Nightline Daily E-Mail

June 20, 2003 -- TONIGHT'S FOCUS: The three young men we met last night have made it to the finals of the National Evangelistic Preaching Competition, and tonight we'll see them compete and find out who wins...

My father was a wise man. He, like all fathers I think, always said don't talk to people about politics and religion. So of course I went into a business where we talk about politics a lot, and religion less often. Last night's broadcast, and tonight's, are about religion. Actually they are about religious people, a slight distinction maybe, but a crucial one.

We have received thousands of emails, some positive, many of them very angry. I'm not sure how to react to that, except to remember what my father said and to think that he was right.

But we will continue our series tonight. The three young men we introduced last night have made it to the national finals. This was luck on our part, we really didn't expect that all three of the guys our producers were following would make it. You always wonder in these cases if the fact that we are covering them influenced the judges, but there's no way to know. So tonight you'll see them compete for the last time, and see who wins and who loses. One of the more interesting things we have learned in the process of putting these programs together is that, as Chris Bury reported last night, an ABC survey indicates that about a third of adults consider themselves "born again." This is a much higher number than any of us had expected. We hope that with last night's and tonight's programs, we have at least shed some light on that part of the population, who they are and what they believe.

Have a good weekend.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline StaffABCNEWS Washington bureau