It's been a whirlwind week here in Washington, with panel discussions and lectures running continuously from early morning until late at night. The Religion Newswriters Association packs a lot into your day, and it's understood that you don't come here to just hang out and socialize, but to gather as much helpful information as possible in a relatively short period of time.

Here are a few brief items of interest:

I am sitting in a conference at the moment on "sourcing Islam the new way." The speaker, Shaheed Amanullah, is the creator of the website altmuslim.com. At first glance, it seems to be a very practical site that offers real-life inside information on American Muslims.

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Earlier today, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington spoke on the challenges of Catholic education and a statistician from Georgetown's CARA reviewed the data on American Catholic schools over the years.

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Last night we toured the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the Americas and one of the 10 largest churches in the world. It is the shrine where Pope Benedict XVI met with American bishops during his visit to the U.S.
An interesting artifact on display in this magnificent church: A page torn from the guest book that Pope Benedict signed, listing his address as "Vatican City."
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Among yesterday's presentations was a panel discussion on atheism and secular humanism. I do think that these groups are misunderstood. People can be moral and good citizens, concerned for the betterment of society, without believing in God. One speaker said he believes the United States is a secular humanist nation -- citing separation of church and state, and valuing the dignity of the individual.
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Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ and Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas held an entertaining debate on religion and presidential candidates. Sekulow is an expert on the First Amendment while Jeffress is basically a fundamentalist pastor.
Sekulow said a candidate's religion does impact his decisionmaking but said it's more important where a candidate stands on the issues than what his personal beliefs may be. He gave as an example Jimmy Carter being a born-again Christian and a Democrat who supported Roe v. Wade, while Mitt Romney is a Mormon and a Republican who is staunchly pro-life.
Jeffress repeatedly called Mormonism a "cult" and a "false religion" and said he could never support a candidate who represents such a group because it would endanger people's eternal destiny.
It got pretty crazy with these two strong personalities and a roomful of journalists.
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I went to a preview screening of "Fireproof," a new movie coming out Sept. 26 starring Kirk Cameron. It was made by the Kendrick brothers, two pastors from Albany, Ga., who got started in filmmaking with a $20,000 movie called "Flywheel," which led to a larger project, "Facing the Giants," made for $100,000 in 2006.
The brothers had a $500,000 budget for "Fireproof" and it really is a quality movie that is unapologetically evangelical and yet not cheesy or amateurish. It's about a couple who are headed for divorce but the husband, a firefighter played by Cameron, has a change of heart and tries to salvage the marriage. His wife is reluctant at first but not surprisingly the movie has a happy ending.
Some friends of mine went and sat close to the exit with the idea that they could slip out if the movie was boring. They ended up staying for the whole thing.
Writer Stephen Kendrick was there to answer questions and said they don't make movies for awards or critics but to change lives.
This is one of the best Christian movies ever made, with a good story, some humor, and quality production.
Everybody says "The Passion of The Christ" opened the door for Hollywood to produce more Christian films. It will be interesting to see how well "Fireproof" does in theaters -- I think it will be a test of whether there really is a market for high-quality, family-friendly original Christian movies.

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September 20, 2008
Washington, D.C.