Passion Actor Caviezel Turns Down Big Bucks

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 30 — Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, has turned down offers to do a series of television commercials because he believes they would conflict with his Catholic beliefs.

One of the offers, the total of which would earn the 35-year-old approximately $75 million, was for a T-shirt company's line of “Heavenly” apparel, the Associated Press reported.

“I think if I had given way on just one scheme, I would have been tempted to do more,” Caviezel said. “It would have been the easiest thing in the world to make that kind of money quickly. That sum would secure your future, but I would never be able to forgive myself.”

“I could see the humor in it,” he said of the “Heavenly” T-shirt offer, “but I think I would have upset a lot of people who got something special from the film.”

Blacks Prove Unique Allies Against Same-Sex Marriage

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 27 — More than two dozen leaders representing more than 28 denominations of black churches at a May 26 meeting in Chicago vowed to gather up to 50,000 signatures in opposition to homosexual marriage.

The group of leaders also warned city and state politicians not to come to them for support unless they oppose same-sex unions, the Chicago Tribune reported. The newspaper noted that historically blacks’ political activity was more involved in economic issues rather than social issues. That, however, appears to be changing.

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life last fall showed that 62% of blacks have an unfavorable opinion of homosexuality, the paper noted, which was close to the 69% of white evangelicals who hold that view.

There is much disagreement among blacks on the issue, however. But Rev. Jesse Jackson said recently that comparisons between the civil-rights movement and homosexual “rights” are “a stretch” because “gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution.”

Poll: Catholic Voters Want Bishops Out of Politics

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS (Minnesota), May 29 — A majority of U.S. Catholics surveyed in a recent poll think bishops should not pressure political candidates by withholding Communion to those whose public positions conflict with Church teaching.

Two-thirds of those sur veyed in the May 27 Quinnipiac University poll disapproved of pressure by bishops, specifically that given to Sen. John Kerr y, D-Mass., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. Also, 87% said they wouldn't let the bishops’ stance affect their voting in the November election.

The poll surveyed 1,160 registered voters, including 307 Catholic voters. The margin of error for the Catholic voter sample was plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.

Any politician's religious beliefs, regardless of party or issue, according to two-thirds of Catholics and non-Catholics polled, should “be a private matter, not subject to public discussion.”