An eggs-ellent campaign under way
The Humane Society of the United States, through its 2008 “All Creatures Great and Small” campaign, is asking you to go egg-free or at least change your egg-eating habits this month.
The society says that nearly 280 million laying hens in the U.S. are confined in barren, wire cages “so small the birds can’t even spread their wings.” The society says consumers can reduce animal suffering by making a few simple changes in their purchases.
The new campaign calls on the faith community in particular to take up this cause. It notes that many faiths have had holidays or feast days in October that focus on compassion, hope and charity. Christians celebrated the Feast day of St. Francis, Jews celebrated Yom Kippur and Muslims ended Ramadan with Eid-ul-fitr celebrations.
People of faith are asked to go online to pledge for one month to either switch to cage-free egs or egg substitutes as a way to end the “cruelest confinement systems employed by the egg industry.”
Specifically, the pledge is to “Make more humane food choices by committing to one or more of the following:
Switching to cage-free or free-range eggs;
Eating fewer eggs;
Replacing eggs with any of the widely available substitutes.”
For more information, visit http://allcreatures.hsus.org/
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
(NOTE: The title of this post is just a play on words, not an endorsement of this campaign)
“Bees” movie calls out to faithful
A new Web site for faith leaders and teachers has been launched to focus on “The Secret Life of Bees” feature film.
The movie premiered in theaters Oct. 17 and stars Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, among others.
The Web site offers free movie tickets and an Inspirational Discussion Guide. It also includes information on an Adopt-A-Theater program that is to enable churches, schools and other organizations to earn a $1 rebate for every ticket sold.
The movie is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in South Carolina, the film follows the independent honey-making Boatwright sisters who are suddenly thrust into upheaval with the arrival of 14-year-old Lily Owens (Fanning) and her caretaker Rosaleen (Hudson).
The Web site www.beesresources.com is part of a grassroots marketing campaign by three faith-based marketing companies, Motive Entertainment, Liquid Soul Media and Grace Hill Media.
“We applaud this movie’s themes of forgiveness, faith, friendship and hope and the new resources Web site will enable leaders and teachers to build on those themes. The situations are so topical to today – the right to vote, race relations, family struggles,” Motive CEO Paul Lauer said in a prepared statement.
“Though sprinkled with the reality of occasional bad language that will make it difficult for some viewers to appreciate this film, we believe teens and adults — especially women — will be inspired by its messages, especially the struggle for freedom,” Lauer said.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
On TV: Wynonna sings gospel
Country music star Wynonna will make her Gospel Music Channel debut on “Front Row Live” Saturday.The show also will be aired on Monday on the cable network ( Cox Cable channel 178) .
Front Row Live is Gospel Music Channel’s original series featuring powerhouse artists hosting their own performances while sharing their musical inspirations.According to the network, Wynonna is currently in the studio preparing for an early 2009 CD release.Wynonna showcases her vocal talents with a set-list that features some of her biggest hits and her favorite inspirational tunes, including “What The World Needs Now,” “The Other Side,” “Heaven Help Me,” “It’s The Messiah,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “I Can Only Imagine,” “I Hear You Knockin’,” “Till I Get It Right,” “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Love Can Build A Bridge” and “No One Else on Earth.”
Upcoming Front Row Live concerts include the Newsboys on Oct. 25 and NewWorldson on Nov. 1.
For complete Gospel Music Channel programming, visit http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com/schedule.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Secrets of a church shopper
I think that many people will find the Rev. Thomas Harrison’s role as Secret Church Shopper pretty fascinating.
It might cause church members to wonder how he would rate their own church should he happen to slide into the pews one Sunday.
On Tuesday, Harrison showed me one of his reports from a church shopping expedition at a metro area ministry.
The report was more than 50 pages long, bound and very thorough.
Harrison rates churches on nine categories. Some of those include appearance, cleanliness, hospitality, signage, information and educational services, church offiices, worship space and experience. He said each category has subcategories, such as parking lot, restrooms, etc.
The Secret Church Shopper rates churches according to a signal light system: Green light, all is well. Yellow light, a concern has been raised and something should be done to address it. Red light, there’s a problem that must be addressed immediately.
Sounds pretty simple, but of course it’s not.
Harrison’s report actually begins before he ever drives into the church’s parking lot. The Rev. Greg Wheat, senior pastor of Christian Life Assembly in Lexington, said Harrison’s report to his church included a demographic report of the area surrounding the church and information about how well the church was known or remained a mystery within the local community.
Harrison said he pays attention to details that many church members may not even think about because they’ve been attending their church for so long. For instance, he calls the church after business hours to find out if the ministry’s voice mail system is easy to navigate. He also goes online to find out about the church’s Web site.
Harrison’s unique service certainly gives congregations something to think about.
Any visitor could be a church shopper come Sunday morning. Just an unofficial one.
What they encounter may mean the difference between another new member or someone hitting the exit doors with plans never to return.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Video game getting more than churches
The following Religion News Service report by Ashley Gipson caught my eye and you might find it interesting as well:
Americans spent nearly twice as much on first-day sales of the video game “Grand Theft Auto IV” as would be needed by the Southern Baptist Convention to share the gospel with all the world’s “unreached people groups” by 2010, according to a new report on church giving.
The annual report, by the Illinois-based group empty tomb inc., found a general downward trend in church member giving through 2006, which led authors to propose a “global triage to treat what ails the church.”
They said focusing on reaching new “people groups” and preventing child deaths around the world would help U.S. churches “sort out their priorities” to use what funds they do have more efficiently.
“It’s difficult to avoid the label of `lukewarm’ when analyzing the church’s level of response to Jesus’ Great Commandment and Great Commission,” said John Ronsvalle, who co-authored the study with his wife, Sylvia.
Even Southern Baptists, a group highlighted as a “denomination that takes this religious task seriously,” have not launched an aggressive campaign to fund the estimated additional 2,800 missionaries that would be needed to “engage” unreached groups by 2010.
Empty tomb estimated it would cost about $11 per Southern Baptist to fund those extra missionaries; instead, the denomination’s 2008 goal of $170 million to support existing missionaries is the equivalent of asking each Southern Baptist to donate just 31 cents more than last year.
By contrast, Americans spent $310 million in first-day sales for “Grand Theft Auto IV.”
“The total portion of per capita income given to churches in 2006 was lower (in 2006) than in the worst year of the Great Depression,” the authors found.
The report estimates that for only $26 a year per evangelical, U.S. evangelicals as a whole could fund $544 million in efforts through evangelical-affiliated denominations and other missions agencies.
The report estimated that it would cost each U.S. church member just 8 cents a day to help reach the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of cutting infant mortality by two-thirds by 2015.
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Hmmmmm. It sure does make you think…
Religion Editor
Carla Hinton
King David gets an update?
I just learned of a new TV show called “Kings” that is set to debut midseason on NBC.
The show is to bring the story of biblical King David to modern times.
This should be interesting, to say the least.
“Kings” is being brought to primetime by the director of “I Am Legend,” the December 2007 feature film starring Will Smith.
It’s being billed as a modern re-telling of David and Goliath and stars actor Christopher Egan (pictured at left) as “David Shepherd.”
The show’s premiere is set for January 2009.
For more information, check out the “Kings” link on NBC’s Web site: “Kings”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Sukkot begins at sundown
The Jewish festival of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles, begins at sundown today.
The seven-day festival gets its name from the huts or “sukkahs” that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land.
Jewish congregations in Oklahoma celebrate along with Jews across the world, God’s faithfulness to the Israelites. As they build sukkahs at their synagogues and temples, the structures serve as reminders that the Lord is still faithful today. In the 2005 photograph pictured at left are members of Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City enjoying the sukkah built on temple grounds.
Many Jewish people also build sukkahs at their homes and eat and sleep in them over the course of the festival.
Meanwhile, Sukkot serves as a reminder to congregations of their agricultural roots and the harvest. People often hang papier-mache vegetables from the sukkah’s ceiling to signify that God blessed the Israelites with a harvest of food they needed to survive.
The sukkahs made by the Israelites were made of branches and were easy to assemble, take apart and carry. Jewish leaders said the sukkah’s shelter is always temporary — symbolizing that God provides His people with all they need as they seek His more permanent blessings of the Promised Land.
Each sukkah will include important symbols – branches of palm, willow and myrtle and the citron fruit, also called etrog. 
A branch of a palm woven together represents the desert or southern part of Israel. A branch with leaves of the myrtle tree represents the northern part of Israel and the , branches of the willow tree represent the eastern part of Israel. The fourth symbol is the citron fruit, or etrog (pictured at right in a recent AP photograph taken in Jerusalem).
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Oct. 12 Faith Bookshelf
With America’s economic crisis on everyone’s mind, here are several new book releases that highlight a faithful response to money, budgeting and the marketplace:
“Charting the Course: Values for Navigating Life in the Marketplace,” by Bruce Howard (Authentic Publishing, released April 2008, $12.99).
In his new book, Howard grapples with the dilemma of reconciling fixed, transcendent moral values with an economic system based on relative value. Howard, professor of economics and finance at Wheaton College, insists there is a way to moved forward, that we can influence the economy in a way that will bring positive change to the world.
“Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of 
Faith,”by Bob Smietana and Charles North (Moody Publishers, released January 2008, $13.99).
This book attempts to simplify some solid economic principles as they intertwine with faith and our everyday lives. It is full of compelling stories, a faith-minded perspective and an economi expertise that is unique in the marketplace today.
“Jewish Wisdom for Business Success: Lessons from the Torah and Other Ancient Texts” by Rabbi Levi Brackman and Sam Jaffe (Amacom Books, released September 2008, $24).
Authors Brackman and Jaffe use both scriptural references and contemporary business examples to illustrate the powerful relationship between ancient 
modern success, and offer practical insights any business professional can use to:
– Replace ego with positivity;
– Become a master negotiator;
– Overcome procrastination and learn from failure.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Billy Graham recovering from fall
Evangelist Billy Graham fell at his home in Montreat, N.C., and was hospitalized overnight Friday.
In a prepared statement released today, a spokesman for Graham said the famed preacher has returned home from Mission Hospital near Asheville.
A. Larry Ross, director of media/public relations for Graham, said the 89-year-old evangelist was admitted for observation Friday after he tripped over one of his three dogs and fell.
Ross said Graham suffered no broken bones in the fall. He said Graham chose to remain in the hospital rather than return home due to the lateness of the hour.
Ross said Graham’s personal physician, Dr. Lucian Rice, confirmed the fall should not pose a setback for the evangelist, who will turn 90 on Nov. 7.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
On TV: What the candidates believe
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, the PBS news magazine, will feature a report called “2008 Campaign: Privacy and Media Ethics” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on OETA Channel 13 (Cox Channel 14).
Bob Abernethy will moderate a discussion on the ethics of covering a candidate’s personal and religious life featuring PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler, Kelly McBride with the Poynter Institute and Tom Rosenstiel from the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
On the same program, Kim Lawton will take a look at the religious beliefs of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
