OUR COLUMNISTS Arlen Specter -- Poster Child Commentary by Matt Friedeman Senator Specter apparently wants a place on your wall. Here's why he shouldn't get the chance. Only Half a Child Commentary by Jane Jimenez New Mexico is at the head of a new parade. With one foot marching, they are leading us away from the healthiest choice we can teach our children. Victorious Losers Commentary by Brad Locke There are a lot of "winners" in hell, and the line to get in is snaking out the back door and down the block. Many a man has sealed his eternal fate the moment he wrapped his arms around a realized ambition. The pursuit of selfish ends leads to an awfully lonely place. Amnesia Commentary by David Sisler What would it be like to wake up and not remember the evil that you had done, the people you had hurt, the sins you had committed? What would you pay for a little selective amnesia? 'Let us Vote! Let Us Vote! Let Us Vote!' Commentary by Mark Creech That was the cry heard outside the North Carolina State Legislature recently during a rally in favor of a State Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Tar Heel State.

...Two television networks are breaking new ground tonight (June 1) and airing condom ads during prime time. A spokesman for the American Family Association says the networks are violating the public trust. NBC will be airing the Trojan condom ad during the show Law and Order after 10:00 Eastern time tonight. The WB television network will air the ad during the program Smallville after 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. Both networks say the ads are about responsibility and safety, but Randy Sharp with AFA says it is really just subjecting children to adult themes. "Now that that line is going to be crossed, we can only expect that these ads are going to get more risqué, they're going to get more graphic, they're going to get into an area which is has nothing to do with safety or health issues." Sharp says it is no secret about the message either network wants to convey, especially when the ad runs during a popular teenage program like Smallville. He predicts the TV ads will eventually promote recreational use -- much like the company's current radio ads. [Mary Rettig]

...When it comes to protecting America's children from sex offenders, a Florida congresswoman charges the law often gets in the way. Republican Katherine Harris says she does not like the way current law operates when it comes to sex offenders. She explains why: "Today, in federal statutes, if you have a parolee or one who is on supervised release, if they are caught with a weapon or a controlled substance, their parole is automatically revoked," she says. "However, if they commit violence or sexual abuse against a child, it is not." Harris says that inequity is putting children at risk -- and that is why she has introduced a new bill to change that. The measure, called "Carlie's Law," would revoke parole of anyone who commits sex crimes against children. "It would make the act of sexual abuse against a child an act of violence," Harris says, "therefore raising the minimum mandatory sentences against these horrific perpetrators." Her bill would also establish a national sex-abuser database. The act is named for Carlie Brucia, the 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a car wash in Harris's district, then brutally molested and killed. [Bill Fancher]

...The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing a Kentucky judge who lets some drug and alcohol offenders go to worship services instead of jail or rehab. Judge Michael Caperton, a devout Christian, has offered the option about 50 times to repeat offenders. It is unclear what effect the sentence has had. Caperton says it does not violate separation of church and state because it is not mandatory. But an ACLU lawyer says letting people who go to services avoid jail, while others who decline have to go to jail, violates the state's required "neutrality" toward religion. [AP]

...A religious media watchdog group says evangelist Benny Hinn's World Healing Church should not qualify as a church. Earlier this year, Ole Anthony -- president of the Trinity Foundation -- submitted a three-inch-think report to the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to show that Hinn's ministry failes to meet the IRS's definition of a church. Hinn started a church in Orlando in 1983, then sold it in 1999. However, Benny Hinn Ministries (BHM) is still classified as a church. Anthony has a problem with that. "Claiming himself to be a church, he doesn't have any accountability," he asserts. "He has a revolving-door board of directors -- in comes somebody who disagrees with him, he changes the board; and so he's using that ministry [and] its well over a hundred million a year [that he is taking in] as his personal piggy bank." According to Anthony, Hinn lives in a $10 million parsonage, has charged to the ministry hotel rooms costing thousands of dollars a night, and provided thousands of dollars to family members for "shopping sprees." Anthony fears that Hinn's action are "going to bring down the real churches if he keeps up these kinds of excesses." The evangelist, he adds, has "absolutely no accountability -- he's just run amok." It is because of Hinn's refusal to be held accountable that MinistryWatch.com has issued a "Donor Alert" [PDF] encouraging donors to prayerfully consider withholding contributions to the ministry. BHM officials were given more than two weeks to comment on this story but did not return repeated requests for interviews. [Allie Martin]

...Alabama Governor Bob Riley will lead the National Bible Association's efforts this year to promote the reading and study of the Bible. Riley's office says the governor will declare November 20-27 "National Bible Week" in Alabama and will urge other governors to do the same in their states. In a statement, Riley says "God gave us the Bible as a constant source of moral and spiritual guidance." The Alabama governor adds that the Bible "should be celebrated and read every day, but especially during the week of Thanksgiving." The National Bible Association, formed in 1940, selects one governor and one mayor each year to serve as national chairs for Bible Week. [AP]

...An Oklahoma-based ministry dedicated to the persecuted Church says it is not surprised at a recent report of Christian persecution in Laos. Todd Nettleton is director of media services at Voice of the Martyrs. He has examined the annual report on human rights violations released by Amnesty International. That London-based group says evangelical Christians in Laos have been locked in wooden stocks for refusing to renounce their faith. Nettleton says he has no reason to doubt the report. "I have not heard specifically stories of the stocks except in the Amnesty International report, but that would not be a surprising thing from a government which has done so many things against Christians," he states. But Nettleton says VOM certainly does not agree with Amnesty International on everything. "We appreciate when they bring to light the persecution of Christians around the world. [But] some of the other stuff they do, I think obviously we wouldn't agree with," the VOM spokesman shares. "If they want to talk about Christians being persecuted, then we are happy to have them use their platform in order to bring that persecution to light." Amnesty International has taken heat for including the United States as a top human-rights offender for its handling of Islamic terrorist prisoners. [Chad Groening]

...A New York Times best-selling author says thanks in large part to the efforts of some dedicated chaplains, the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq has become a model success story. Stephen Mansfield has recently released his latest book, The Faith of the American Soldier. In the book he details the religious crisis behind the abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib. "The untold story at Abu Ghraib is that the chaplain who was originally assigned there when the abuses happened was told to stay out of the way [and] told not to be very present, [and to] stay in her quarters, let the soldiers come to her," Mansfield says. "So there was no moral presence, there was no emphasis of ministry, so to speak, through the presence of the chaplain." So Mansfield says changes were made. "When a new unit replaced the unit from West Virginia that has been so discussed in the press ... a Colonel Taylor over there, with whom I spent a lot of time, said that his instructions to those chaplains were 'You be there every time there's a shift change, every time there's a prisoner interrogation, at meals -- you be present all the time," the author explains. Mansfield says thanks to the presence of the proactive chaplains, Abu Ghraib has become a model facility with no incidents since the earlier ones. [Chad Groening]

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