...The American Tract Society's Donna Skell says Christians should give trick-or-treaters more than candy this Halloween. She suggests they wrap candy treats in gospel tracts that will grab children's attention with fun cartoons and games. Some of the tracts offered by ATS this year even glow in the dark. Skell says Halloween offers Christians a great chance to share the good news about Jesus Christ. "Children are ringing your doorbell and asking you for something," the ATS spokeswoman observes, "and how great it is to give out a great candy bar but wrap it in a gospel tract -- a children's gospel tract -- that they'll enjoy reading and [that will help them to] understand the truth of the gospel." Every year, she notes, the Society hears from people who have become Christians after reading the colorful ATS Halloween pamphlets, which are sold at Christian bookstores. "We saw three generations saved," Skell recalls. "You know, on the back of the tracts, they can write their name and their age and their address," she explains, "so we can really track who indicates that they made a decision for Christ." ATS has heard from people of all ages, Skell says, adding, "We saw the parents [come to Christ]; and then, we saw quite a few grandparents." [Rusty Pugh]

...The author of a popular series of children's books is encouraging parents not to drop out of the political process this November, no matter how frustrated they may be with their political leaders in Washington, DC. Peter Barnes, author of The Mice Way to Learn About Government and other books and curriculum materials, tries to help children learn how the U.S. government operates using books and elementary-school teacher guides he has written about the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, as well as another about the electoral process. Barnes says he hopes the negative tone that often characterizes politics will not discourage parents from setting a good civic example for their children. "You, as a parent, are the most important teacher and role model in a child's life," he contends, "and if you're complaining about the process and dropping out of the process and not voting, what are you teaching your children by that?" It is "critical for the health of our democracy," the author asserts, "for parents [to] not send a message to their children that politics is bad, and our government is bad, and that our democracy doesn't function -- it does." In fact, Barnes says, public debate about contentious issues such as the war in Iraq actually prove the health of American politics. [Jeff Johnson]

...Of the many disturbing trends for Republicans this campaign season, one of the most troubling is the drop in support among evangelicals. The number of conservative Christians with a favorable view of the party has plummeted from 74 percent to 54 percent between 2004 and this year, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Evangelicals comprise more than one-third of GOP voters. Many are disappointed that the Republican Congress they helped elect has failed to approve a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. GOP strategists now hope that last week's New Jersey Supreme Court ruling requiring homosexual marriage or civil unions with the same rights will drive evangelicals to the polls, especially in the eight states where marriage amendments are on the ballot. [AP]

...The head of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest evangelical denomination in the U.S., insists that Christians must take part in the upcoming election, despite the recently published advice of a former White House official. David Kuo, who served as a special assistant in the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives, claims in his new book, Tempting Faith, that many Bush administration officials take evangelicals Christians for granted and occasionally mock Christian leaders. Kuo goes on to advise that evangelical believers take a temporary break or "fast" from politics. But SBC President Dr. Frank Page considers that suggestion ridiculous. "I think Christians should take a temporary fast from politics if all politicians will take a temporary fast from breathing," he says. "By that, I mean it's just silly to make such a conjecture. If there was ever a time Christians need to be involved in politics, it is now." People of faith cannot positively influence politics or effect change if they stay away from the political process, the SBC leader asserts. Besides, he notes, "I think it is unconscionable for a Christian to say, 'I believe something, but I will not take a stand for it in the public forum." It is "of extreme importance," Page says, "that believers exercise their constitutional rights in this process." [Allie Martin]

...The drafter of the proposed Virginia Marriage Amendment says the document will not take away legal rights from non-married couples. Virginia Deputy Attorney General David Johnson says the proposed marriage amendment he helped draft is only meant to define marriage "in unequivocal language" as the union between one man and one woman while its provisions "prevent rhetorical sleights of hand that would create [homosexual] marriage by another name." He insists the measure would have no legal effects on unmarried couples and would not affect the legality of advance medical directives, protection under domestic violence statutes, the right to dispose property by will or enter into contracts, or any of the "hundreds of business and personal arrangements that do not purport to establish marriage." As written, the Virginia Marriage Amendment "does not violate all legal rights of unmarried individuals," Johnson points out; and it "does not ban relationships between unmarried persons." Although arguments or claims that "distort the intentions of the legislature or raise fears about unintended consequences" may score rhetorical points, the Deputy Attorney General says, "they are utterly without basis in the law." Johnson was a panelist at a debate on the proposed amendment at George Mason University last week. [Natalie Harris]

...Roman Catholic Bishops in the United States are preparing to vote on a policy regarding the Baptizing of children adopted by homosexuals. The adoption issue is contained in a set of new guidelines for ministering to homosexuals -- guidelines that will be presented to the U.S. bishops at a meeting in Baltimore next month. The proposed policy would permit children adopted by homosexual couples to be baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, even though the church does not support such adoptions. According to a Washington Post report, the 23-page draft document affirms traditional church teachings on homosexual issues, including prohibition of the blessing of same-sex unions or homosexual 'marriages,' but it also addresses some new issues, such as discrimination against and harassment of homosexuals. The document, titled "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care," has been four years in the making. [Fred Jackson]

...A congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has broken away from the denomination and started a new parish aligned with the Anglican church in Uganda. Christ Our Lord, a mission church that has operated since the early 1990s, voted to dissolve as an Episcopal parish and return its Lake Ridge building to the diocese. The vicar of the church said his parishioners made the move because the Episcopal Church has shown what he called "profound disrespect for Scripture and biblical teachings." In 2003, Episcopalians consecrated their first openly homosexual bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, causing an uproar among other Anglicans worldwide. Conservative Episcopalians have been challenging the denomination's national leaders and ten dioceses have formed a network that is considering breaking away. [AP]