Using religion to get guys to see Bieber biopic

Entertainment Weekly has this quite interesting piece on the marketing of the new Justin Bieber biographical movie Never Say Never.

I have a pre-teen daughter and was at a movie theatre Friday, and missed the fact that the film is subtitled "For Nothing is Impossible with God." But Paramount is hoping religious leaders and other parents are more clued in than I am, and that a companion religious study guide and other marketing will encourage young men to see the film.

There's an interesting series of comments on the article (not of the highbrow variety - more of the typical Internet commentary type) and a very interesting story about Jimmy Kimmel and Diddy within.

Church Lady returns as Carvey hosts SNL

You might enjoy Dana Carvey's reprisal of his popular Church Lady character, when he guest hosted Saturday Night Live. The character skewers popular TV shows, the Kardashians and does the superiority dance with a surprise guest star.

Religion app guides Catholics in confession

Maureen Dowd's humorously titled editorial "Forgive me, Father, for I have linked" describes an iPhone/Pad app that guides the observant through a list of transgressions that can then be noted for later confession to a real priest.

The app is for real, and even has an imprimateur from Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana.

Actor asked to comment on relationship of dead birds and Armageddon

CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Left Behind series actor Kirk Cameron on the significance of large-scale bird kills as a predictor of the end of the world.

Cameron suggested Cooper would have been better off calling a veterinarian.

al Queda publishes web magazine

CNN.com has this article discussing the publication of a second online issue of "Inspire" magazine. According to the article, the magazine, published in English, has articles featuring political opinion as well ones describing how to commit terrorist acts like bombings and shootings in crowds in a way to ensure media attention.

PBS series on God in America begins today

You can find details on this historical series that runs this weekon the network's web site

O'Connell says she is not a witch

President Barack Obama is not the only political figure having to state which religions he/she does not have.

Saturday Night LIve last night lampooned an ad by Delaware Republican candidate Christine O'Connell, in which the candidate opens with the words "I am not a witch." Watch the coverage on Hulu

or

see the real ad here.

Might be of interest in class

A new Pew study shows Americans are ignorant about religion. CNN has an interactive quiz to test yourself.

An NPR story about religion, marriage and

Deborah Amos, one of NPR's most seasoned reporters in the Middle East, has this story about a "Sex and the City" kind of blog for Egyptians about the desire to get married, but how family pressure and the lack of financial resources often stymies matrimony.

The story does not answer what kind of following the writer, Ghada Abdul-Aal, has. But now a television sitcom has debuted based on the blog. The story is part of a series about challenges facing Arab youth.

Mosque gets approval at Ground Zero

I saw a commentary/wrap up on Good Morning America this morning about the decision to allow the building of a mosque at the Ground Zero site in New York City. It was interesting to watch ABC's George Stephanopoulos talking about this issue with a Fox News contributer (announced as such) who focused in the story on the fairness of the brand new mosque being approved when a Greek Orthodox congregation that was destroyed in 2001 has not been allowed to rebuild.

The story has gotten a lot attraction in the blogosphere, both from neutral and less neutral sources, but I thought it was interesting to compare both networks' coverage.

ABC here.


Fox here.