The Adventist Review has been trumpeting its newness, but frankly, beyond the cosmetic, I'm still curious to see these changes. Bill Knott offers,

"late-breaking stories and compelling cover features matched to the issues Adventists are talking about today. Look for enriched coverage on the AR Web site of the stories and topics that catch—and keep—your interest. Seventy thousand believers visit AR Online every month: you should too."

Over the last couple of years, the Spectrum Blog has emerged as the place to talk religion and politics in Adventism.

As a California resident and someone who cares about religious liberty and gender justice, along with the almost two thousand Adventists who've signed either petition, I've been particularly interested in my church and Prop 8.

• Ex-prisoners in Fiji are given a second chance;
• Icons felled at Avondale College;
• Students to get their big break on satellite TV;

The Wall Street Journal reports that "Claims of religious discrimination filed with federal, state and local agencies have doubled over the past 15 years and rose 15% during 2007 to 4,515, a record."

The American branch of the Cambridge University Press blog posts a five part interview with former Scientific American and Skeptical Inquirer columnist Martin Gardner. He is one of the world's foremost anti-pseudoscience polemicists.

Here is some context regarding his beliefs and early interest in Adventism.

The Adventists Against Prop. 8 movement continues with almost 700 signers to the petition and with more than 550 members of the Facebook group.

Larry R. Evans, Undersecretary at the General Conference, shares some personal reflections on this year's Annual Council meetings.

A Few Highlights of Annual Council

Join your Spectrum community pals for the last presidential (finally!) debate of the 2008 American election season. Sorry non-U.S. readers. . .

As with the last two times, I'll post a live embed of the debate here and you're welcome to comment as the drama (or snooze fest) unfolds.

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

9:00 ET/ 6:00 PT

Larry R Evans, Undersecretary of the General Conference, writes:

Dr. Bill Johnsson, former editor of Adventist Review/World, was exercising this morning just a short distance from the convention center when he was hit by a motorcycle. Brad and Candace Thorp (of Hope Channel) were in a taxi and noticed someone lying on the pavement. The motorcycle driver remained by. They soon realized that it was Elder Johnsson.

The Press-Enterprise reports:

La Sierra University's School of Business hit a record enrollment this fall, making it the first Seventh-day Adventist school of its kind in North America to exceed 400 students.

The business school reported a total enrollment of 410 -- 151 are students in master's programs and 259 are undergraduates. The number of graduate students also is unprecedented among Adventist business schools, according to La Sierra spokesman Larry Becker.
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