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Interesting conversation going on at Greensboro101.com. At issue is a message delivered by a group that books space on GCTV, Greensboro's public access cable channel 8.
According to the posting by blogger Roch101, who watched the show in question, "Chief High Priest" Tazadaqyah of "The Hidden Truth" said during the show that homosexuals are "supposed to be killed."
The show is apparently a production of The Holy Conception Unit in Philadelphia, which is identified on their website as an affiliate of the Israelite Church of God and Jesus Christ, Inc.
Has Tazadaqyah crossed the line -- even for cable? Is there a place for him -- and censorship -- on public access cable?
Comment here or there.

The locks were changed on St. James Home of Fresh Start Ministries' $1.65 million campus on Tuesday. The church, in bankruptcy, couldn't come up with a reorganization plan that the bankruptcy court would approve.

The church's not having a place to worship this Sunday bothered the folks at St. Paul The Apostle Catholic Church, who, less than 24 hours later, are hoping to offer its sanctuary, when not in use, to the church. Oh yeah: St. James is predominantly black and St. Paul is predominantly white -- not that it really matters, but I wrote a story on a study that said there's often a distrust between races in this city. I guess this speaks volumes.

I wanted to know what prompted the church to respond, so when I returned an early morning telephone call from Colleen Assal, the church's pastoral associate, I asked.

Christopher Simmons was 17 when he and two friends broke into an elderly woman's house expecting to mug her. The woman recognized Simmons, who then bound and gagged her, and threw her off a bridge and into a river to drown in 1993.

Simmons assured two cohorts they wouldn't be punished because they were juveniles.

Jurors gave Simmons the death penalty -- which was later reversed by the Missouri's Supreme Court. A split U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday, ruling that it is "excessive and cruel" to execute a person who was under age 18 when the crime was committed.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who usually sides with the conservatives on the court and cast the deciding vote, said the consensus in this country is that it's out of favor to execute young people.

I don't know if that's the case.

"We've never lived freely in Iraq, and now I think we never will," one woman says.

The scene is a beauty shop in Iraq, where women of different religions shared the same worry about the new Islamic government.

They've suffered through the bombing and the violence and the war, hoping things would be better.

There's promise:

Nearly a third of the newly elected legislators are women, which is unprecedented in the region. (In neighboring Saudi Arabia, for instance, women can't even vote.) And Iraq's politicians have agreed to a transitional law that encourages equal rights for women in the new Constitution. But the National Assembly's makeup was the result of a quota imposed by the former American administrator, L. Paul Bremer III.

"We are not going to cut him off," says the Rev. Michael Clark, pastor of accused BTK killer Dennis Rader. "I could tell that he was relieved. He is still a part of the body of Christ -- and that is something some people will have a hard time hearing."

Rader, charged with 10 brutal killings over the past three decades, remains president of the Christ Lutheran Church Council, although he will eventually have to relinquish some church leadership positions, Clark says.

I was leaving church recently and walking near me was a young man charged with robbing a bank. He is out on bond awaiting trial. I was glad to see him there -- and wanted to say so, but wanted to respect his otherwise near anonimity. He was a good kid who had a lapse in judgment, say those who know him.

I believe in forgiveness and repentence but I don't think Rader should be in a faith leadership position in whatever house of worship he attends. Is it forgiving and not forgetting -- well, yes.

I overheard a conversation recently -- coworkers discussing America's plan for homeland security and whether city governments should post detailed schematic drawings of underground water and sewer systems on their Web sites.

Everyday the newspaper brings something ripe for discussion into our homes and workplaces: Should we leave the 10 Commandments posted in courtrooms? Does Terry Schiavo's husband have the right to remove his wife, in a vegetative state, from life support?

What's the right thing to do when conversations about ethics/religion/politics turn ugly?

"They told us that we cannot pray at sunset," Abdi H. Nuur says. "They told us that we would have to wait for our break."

Nuur and 29 other Somali Muslims who worked at Dell Computer's Nashville plant say they were forced to choose between their faith and their employment.

A Dell spokesman declined to comment about the cases, saying the company had not received a specific complaint.

"Dell values diversity in all areas, and that includes religious beliefs," Dell spokesman Mark Drury said. "The company's practice is to accommodate religious beliefs, so long as the accommodations are reasonable, don't disrupt business operations and are consistent with our policies on operating a respectful workplace."

"It's a long walk."
I'm in the pastor's office at Pleasant Garden Baptist Church, a week after the life of 15-year-old Valerie Trull was celebrated in the sanctuary before a community of churches and people of faith, teachers at Southeast High School, friends with whom she had days earlier shared laughs and a family that loved her dearly.
I am watching tears swell in the eyes of associate pastor Marty Tobin, one of the first people to arrive at the hospital the night Valerie and three other teenagers were involved in an automobile accident that left the girl who "blessed" others' lives, and 17-year-old Jordan Hodgin, an honor student, dead. The two others were injured.
"It's a long walk," Tobin repeats, pausing.

I was so impressed with a column the Rev. Monica A. Coleman wrote for the Saturday Religion page, the weekly "Faith Matters" column written by local faith leaders, that I wanted to share it with you. I think it's a column that can help those others -- Christian or non-Christian, people of whatever faith -- who have suffered through the same thing.

Here's Monica's story:
When I was 21, I was raped; and I was clergy. While living in the personal hell of insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, doubt and guilt, I had to get up on Sunday morning and pray, preach and teach.
Privately, I was disgusted with God. I stopped praying and believing that there was a God who would not put more on me than I could bear. And, like an imposter, I went to church every week affirming this God.

No pitchforks. No horns. No animal sacrifices. No devil worship.

Bad stereotypes, say the more than half dozen people attending this monthly meeting of atheists -- normally ranging from a few to more than 30 -- in a rented room at a Greensboro church. We are here for conversation, not a conversion.

"I think you'll see more people coming out because we want to show people we don't have horns, we don't kill babies, we aren't satanic -- we don't believe in that," says one.

And they're likely to be among your neighbors, the soccer moms, the teachers at your child's school. One man sits in the pews every Sunday with his wife because he wants to spend the time with her.
"We're 10 percent of the population."

Each week I ask readers a question involving faith and spirituality for the "Five on Faith" section on Saturday's Religion page. This week's question: Jews learn the Torah in Hebrew; Muslims learn the Qu'ran in Arabic; Hindus learn the Vedas in Sanskrit. Catholics used to have to learn the Bible in Latin. Should our faith be taught in the language of the people who wrote it? Why or why not?

The following responses were written by 8th Graders at B'nai Shalom Day School, a Jewish day school in Greensboro:

By Cassie Borenstein
A person's faith should be taught in the language of the people who wrote it. If somebody translated the Torah from Hebrew to English, its literal meaning might be different from what actually happened in the Torah because in biblical times, some Hebrew words might have been different than they are today. As well, if the Torah were in English, there would probably be less controversy between rabbis about what the Torah is trying to say. Having controversy over what the Torah says makes it all the more interesting.

Several local churches are showing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," over the next week.

This Sunday (March 20) at 5 p.m., Watermark Fellowship in Liberty (622-5558) sponsors a free showing at Liberty Showcase, 101 S. Fayetteville Street (622-3844).

Victorious Life Church, 121 Skeet Club Road, High Point (841-3588) sponsors a free showing at 7 p.m. on Good Friday, March 25.

If you've got an Easter event you'd like to tell the public about, please post them in the comment section below.

Happy New Year -- a day of rest -- to people of the Bahai faith.
The Bahai people have their own calendar consisting of nineteen months of ninetneen days plus a couple of extra days between the eighteenth and nineteenth months. They have however adopted the Iranian custom of beginning the New Year in the spring equinox. The day begins at sunset rather than midnight, and the New Year celebrations are held during the evening of March 20th.
Adherents.com lists Bahai as one of the top 10 "international religious bodies." (The Catholic Church ranks first in this group of religious bodies that have at least 30 percent of their membership outside of the "core country," or the country with the largest membership).

What would you want your loved ones to do if you were in Terri Schiavo's condition?
If it were your parents and they wanted to take care of you despite your condition, would that make a difference?

In just a few hours Jews across the world will begin the observance of Purim, the story of Haman's attempt to destroy all of the Jews and Esther's heroism in saving her people.

GREENSBORO -- Had he walked in his earthly ministry today, Jesus might be on the other side of the table at Craft Recreation Center, where Rebecca Miles and Allan Arrington are helping teach English to the Spanish-speaking women seated around them.

"I think faith is not something you just practice on Sunday," Miles says of the largely volunteer effort to help immigrants navigate something as simple as getting a checking account.

At Beacon Place, on the campus of Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro, Jesus might spend the afternoon talking to Mabel Parker, giving the 92-year-old woman with terminal cancer someone to share a smile with — just as retired college professor Gaylord Hageseth does on a regular basis.

Today's Easter story looks at what if Jesus had been born 30 years ago and was into his earthly ministry today.

As part of that, local faith leaders were asked to take one of the 12 Disciples and to put him in perspective, especially for today - is he the person in the congregation who questions every decision but whose heart is in the right place or the once rough-around-the-edges guy who found Jesus and changed his ways?

Read on for an intriguing look at the 12:

A statement released Wednesday by Bishop Peter Jugis of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte (Jugis is the spiritual leader for Catholics in the western part of the state including Greensboro) on Terri Schiavo:

"A grave injustice is taking place in Florida in the case of Terri Schiavo. Mrs. Schiavo is a defenseless child of God from whom life-giving nutrition is being withheld as the result of a court order. This is immoral.