A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to biblical values.

“Christians should stand up and speak out against this barbaric practice which horrendously abuses God’s creatures,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a January 24 statement.

Concern about cockfighting is focused on the state of South Carolina, where critics of the practice are trying to strengthen the state’s laws against it. Though cockfighting is illegal in all 50 U.S. states, it remains a misdemeanor in 11 of them, including South Carolina.

The Humane Society of the United States describes cockfighting as “a lucrative crime, with gambling winnings offsetting even the maximum misdemeanor fines,” and is working with such groups as the South Carolina-based Palmetto Family Council, a Christian advocacy group with ties to national pro-family Christian organizations, to toughen legislation against what some describe as a “blood-sport.”

Oran Smith, the Palmetto Family Council’s executive director, said that South Carolina is increasingly attracting people interested in watching cockfighting and betting on the outcome.

“As a matter of state pride, we must strengthen our laws now,” he said. Smith’s organization has produced a video that has drawn praise from the Humane Society for its strong stance against cockfighting.

The video argues that cockfighting is antithetical to biblical principles, citing Genesis 9:9-10, in which God speaks of establishing a covenant with both humans and animals. “Wonton cruelty toward animals is frankly unbiblical and unChristian,” Smith says in the video, which can be seen at www.youtube.com/palmettofamily.

In the video, Land says humans are called to “respect every living thing…Cockfighting is a pornography of violence. People who watch it are going to be brutalized by it.”

“Religious leaders had a founding role in the humane movement in the 19th century. Today in the 21st century, they remind us of our solemn responsibilities to other creatures,” said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society, praising the work of Christian leaders for working against cockfighting.

“Their voices can help guide the nation toward better decision-making and behavior when it comes to our treatment of animals.”

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When America’s first ordained missionaries sailed from here to India 200 years ago, they kicked off a movement to spread the faith and created America’s most potent export: Christianity.

That’s the message that will reverberate across nine Judson 200 commemorative events, running Feb. 5-20 in and around Salem. Speakers — evangelicals, mainline Protestants and scholars — will recall how the course of history changed with Adoniram Judson and four other missionaries.

Religious liberals and conservatives, who both lay claim to Judson’s legacy, will hold separate events. One, on Feb. 6, will include the unveiling of a new name to reflect the recent merger of two evangelical mission societies, CrossGlobal Link and The Mission Exchange, representing some 35,000 missionaries.

But participants will embrace a shared heritage as exporters of American ideas and weigh its modern-day implications.

“The essential idea (in foreign missions) is that a person born in Pakistan is every bit as human and to be valued as much as a person born in North America or England,” said Rodney Petersen, executive director of the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of nine area theological schools.

“That was the message carried around the world.”

Judson’s 1812 departure with his wife, Ann Hasseltine, marked the start of a new era of American and Christian influence.

To support them, the first of many missionary-sending agencies was born: the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). Similar organizations soon took root, sending thousands of missionaries to all corners of the globe. By the mid-20th century, America was sending more missionaries than any other country.

America still sends the most: 127,000 of the 400,000 foreign missionaries sent in 2010 came from America, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christian at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which is based outside of Boston.

The Judsons left a giant mark. Denied admission to British India, they continued on to Burma (modern-day Myanmar), where they created a grammar system, translated the Bible into Burmese and won converts to the faith. Christian communities survive to this day in Myanmar; Judson Sunday is commemorated by Burmese churches every July.

Yet it was local Burmese, not missionaries, who most effectively spread Christianity among the villages, according to Todd Johnson, who directs the center at Gordon-Conwell. That history resonates today, he said, as mission agencies debate whether Western missionaries are still needed in developing nations.

“Some mission groups are saying there’s no reason missionaries should ever go (abroad from America anymore),” Johnson said. “They say you can support hundreds of indigenous missionaries for the same price as a single Western missionary. That argument has gained a lot of traction among donors and other people.”

Events kick off Feb. 5 at Tabernacle Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ congregation that was the site of the original commissioning. On hand will be officials representing the UCC’s Wider Church Ministries division, which traces its roots to the ABCFM.

The schedule reflects just how many strains of Protestantism claim the Judson heritage. The Judsons started out as Congregationalists, but they became Baptists en route to Asia. On Feb. 6, heads of the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Evangelical Alliance will be at Tabernacle. American Baptists, including Burmese pastors, will also lead other services.

Organizers plan to emphasize virtues associated with the early missionaries, such as courage and self-sacrifice for a higher purpose. Attendees can expect to hear challenges to follow in the Judsons’ footsteps, if not literally then at least spiritually.

Churches can begin by welcoming refugees and immigrant congregations, according to Maung Maung Htwe, pastor of Overseas Burmese Christian Fellowship, an American Baptist congregation in Allston, Mass.

“We’re still reluctant to receive those people as our brothers and sisters,” said Htwe, who will co-lead a worship service in Judson’s hometown of Malden, Mass. “We’re afraid our property will get damaged. (But) Judson gave us the example that without a sacrificial spirit, the gospel that we talk is nothing.”

Scholars, meanwhile, are recalling missionaries’ impact on American culture and foreign policy. Missionaries who went abroad to start schools and establish hospitals laid the groundwork for a modern America that sends billions abroad each year in U.S. foreign aid, Petersen said.

“It’s part of the American character to go out and help people,” said Clifford Putney, assistant professor of American religious history at Bentley University. “We go (out) saying we have all these great ideas and (people abroad) would be better off following them.”

Judson 200 ends with a Feb. 20 re-enactment of the Judsons’ launch from the port of Salem. More events marking the Judsons’ 1813 arrival in Burma will be scheduled for next year.

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Did you watch the December 8 elimination episode of the X Factor on Fox? I didn’t. I haven’t seen the show since it debuted thinking that it just isn’t for me. After watching the clip below, I’m sure of it.

Like the rest of America, I too am hooked on “reality TV,” but I’m sometimes I wonder why. So many shows are like seeing a terrible car accident where you’re hoping that nobody got hurt but are fascinated by the wreckage at the same time.

Reality competition shows, whether it be American Idol, The Bachelor or The Apprentice, all promise to provide the lucky winner a lifetime of bliss. You hear story after story of contestants who “gave up everything” to be on the show. Some quit their jobs and others spend their last penny on airfare to get to the auditions “knowing” that they will be one that receives the rose, the contract, the fame. Over and over again, countless poor souls delude themselves with misconceptions of their own talents and are shocked to find that they’ve been voted off the island. But what happened the other night on the X Factor is just plain puzzling.

At the end of the show, there were two contestants with the threat of going home. In one corner, there was Rachel Crow, a powerhouse of a singer and just 13 years old. In the other corner was the 20-year-old Marcus Canty. Unlike American Idol where “America” decides who wins, the four judges vote on who should be eliminated and “America” decides only if there is a tie. LA Reid chose Canty. Simon Cowell chose Crow. Paula Abdul chose Crow. Then all eyes were on Nicole.

While Nicole was totally distraught, Crow said from the stage, “Please don’t cry. It’s okay. I’m good with anything.” Nicole couldn’t make a choice, so left the vote to the public and Crow nodded in approval. In fact, just before the host gave the final decision, Crow looked totally smug knowing that her adoring fans would not let her down. Then the verdict was read, Canty would not be going home. The competition was now over for Crow who looked wild eyed and then fell to the stage in a tantrum. One writer for the Huffington Post described her actions as a “death cry.” Apparently she wasn’t “good with anything.”

Crow’s mother rushed to the stage to comfort the girl, taking a hold of her face saying, “Look at me. It’s going to be all right” to which Crow asked, “You promise?” It looks like Mrs. Crow has had to do this before.

While then the show showed footage of Crow’s “journey” on the show, the cameras panned back and forth from the crying girl to the crying Nicole being comforted by Paula.

Then the host asked Crow, “What’s been your highlight on the X Factor so far Rachel? You know we love you. Have you enjoyed yourself?” What kind of questions are those? The poor girl was bawling her head off and you ask her if she enjoyed herself?

What surprised me the most were Crow’s final comments: “I just…I love you so much everybody…for voting for me even though you didn’t. And thank you for giving me this because without you I am nothing. And I hope that this is not my ending. You know what? I know it’s not. And I will go so far. I promise you. And I love you.”

This is where I think there needs to be more of a reality check in reality programming. First of all, at least at that moment, Crow truly believed that she loved everybody in that room and everyone watching the show, which is impossible. Second, someone needs to pull her aside and tell that poor girl that she is something with or without adoring fans. The fans, the fame, the fortune do not make you into “something.” There can only be one winner, but if that isn’t you, then it doesn’t mean you are a loser.

Nicole never did recover nor was she able to give any words of encouragement to Crow, at least, not on the air. She probably felt that she “ruined” Crow’s life, which is also a lie. Yes, it would have been fantastic for Rachel to win the competition, but in the end, it is just a TV show. She is very talented. As long as she doesn’t wallow in her “defeat,” she will survive. Still, I wonder if the damage has already been done.

Originally posted at Examiner.com.

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If you want to prepare for Thanksgiving like a real Pilgrim this year, here’s what you should do: Cancel the plane reservations. Stop jotting down recipes. Leave the libations alone.

For the Pilgrims and Puritans, “thanksgiving” days were spontaneous and sober affairs.

When friends arrived from overseas, European Protestants defeated Catholics in battle, or a bumper crop was reaped, the Pilgrims dedicated a day to thanking divine Providence.

They would have considered it presumptuous to schedule a thanksgiving day in advance, said Francis Bremer, an emeritus

The Pilgrims’ days of thanksgiving were usually spent in church, singing psalms, listening to sermons and praying. Work and playful pastimes were forbidden. When God provided, the Pilgrims were serious about gratitude.

Despite their reputation as buckle-belted killjoys, the Puritans and Pilgrims knew how to have a good time. They brewed beer, feasted on fowl and enjoyed sex — all in moderation, of course.

That’s why some historians believe the 1621 celebration that’s sometimes dubbed the “First Thanksgiving,” was not actually a “thanksgiving” day at all. In fact, some historians even call it a “secular event.”

“The 1621 gathering in Plymouth was not a religious gathering but most likely a harvest celebration much like those the English had known in farming communities back home,” write Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac in their book, “1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving.”

The Pilgrims partied for almost a week in the fall of 1621, according to eyewitness accounts. They shot fowl, played games, feasted and entertained nearly 90 Native American neighbors with a gun, er, musket show.

The Pilgrims would never have thrown such a party on a proper day of thanksgiving, according to James W. Baker, a former senior historian at the Plimouth Plantation in Massachusetts.

“The very nature of a celebration, extending over several days or a week with secular ‘recreations’ and non-Christian guests,” Baker writes in the Encyclopedia of American Holidays and National Days, “is what pious Calvinists such as the Pilgrims would be first to protest had no place in any Christian holy day.”

But that doesn’t mean the “First Thanksgiving” was a secular celebration, argue some historians.

Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in the Netherlands, said the idea of a “thankless or secular harvest festival was unthinkable.”

“The Pilgrim leaders undeniably conceived of their lives in religious ways,” Bangs said.

Everything the Pilgrims and Puritans did was suffused with faith, Bremer agreed.

“Can we know for sure that they conceptualized it as a ‘thanksgiving’? Not in the way that we have it. But these are people who would have given thanks before every meal they had.”

The problem with defining the original 1621 celebration — besides the dearth of historical evidence — is the absence of a full-time minister among the Pilgrims, said Bremer. Religious rituals were not as formal as they would become when a pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived nearly a decade later.

In other words, the Pilgrims were winging it in 1621: Glad to be alive after a dangerous voyage, happy for a good harvest and excited about their future in a fresh, new land.

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An atheist organization filed recently a lawsuit in New York to bar the presentation of the “World Trade Center Cross” as part of a memorial exhibition to commemorate 9/11.

The American Atheists, which filed its lawsuit last week, said in its suit that the cross is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, and that atheists “are being subjected to and injured in consequence of having a religious tradition not their own imposed upon them.”

Atheist group sues over “World Trade Center Cross”

Dan Blair, communications director of AA, told the Wall Street Journal, “We can appreciate people’s emotional attachment to this [memorial] but that shouldn’t override the Constitution,”

On its website, the AA said that the cross is “an impermissible mingling of church and state.”

Small letter “t”

Blair Scott of AA said on Fox News, “It’s not the cross per se that’s an issue. It’s just a small letter ‘t’ among many junctions among thousands that were in the World Trade Center that many consider miraculous. It was blessed by clergy, they held church services at it, it was worshiped at, prayed at, it was turned into a religious idol.”

Martha McCallum, Fox newscaster told Scott, “All the more reason why you shouldn’t object to having it there if it was just a ‘t’ and there were many of them at the World Trade Center. It’s a ‘t’ that happens to have survived and they want to put this ‘t’ that has people’s names inscribed on it in the museum.”

Firefighter, first responder

Tim Brown, who was also in the Fox News program, said of Scott, “He’s stirring up so many difficult emotions again by doing this. We don’t need to be put through this.” A former NYC firefighter and first responder, Brown lost some 100 friends in 9/11.

Brown said on Fox News, “Just because Blair or others don’t like it, doesn’t mean that it can’t be in the museum. They can’t just come in and make rules for everybody in the museum. What if Ladder Three, the fire truck that was lowered into the museum last week was crushed into the shape of a cross? Would he then want that taken out of the museum also?”

Brown said on Fox News that the AA lawsuit is more of a publicity grab “on the backs of my friends who have died on 9/11, who were murdered by Islamic terrorists. It’s shameful what you are doing.”

Scott denied that the lawsuit against the cross is being done for publicity.

Brown is filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the cross through the American Center for Law and Justice.

“This is another pathetic attempt to rewrite the Constitution and rewrite history by removing a symbol that has deep meaning and serves as a powerful remembrance to that fateful attack nearly 10 years ago,” Jay Sekulow, chief counsel, ACLJ, said on its website.

“We will aggressively defend the placement of this cross. This memorial, a powerful part of the history of 9/11, serves as a constitutionally sound reminder of the horrors that occurred nearly a decade ago,” Sekulow said.

The World Trade Center Cross is a steel beam in the shape of a cross that stayed put after the collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and was discovered amid the rubble.

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Scotty McCreery, season 10 winner of American Idol, went through the entire season being open about his Christian faith and family values, without being preachy.

When he was announced as the winner in the finale, which garnered a record-breaking 122 million votes cast, McCreery remembered to thank God first, and then he hugged his parents, Us Magazine said.

The 17-year-old McCreery said, “Never in my wildest dreams [did I think I'd win]. I’ve got to thank the Lord first, he got me here. Thank y’all so much!” according to Us Magazine.

McCreery, who is from Garner, N.C., sang I Love You This Big, which is already No. 1 on iTunes. As he walked among the audience, he headed straight for his parents, hugged them, and then hugged other Idol finalists, Us Magazine said.

During a press conference, McCreery was surprised to learn that already, his first single was the top song on iTunes. He said, “Is it really? That’s the first I’ve heard. That’s amazing! That is wild!” USA Today reported.

In a previous interview with Us Magazine, when asked to name some of his favorite things, he cited the verse Phil. 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Two other things he mentioned were Sundays at church with his family, after which they would go out for Mexican food, and his youth praise band, called Audience of One, Us Magazine said.

Oftentimes during the season McCreery expressed his love for his family, including his parents and grandparents. Just before the finale he told All Access “Just to be in this moment where we [including Lauren Alaina] never expected to be…we both had our moms here since day one, so it’s really emotional,” The Christian Post reported.

McCreery often was seen wearing a cross necklace in American Idol, and when Lady Gaga mentored him [and shocked him just a bit], he good-naturedly kissed his cross afterwards. He was also seen wearing a black bracelet from the Christian ministry I Am Second, a movement that stresses that Jesus Christ comes first in one’s life, and that oneself falls second, The Christian Post said.

Mike Jorgensen, executive director of I Am Second told The Christian Post, “It is inspiring to see him confidently display his faith to millions each week. We wish him the best.”

McCreery said, “My faith is a big part of my life. I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. He’s got me through this for sure. I need to stay by him through this competition. He’s the only way I’m getting through it,” The Christian Post reported.

High ratings

Season 10 experienced a shot in the arm with Nielsen figures indicating 29.3 million viewers during the finale, and in the last seven minutes, drawing 38.6 million, USA Today said.

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A doctor in the U.K. might lose his job and his medical license because he talked about his Christian faith with a patient.

Dr. Richard Scott is one of six partners at Bethesda Medical Center, Margate. All the partners are Christian, and they have been open about this. Scott received a formal complaint from the General Medical Council because he told a 24-year-old patient that praying to Jesus could help him out of a difficult condition that he is in, NY Daily News said.

The complaint was filed by the patient’s mother, who has accused Scott of taking advantage of her son’s vulnerability by trying to push his religion on him, the NY Daily News said. The GMC is charged with regulating all British doctors.

Scott, 50, is a former missionary. His record as a doctor has been unblemished—until now. He said the conversation about Jesus only came as the consultation was coming to a close, and he did so with the permission of the patient.

Scott told NY Daily News, “I only discussed mutual faith after obtaining the patient’s permission. In our conversation I said that, personally, I had found having faith in Jesus helped me and could help the patient. At no time did the patient indicate that they were offended, or that they wanted to stop the discussion.”

Scott told NY Daily News that if the patient complained at the time, “I would have immediately ended the conversation.” He has decided to fight the GMC censure. In doing so he may lose his medical license, and this would spell the end of a 28-year profession, according to The New American.

In recalling the conversation Scott said the patient was “in a rut and in need of help.” Scott said the medical consultation was lengthy, during which he discussed various possible interventions, all of which the patient had already tried, The New American said.

The patient had requested consultation with other medical professionals, and Scott promised he would follow up those requests, The New American said.

The GMC complaint said Scott “harassed a vulnerable patient.” Scott said, “Absolutely not.  I’ve offered a needy patient a way out of his situation,” according to The New American.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of GMC said doctors must not proselytize or talk about religion with their patients, “unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care. They also must not impose their beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views,” the NY Daily News reported.

Scott decided not to accept the complaint as it would remain on his record for any future employer to see. “What’s happened to me is an injustice and I want to stand up for Christians who have been getting hammered in the workplace.” The Christian Legal Center is taking charge of his case, The New American said.

Andrea Williams of CLC said Scott, “acted within their own guidelines, and his unblemished record should not be tarnished — even by a letter [in] his file,” The New American reported.

Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet told BBC News, “[M]onitoring and then sanctioning doctors on conversations with patients, that do not relate to their medical condition, must be a matter between the individuals and dealt with locally. The GMC has over-reacted and needs to put an end to misplaced activism that is putting a respected doctor’s profession on the line.”

Other Christian doctors have also rallied behind Scott. Dr. Peter Saunders of Christian Medical Fellowship told NY Daily News, “All good doctors try to treat their patients as whole persons, not just biochemical machines. That does sometimes include spiritual matters, dealing with questions of meaning and purpose.”

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EEW Magazine talks about race and spirituality in its cover story on Kim Cash Tate, the first African American author to join the roster of the veteran Christian Publishing group, Thomas Nelson.

Tate is a former attorney turned wife, homeschooling mother, inspirational speaker, blogger and novelist. Her books include More Christian Than African American, and the novels Heavenly Places and her latest fiction piece, Faithful, according to her website.

Tate’s first book, More Christian Than African American, talks about her own personal journey as a woman of color and a Christian. She was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, which is the wealthiest African American majority community in the U.S., according to her website.

Tate then earned a law degree at George Washington University, and expected to work in Washington D.C. Instead, she found herself in majority-white Madison, Wisconsin, where she could not avoid the issue of race and delved into her own identity as a Christian woman, the EEW magazine article said.

Tate is interviewed by Dianna Hobbs, founder of EEW Magazine. Hobbs told Christian Newswire, “I was moved by Kim’s poignant and passionate message that strikes at the core of breaking down the racial divide that still exists in some segments of the Christian community.”

Hobbs also told Christian Newswire, “Kim’s transparency and honesty about her early struggles with race and spirituality really drew me in, and I think many of our readers will relate.”

EEW Magazine, is an online publication for African American Christians of faith. It is published exclusively online and is a resource for inspiration and motivation through interviews and resources, according to Christian Newswire.

The publication has 250,000 readers, 90 percent of them African American Christian women. Part of EEW Magazine’s vision is to help fill the dearth of publications dealing with faith and ethnicity and to bridge this gap. The portal’s interview with Tate is viewed as a platform that will interest readers of color, Christian Newswire said.

EEW recognizes that on Sundays, “Blacks and whites, with few exceptions, worship separately,” Christian Newswire said. This raised the dilemma that Tate, and many women of color, are confronted with. The contrast of the love of Jesus through which we all are one, compared to the reality of race in worship and practice.

Tate’s books have dwelled a lot on this. Allen Arnold, senior VP and fiction publisher of Thomas Nelson told EEW, “What first attracted us to this gifted author was the way her stories – and her life story – both address and yet transcend race.”

Arnold told EEW, “Her novels, more than most Christian or African American fiction – features a diverse cast of characters who authentically represent the larger body of Christ. It’s exciting to publish this fresh new voice in Christian Fiction that doesn’t define readership or characters within the novel on the basis of their skin color but rather on the basis of their choices and their faith.”

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Even as pro-life groups across the nation are participating in anti-abortion activities to coincide with the 38^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, an abortion doctor in Philadelphia was charged with eight counts of murder.

Kermit Gosnell, 69, was charged in the death of a woman from anesthesia overdose, and seven babies that he killed by slicing the backs of their necks and cutting their spines, according to The New American.

Also arrested were Gosnell’s wife and eight others. District Attorney Seth Williams said Gosnell “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh and eighth month of pregnancy, and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,” The New American reported.

Gosnell is also indicted for the third-degree murder of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died from anesthesia overdose in Nov. 20, 2009. Gosnell, a family practitioner, was never a certified OB/GYN, The New American said. He allowed unlicensed personnel, including a 15-year-old, to administer anesthesia and perform operations, The New American said.

New York Pro life presscon

Meanwhile, pro-lifers across the nation stepped up activities in anticipation of Roe v. Wade (the Supreme Court 1973 decision that legalized abortion), The Wall Street Journal reported.

In New York, the Chiaroscuro Foundation held a press conference with the archbishop of New York, a leader of Agudath Israel of America, an African-American pastor and the spokeswoman for Democrats for Life, The WSJ said.

According to WSJ, 41 percent of pregnancies in New York are aborted. In terms of demographics, the rate is more than twice as much for Hispanics than for whites. Also, the ratio of abortions to live births for African-Americans is 1, 489 abortions to 1,000 live births.

Meanwhile, NY City Council speaker Christine Quinn is advocating a bill that will require Crisis Pregnancy Centers to, among others, advertise that they don’t perform abortions nor refer abortion clinics, WSJ said.

However, WSJ noted that Planned Parenthood 2008 statistics (their most recent) showed that 324,000 abortions were performed nationwide, and 2,405 adoption referrals were made by them.

Washington state prolife rally

In Washington state, thousands marched to the Capitol armed with roses, signs and crosses for the 33^rd annual March For Life rally. Across from the crowd, more than 10 pro-choice advocates, most of them in high school, gathered at the Temple of Justice with signs such as, “Keep your laws off my body,” The Seattle Times reported.

One of them, Phoebe Blanding, 17, told The Seattle Times that she has been protesting the March For Life rally since she was 11 years old.

Up to 50 million abortions were done in America since Roe V. Wade. Under the George W. Bush administration late-term and partial-birth abortions were banned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzalez v. Carhart, The New American reported.

The Born Alive Infant Protection Act, also passed under Bush, protects the right to life of infants who are born alive despite an abortion, The New American said.

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A 20ft. cross made from thousands of coat hangers will be the centerpiece of a show of biblical scenes that will be on exhibit at the City Art Center in Edinburgh, U.K. to mark the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible.

The cross and other biblical artwork are made by Scottish artist David Mach, in preparation for Precious Light, slated for July 30. The cross will also be exhibited in Gloucester Cathedral in Easter, according to The Telegraph.

The art show will also include a coat-hanger depiction of Calvary, and numerous collages, an art form that Mach has become famous for, The Telegraph reported.

The King James Bible was written from 1604 to 1611 when it was published under the reign of King James I of England, The New American said. It is considered the most influential English translation bible, and is a landmark in English language history.

King James was king of Scotland for 36 years before he succeeded Queen Elizabeth I to rule England. He set about not only uniting the two countries, but also uniting all the Protestants under this bible, The New American said.

A number of common-used English phrases today come from the King James Bible including “fire and brimstone,” “at his wit’s end,” “eye to eye,” and “powers that be,” according to The New American.

Phrases from Bob Dylan’s song Highway 61 Revisited, and Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have a Dream, were derived from the King James Bible, The Scotsman reported, adding, “Our culture is permeated by the King James Bible-both the phrases themselves and the morality and civilization they promote.”

Epic stories

Mach, who is not religious, told The Telegraph that the bible is rich in epic stories of struggle, mayhem, sex, pestilence, famine and violence, making it rich in artistic possibilities. He had wanted to do the show long before, but when he approached a number of contemporary galleries that featured his past work, they all turned it down.

Noting the secularism of England Mach told The Telegraph, “It’s like a weird subject they don’t want to touch.” Now, he has five floors of the City Art Centre to fill for Precious Light, thanks to the commission from The King James Bible.

Mach employs 30 people to help him prepare for the 10-week exhibit. The Telegraph said included among the pieces being worked on is a piece showing pairs of animals heading towards Noah’s Ark in front of Table Mountain, and another of hell, boiling up and positioned to burst under the Eiffel Tower.

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