Heard this week in Faith Files, the Journal-World’s blog that examines issues of faith, spirituality, morals and ethics:

¢ Members of the Adult Forum Sunday school class at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vt., are working their way through a video series with a familiar face for some Lawrence residents.

Bart Ehrman, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina, recorded the series. He grew up attending Trinity Episcopal, and now he’s both a noted theologian and agnostic.

“I have heard that he is an agnostic now,” class member Dick Tracy says. “Of course I’m not, so we disagree on that point. However, I don’t think that affects what he presents. Maybe it just makes his point of view less slanted in favor of one or another sect.”

¢ This is prime vacation Bible school time in Lawrence. But a national study from 2005 showed the number of such programs across the nation had decreased by 38 percent in the previous seven years.

Randy Beeman, pastor at First Christian Church, 1000 Ky., attributes the decline, in part, to fewer stay-at-home parents who can take their children to churches or volunteer during the day.

¢ Anti-abortion protesters were arrested last week after interrupting a service at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, where abortion provider George Tiller is a member.

“It’s a sad thing when a church considers the reading of God’s word ‘rude and indecent behavior,’ while embracing abortionist George Tiller, someone who violates that word every day by shedding the innocent blood of babies created in the image of the God they profess to serve. By doing so, they dishonor the name of Christ,” says Troy Newman, president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

¢ The debate over the evils or virtues of the Harry Potter book and movie series has largely subsided over the years.

Owen Smith, who authored a book to help churches teach religious lessons from the series, says: “People were quick to demonize the fact that the books were all about witches and wizards when they first came out. That has really softened. They’ve realized Harry Potter is something we can use.”