Bob Jones’ Mea Culpa * Jedi Jesus * New Cardinals: Thursday’s Roundup

The bastion of Christian fundamentalism confesses its sins on sex assault on campus. Pope Francis to name more Cardinals -- but who? And a sneak peek at the newest Jesus film.

Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. RNS photo by David Gibson
(RNS1-NOV21) Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., has long been a bastion of fundamentalist Christianity but has recently taken steps to engage the modern world. For use with RNS-BOB-JONES, transmitted Nov. 21, 2011. RNS photo by David Gibson.

(RNS1-NOV21) Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., has long been a bastion of fundamentalist Christianity but has recently taken steps to engage the modern world. For use with RNS-BOB-JONES, transmitted Nov. 21, 2011. RNS photo by David Gibson.

Your humble correspondent is in Washington this week to visit the Mother Ship while trying to avoid the gaping hole left by the implosion of the New Republic.

Fortunately, we at RNS have no mega-rich owner to worry about. On the other hand …


Well, back to the actual news:

Bob Jones University does a mea culpa on sex assault

The ivory tower of Bible Belt fundamentalism is coming clean today about its failure to respond adequately to approximately 40 victims of sexual abuse over four decades. The full report will be released today, but BJU president Steve Pettit apologized to students and faculty yesterday:

“On behalf of Bob Jones University, I would like to sincerely and humbly apologize to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault,” Pettit said, according to Christianity Today. “We did not live up to their expectations. We failed to uphold and honor our own core values. We are deeply saddened to hear that we added to their pain and suffering.”

This isn’t UVA, and this is no Rolling Stone moment.

Pope Francis to name new cardinals on Valentine’s Day

But mystery remains:

As John Thavis notes, Francis will have named at least 24 of the 120 cardinals able to vote in a conclave.

It’ll be a busy month, as the pontiff will also meet with his sex abuse board, and …

Stay tuned for more from our own Jo McKenna at the Vatican.

Romero to be a saint next year?

Robert Mickens says the strong buzz in Rome is that Francis will beatify the Salvadoran archbishop and martyr next year, and may even skip that step and declare him a saint. Another question: would Francis celebrate the Mass in El Salvador, perhaps on the way to or from the U.S.?

Bonus feature: Mickens characterizes Cardinal Raymond Burke as “retrodox.” Neologism?

NSFW

But try anyway…

BTW, some say Francis isn’t always so good with the words when he talks about women, a phenomenon I write about in this story, “Lost in translation? 7 reasons some women wince when Pope Francis starts talking.”


Move over, Moses

In other moving picture news, the next wave of Jesus movies is coming soon, and the latest entry looks especially interesting, and goes against the grain: no blockbuster epic, the “Last Days in the Desert” is a small indie film that focuses only on the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert after his baptism — fasting, praying, and resisting the lures of the Devil. And it features the Scottish actor Ewan McGregor (wait, wasn’t he a Jedi?) playing Jesus AND Satan:

“You can see the demon as the Devil,” McGregor tells Entertainment Weekly. “Or you can see him as another side of Yeshua perhaps, an embodiment of his doubt. He’s there testing him into trying to suggest that his father doesn’t love him, that his father’s not interested in his struggle.”

He says it’s at heart a story about fathers and sons, and he doesn’t expect it to be controversial. We’ll see about that!

Sneak peek:

Speaking of Moses, be sure and check out Jonathan Merritt’s interview with “Exodus” star Christian Bale and director Ridley Scott.

Noah’s Ark springs a leak

The State of Kentucky says it will no longer offer $18 million in tax breaks to the Christian ministry that is building a religious-themed park that would feature a 500-foot-long wooden ark — because the Christian ministry is acting like a Christian ministry and not just a tourism site.

Who would have seen that coming?

Ben Carson is “an instrument in God’s hands”

“He is the one who really orchestrates all of this,” the good doctor and likely Republican presidential candidate tells CBN’s David Brody. He also says America “is in fact a Judeo-Christian nation” and adds:


“We most definitely need a spiritual awakening. Look at the direction we are going in. Absolute absurdity.”

Of Molotov cocktails and glass houses

No, I’m not going to jump on either of these bandwagons:

I figure Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got ambushed by autocorrect when he wrote “Molotov” instead of “Mazel tov” in wishing Jews a Happy Hanukkah (and how do you spell that holiday, eh?).

And President Obama, certainly one of the most scripturally literate of our chief executives, did not get the Bible wrong when he said that it says “don’t throw stones in glass houses.” He was just explaining the meaning of actual verse, which he quoted correctly, about not pointing to the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a beam in your own.

But every preacher should know you never put the exegesis before the verse.

That’s your Kvetch of the Day.

 Jews of the Caribbean?

Yup, they’re a thing, and with a long and fascinating history. Your Read of the Day is at Tablet, by Jessica Siegel:

Way South of the Border
The Jews of Suriname fight—against the tides of time and each other—to hang on in South America’s least-populous country

The Best of the Rest from RNS:

Finally, your Uplifting Story of the Day

It comes from Alabama, where a grandmother got caught stealing eggs to feed a niece and grandchild, ages 1 and 3, who hadn’t eaten for two days. Helen Johnson only had $1.25 on her, so she stuffed five eggs in her pocket — and they broke. The store called the police, but Officer William Stacy talked to the manager and they decided not to press charges.


Instead, Officer Stacy came back with a carton of eggs for the woman to take home.

Johnson was stunned.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you Jesus for this man,”’ she said. “He is my hero.”

That’s your Counter-narrative of the Day. Let’s hope it becomes the Narrative.

David Gibson

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!