Signs and Wonders 04.25

Rejecting Idolatry. It's been a few years since I watched American Idol, but Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery may make me a fan again-not so much for his music but for his character. The 18-year-old has a platinum album under his belt, but he's remained down-to-earth. He speaks often of his Christian faith, and he put the glamor of a music career on hold, at least temporarily, to finish his senior year at Garner (N.C.) High School, where he also pitches for the varsity baseball team. McCreery is doing OK so far: He has only one win, but in 13 1/3 innings pitched, both as a starter and in relief, he's struck out 19 batters and walked only one. His ERA is an impressive 2.06.

Who's the bully? Gay anti-bullying and anti-hate speech activist Dan Savage delivered remarks to a national journalism conference in Seattle, where he launched into some hate speech of his own, against Christianity. Savage said, "People [use] the Bible as an excuse for gay bullying." When a group of high school students walked out on the speech, Savage engaged in a bit of bullying of his own: He singled them out and called them "pansies." This is not the first time pro-homosexuals have used anti-bullying rhetoric to bully conservatives and Christians. A few weeks ago I wrote about how the leftist newspaper Philadelphia Weekly used similar tactics against a Republican businessman. Unfortunately, such tactics seem to work, so expect them to continue. Savage, by the way, writes what amounts to a pornographic sex advice column, and now has a similarly risqué sex advice show on MTV. Why would the National Scholastic Press Association National High School Journalism Convention invite such a person to speak in the first place? The answer: Such is the state of journalism education in this country.

Losing their Mojo? The movie Blue Like Jazz has faded out of sight at the box office. After two weeks in release, it has grossed less than a half-million dollars, according to Box Office Mojo. That amount barely covers the film's production budget, to say nothing of distribution and local theatre costs. The movie could still break even on DVD sales, but it's pretty obvious that-from a financial point of view, anyway-the movie will not be a success. Blue had used the crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter to fund production, and the mediocre performance of the movie could put a damper on the plans of other Christian artists who had hoped to use Kickstarter to fund their projects. The pro-life movie October Baby has fared somewhat better at the box office. It's so far pulled in about $4.7 million, which is strong considering the film's budget was only about $1 million.

Air Force grounds Bibles. The National Prayer Caucus says that the Air Force will no longer require Air Force Inns to have Bibles in their rooms. According to a statement released by the group, "After receiving a complaint by the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), the Air Force will remove 'Is a Bible provided?' from the checklist that staff at Air Force Inns use when ensuring that rooms comply with lodging standards." Air Force Inns are temporary lodging facilities found at most major Air Force installations. An Air Force official said, "After a legal review, the Air Force Services Agency determined that there was no legal reason to have the question on the lodging checklist." The Gideons, at no cost to the government, place Bibles in Air Force Inn rooms.