OUR COLUMNISTS Don't Say You Were Stunned by MTV's Raunchy Halftime Show Guest Commentary by Tim Wildmon What Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Nelly and Kid Rock did during the Super Bowl halftime show -- that's what MTV is all about. It's what they do everyday. It's how they make millions by entertaining the youth of America. It isn't like MTV doesn't have a reputation. More Than Just a Preacher Commentary by Brad Locke Doug Madi was the pastor at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, the church my wife grew up in. He looked as healthy as the next middle-aged guy. He exercised. In fact, he was on the track at the YMCA when his heart stopped last week. Who Is to Blame? Commentary by David Sisler If you could follow any lifestyle you desired, pursue any habit, perform any act, and never face the consequences of your action, would you do it? As close as you are ever likely to come to seeing such a situation is South Carolina law. The Coming Judgment Commentary by Mark Creech Possibilities abound in today's world, but genuine certainties are few. Nevertheless, the evil of our day is as certain for judgment as the character of God is holy. God's judgment sometimes comes immediately, other times it's much later; but no unrepentant sinner or culture ever escapes it.

...An Associated Press review has found that more than 1,300 Roman Catholic clergy members have been accused of molesting minors since 1950. The AP estimate comes from a survey of local dioceses nationwide. However, the agency says more than half of all dioceses in the U.S. have not released any numbers -- including some of those that are facing hundreds of allegations, such as Boston and Los Angeles. David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), says he is not surprised by the 1,300 figure from the AP survey. In fact, he suspects the actual number of abusive priests could be even higher. "These are self-reported numbers compiled mostly by the very same men who have gotten us into this mess to begin with and who have, for literally decades, fought to keep these horrible secrets from police, prosecutors, and parishioners," Clohessy says. Meanwhile, the AP reports that Roman Catholic Church officials will be laying out a nationwide accounting of all abuse claims and costs later this month, in a bid to recapture public trust. Nevertheless, it will be difficult for the church to determine how many of the accused priests are actually guilty, since much of the alleged abuse would have occurred decades ago. Also, police failed to investigate many cases, and some of the accused priests have since died. [Fred Jackson]

...Police in the South Asian nation of Sri Lanka say nine people, including three Buddhist monks, have been arrested in connection with the torching of a building occupied by a Christian relief organization. According to World Vision spokesman John McCoy, the attack occurred Sunday morning while the building was vacant, so no one was physically harmed. McCoy says religious tensions have been high in Sri Lanka, where Buddhists make up 70 percent of the population, while six percent of the people are Christians. "There's some hostility by extreme Buddhist groups that [claim] Christians are engaging in forced conversions," McCoy says, "which is certainly not the case with World Vision." He explains that since the organization is not a church but is a Christian humanitarian organization, it does not proselytize. In fact, he adds, "We do relief and development work with whomever may need it, regardless of their faith or if they have no faith. So we are primarily, in fact, working with Buddhists in Sri Lanka." The South Asian nation's chief of police says Christian churches and charities have suffered nearly 130 attacks since mid-December. Nevertheless, the agency spokesman insists that World Vision will not pull out of Sri Lanka. He says many of the staff members are indigenous people, Buddhists and otherwise, and the Christian agency's staffers "work with the community and in the community and are part of the community." Therefore, McCoy says, World Vision has no intention of leaving the country, but will take precautions to protect its staff. [Allie Martin]

...A minister who was ousted from the Presbyterian Church USA for violating an order to stop marrying homosexual couples has been reinstated. Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken was ousted in June as a Presbyterian minister and pastor for defying the order from leaders of the Cincinnati presbytery. But the church court that oversees Presbyterians in Ohio and Michigan now says Van Kuiken should not have been removed while he was appealing that order, so it is reinstating Van Kuiken's membership and ministry in the mainline denomination. The highest Presbyterian court ruled in 2000 that ministers may bless same-sex unions but cannot marry the couples. Van Kuiken says his reinstatement will allow him to challenge that policy's legitimacy. [AP]

...A U.S. senator has introduced a companion bill to HR 3717, the legislation proposed by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan to increase financial penalties against broadcasters who violate the Federal Communications Commission's regulations against broadcast indecency. The proposed Senate bill, if passed, will increase by tenfold the fines imposed on broadcasters for airing any obscenity, indecency, or profanity on the public airwaves. The similar measure that Upton introduced in the House on January 21 received the endorsement of FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who feels the increase would finally make the agency's penalties severe enough to have a genuine and deterrent impact on potential violators. Believing this approach to be the right one, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas introduced Senate Bill 2056 on Monday, February 9, asking for a tenfold increase in forfeiture penalties against those media networks and companies that air material that violates FCC decency guidelines. The bill raises maximum penalties to ten times their previous limits, so a single obscene or indecent incident could cost the offending broadcaster not $27,500 at most, but as much as $275,000. The sponsors of both the House and Senate bills hope such measures will help slow the swiftly sinking standards evident in the profane utterances of last year's live Golden Globe Awards and Billboard Music Awards programs, and even more brazenly in the MTV-produced Super Bowl halftime show on February 1. "Until the penalties are punitive," Senator Brownback says, "there will be little incentive for broadcasters to curb this 'race to the bottom.'" [Jenni Parker]

...An adult entertainment company says University of Colorado football players hired strippers to entertain recruits as recently as a few weeks ago. The company president tells the Rocky Mountain News that the women stripped and did lap dances, but nothing illegal took place. The claim comes as the university begins a formal probe into accusations by a Boulder prosecutor that the school used alcohol and sex parties to lure promising football players. University athletic officials have denied the allegations, but three women have filed lawsuits against the school, saying they were raped at an off-campus party in 2001. In August, the Princeton Review named the University of Colorado the top party school in the nation. [Jim Brown]

...American Life League's "Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church" held a pro-life demonstration on Tuesday at the Northern Virginia rally of Democratic presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry. The pro-life group organized its protest in response to recent statements by the Catholic Kerry, who has repeatedly affirmed to the press his support for abortion-on-demand. Joseph Starrs, director of Crusade, says the politician's comments to the media show that he knows it is wrong for Catholics to support abortion. "For Kerry to openly support abortion causes grave scandal among the faithful," Starrs says. "No matter how he tries to spin it with the tired old mantra that he is 'personally for life but publicly for choice,' it does not change the simple fact that you cannot be a Catholic in good standing and be pro-abortion." The Catholic pro-life spokesman says one purpose of the Crusade's demonstration was to make this contradiction clear to Kerry in the hope that he will mend his ways -- or at least that the senator from Massachusetts will recognize that his abortion stance places him in a state of mortal sin. Kerry has said that his experience in Vietnam taught him that he should "always do the right thing." But Starrs points out that Kerry's own bishop, Boston's Archbishop Sean O'Malley, has urged Catholic elected officials who favor abortion to either recant their position or refrain from taking Holy Communion. At any rate, Starrs says his group's greatest hope for Kerry is that the senator will realize that "protecting and preserving the civil rights of all Americans, born and preborn, is always the right thing to do." [Jenni Parker]

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