' AMERICAN IDOL ' CHRISTIANITY STORY GETS HEATED REACTIONS

We learned two things about "American Idol" fans last week when we ran a story on how this year's show features more Christian-affiliated finalists than ever before: Most of you don't care what religion a singer is as long as they're good, and the rest of you think even pointing out religion on "Idol" is "absolutely outrageous."
Hundreds of comments flooded MTV.com and other sites that re-posted the story, and they ran the gamut from "good job!" to, well, not so good job. (Comments have been edited for grammar, clarity and length.)
"What does their faith have to do with singing?" Selena1 asked on MTV.com. "Christians sing in their churches all the time in America. ... If someone does it every week, sometimes a couple of nights, then imagine the practice they get compared to others who don't. ... So of course you get a lot of singers with Christian backgrounds who are not pros but have no fear to get up and sing in front of groups."
Then there was MTV reader Gchata, who wondered if the implied math of "Christian viewers + Christian contestants = a potential Christian winner" would work for gay contestants or any other group: "Does this really matter? Yeah, a lot of Christians watch 'American Idol.' They also watch '24,' 'Heroes' and, on occasion, MTV. Having Christian people on the show doesn't mean Christians are more inclined to watch because someone with their 'values' or 'morals' might win. I'm a Christian, and I personally don't care if the person who wins is or not. It's a singing competition. Religion is a non-issue."
Over at MJsBigBlog.com, one of the leading "Idol" fan sites, the discussion about the story was fierce, with nearly 150 responses. Commenter Tess said she was "appalled and offended" by the article. Tess had particular scorn for a comment from writer CJ Casciotta, who was quoted in the story as saying he thought some Christian viewers might go with their faith if presented with a top two featuring a pair of equally talented singers in which one was Christian and the other was not.
"If I wasn't a sane, God-loving individual, I would not vote for any of the listed contestants (Danny, Michael, Kris, Scott, Matt and Lil) just out of pure spite," Jess wrote. "I knew the country was going to be divided on this issue, but for the Christian right to pronounce that they support an us-vs.-them philosophy is absolutely outrageous."
Many readers vehemently stated that they thought religion should remain a personal, private matter, not fodder for stories, while others, like Lys, said they don't feel that the singers should have to hide their beliefs "any more than they should hide their hair color. If it's truly a part of who they are and if they want to talk about it, fine."
On a similar note, Terrie felt that the show's "pimping" of performers' religions is not different from their spotlight on the singers' families "or personal challenges or favoring more attractive contestants."
A number of readers were put off by a comment from one of the story's subjects, Christian writer Joanne Brokaw, who suggested that viewers could sense Kris Allen's faith when it was mentioned that he helped other contestants last week.
"Are Christians the only people allowed to help others???" Baxter asked.
The site's founder, MJ Santilli, also sounded off, saying she was offended by "nearly all the quotes" in the article (thank you, I think?) and pointed out that the show has long featured Christian contestants (which the article mentioned).
Speaking to MTV News on Tuesday (March 17), Santilli said she felt the same way many of her readers did about the piece. "I think coming so soon after the presidential election, maybe some people are feeling that 'Idol' themselves might be setting up this kind of divisive ... us-vs.-them mentality," she said of a possible Danny Gokey vs. Adam Lambert showdown. "I think the comments were split between people who can't stand religion and others who were churchgoers who didn't like that idea that, 'I'm a Christian, and just because I am, I won't vote for [a non-Christian].' "
Maybe CFIdolsFan said it best with the comment "I'm a Christian and a worship leader. I've watched 'Idol' since season one, and I vote for whoever I want, whenever I want, however I want. ... Neither Casciotta or Brokaw speak for me, but I am not ashamed to say that I am Christian and am delighted to see Christians on the show."
On JoesPlaceBlog.com commenter Suebrody said, in some ways, all the comments missed the real point of the reality singing competition, a sentiment that was shared by a number of other posters. "I am a non-Christian and would hope the viewers are open-minded enough to vote for the best singer, not the most religious one."

A NEW PLAN WOULD LIMIT PRISON CHAPPEL BOOKS IN AMERICA ; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A broad swath of religious organizations and civil liberties groups — often on opposite sides of contentious issues — have joined together to condemn a proposed rule that they say would prohibit some religious texts in federal penitentiary libraries.
The Bureau of Prisons in January proposed that “materials that could incite, promote, or otherwise suggest the commission of violence or criminal activity” may be excluded from chapel libraries. An alliance of groups — Christian, Muslim and Jewish, conservative and liberal — opposed the rule during the open comments period, which ended Tuesday.
The word “could” is at the center of a two-year dispute between the agency and these groups over which religious texts should be banned from prison libraries.
The American Civil Liberties Union and several other civil rights and religious groups argue that the agency is going beyond the provision of the Second Chance Act of 2007, which included a restriction on materials that “seek” to incite violence.
They argue that the act was meant to prohibit only books that intend to suggest violence, and that the agency’s new rule would expand that ban to all books that could possibly lead to violence.
“Those one or two words have incredibly broad significance because of what they do to the scope of what books can be taken away,” said David Shapiro, an A.C.L.U. lawyer. “They could remove texts that are critical to prisoners’ ability to practice their religion.”
Bureau officials did not respond Tuesday to calls or e-mail messages seeking comment.
In its proposal, the agency cited a 2004 report on prison religious services by the Justice Department inspector general that suggested censoring certain materials to prevent the radicalization of inmates.
In 2005, the authorities in Los Angeles uncovered a plot by three Muslim men, at least one of whom was believed to have been radicalized in a California state penitentiary, to carry out attacks on National Guard recruitment centers in the state.
Afterward, bureau officials compiled a list of about 150 books for each of about 20 religious categories in a plan called the Standardized Chapel Library Project.
At the time, critics of the plan said it omitted important religious texts and violated the First Amendment rights of prisoners. The bureau scrapped the list.
Tuesday was the second time in two years that civil liberties and religious groups joined in opposition to officials’ plans to restrict prison library books.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian lawyers who litigate religious rights cases, joined its arch foe, the A.C.L.U., in opposing the new rule. The groups are usually on opposite sides of thorny issues like the role of religious expression in schools and same-sex marriage.
The A.D.F.’s Web site is promoting a publication called “The A.C.L.U. vs. America.” The A.D.F. accuses the group of “attacking religious expression” and “protecting child pornographers and pedophiles.”
On the matter of religious texts in prison libraries, however, Kevin Theriot, a lawyer with the A.D.F., said the group had little disagreement with its rival.
“We’re with the A.C.L.U. on this particular issue because it’s very important for religious freedom that these texts be available,” Mr. Theriot said. “Somebody could take offense with the Bible, which teaches that Jesus is the only way to the Father. That’s an offensive idea to people who are not Christians. They could say that’s inciting trouble.”
Other groups opposing the rule change include Muslim Advocates, the Seventh-day Adventists and various Jewish organizations.

BRITNEY SPEARS UNDER ORDERS TO READ THE BIBLE EVERYDAY

Madonna's not the only celeb to have found Jesus.
Britney Spears' dad has issued strict backstage conditions to keep his daughter on the straight and narrow.

Top of the list is that she must read the Bible for one hour a day... Holy Moly!
Brit is also banned from tucking into junk food (not sure she is keeping to that one), leaving the hotel unless accompanied by security, or meeting K Fed without her dad or manager.
She has no access to the net alone and "feels like a prisoner on her tour". Ouch!

CATHOLICA HOPE POPE CAN WIN GROUND IN ANGOLA

LUANDA - The surge in worshippers at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in staunchly Catholic Luanda has prompted the pastor to buy a $20,000 grand piano and six loudspeakers for those outside to listen to his sermons.
In mountainous Huambo province, home to the fastest-growing evangelical churches in Angola, dozens of people crowd inside the Christ Vision Church, a small tin hut, singing: "You are poor but God loves you."
Like other evangelical churches across Angola, these two have flourished since the end of civil war in 2002, raising fears among Catholics their Church is losing ground. A visit by Pope Benedict will address that this month.
Just over half Angola's 16.5 million people are Catholic, but the number of diversified sects has jumped to 900 from just 50 in 1992 -- the year the government abandoned Marxism, according to Angola's national institute on religion.
The Pope's visit will officially celebrate 500 years of evangelization in Angola, and may bring a boost to Catholic media as part of a Church bid for more hearts and minds.
"The Catholic Church lacks passion. It's really not a very exciting place," said Joao, from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Luanda, before holding his hands in the air to ask God to expel the evil demons from his body.
Less than a block away, a woman knelt down before a statue of Christ in a half-empty Roman Catholic Church and began her daily prayer in silence.
"These evangelical churches make too much noise and empty promises to attract people, but soon people will realize we are the only path toward God," said Madalena, 44, after finishing her hour-long prayer.
SECTS
The attraction of evangelicism is clear, experts say.
"Evangelical pastors are now going to provinces like Huambo that were hard to reach during the war," Fatima Viegas, the head of the national institute on religion and author of books on religion, told Reuters.
"These churches have become very attractive to Angolans because their rituals are very intense and some of them promise an immediate end to suffering, in a country where the majority of the population is still poor."
The widespread belief in witchcraft has also been a problem for the Catholic Church in Angola.
Jonas Savimbi, who led the opposition party UNITA in its war against the government, fought alongside a woman whose magic he believed would protect him from enemy fire.
Last year, police rescued 40 children who had been held in a house by two religious sects after being accused by their own families of witchcraft. The sects' leaders were later arrested.

"The increasing number of sects is a threat to everyone, including the Catholic Church, because more and more people are being lured to these churches with empty promises," said Jose Queiroz Alves, archbishop of Huambo, after holding an hour-long mass in the local Umbundo language.
Some Catholic leaders see things from a different perspective. "The positive side of this phenomenon is that it shows there is an increasing thirst for God," Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento said in a recent interview with Reuters.
"But those who are thirsty need to seek the right fountain: the one without the spoilt water."
GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS
The Catholic Church hopes Pope Benedict's visit to the former Portuguese colony will help strengthen Catholicism in Africa, where a recent row about a bishop who denies the Holocaust happened has resonated less than in Europe and the United States.
Pope Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, visited Angola in 1992 during a lull in fighting between the ruling MPLA and UNITA rebels. The fighting resumed after UNITA failed to accept the results of an election.
Benedict's March 20-23 visit will include an open-air mass in the capital Luanda and a meeting with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos that experts say could help end years of government restrictions on Angola's only Catholic radio station.
The government pulled the plug on Radio Ecclesia two years after the post-independence civil war began in 1975, accusing it of siding with rebels of the main opposition UNITA, which continued to fight the government for 27 years.
Ecclesia returned to the air in 1997 after the government abandoned Marxism but its diet of Sunday mass, political debates and regular criticism of the government has since been limited to the capital Luanda.
"The radio ban is a trauma the government still has from the war years because of Ecclesia's determination always to speak loud and clear to everyone," Mauricio Camuto, head of Radio Ecclesia, told Reuters.
Ecclesia is the only religious radio station in Angola, boasting an audience of over 3 million in Luanda, according to Camuto. The government controls the only nationwide broadcaster in a country twice the size of Texas.
There are no evangelical radio stations in Angola, but the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God owns an international media network whose television channel Record can be viewed through Angola's cable network.
Asked if he feared growing competition from evangelical churches could weaken the Catholic community, Camuto said: "In a country where there is still widespread poverty it is easier for other religious sects to attract followers with all kinds of promises.
"But a visit by the Pope could finally allow us to speak the word of God to all Angolans and remain ahead of the competition," added Camuto.

SUDAN WANTS AID GROUPS TO STOP DISTRIBUTING RELIEF; PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

KHARTOUM - Sudan's president said on Monday he wanted foreign aid groups to stop distributing aid in Sudan within a year, in an escalation in the country's defiant response to an international war crimes warrant against him.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expelled 13 international aid groups this month, accusing them of helping the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against him, accusing him of orchestrating atrocities in Darfur. Aid groups deny working with the court.In an emotional speech to thousands of soldiers and police, Bashir said he had ordered Sudanese aid groups to take over the distribution of all relief inside the country -- a move that could freeze the work of more than 70 foreign organisations still operating in Darfur and other strife-torn areas.

If carried out, the order will also create a dilemma for international donors, including the governments of the United States and Britain, over whether they will be able to continue to pour millions into projects across the underdeveloped country without full control over how their aid is distributed."We have ordered the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to completely Sudanise the voluntary work in Sudan within one year and after that we don't want international organisations to deal with Sudanese citizens with relief," Bashir told the rally."If they (the international organisations) want to continue providing aid, they can just leave it at the airport and Sudanese NGOs (non governmental organisations) can distribute the relief."

"CLEAR OUR COUNTRY OF ANY SPIES"

"We need to clear our country of any spies," he told the cheering crowd in Khartoum's Green Square rally ground, close to the city's airport.Bashir said Sudan's neighbours Ethiopia and Eritrea had carried out similar programmes to distribute foreign aid through local groups.Bashir did not specify how the order would be carried out. It was not clear whether more than 70 foreign aid groups still working inside Sudan would also be expelled, or how the order would affect U.N. agencies.It was also not certain whether the order would cover aid programmes in Sudan's semi-autonomous south. The earlier expulsion of 13 aid agencies, including Oxfam, Save the Children and two branches of Medecins Sans Frontieres, only affected operations in the north.Thousands of soldiers from the regular army and the state-aligned Popular Defence Forces militia pledged allegiance to Bashir during the rally, the latest in a series of demonstrations against the ICC's warrant in Khartoum.Bashir was a career army officer when he overthrew a democratically-elected civilian government in 1989. The army remains one of his strongest power bases.