christian literature will be useful beyond Cambodia's boundaries.
Despite Dealer's Arrest, Debate on James Ossuary Continues
Alexandra Alter, Religion News Service
Experts continue to clash over the authenticity of the James ossuary, a 2,000-year-old limestone burial box purported to be that of James, the brother of Jesus, that was deemed a forgery by the Israeli Antiquities Authority in June. The debate is heating up following the arrest of Oded Golan, the Tel Aviv antiquities dealer who has been under suspicion of counterfeiting relics since Israeli police discovered tools used for inscription and partially inscribed stones in his apartment. Despite the mounting evidence against Golan, a number of experts stand by his contention that the Aramaic inscription is ancient. "I still stand by the fact that it is a genuine ossuary with a genuine inscription," Ed Keall of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where the ossuary was on display for five weeks last winter, told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television. Hershel Shanks, editor of the Washington-based Biblical Archaeology Review and a staunch defender of the ossuary, said the final verdict cannot be issued until the test results are published. Shanks, who is urging an international committee be appointed to evaluate the box, accused the IAA of mishandling the matter by refusing to allow further tests.
Christian TV Broadcasters Embroiled in Legal Dispute
Adrienne Gaines, Charisma News Service
Two prominent Christian television networks are embroiled in a legal dispute with the country's only Christian-based satellite TV company. The flap could end with the pair being removed from a satellite TV giant. A federal appeals court recently suspended a July 9 injunction that would have led to the immediate removal of the Southern Baptist Convention's FamilyNet and Daystar Television Network from Dish Network, which has approximately 9 million subscribers. The action came after Dominion Sky Angel filed a lawsuit against EchoStar Satellite, Dish Network's parent company, citing the company violated a 1996 contract forbidding it to air any Christian programming besides Sky Angel's. Sky Angel uses the Dish Network satellite, but the company is independent and autonomous. Sky Angel president Bob Johnson said the exclusive contract with EchoStar also prohibits his company from airing anything but Christian programs. "We gave up the ability to provide any large number of channels and be any kind of competitor to EchoStar," Johnson said. "At the same time [EchoStar] said they would not carry Christian-religious programming except the two that were grandfathered in -- Trinity Broadcasting Network and Eternal Word Television Network." In December, Dish Network began carrying Daystar and FamilyNet under two-year agreements. (http://www.charismanews.com/)
Proposed Animated Cartoon on Vatican -- `Popetown' -- Draws Protests
Robert Nowell, Religion News Service
Nobody has seen it yet -- it is still in production – but already 25,000 people have signed a petition calling on the BBC not to go ahead next year with the screening of a series of animated cartoons called "Popetown." According to the BBC's publicity material, "Popetown is a ... sitcom about the office politics that exist in any workplace -- with the bizarre twist that the company is the Vatican and the CEO happens to be the pope." The central character is "the long-suffering Father Nicholas" and the series depicts "his daily struggle against the insane and chaotic bureaucracy of Popetown, where the reporter is a fame-obsessed nun, cardinals are corrupt and mysteriously wealthy, and the pope is a childish 77-year-old whose every fickle whim must be indulged." This description left the organizer of the petition, Kathy Goble, speechless with indignation. "I think the BBC has sunk as low as it can get," she said. She said she would feel just as indignant if they were poking fun at the chief rabbi or a prominent Muslim leader rather than the pope.
Originally published August 01, 2003.
