Religion: God and Money

By turns angry, bewildered and curious, an anxious crowd descended on the Jefferson Square Theater in Columbia, S.C., last week. Their aim: to play a role in the next installment of a long-running American serial of sex, cash and power -- a show resembling some lurid made-for-TV mini-series that might be called God and Money. For six hours, harassed officials of the embattled PTL (for Praise the Lord or People That Love) ministry were confronted at a public bankruptcy hearing by members of the flock that had supported the $203 million religious empire created by its ousted leaders, Jim and Tammy...