The recent probe into alleged child abuse at a polygamous compound in West Texas started with an anonymous phone call about underage girls having sex with adult men.

The imprisoned Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints leader, Warren Jeffs, reportedly has dozens of wives and would grant and deny wives to his male followers depending on their perceived worthiness. Without multiple wives, he taught, they never could achieve salvation.

But Jeffs isn’t the first sect figure to come under legal scrutiny for sexual practices outsiders might consider un-usual, immoral or even abhorrent. In-deed, many new religious movements are distinguished not on-ly by unconventional beliefs, but also by the sexual proclivities of their male leaders.

All of which raises the question: Why do people join or remain members of a group that practices unusual sexual behaviors? And what’s more, what kind of sexual power do the leaders of these religious movements hold over their followers?

“Every group has its own dynamics and diversity,” said Catherine Wessinger of Loyala University in New Orleans, an expert in new religious movements.

“A leader can use sexual activity to diminish ties between followers and direct their affections and emotions. But the thing to remember is that no one has that charisma unless the people behind him or her believe that he or she has it.”

Often, the leader’s followers believe God or other divine beings communicate through the leader, something that can endow the leader’s sexual relations with a special holiness or sanctity, Wessinger said.

In the case of the Branch Davidians, sex with prophet David Koresh was seen as normal and desirable—even when it involved girls as young as 14. Similarly, in the Peoples Temple, whose members committed mass suicide in the Guyana jungle in 1978, sex with leader Jim Jones was sometimes a reward—for both men and women, married and unmarried.

Husbands in these fringe religious movements feel honored rather than angry when their wives are selected by the sect’s leader for sexual favors, said veteran religion writer Don Lattin, who’s written several books on cults, including Jesus Freaks, about an evangelical sect known as The Family.

“The husband goes along with it and is controlled by it because it is all linked with his eternal salvation. By sharing his wife he is getting closer to the central power—the guru or prophet,” Lattin said.

In the case of Jeffs’ FLDS church, his one-man power to arrange marriages between young girls and older men lent a sanctity to their union, scholars say.

Yet while groups like Jeffs’ may garner headlines, they’re neither new nor unusual. American history has seen the rise—and often the decline—of new religious movements, many with unusual sexual attitudes:

• In the late 1700s, the Shakers established a celibate community in upstate New York. They eventually died out due to lack of new members.

• The Oneida Community, a utopian commune established in the 1840s in upstate New York, held that sex with someone “spiritually higher” advanced one’s spirituality.

• Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, proclaimed polygamy a divinely revealed concept, and it remained so until the mainstream Mormon Church disavowed it in 1890. That initiated the rift that would lead to the founding of the FLDS church.

• David Berg, the charismatic founder of The Family, reinterpreted Jesus’ teachings on love as sanctifying multiple sexual partners, including underage girls and boys. The group renounced sex with minors in 1986.

Wessinger also links millennial movements—those that focus on a coming end of the world, like the FLDS sect—with unusual sexual attitudes. Such groups, she says, often enact relationships they believe will exist in the afterlife.

That’s what prompted members of Heaven’s Gate, a millennial sect that committed mass suicide in San Diego in 1997, to practice celibacy and male castration. They be-lieved there would be no sexual activity or relationships in their longed-for afterlife.

“I think it is absolutely connected because in a millennial movement, there is a belief that there is going to be an imminent transition to a collective salvation in which relationships will be completely transformed,” Wessinger said. “They are anticipating the way they think relationships will be after their collective salvation.”

Many spiritual experiences involve the body—Pentecostals speaking in tongues, fire-walking Hindus and Buddhists or even the bleeding wounds—stigmata—attributed to some Catholic mystics and saints. It isn’t such a leap, then, for new religious movements to marry the sexual with the spiritual.

“Intense religious experiences often involve the body,” Lattin said. “It is a spiritual ecstasy that can be like a sexual ecstasy. You have that physical experience of body which is very real and very integral to religious experience.”

Sarah Pike, a religious studies professor at California State University, Chico, says there may be something distinctly American about new religious movements and sex.

“I think it has something to do with the fact that from the very beginning, Americans have had this sense that they are in the process of creating a new society and new governance,” Pike said. “It seems there is a willingness to experiment.”

LEWISVILLE—For many couples, it’s like the seconds before a new year’s exciting beginning. For some, it’s more like the panic of watching a ticking bomb.

Newlywed Brooks Monroe insists counting down the days to his wedding by participating in Countdown to Marriage was time well-spent.

Monroe and his then-fiancée Lauren had been dating six years when they enrolled in the program at First Baptist Church of Lewisville, their home church.

“It was an awesome chance to invest in ourselves, and in our future, and in the future of our marriage. The topics were so applicable,” Monroe said.

Countdown to Marriage, a program designed by Byron and Carla Weathersbee of Legacy Family Ministries in Waco, prepares engaged couples for marriage through seven weeks of topical discussion of common marital issues.

The Weathersbees, both Baylor University alumni and members of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, founded Legacy Family Ministries in 1995 after working in family ministry 13 years.

“What we’re trying to do is use the family institution as not only the greatest evangelism tool, but also the greatest discipleship tool,” Byron Weathersbee explained.

The program for engaged couples grew naturally out of ministering to families as a whole, he said.

“We had folks who just needed premarital counseling, so we launched a class of five couples,” Weathersbee said. “We tried to find curriculum that would meet our needs and was interactive, that really got couples working through issues and talking.”

Over seven weeks, couples analyze each phrase of a traditional marriage vow to address relevant contemporary issues. For example, the phrase “for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer” brings up “money matters”—the third topic in Countdown to Marriage.

Countdown to Marriage also includes the topics, “God’s purpose for marriage,” “roles and responsibilities,” “in-laws” and “communication and conflict resolution.”

Couples meet as a group once a week for instruction and feedback about the designated subject. Limited participation keeps groups small and conversational.

Monroe said he enjoyed the group interaction.

Learning from others' struggles

“We could all learn from each other’s struggles,” he said.

“I think if it were smaller, we would have missed out on a lot, but it wasn’t so big that you didn’t have a chance to contribute to the group.”

In addition to group meetings, couples are assigned weekly tasks—some individual, some are joint assignments. Activities like Bible study, focused conversation, romantic dates or prayer help couples process and apply lessons learned. Spending structured time working through weekly topics helps couples prioritize their relationship in the midst of pre-wedding busyness.

“The time we spent preparing for the lessons, and the time we spent sitting down with the group, was the most valued and cherished part of the week,” Monroe recalled.

Associate Pastor Brian Dodridge, who helps lead Countdown sessions at First Baptist Church in Lewisville, said he wished he had had the program when he was preparing for marriage.

“They’re all the conversations married couples ought to have, and often have 10 to 15 years into the marriage, but we’re introducing them on the front end,” he explained.

Although the program is scripturally founded and teaches a Christian worldview, non-Christians also enroll. Many couples pray or read Scripture together for the first time while in Countdown to Marriage.

Some non-Christians attend 

Since the program provides thorough preparation for marriage, some non-Christians attend out of sheer practicality.

“The majority of folks look to get married in either a church or synagogue, and they look to the church for guidance and direction,” Weathersbee said.

“We’ve made it fun, we’ve made it interactive. It’s appealing to young couples who’re really desiring to know what they’re getting themselves into.”

The program at First Baptist Church in Lewisville also draws attendance from all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Countdown to Marriage has spread beyond the program’s base in Waco throughout Texas and Oklahoma. A condensed version of the seven-week curriculum also is available as a weekend retreat to facilitate those who live far from a program site.

“We’ve taken about 900 couples through this course and the weekender course, in and around Waco. We do a pretty good job of tracking those couples, and our last count we’ve had less than four percent who’d gotten a divorce,” Weathersbee said.

Monroe would recommend it to anyone preparing for marriage, he said.

“There’ve been times that we’ve wanted to go back and revisit those lessons. We do plan on it,” Monroe said.

“I felt so much more prepared and so much more ready, having gone through it … Although we’d talked about each one of those topics before … having someone lead us through it was better than the two of us stumbling though it alone.”

Texas has joined a growing number of states that waive or reduce the costs of marriage license fees to couples who complete premarital education courses. And the Baptist General Convention of Texas is launching an initiative to enlist churches as providers of the educational program.

Effective Sept. 1, a law passed last year by the Texas Legislature eliminates the marriage license fee for couples who complete the eight hours of approved premarital education. It also exempts them from the 72-hour waiting period between the time a license is issued and a wedding can occur legally.

The law stipulates premarital education courses must include instruction in conflict management, communication skills and the key components of a successful marriage.

The law specifically names ministers and faith-based organizations among the individuals and organizations authorized to provide the courses.

Promoting healthy families made good fiscal sense for the state, said Keith Lowry, who works in the family ministry area of the BGCT Bible study/discipleship office.

“Divorce and the cost of unmarried childbearing costs the United States more than $112 billion a year,” he said, citing a statistic from the Texas Healthy Marriage Initiative.

In recent years, other states have implemented practices similar to the new Texas law.

Florida led the way with its Marriage Preservation Act in 1998, followed by Oklahoma, Maryland, Minnesota and Tennessee.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has designated regional organizations to ensure free, skills-based marriage education is available throughout the state.

The BGCT and Dallas Baptist Association entered a partnership with one of those nonprofit providers, ANTHEM—the Alliance for North Texas Healthy Effective Marriages.

A free “launch and learn” luncheon for pastors is scheduled at 11:30 a.m., June 25, at the Building Baptist, 333 N. Washington in Dallas to introduce the initiative to ministers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

For more information, e-mail keith.lowry@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5206.

DALLAS—How should a congregation respond to an unmarried cohabitating couple’s request to join the church? Churches likely will face this and other tough questions as society’s definition of family continues to change.

“This isn’t the church our parents grew up in,” said Philip Washburn, pastor of Park Central Baptist Church in Dallas. “If we believe ‘come all who are weary and heavy-laden,’ we must love people, not turn them away. A lot of the couples (in nontraditional lifestyles) are couples who have grown up in the church.”

Washburn focuses on developing relationships first. Although no couple living together has yet sought to join Park Central, he is working with individuals in the community about the issue.

Michael Tutterow, pastor of Atlanta’s Wieuca Road Baptist Church, agreed churches must build relationships to help people first find faith and then to grow.

“We open our membership to anyone. … We start with where they are and help them,” he explained. “We take the stand of grace, something our entire staff shares. Trying to determine who’s at fault isn’t productive. We take the ‘now what’ approach. (Since) this has happened, now what?”

Wieuca Road concentrates on accepting individuals, regardless of the issues they face.

“Acceptance is not the same thing as condoning. But if you provide the acceptance, there is room to grow,” Tutterow said. “If you point fingers, people are more likely to walk away.

“I would rather err on the side of acceptance. … People grow with grace. I’ve never seen anyone grow under legalism. … Why would people want to go to a church that adds more burdens?”

The church accepts unmarried couples and tries to get them into groups that model healthy relationships.

Acceptance and biblical teaching 

Travis McIntosh, pastor of Beverly Park Baptist Church in Seattle, stressed that people must be made aware of biblical teaching and some moral standards must be met before individuals are accepted for church membership.

When an unmarried cohabitating couple who had been attending the church inquired about joining, McIntosh emphasized how glad the congregation was with their presence. However, they could not join unless they married or changed their living arrangements.

Although Park Central would love and nurture an unmarried couple, likely the pair would not be able to join until they settled the cohabitation issue.

“We can’t back down on who we are,” Washburn explained. “But we’ve got to love them with the love that is Christ-based, not human-based.”

Unmarried couples who live together do not present the only challenge to churches. Divorce has been a growing part of American society for decades, and churches still struggle with issues divorce creates.

Wieuca Road has relied on counseling to assist couples headed to separation and divorce. This fall the church will begin using DivorceCare, a recovery support program that utilizes seminars and support groups.

McIntosh believes the church, particularly pastors, must be proactive to step in when they become aware of relationship problems.

“It’s the church’s responsibility to help the family stay together,” he said. “If the church lets them down in this area, how can it be trusted in other areas?”

What should churches do when husband and wife divorce and both want to remain members of the same church? People develop strong connections within their congregations, either through family ties or friendships, and often are reluctant to walk away from that support.

Former spouses in the same church 

Usually, one spouse chooses to leave. But when both decide to stay, larger churches, such as Wieuca Road, have the advantage of size to mitigate possible tension between the former spouses.

A small- to medium-sized church may have to intervene. Washburn generally works through the congregation’s deacons to be the buffer between the couple, particularly when former spouses are involved in the same ministries.

“A church needs more than just the pastor to work with the situation,” he said.

Tension can increase when both former spouses remain in a congregation, especially in a small church. McIntosh prefers that one finds another church home.

“I would let the spouse at fault know he should find another church,” he said.

Walter Coplen, a family counselor with Coplen, Wright and Associates in Columbia, Mo., said churches must focus on relationship building and sensitivity when ministering to nontraditional couples, single parents and their children. Don’t be afraid to ask people what they need and how the church can help.

HARRISBURG, Pa.—Daneisha Dunbar was never so happy to see her children cry.

But there they were: 13-year-old Jheran, 10-year-old Aryn and 5-year-old Taryn, shedding tears and squealing with joy at the news that their mommy and daddy are getting married.

“All of their friends who had married parents had questions about why their mom and dad weren’t married,” said Dunbar, is marrying her longtime boyfriend, Aaron Yancey, this month. “They’ll never have to answer those questions again.”

Better yet, except for the rings they exchange, the wedding will be at no cost to the couple. Dunbar and Yancey will marry at Reclaim the Streets Ministries in Harrisburg, along with three other couples.

Love might be the primary reason those four couples—all of whom have stayed together since having children—decided to take the marital step. But it took a push from the church and Pastor William Jones Jr. to put the “do” in “I do.”

Jones, senior pastor of Reclaim the Streets Ministries, borrowed a concept that developed in New York—Marry Your Baby Daddy Day.

“We wanted to celebrate marriage in Harrisburg,” said Jones, who has been a minister for two decades. “We wanted a vehicle to push marriage in Harrisburg.”

Jones has partnered with another Harrisburg faith-based organization, Firm Foundation of Pennsylvania, and several businesses to provide the no-expense weddings.

There are catches:

• The cohabiting couples must be committed. The four Harrisburg couples have been together an average of eight years.

• Their children must be their own. There are 11 among the four couples.

• They must commit fully to marriage itself, not just the ceremony.

Only after a lengthy screening and counseling process did the couples get to hear the magic word—free.

“All of the couples were enthusiastic, possibly the women more so than the men,” Jones said. “Of course, one of the things that attracted them the most was the ‘all expenses paid’ part.”

The couples didn’t argue the point.

“We’ve been making plans,” said Jason Green, who has been with Lakeya Taylor for four years and has four children. “We just didn’t feel we could afford the kind of wedding we wanted to have.”

Jerry Scheib and Angel Baio, a couple who have been together eight years and have three children, echoed that sentiment.

“We’ve been a couple for a long time,” Baio said. “But we also felt that marriage would provide a better foundation for our children.”

Muslims affirm Saudi king’s interfaith effort. Hundreds of Muslim leaders worldwide have endorsed Saudi King Abdullah’s recent call for intensified interfaith dialogue in order to dampen global conflict and demonstrate Islam’s commitment to solving world problems. The declaration came at the close of a three-day conference in Islam’s holy city of Mecca to discuss Abdullah’s surprise announcement that he wants to launch a new dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews. The lengthy declaration affirmed dialogue as an Islamic value, and cited the need to refute those who promote “clash of civilization” theories and “claims that Islam is an enemy of contemporary civilization.”

Families feud over ‘Footprints.’ “Author Unknown” once asked Jesus why there was only one set of footprints in the sand during life’s most perilous moments. Now a federal court on Long Island is trying to decide just whose footprints those were. Basil Zangare of Shirley, N.Y., claims they belonged to his late mother, Mary Stevenson, and that she’s the author of the “Footprints in the Sand” poem. Zangare filed suit May 12 claiming his mother penned the words in the 1930s and registered them with the U.S. Copyright Office in 1984. Not so fast, said John Hughes, lawyer for Canadian evangelist Margaret Fishback Powers, one of the women named in Zangare’s suit. Hughes said Zangare waited too long to sue and, besides, the registration of a copyright doesn’t prove absolute authorship. Powers, who lives in Coquitlam, British Columbia, is the only one with a registered trademark for “Footprints” and “Footprints in the Sand,” he said. Carolyn Joyce Carty, the other woman named in Zangare’s suit, claims to have written the poem in 1963 when she was 6 years old and inspired by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The proof of who actually wrote the poem could actually be lost in the mail. In a probate settlement after Stevenson’s death in 1999, Hughes said, an alleged “original document” of her writing was lost in an overnight delivery.

Cal State reaches accord with Quaker teacher. The California State University system and a Quaker college instructor who balked at signing a state-required loyalty oath have reached an agreement that allows her to teach and attach a statement to the oath. Wendy Gonaver, 38, said the oath, with its promise to defend the United States and California constitutions against all enemies, contradicts her Quaker pacifist beliefs. Under the agreement, brokered by CSU and People for the American Way Foundation, Gonaver will be allowed to attach a statement to the oath stating that such compulsion violates her right to freedom of speech. “And, as a Quaker, in order to sign the oath in good conscience, I must also state that I do not promise to undertake to bear arms or otherwise engage in violence,” the attached statement continues. The state-run school system had objected to a previous statement Gonaver attached to the oath, believing it undermined the pledge, which is required of all state employees. Gonaver will teach two classes this fall at Cal State Fullerton.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Dramatic increases in food and gas prices are leaving some religious hunger-relief groups praying for relief.

Problems already were apparent in 2006, but U.S. churches now report increased difficulty getting meals to people who need them. Food distributors see a perfect storm—a huge jump in requests from new clients, decreased donations and a thinning food supply.

Hunger activists are experiencing severe challenges in at least two areas—a new farm bill that they say is “inadequate” to meet current needs, and a drop in food supplies for local food pantries and soup kitchens.

David Beckmann, president of the ecumenical anti-hunger group Bread for the World, called the nearly $300 billion farm bill that cleared Congress in mid-May only “half a loaf.”

The farm bill saw heavy lobbying by Catholic Charities, the Episcopal Public Policy Network, the Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs and others. While cheering the legislation’s increase in allocations to food stamps and food banks, advocates said the amount still fell short.

“It (was) inadequate even before the economic crisis hit, and certainly inadequate at this point,” said Candy Hill, a policy expert at Catholic Charities USA. Still, she said, “it’s progress that they didn’t slash it in half.”

Catholic Charities heads a network of more than 1,700 agencies nationwide, which report difficulties at all levels. At the top, groups like America’s Second Harvest, which provides food to 75 percent of the nation’s soup kitchens and food pantries, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has cut its donations of staples like milk, meat, and fresh fruits and vegetables by 10 percent over the last five years.

“That’s 200 million pounds of food, gone,” said Ross Fraser, spokesman at Second Harvest.

Food prices have gone up for a variety of reasons, including rising fuel costs, the diversion of corn to ethanol production and the related rise in commodities prices worldwide. In 2008, food prices are projected to increase at least 4 percent to 5 percent.

A sluggish economy impacts donations almost as much as the calendar—food donations are usually high during Thanksgiving and Christmas, not the summer.

“This is not a time when most people consider making food contributions,” said Jane Stenson, Catholic Charities USA’s director for human services.

When soup kitchens and pantries see donations slip, they seek more help from businesses and congregations. “But we can’t go back to the well too many times,” Stenson said.

Need is increasing 

Hunger relief activists said while donations are dropping, more and more people are looking for meals. Workers at Second Harvest agree: 99 percent of the hunger relief agencies they surveyed report demand up from last year.

Suzanne Edwards, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities in Jacksonville, Fla., said there has been nearly a 50 percent increase in requests this month alone.

She sees many more working poor and middle-class people coming in for meals, often for the first time.

“A lot of (food pantries) are reporting new families,” Stenson said. “They come in, and they are not sure what to ask for.”

One new sight—parents taking their kids for free meals during spring break.

With a low hourly wage and more of their income going for gas and other expenses, “they are using the food bank to stay afloat,” Stenson said.

In Washington, the Foggy Bottom Food Pantry at The United Church, located just blocks from the White House, has seen less and less food donated from manufacturers or grocery stores.

Volunteers filling the gap

Staffer George Madill said when Foggy Bottom runs out of supplies, volunteers grab their checkbooks and go shopping to fill in the gap. He has to buy products at retail or close to retail prices, which “has increased our costs dramatically.” Food banks and pantries spend an estimated $130 million a year buying food.

A church-run food pantry in Jacksonville, Fla., used to receive frequent deliveries by truck from Miami. As gas prices began creeping toward $4 a gallon, the drivers said they couldn’t afford to drop off the supplies. The solution was an expensive one for a non-profit: Give the drivers $600 for gas.

Despite the setbacks, hunger advocates said they remain determined to demand change in the way the government feeds its hungry. After all, a spokeswoman from Catholic Charities said: “Poor people don’t have lobbyists. They have us.”

Christians accused of hate crime for witnessing. A Muslim community police officer accused two Christian preachers from the United States of a hate crime after they handed out evangelical tracts in a predominantly Muslim area in England. Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham complained to police in Birmingham that Police Constable Support Officer Naeem Nagutheney stopped them in a Muslim neighborhood, told them they could not preach there and accused them of committing a hate crime by trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. Birmingham police authorities said the officer “has been offered guidance about what constitutes a hate crime and advice on communications style,” but they insisted he had acted “with the best of intentions.”

Evangelical scientist leaves genome institute. Francis Collins, who helped decode human DNA and build bridges between scientists and religious believers, will resign as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, effective Aug. 1. Collins, an evangelical Christian, has headed the National Institutes of Health-affiliated center since 1993. Collins, 58, accomplished much in the field of genetic research, from mapping human DNA, which he called “the book of human life,” to identifying genetic risk factors for diabetes and other diseases. Collins’ best-selling 2006 book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, was credited with forging common ground between evangelical Christians and scientists.

British clerk files suit over gay partnerships flap. A Christian government clerk in Britain has taken her town hall bosses to court for threatening to fire her because she refused to register civil partnerships for same-sex couples. Lillian Ladele says she was bullied by officials at London’s Islington Council after she told them she objected on religious grounds to same-sex civil partnerships. In testimony before an employment tribunal in London, Ladele likened forcing her to preside over such ceremonies to force-feeding a Muslim “unclean” food. Ladele has registered births, deaths and marriages at the town hall 16 years and had been allowed unofficially to opt out of civil partnership rites. But that changed with the British government’s introduction of the Statistics and Registration Act, which removed the opt-out option last December and made her subject to local council orders—including registering gay and lesbian civil partnerships.

Where’s the beef? Not in coach class. British Airways has taken beef off the menu for thousands of economy class passengers on long-haul flights due to concerns it might offend Hindus. Britain’s flagship airline announced in-flight choices now are restricted to fish or chicken dishes, and beef is no longer an option, at least for this summer. British Airways’ second-largest long-haul market is to India, where Hindus, who make up the majority population, shun beef because of their religious beliefs. Economy-class passengers will be given the choice of a fish pie or chicken option. However, in the airline’s business and first-class cabins, it will be business—and beef—as usual.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Lot’s wife and daughters. Two thieves crucified with Jesus. Three Wise Men. They’re all iconic figures from the Bible, yet they all have one thing in common. Officially, they have no names.

The Bible is riddled with famous or infamous people who went nameless—in some cases forever, and in others for decades or centuries after their stories were recorded.

How and why they were eventually named, and why they initially went nameless, are the types of questions that intrigue scholars. And while anonymity often is equated with unimportance or insignificance, some scholars have challenged that assumption.

Adele Reinhartz, professor of religious studies at the University of Ottawa, is the author of Why Ask My Name? Anonymity and Identity in Biblical Narrative. While some anonymous biblical figures simply aren’t that important, she cited several times when an unnamed person is essential to the story.

The unnamed often are described by their social role—someone’s wife, daughter or servant—so looking at how they fulfill or subvert their social role is key, Reinhartz said.

Take Lot’s wife and daughters. To protect visiting angels, Lot offers up his daughters to the rapacious Sodomites. Later, when God ushers Lot’s family to safety, his wife disobeys and looks back at the doomed city and becomes history’s most famous pillar of salt.

Reinhartz said the anonymity of Lot’s wife underscores her powerlessness and silence. When Lot offers his daughters to the mob, the question arises: Where is the mother to protect them? While unnamed in the Scriptures, she is sometimes known as Ado.

So what’s in a name? William Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but for biblical figures, a name—or no name—can mean a lot.

Cleveland Evans, psychology professor at Nebraska’s Bellevue University, is a name specialist, and he said names are important because they are the anchor of one’s identity from childhood.

“Personal names are one of the few cultural universals,” he said. “There isn’t any culture in the world that doesn’t have specific designations for specific people.”

What’s more, having a name makes someone in a story more real.

“Somebody who is completely nameless is somebody who doesn’t seem quite human,” Evans said.

Gender plays a role

In the Bible, gender plays a large role in who is unnamed. Michael Coogan, professor of religious studies at Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass., edited The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Women more frequently go unnamed, reflecting the patriarchal culture in which the Bible was produced, he said.

Karla Bohmbach, religion professor at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., said women represent no more than 8 percent of all the named people in the Bible.

“The cultural context that gave rise to the Bible is very male oriented. So, it’s not only that the culture more highly values males and gives them most of the authority and leadership, but also the text itself was largely authored by men, and so they’re naturally going to focus on themselves,” Bohmbach said.

The power of naming starts at the very beginning of the Bible. God named the heavens and the earth. Adam was given the power to name all the animals—and his wife. “Naming denotes a sort of authority over that person,” Bohmbach said.

In post-biblical texts, starting around 200 B.C. and going all the way through the 13th century, Jewish rabbis and others bestowed names on the nameless. Assigning names to previously anonymous biblical figures was part of a broader tradition of enriching and explaining biblical stories, Bohmbach said.

Josephus lent a hand

Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian who wrote Antiquities of the Jews, also was a source for many of the names. “The anonymity was noticed and kind of bothersome to people from quite an early point,” Reinhartz said.

People started giving names to the nameless using a variety of tools, from oral tradition to borrowing from place names. Sometimes, Reinhartz said, an unnamed person would be matched with a named person elsewhere, with the idea that there should be a story for every name, and a name for every story.

Sometimes name assignments were purely random and inconsistent. The magi who visited Jesus in Bethlehem were given the names Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar—or Hor, Basanater and Karsudan, depending on the source. Noah’s wife, meanwhile, has more than 100 different names, according to The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. One of the most common is Naamah.

While modern readers may interpret the assigning of names to people centuries later as pure fiction, Bohmbach said post-biblical authors no doubt felt they were being faithful.

“The line that we draw between truth and fiction I do not think was as strongly drawn for many ancient people,” Bohmbach said.

Reworking historical figures in literary fiction is common, said Don L.F. Nilsen, English linguistics professor at Arizona State University and co-president of the American Name Society.

“People’s need to name people after the fact in post-biblical texts is part of the human need for narrative, even in a fictional way,” he said. “When we hear the names of Richard III, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar or Mark Anthony, we are more likely to think of Shakespeare’s rendition of these people than of the actual historical accounts.”

Ultimately, multiple interpretations and names for unnamed biblical figures speak to the human need for narrative and finding meaning.

“That’s what we really learn from these texts—the power of narrative and the drive to create it, to transmit it, to think about it, to use it as a way of understanding spiritual truth,” said Reinhartz.

MOBILE, Ala. (RNS)—The messages are simple enough. Some include a prayer. Others offer stories or pictures. Then, slipped into the cyber-epistle, the reader comes across the kicker: If you love God and/or are not ashamed of your religious beliefs, forward this e-mail to a particular number of people.

“Sometimes, they are genuine witnessing tools, and some of them have a very good, theologically sound, powerful message,” said Doug Wilson, assistant professor of Christian studies at the University of Mobile, Ala. But others, he said, lack biblical perspective.

“I believe in sharing our faith and doing it openly,” Wilson said. But, he added, he doesn’t know that forwarding e-mails is an effective method.

Modern technology allows the messages to circulate far and wide, but religious chain mail is hardly a new phenomenon. In her book Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, author Christine Wicker noted the popularity of a chain letter circulated in the early 18th century. The missive, “supposedly written by Jesus, promised that those who carried it could not be damaged by guns or swords, but anyone who did not copy and pass it on would be cursed by the Christian church,” Wicker writes.

Although people inclined to circulate such letters might consider their actions more hallowed than hoodoo, the idea that a blessing is the result of human action is a magical one, according to Wicker, former religion reporter for the Dallas Morning News.

“Religion tends toward supplication, whereas magic sets forces into operation, commands, and de-mands,” she explains in Not in Kansas Anymore. “It relies on the power of objects, of symbols, of numbers, of words and of human will. It empowers human experience over doctrine. Religious people wait on God; magical people push.”

By forwarding messages, senders may be hoping for a particular result. But Wicker said such actions may be a way of witnessing and spreading blessings.

Wilson said his decision to share an e-mail “has everything to do with the content, not the blessing or cursing that may be in that tagline.”

Furthermore, since Wilson doesn’t want to be recipient of numerous forwards, he rarely passes along such e-mails, and if he does so, it’s not necessarily to the number of people stipulated in the messages.

“God’s blessing comes from obedience to him and to his word,” Wilson said, not from the receipt and transmission of e-mail.

While Wilson has found some of the e-mails meaningful, Ray Russell of Mobile said the messages rub him the wrong way.

For one thing, Russell said, he has a problem with questioning someone’s love of God. The messages, in Russell’s view, also trivialize God. “Like God is sitting there with a pager,” he said.

Russell, who has his e-mail forwarded to his Blackberry, said the message that really bugged him was one that buzzed him about 2 a.m.

“I texted back,” said Russell, who’s on the waiting list for a heart transplant and was not feeling well when the message arrived. “I think this is very inappropriate to play with God this way.”

While Philip Chance, pastor of Dauphin Island (Ala.) United Methodist Church, said he typically sees the e-mails as spam, he doesn’t think they’re dangerous.

“I just think it’s bad theology,” he said. “It’s not what I understand the Scripture to promise.”

It can be difficult to hear God’s word in today’s media-saturated culture of iPods, YouTube, satellite radio, and DirecTV with over 500 channels and on-demand movies, two culture observers at Houston Baptist University conclude.

“We are shaped by popular culture far more than we think—and not just the young people,” said Louis Markos, professor of English at the university and a C.S. Lewis scholar.

 “Hollywood has taught us what love and marriage mean—or don’t mean—what things we should value and what things we should not value, and what it means to be successful. We are also more influenced than we think by the whole celebrity culture. Still, popular culture can be good when it presses Christians to think outside of the box and to identify those deeper longings that we all yearn for.”

Jon Suter, a professor who teaches American popular culture and science fiction as well as other literature courses in the graduate program at HBU, also commented on the duality of popular culture.

“The popular culture contains much that is bad, even toxic,” Suter said, “but there is also much that is good and worthwhile.”

Suter and Markos agree it can be difficult for Christians to determine what is worth watching or listening to and what is not.

“The challenge for the modern Christian is that it is difficult to recognize which is which,” Suter said.

Good examples are out there, however. “I think one Christian writer and speaker who has done a fine job using popular culture to tell the sacred narrative of the Bible is John Eldredge,” Markos said.

So, is anything good coming up for the summer season?

“The most exciting film of the summer promises to be Prince Caspian,” Markos said. “I only hope it will be as faithful to the book as the film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  If it is faithful, we will discover what it means to live in a post-Christian culture in which the old stories have been turned into mere myths.”

Markos hopes the character of Prince Caspian will become “a positive kind of pop icon for young people who yearn for a revival of true courage, beauty and chivalry.”

NEW YORK (RNS)—C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia book series is so revered by Christian readers, adapting the books into film becomes a delicate tightrope. Changes risk alienating fans, but what works in the books doesn’t always translate well to the big screen.

Walden Media and Disney recently released The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the sequel to the wildly successful 2005 movie, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The filmmakers faced the challenge of turning a beloved book with a slow plot into a modern movie, but also one that retains the story’s spiritual messages.

“The underlying messages are so important and so vital to the story,” said Douglas Gresham, Lewis’ stepson and co-producer of the new film. “Which are the return to faith, truth, justice, honesty, honor, glory, personal commitment, personal responsibility. Also, the message (that) no matter how far away we stray, there’s only one way back.”

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe told the story of four Pevensie siblings who enter Narnia through an old wardrobe and defeat the tyrannical White Witch. They are aided by the great lion Aslan, but only after he submits himself to be killed in the place of turncoat Edmund Pevensie.

The book is widely regarded as a retelling of Lewis’ Christian faith, with Aslan shining as a golden Christ figure who returns after death.

In Prince Caspian, the children return to Narnia. Although they are only a year older, 1,300 years have passed in their former kingdom. The evil interloper Miraz has stolen the throne from Prince Caspian and forced the true Narnians into hiding.

Aslan has not been seen in centuries. Each character in the movie faces the same crisis: They long to see Aslan, but he remains elusive.

William Moseley, who plays Peter Pevensie, sees the search for Aslan as a metaphor for faith.

“When you talk about seeing, I think it’s more believing,” he said. “You believe, and then you see. Aslan represents God. People say, ‘If God’s there, why can’t I see him?’ Well, because you’re not believing.”

The movie format necessitated some changes to the book’s storyline.

“Essentially, the book is a long walk followed by a short battle,” said Andrew Adamson, the film’s director and producer. He rearranged the timeline to put more action at the beginning and expanded the battle scene.

He also had to leave out some beloved scenes and characters. However, such sacrifices allow more room to fully explore such characters as Reepicheep the valiant mouse, and Trufflehunter the faithful badger, both developed using computer-generated imagery.

The film version also delves more deeply into the heart of Peter. His inability to see Aslan when his sister Lucy does—a key part of the book—is expanded into an inner struggle between his trust in Aslan and an ego-driven desire to prove himself.

Caspian, played by Ben Barnes, has a similar struggle—his desire for revenge against his evil uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) nearly overwhelms his desire to serve Aslan purely in the cause of freedom.

Aslan roars in the latest Narnia film, Prince Caspian.

Adamson also updated the movie for 21st century mores. To make it more inclusive, he added female dwarves, child-aged fawns and an “Afro-centaur” (Cornell John) as Glenstorm, the noble half-man, half-horse. In addition, the Pevensie sisters, Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), join the battle, which they avoid in the book.

For Adamson, it was an obvious choice to allow women an active role in the fight.

Referring to the gift of bow and arrow that Susan received in the first movie, Adamson joked, “If she’s just going to make sandwiches, then give her a plate and a knife.”

Adamson made his case for the changes to Gresham by arguing that Lewis’ female characters become stronger as the book series progresses —something he attributes to Lewis’ real-life romance with Gresham’s mother, Joy Davidman.

This is the last of Narnia for Moseley and Popplewell, whose characters do not return in later books.

“I was sad about that,” Popplewell said, “but I’m excited to do new things.”

Still, they’ve taken home some lessons from their time in Narnia.

“Peter learned leadership is about serving other people and not serving yourself,” Moseley said. “Peter had to learn to reinstate his trust in Aslan.”