Malaysian Paper Closed

Political officials in Malaysia have closed the paper that ran a picture of Jesus smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. Reports indicate the paper will be closed for one month, but a BBC correspondent notes that the paper which was closed has been critical of a rival newspaper, owned by the Malaysian Indian Congress - the political body which pushed for its closure. Most of the area's Christians had accepted the paper's apology for running the cartoon and claimed to be "bemused" by the closing.

An interesting side-note: the cartoon was accompanied by a caption which read, "if someone repents for his mistakes, then heaven awaits him," a truly Christian message.