Theocracy Alert

Televangelist Probe Broadens

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chair of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, joined Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, in supporting an investigation into alleged lavish spending by six "prosperity gospel" Christian ministries.

Several ministries are fighting the inquiry, launched by Grassley in November. A follow-up letter seeking information "without resorting to compulsory process" by the two senators gave a March 31 deadline to turn over requested information. To date, only Joyce Meyer's ministry, based in St. Louis, has "cooperated substantially," according to Grassley's office.

Britain Abolishes Blasphemy Laws

The House of Lords voted 148-87 on March 5 to abolish ancient laws making "blasphemy" a crime. The law was debated following outrage over the conviction of a British school teacher for blasphemy in Sudan for naming a class teddy bear Muhammad.

Iowan Sentenced to Church

A judge in Scott County, Iowa, sentenced Pachino Hill, 29, of Davenport, to attend church. Associate Judge Christine Dalton sentenced Hill to a counseling program run by Third Missionary Baptist Church, and ordered him to attend church there eight consecutive Sundays, to pay a fine and be on probation for one year.

He was convicted of eluding police while driving with a broken headlight.

Prosecutor Marc Gellerman said: "I would think that listening to Rev. Kirk every Sunday would be very beneficial to Mr. Hill."

Stein Film Schills Creationism

Actor/attorney Ben Stein, whose creationist film, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," will be released in April, spoke in March before the Florida Family Policy Council to support a bill to "protect" school teachers who criticize or question evolution. Florida's new science standards, which require that evolution be taught, are being attacked by the "academic freedom" bills. Stein aired images from the film during his testimony, which compares evolutionists to Adolf Hitler. Screenings are occurring largely at megachurches.

Thirty-seven educators signed a statement in March opposing the bills because all other explanations require "the intervention of a supernatural agent."

Texas Bible Class Settlement

A Texas school district signed a March settlement--in which both sides agreed a proselytizing curriculum for a new course on the bible will be dropped--in favor of one written by a committee of local educators.

The lawsuit involved the school district in Odessa, which had approved a high school elective teaching the King James version, using an academically criticized curriculum from the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools. The settlement calls for a multitranslation or parallel translation bible as the course textbook.

Court: No Funding for Baptist School

A judge in March ruled that Kentucky lawmakers violated the state constitution by appropriating state funding for a Baptist university. Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights group, filed the lawsuit to block an $11 million appropriation to create a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands, a Southern Baptist school.

Franklin Circuit Court Special Judge Roger Crittenden ruled that the state funding violated the Kentucky Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom and its prohibition of spending public funds on any "church, sectarian or denominational school." t