Reuters, 10/18/99

EW YORK - Minnesota's voluble governor, Jesse Ventura, has vowed in the future to keep his opinions to himself following a barrage of criticism over a Playboy interview in which he declared that religion is the refuge of the weak, Newsweek magazine reported yesterday. ''I'm not going to offer my personal opinions on anything,'' Ventura told Newsweek in its edition due on newsstands today. Since his upset gubernatorial victory in 1996, the former professional wrestler has enjoyed widespread support in Minnesota and built a national reputation as the Reform Party's highest office holder. But the Playboy interview, in which Ventura joked about being reincarnated as a woman's brassiere and declared religion to be the refuge of the weak-minded, eroded the governor's standing in his home state. (Reuters)