A few days ago my comment spam filters were causing valid comments to be rejected. Today a friend emailed me to let me know that when he attempted to comment he received a message about being logged in as “.” and an error message indicating that a user name and email needed to be supplied. The cause of the problem was a blank wordpress user account for this blog. Everything should be fixed now.

So Disney is marketing a film based on Chronicles of Narnia. Since Lewis’ books have been much loved by many Christians Disney has hired several Christian marketing firms to ensure you are buttered up and ready for the film’s release.

My summary: The Magical Kingdom and (sadly)Christian marketers working together to make money off of you (and me because I’ll probably go see it for my once a year trip to the movie theater).

Check out this article in the New York Times about the growing number of evangelicals attending Ivy League schools.

Also spend a minute or two viewing this slideshow with audio from the founder of the Christian Union (the Christian group mentioned in the article referenced above.)

I just received an email from a reader who said they attempted to leave a comment here but was redirected to the FBI’s website. I had increased the comment spam protection for this blog awhile back and it appears that it may be too restrictive. I apologize to any who attempted to leave comments and were unable to. Please email me at blogger at thewentzels dot org if the problem persists.

No doubt you are aware of the controversey surrounding the recent Newsweek situation. The NY Times is also reporting on a new report of prisoner abuse at a detention center in Afghanistan. The Times also has an article in which it is said that abuse at Guantanamo has defined the U.S. for Muslims.

Many are discussing the political ramifications of the US military’s abusive treatment of prisoners suspected of terrorism, but I’ve been wondering how things like this will affect the work of American Christian missionaries both now and in years to come. It seems to me that it would be extremely difficult for Muslims in the Middle East not to judge American missionaries based on what they have read and heard in the news about the American military. American missionaries who bring the Gospel to predominantly Muslim countries, for example, already face extreme opposition. Now it seems that another stumbling block is being place before those whom they are seeking to reach. Why would a Muslim want to hear about the American’s God when all they know of Americans is that they torture Muslims in the name of a war on terror?

I really do wonder what the future of American missions will be.