My Epic Journey

AP News Reports 

A jail guard has been suspended after allegedly thumping an inmate with a Bible.

James Lee Sheppard, 56, has been charged with two gross misdemeanors for allegedly swatting a Blue Earth County Jail inmate with the book, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against steel bars on Feb. 8, according to the criminal complaint.

A video shows a guard entering the cell of inmate Jeremy Hansen, 26. The guard then takes Hansen’s Bible and strikes him in the side of the face with the book. The two exchange words as the guard walks away, said Mankato Police Officer Allen Schmidt who watched the video.

The rest of the confrontation was not captured on video because of an object obstructing the camera. But the complaint states that Sheppard walked back toward Hansen, grabbed him and pushed him into the cell bars.

Dennis McCoy, Blue Earth County administrator, said Sheppard was the first to report the confrontation. “He knew he violated policy and, to his credit, he turned himself in,” McCoy said.

Sheppard declined to comment to The Associated Press. He referred calls to St. Paul attorney Brent LaSalle, who said Thursday that he had not been retained by Sheppard and so couldn’t speak on the guard’s behalf.

Sheppard, who was not jailed, is on leave pending further investigation.

He is scheduled to appear in Brown County court April 26 on charges of mistreatment of an inmate and misconduct by a public officer.

Jesus tomb film scholars backtrack

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Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST

Apr. 11, 2007

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Several prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth, a new study on the fallout from the popular documentary shows.

The dramatic clarifications, compiled by epigrapher Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem in a paper titled “Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support,” come two months after the screening of The Lost Tomb of Christ that attracted widespread public interest, despite the concomitant scholarly ridicule.

The film, made by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and Emmy-winning Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, prompted major criticism from both a leading Israeli archeologist involved in the original dig at the site as well as Christian leaders, who were angered over the documentary’s contradictions of main tenets of Christianity.

But now, even some of the scholars who were interviewed for and appeared in the film are questioning some of its basic claims. (more…)

I am a subscriber to the magazine Rolling Stone.  It allows me access into the media world of my teenagers.

I was shocked at the cover this issue, but most shocking was an article found on page 50 entitled, Teenage Holy War.  The article attacks a very popular youth movement/conference called Teen Mania.  I would explain Rolling Stone’s take on this “radical” youth movement.  But I want you to read for yourself why they call BattleCry and Teen Mania a Youth “Jihad”

You can read the article by clicking on the link below:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/14021621/teenage_holy_war