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Irritated over an episode of the already controversial TLC cable TV reality program “All-American Muslim,” the animal advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is demanding equal time for canines. At issue is Islamic — or perhaps Arab — attitudes about dogs.  In a recent episode, newlywed Arab-American Shadia McDermott tells her new husband…

Three fourths of all Australians have a problem with gambling. Although the country only has 22 million people — fewer than the entire state of Texas — Aussies spend nearly $12 billion a year on poker machines alone. “Many Australians enjoy an occasional flutter,” says a government website. “However for some, gambling can be highly…

Faith and family are so tightly linked in American society that “even some of society’s least religious people find religion to be important in their private lives,” says researcher Elaine Howard Ecklund from Rice University. Despite their personal non-belief, reports the website Futurity, a surprising number of atheist scientist parents told Ecklund that they often…

If 30 years ago precocious little Drew Barrymore stole your heart in E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, then you are going to be delighted this Christmas with a dynamo of a 7-year-old actress, Maggie Elizabeth Jones. In what may be the surprise feel-good movie of the season, We Bought a Zoo, this delightful, 3-foot-10, Atlanta soccer player…

Ho, ho, ho, that’s him — the jolly ol’ elf himself at a Dallas intersection, where he startled motorists by pulling two passengers out of a crashed vehicle shortly before it exploded into flame. Then Santa stuck around to direct traffic around the flaming car. It turns out it wasn’t Santa himself, but one of…

You’ve seen the extraordinary paintings of Jesus’ life. They’re in bookstores and magazines. They’re all over the Internet. They’re the work of artist Liz Lemon Swindle. They’ve won worldwide acclaim – even compared to Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who refused to paint Jesus with halos or holier-than-thou poses.  Swindle paints a very human…

A bunch of friends in Redondo Beach, California, had a bright idea — why not put on their own “flash mob” Christmas pageant at the local Galleria shopping mall. Without any permission, they just showed up and began singing Christmas carols. And then Mary, Joseph and the Christ child showed up as they began their…

Across the globe, folks are Tebowing in exotic places. What is Tebowing? It’s “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different,” says sportswriter Lindsay H. Jones at the Denver Post. The inspiration, of course, is Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, formerly of the…

Billy Tucci, a “graphic novelist,” best known for soldiers, samurais and superheroes, has turned his attention to what he calls “the greatest superhero” in his newest work, writes James Davis in South Florida’s Sun Sentinel daily newspaper. A “graphic novel” might be called a “comic book” by some. However, this is neither Archie, Little Lulu nor Batman.…

Travis Air Force Base in California has decided it will not ban a nativity scene and menorah from a showcase of 24 Christmas displays along one of the base’s main thoroughfares — in spite of threats from the atheist Military Religious Freedom Foundation. That group insisted that only displays of Santa Claus, reindeer and snowmen…
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