Who can resist Richard Dawkins in his underwear, rapping about atheism? Certainly not me.

That’s What I Call a Wedding

Just when you think the Chinese have become irredeemably hard-hearted about religion, they surprise you. The Ohel Rachel synagogue in Shanghai celebrated its first wedding in 60 years last month after intense negotiations between the government and Pan Guang, dean of the Center of Jewish Studies in that city. Even though Judaism is not recognized as a legal religion in China, the opening of trade, especially in Shanghai, has resulted in several thousand Jews being “stranded” there without any way to worship except in homes. As recently as 2004, Ohel Rachel was on the list of the 100 most endangered sites in the world, and it only survived at all after 1949 because it was useful for storage and as an auditorium. It’s still not clear whether the government will allow actual services there, but I like the Hebrew sign that Associated Press reporter Cara Anna found inside, one of the few vestiges of the original decoration still in place. “Be aware,” the sign reads, “in front of whom you’re standing.” If I were a Communist bureaucrat, that would scare the crap out of me.

Yes, It’s the First Televangelist Thriller!

Sometimes the news release is so good, I can’t really improve on it. From the official description of the new Christian thriller Forsaken by James David Jordan: “A unique love story wrapped in an action thriller, Forsaken is the first of a two-book series featuring Taylor Pasbury, a beautiful but troubled former Secret Service agent hired by the world’s most famous televangelist after he receives terrorist threats. Even as a high school kid, Taylor Pasbury knew that she was not like most other girls. Raised by a father who was a retired Special Forces officer, she grew up knowing how to camp, fish, shoot, and most of all, take care of herself. As a young adult she opens her own security agency following a controversial stint as the nation’s most celebrated Secret Service agent. When Simon Mason, the best known Christian on the planet, receives threats from Muslim terrorists, he hires Taylor to take charge of his security. Though Taylor is thrilled to receive the high-profile assignment, she has no idea that Simon already knows more about her than she could possibly imagine. Before Taylor’s first day on the job is over, the terrorists strike, making a nightmarish demand that requires Simon to choose between the two most important things in his life. Drawing on all of her hard-knock toughness and training, Taylor must face deadly extremists and a dark past as she fights to save Simon and his daughter. Along the way, she discovers that she is not the only one who has done things she would like to forget—and she is not the only one who understands that some things are more important than living.” I’ll bet the sex scenes are amazing.

Philatelist Licked

Our church-treasurer- of-the-week is Derek Klein, who embezzled $140,000 from St. Peter’s Church in Ridlington and St. Andrew’s Church in Bacton, both in Norfolk, England, then spent the money on gambling and—this is a new one for us—stamp collecting. He has a stamp collection weighing three tons that was seized by Judge Peter Jacobs of Norwich Crown Court during the 16 months Klein was serving in prison. Now that he’s free, he claims he can pay back all the money by selling his stamp collection—which includes a first day cover marking the silver jubilee of George V—in lots on Ebay. At first Judge Jacobs was skeptical and wanted to just seize the whole collection, especially since Klein had proven himself to be a liar of remarkable agility, but then he decided to give the guy five months to try, warning him that if he attempts to hide any of the proceeds, he’ll return to the pokey for a long long time. We ask again: what is it about church treasury money that proves so irresistible to nerds?

Pity the Animals

If we can believe our colleagues at the Moriel Ministries, the Justice Department was scrambling around prior to the Pope’s visit to make sure the pontiff didn’t get served with any legal summonses while he was here. (He has diplomatic immunity as a head of state.) Obviously there are a lot of victims of abuse who would like to haul his holy ass into court. Oh wait, you probably think we’re talking about the church scandals of the past six years. We were talking about the documentation proving “that no fewer than three popes knew of both widespread pedophilia and sex with animals by members of its clergy as early as 1960, and allowed it to continue, instructing the Roman Catholic hierarchy to protect sex criminal nuns and priests.” How do we get on these press-release lists in the first place? Actually this sounds like one for PETA.