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Several influential black pastors who were recently courted by Bush administration officials as potential partners in crafting African relief policies are now questioning the White House commitment to the continent. The criticism came in a letter delivered Tuesday to the White House from five of the nation's most high-profile African American pastors.

The makers of "Jumping the Broom" are looking for a leap of faith. One of those other films opening this weekend against the powerhouse "Thor," the African American comedy about two socioeconomically opposite families who clash when they meet at a lavish wedding appears at first glance to be a lightweight contender. The low-budget Tristar Pictures release has no A-list stars, is not in 3-D and lacks any characters with the superhero strength of the hammer-wielding Norse god. But the creative forces behind "Jumping the Broom" have their own hammer to throw down, determined to prove that black films with educated and ambitious characters belong in the mainstream Hollywood arena, even though most studios have dialed down development of films with predominantly African American casts.

Escalating its courtship of a politically powerful constituency, the Bush administration is teaming up with some of the nation's best-known and most influential black clergy to craft a new role for U.S. churches in Africa.

Making a rare and quick foray into the heart of Gov. George W. Bush's Texas, but using a televangelist's pulpit to reach a national audience, Vice President Al Gore said Sunday that the United States must not ignore suffering, whether in the Balkans or in American cities. His reference to the Balkans was a response to Bush's plan--if he's elected--to pull U.S. peacekeeping troops out of their NATO mission in that troubled region of southeastern Europe.

More than 40 years after black clergy took leading roles in the civil rights movement, black ministers from across Los Angeles are gathering at USC this summer to ponder what role they should play in their community today. "The African American church finds itself at a crossroads of relevance and irrelevance," the Rev. Eugene Williams, director of a black clergy training program, told the ministers.

Frederick Douglas Haynes III, preacher extraordinaire, is heaving and sweating. High-fiving on the pulpit. Flapping his arms like a bird. Seamlessly shifting, in spellbinding cadence, from a newspaper article to Genesis 11 to NBA basketball to racial profiling. "Where you are ain't where you going! You're stuck in an airport though God has given us a passport to fly! You can fly! Yes you can! . . . I believe we can touch the sky!"

It usually spells trouble when a congregation splits in half, with one segment departing along with the longtime senior pastor. But an English-speaking, Asian American Baptist congregation in Rosemead has voluntarily and amicably split because the church has outgrown its facilities and the pastors believe they will reach more people with two congregations. The Evergreen Baptist Church, which has been averaging 1,000 worshipers each Sunday at its facilities at 1255 San Gabriel Blvd.

This was an extraordinary year for religion in film because: A) A film about the last hours of Jesus' life made in two dead languages -- Aramaic and Latin -- is the third-highest grossing movie of the year. B) Religious filmmakers broke traditional artistic boundaries to tell their stories in R-rated movies that pushed the Jesus-film envelope in depictions of violence, drug use and sexuality. C) In some markets, filmgoers could walk into a commercial movie theater this past year and view a retelling of the Passion by a major Hollywood filmmaker, a drama centered on an evangelical revival, and biographies of the Catholic saint Therese of Lisieux and the Islamic prophet Mohammed.

In the DVD world, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" was a hot property. The $5.4-million film, the first adaptation of a Tyler Perry play, opened Feb. 25 and grossed $21.8 million its opening weekend. And suddenly its after-theatrical life was of keen interest. The home entertainment divisions of both Twentieth Century Fox and Lions Gate Entertainment were the prime contenders for rights to all of Perry's plays. Lions Gate, which distributed the movie, came out on top.

This is an edited transcript of an interview conducted Tuesday in Chicago with President-elect Barack Obama. The interviewers were Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons of our Washington bureau and reporter John McCormick of the Tribune. Have you ever spoken to [Illinois] Gov. [Rod R.] Blagojevich about [filling] the Senate seat? I have not discussed the Senate seat with the governor at any time.