Free Republic

PHOENIX (AP) - A Christian group distributed in Arizona 18,000 copies of a film designed to sway members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to quit. About 15,000 DVDs of the film "Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith" were dropped off at homes in Mesa, Gilbert and Tempe over the weekend, said Jim Robertson, executive director of Concerned Christians, an organization largely made up of former Mormons. Another 2,000 copies were handed out in Snowflake and Taylor and 1,000 in Tucson. The film, which contrasts the teachings of Jesus Christ and LDS founder Joseph Smith, was given away as part...

A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program. A suburban Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season. The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls based on Biblical figures and manufactured by one-2-believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Company. The charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature. Vice President Bill Grein of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation says toys are donated to kids based on financial need and the...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program. A Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the 1 foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season. The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls manufactured by one2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., based on biblical figures. But the charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature. Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and "we don't know anything about their background, their religious...