* Religion is a Barrier to World Peace

There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions, and there will be no serious dialogue among the religions without common ethical standards.
~ Hans Küng, March 31, 2005

* We Need Shock and Change, Awe Will Follow ~ What's it Going to Take?

e are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood -- it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on."

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in *Iraq and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

Dr. Martin Luther King, 1967, Beyond *Vietnam

Bush has Gone AWOL
by General William Odom
April 28, 2007

Bush Crimes Commission

gapingvoid.com

* The Timeless Wisdom of Paul Ricoeur, 20th Century Philosopher ~ 1913 - 2005

Justice proceeds by conceptual reduction; love proceeds by poetic amplification.

Paul Ricoeur

Many political problems today, e.g., how to deal with environmental degradation, the proliferation of terrible weaponry, epidemics, cannot be successfully dealt with by any particular state alone. Only international cooperation can succeed. Historically, any number of factors, e.g., language, religion, race, military conquest, have been obstacles to cooperation of this sort. It is incumbent on citizens to do what they can to encourage their societies to remove or at least weaken these obstacles. To do so one need not promote any form of world government. Rather, citizens ought both to work through the institutions of civil society to pardon other people and states for the harms they have caused and to support treaties and pacts that all affected states can reasonably be urged to commit themselves to.

Bernard Dauenhauer, Stanford University, writing from Ricoeur's philosophy

Biography, Paul Ricoeur

Cross-reference METAXY

* PBS' Bill Moyers Didn't Disappoint on His Airing of Iraq War Lies, "Buying the War"

Following up on the METAXY announcement of last night's airing, Bill Moyers' Blog continues the
discussion of the broadcast which will be repeated. Check
PBS Scheduling for future 90 minute airings.

* US Military Attacked by Evangelicals ~ Danger! Christian Taliban at Work

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Press Release

Historic First-Ever Debate on Separation of Church and State in the Military April 24, 5pm at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). This event is three years in the making!

Investigation

Mikey Weinstein writes: Today the man with his finger on the button, those who will receive the order to strike; many of those who will then be expected to put their lives on the line to carry out American policy have been molded by the influences of these elements. A power conversion has taken place that has nothing to do with freedom or religion. Many thinkers and writers saw the potential for such a threat over the last several generations. But it is our generation and those who follow who now have no choice but to take action.

Corporate interests and the patient and long range plan of Christian Reconstructionists have made this possible with the cooperation and coordination provided by the NeoCons If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would think it was bad science fiction. But when I wake up the nightmare continues. The threats to my family, the rising tide of violence aimed at me and those I love, and those whose courage has drawn them to stand with me affirm the truth of what we confront.

Continue, history of movement, It began in the early 70s with...

*Weinstein is author of With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military

* The God Delusion ~ Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins Last Night

The Video: 4 minutes, 40 seconds.

Viewer Comments: begin at message 148.

Also see: OneGoodMove, Website

Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian.
Twelfth Night," Act I, Scene III

William Shakespeare, (baptised April 26, 1564 – died April 23, 1616)

* Bart Ehrman's Personal Ascent from Faith to Reality ~ The Bible is Not Inspired by God

"Although Ehrman has a strong background in Evangelical Christianity, having attending both Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College (B.A., 1978), his personal beliefs have shifted over time. Ehrman now considers himself an agnostic."

Author of nineteen books, Bart D. Ehrman is a New Testament scholar and an expert on early Christianity. He received his Ph.D and M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied under Bruce Metzger. He currently serves as the chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical Literature, and worked closely as an editor on a number of the Society's publications. Currently, he co-edits the series New Testament Tools and Studies.


Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he has been teaching for over 15 years. He completed his undergraduate work at Wheaton College and received his Masters of Divinity and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to taking his position at UNC, Professor Ehrman taught at Rutgers University.

"In his Introduction (pp. 1-15) to his book Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, Ehrman explains why the subject of the text of the New Testament is one that has radically affected him both emotionally and intellectually. He was brought up in a 'churchgoing but not particularly religious' family (p. 1) but in teenage years felt a kind of loneliness (which he now thinks was just what all teenagers feel). After becoming involved in a Campus Life Youth for Christ club he had a 'born-again' experience aged 15 and some time after that was encouraged to attend the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, which he did in 1973. This institution held to biblical inerrancy and that the words of the autograph were inspired, but in an early class he encountered the fact that we do not possess the autographs, only 'error-ridden copies of the autographs' (p. 5). This got him interested in trying to learn about textual criticism. By the end of his three-year diploma at Moody he wanted to become '... an evangelical "voice" in secular circles, by getting degrees that would allow me to teach in secular settings while retaining my evangelical commitments' (pp. 5-6). He went to Wheaton College, majoring in English and learning Greek, and there he experienced some doubts. After two years he went to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied with Bruce Metzger. He writes, 'A turning point came in my second semester' (p. 8), during a course on Mark when he had written a paper trying to justify the name 'Abiathar' in Mark 2:26 and his professor, Cullen Story, wrote thereon 'Maybe Mark just made a mistake'. Once Ehrman had concluded that he did, 'the floodgates opened' to admitting other problems in scripture (p. 9) and then to having a radical rethink of his understanding of the Bible. He now writes a book which he believes is the first of its kind: a book 'for people who know nothing about textual criticism' (p. 15)."

Excerpts from Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why:

The more I studied the manuscript tradition of the New Testament, the more I realized just how radically the text had been altered over the years at the hands of scribes, who were not only conserving scripture but also changing it. (p. 207)

When I was a student just beginning to think about those fifteen centuries of copying and the vicissitudes of the text, I kept reverting to the fact that whatever else we may say about the Christian scribes—whether of the early centuries or of the Middle Ages—we have to admit that in addition to copying scripture, they were changing scripture. Sometimes they didn't mean to—they were simply tired, or inattentive, or, on occasion, inept. At other times, though, they did mean to make changes, as when they wanted the text to emphasize precisely what they themselves believed, for example about the nature of Christ, or about the role of women in the church, or about the wicked character of their Jewish opponents. This conviction that scribes had changed scripture became an increasing certitude for me as I studied the text more and more. (p. 210)

As I realized already in graduate school, even if God had inspired the original words, we don't have the original words. So the doctrine of inspiration was in a sense irrelevant to the Bible as we have it, since the words God reputedly inspired had been changed and, in some cases, lost. (p. 211)

... the only reason (I came to think) for God to inspire the Bible would be so that his people would have his actual words; but if he really wanted people to have his actual words, surely he would have miraculously preserved those words, just as he had miraculously inspired them in the first place. Given the circumstance that he didn't preserve the words, the conclusion seemed inescapable to me that he hadn't gone to the trouble of inspiring them. (p. 211)

Ehrman's Official Website

* God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything ~ by Christopher Hitchens

To be released May 1, 2007

"Not only does religion poison everything, which Hitchens argues by explaining several ways in which religion is immoral, but the world would be better off without religion. Replace religious faith with inquiry, open-mindedness, and the pursuit of ideas, he exhorts. Closely reading major religious texts, Hitchens points to numerous examples of atrocities and mayhem in them. Religious faith, he asserts, is both result and cause of dangerous sexual repression. What's more, it is grounded in nothing more than wish fulfillment. Hence, he believes that religion is man-made, and an ethical life can be lived without its stamp of approval.

"With such chapter titles as "Religion Kills" and "Is Religion Child Abuse?" Hitchens intends to provoke, but he is not mean-spirited and humorless. Indeed, he is effortlessly witty and entertaining as well as utterly rational. Believers will be disturbed and may even charge him with blasphemy (he questions not only the virgin birth but the very existence of Jesus), and he may not change many minds, but he offers the open-minded plenty to think about." ~ June Sawyers, Review

"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born in Portsmouth, England, April 13, 1949) is an author, journalist and literary critic. Currently living in Washington, D.C., he has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Nation, Slate and Free Inquiry; additionally, he is an occasional contributor to other publications and has appeared regularly in the Wall Street Journal. His brother is Peter Hitchens.

"Hitchens is known for his iconoclasm, anti-clericalism, atheism, antitheism, anti-fascism and anti-monarchism."

Articles, Video, Audio by Christopher Hitchens

* Why Won't Bush Concede to the American People on Ending the War in Iraq and Other Issues? Because He's Optimistic and Arrogant

Reality resolves the dialectic between optimism and pessimism, a mental state that Bush has not experienced regarding his war in Iraq and other issues important to "We the People." Arrogance intrudes on the possibility of living in the real world for him. The following article demonstrates that fact. And, he's actually optimistic about his legacy. Sounds selfish, compassionless, arrogant in light of the damage he's done/doing.

*Photo caption: August 2005--Satellite
imagery shows hurricane Katrina
bringing an important message to
many Americans.

Bush, on Friendly Turf, Suggests History Will Be Kind to Him

by JIM RUTENBERG
April 20, 2007

TIPP CITY, Ohio, April 19 — With his attorney general under fire in Washington and his fight with Congressional Democrats over paying for the war at a stalemate, President Bush came here Wednesday before a friendly audience to give his thinking on Iraq, Congress and the massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Speaking at a 90-minute, town-hall-style meeting in a high school gymnasium, Mr. Bush said he would not buckle to polls showing opinion cutting against him on a variety of issues, and conveyed his belief that he would be vindicated by history ...

“I’ve been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times.”

And he concluded with a thought about what historians would say about him. Last year, he said, he read three biographies of George Washington. “If they’re still writing about 1,” he said, “43 doesn’t have to worry about it.”

Note: Bush rarely attends "unfriendly" audiences lest he be challenged; this bolsters his optimism and arrogance further.

April 19, 2007

Richard Dawkins will be interviewed by conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly on Monday, April 23, at 8.00pm EST on FOX. The program will be rebroadcasted at 11.00pm. Check your local listings for times.

For more information, go to http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly/index.html

or

http://richarddawkins.net/event,143,The-OReilly-Factor

Thanks for reading,
Josh Timonen
RichardDawkins.net
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

* American Women Lose 34 Years of Progress ~ Back to Alleys and Coathangers

Top court upholds ban on abortion procedure

'Partial birth' law at issue; first time for justices to ban a specific procedure

April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's conservative majority upheld a nationwide ban Wednesday on a controversial abortion procedure in a decision that sets the stage for additional restrictions on a woman's right to choose.

For the first time since the court established a woman's right to an abortion in 1973, the justices said the Constitution permits a nationwide prohibition on a specific abortion method. The court's liberal justices, in dissent, said the ruling chips away at abortion rights.

* The new law, in the works for a long time, was effected by five old duffers, all men, two of whom were appointed by Bush, i.e., Roberts and Alito. The ruling includes two years in federal prison for doctors who violate the law even if the woman's health is at stake.

The preservation of the sanctity of human life is critical for everyone but so is the human right to self-determination. A law forbidding vasectomies can be slightly likened to this new law.

Bush 'pleased'

Reacting to the ruling, Bush said that it affirms the progress his administration has made to defend the "sanctity of life."

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has upheld a law that prohibits the abhorrent procedure of partial birth abortion," he said. "Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America."

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how - not whether - to perform an abortion.

* Oh, please! "The compassion and humanity of America"? So why not end the Iraq war, Mr. President!

blogHillary

* The Virginia Tech Massacre ~ In Memoriam

Virginia Polytechnic Institute ~ Guns have been a part of US history since its founding. Children as young as 10 and 11 were taught how to shoot wildlife for the dinner table. But they didn't shoot each other. What is it about contemporary society that creates this capacity that has become an epidemic in America?

* Joe, Do You Believe Fiends Like Those are Descendents of Ours? ~ No

Click to enlarge ...Monkeys View Humanity
(Chicago Defender, June 20,1925)
Scopes Trial

* Bill Moyer's Upcoming Documentary of Iraq War Lies ~ US Government & Media

Record of Iraq War Lies to Air April 25 on PBS

Let's Try Democracy
by David Swanson
April 12, 2007

"Bill Moyers has put together an amazing 90-minute video documenting the lies that the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq War to the American public, with a special focus on how the media led the charge. I've watched an advance copy and read a transcript, and the most important thing I can say about it is: Watch PBS from 9 to 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25. Spending that 90 minutes on this will actually save you time, because you'll never watch television news again – not even on PBS, which comes in for its share of criticism.

"While a great many pundits, not to mention presidents, look remarkably stupid or dishonest in the four-year-old clips included in "Buying the War," it's hard to take any spiteful pleasure in holding them to account, and not just because the killing and dying they facilitated is ongoing, but also because of what this video reveals about the mindset of members of the DC media. Moyers interviews media personalities, including Dan Rather, who clearly both understand what the media did wrong and are unable to really see it as having been wrong or avoidable."

Full story with examples, Let's Try Democracy

flickr photo

* Bush Troop Surge Not Working ~ Why are We not Surprised? ~ What Can We Do?

Not only are there 3,301 US military deaths resulting from the Iraq war as of today, there are perhaps half a million Iraqi civilian deaths The Lancet.

Follow current news, Iraq Today

Red Cross Warns "Disastrous," “Immense” Iraqi Humanitarian Crisis "Ever-Worsening"

Democracy Now!
April 12, 2007

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is warning that the conflict in Iraq is inflicting immense suffering on the entire population and is steadily getting worse. The Red Cross says “civilians are bearing the brunt of the relentless violence and the extremely poor security conditions that are disrupting the lives and livelihoods of millions.”

What can we do?

Stay Educated, e.g., Peace Action

Sign Petitions

Donate, if Possible

Prepare for Voting

Speak Up


Get Involved

Other suggestions will be welcomed ...

* Call for Impeachment of Bush/Cheney Over and Over Again ~ We've had Enough!

Sign Petition

Read what petitioners are saying

The following is from The People's Email Network (The PEN):

It doesn't matter what rock at the White House we turn over. There's nasty stuff under them all. And now just as the subpoenas of accountability are finally starting to fly, they tell us that millions of White House emails, required to be preserved and archived by federal law, have up and disappeared. Or so they now claim. And isn't this yet ANOTHER admission of administration law breaking.

Was it not enough that they lied us into a war that has killed more of our citizens than 9/11 and as many as a million in foreign countries? Was it not enough to conduct illegal wiretapping of our personal communications, while simultaneously swearing they were doing no such thing? Was jeopardizing our national security by outing a key figure in tracking down the REAL weapons of mass destruction, was that not enough? Was an official government policy of torture, to our shame around the world, not enough?

It's just one high crime after another, and either the president is totally not in charge of anything, in which case he should be impeached for that dereliction alone, or all this pipes right through Karl Rove into the Oval office. And whether Cheney is in charge of everything or just half the treason, he's got to go to.

Rosie O'Donnell was speaking for a lot of people when she exclaimed recently, "What do you have to do to get impeached in this country?" But what will make it really happen is when each one of us speaks for ourselves, and we contact our members of Congress to finally demand Constitutional responsibility, and keep doing it again and again.

ACTION PAGE

We don't believe for one second that the Bush administration hasn't now on top of everything else totally corrupted our federal justice system by requiring selective and wrongful prosecutions of members of the other party as a CONDITION for continued employment as an attorney general. The corruption goes completely to the core of everything our country is supposed to stand for. The last time we checked the Pledge of Allegiance ended with the words "justice for all". You got that, George? ALL! And that means you don't just prosecute non-Bushies and let yourself and your cronies off the hook.

But of course he doesn't get it. He's never going to get it. Instead Bush is going even deeper into tantrum and denial mode, demanding even more and more power to grossly abuse, without any accountability whatsoever, as if the results of the last election had not even taken place. They think they're just going to plow ahead with new proposed laws to expand domestic surveillance even further, as if all those rubber stamping Senators voted out in November were still around.

He's not going to stop on his own folks. He's incorrigible. And the only force that can stop him is the pressure of public opinion, coming from our individual voices to our members of Congress, to call on them to honor the Constitution and do what should have been done years ago already. We can't wait until 2008 to be rid of them. Impeach the president and vice president now.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

Get alerts like this one.

Powered by The People's Email Network
Copyright 2007, Patent pending, All rights reserved

Movement to Impeach George W. Bush

* Vice President Dick Cheney not Welcome to Give Commencement Speech at Brigham Young University on April 26

flickr

Cheney shrugs

Public Forum Letter
by Mark Tiller
March 26, 2007

Why invite Vice President Dick Cheney, who vilifies so many of the Savior's teachings, to speak at Brigham Young University? Read and ponder the church's 13th Article of Faith; count how many ways Dick Cheney fails this tenet of our beliefs, particularly the part about believing in being honest, true , benevolent and in doing good to all men.

Why invite a man who endorses waterboarding, an interrogation technique considered by many a form of torture, and shrugs if off as a "no brainer." How does the invitation of this man and what he stands for serve the church and the graduates of its flagship institution? I am deeply disturbed and saddened by the news of even considering him appropriate to speak at BYU.

* * *Uninvite Cheney

Public Forum Letter
Lon Hazzard
April 4, 2007

Some have defended Brigham Young University's invitation to Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement by stressing political balance or by comparing it to Michael Moore's speech at Utah Valley State College. Dick Cheney was not invited to speak at an open political forum at BYU.

Commencement speakers are traditionally very highly revered by the school that invites them. They are judged to be a living example of what students might aspire to, and they are expected to provide entertaining and positive counsel to graduates as they go out into the real world.

Whether intended or not, BYU's invitation to Dick Cheney implies an endorsement of his life's work, his policies and actions. As a BYU alumnus, knowing Dick Cheney's record, which reflects anything but true Christian values, I find this very disappointing to say the least.

Dick Cheney needs BYU far more than BYU needs Dick Cheney. Do right by the graduates and uninvite him.

* * *
BYU approves Cheney protest - for two hours before VP speaks

The Associated Press
April 12, 2007

PROVO - College Democrats at Brigham Young University will be protesting Vice President Dick Cheney's commencement speech - two hours before he gives it.

BYU officials granted the student group permission to protest from noon to 2 p.m. on April 26. Cheney's address is set for 4 p.m.

The protest will take place at one of the school's main entrances. Students say they hope thousands of people will see them as they arrive early for Cheney's speech at the Marriott Center. School officials plan to open the Marriott Center at 1 p.m.

All recent Salt Lake City Tribune articles for the Cheney controversy ...

BYU Student Petition AGAINST Cheney Speech, 3,652 signatures as of today.

BYU Student Petition FOR Cheney Speech, 1,031 signatures as of today.

* Problems with Sam Harris' "The End of Faith" ~ by Neil Godfrey

Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason has and is raising consciousness to the dangers of religion. That said, Neil Godfrey's critique of his book provides thoughtful rebuttal to some of Harris' assertions.

This is a disturbing book principally for its ignorant tirade against Moslems. As an atheist myself I had hoped for something more rational and informative given the enormous popularity of this book in the U.S. but find Harris here is too often little more than a mega-mouthpiece for Western (read American?) ignorance of Moslems and the Moslem world outside the U.S. borders. I expected to read along with a like-mind since I also see religion and religious faith as a net negative left-over from our evolutionary past that needs to be eradicated just as acceptance of rape as a natural means for reproduction has been eradicated. But I found points of agreement only at a superficial level. It is bad enough that he blames religion as the principle or fundamental root cause of suicide terrorism: he says it was religious belief, belief in a blissful life after death, that enabled the 9/11 hijackers to commit their atrocity. What rot. A slight amount of reflection and simple logic would inform him that if religious belief were the root enabler of suicide terrorism then we would surely have had suicide terrorism for as long as we have had such beliefs in any religion. Pape’s “Dying to Win” is a scholarly research work that amply demonstrates that suicide terrorism is a function of national identity humiliation brought about by foreign occupation and that perpetrators of this form of terrorism since the 1980’s have included both the religious and non-religious and secular, Christian and Buddhist as well as Moslem. Pape’s research pulverizes Harris’s ignorant diatribe.

Harris also makes the tired old moral comparison between “collatoral damage” and “wilful terrorist acts” meant to sanitize western belligerent responses to 9/11, and in so doing becomes a supporter of the very actions that are dooming us to more war and increasing terror. Again deeper reflection would enlighten one to a more accurate comparison that brought the two much closer together than Harris wants to admit: imagine a police officer opting to open massive firepower into a house where murderers are suspected of hiding knowing that that firepower would also inevitably wipe out several other houses sheltering innocent families that (unfortunately!) happened to be in the general path of fire! The balance is thus not that the terrorist wants to kill civilians while “we” regrettably unavoidably kill civilians; it is, rather, that the terrorist wants to kill civilians while “we” don’t care if we kill civilians. (Disagree? Then why do “we” say “we don’t do body counts” if we really do care and truly regret?)

But the book is more disturbing than this because it would appear to me to be fanning ignorant prejudice and inhumane policies against Moslem peoples that can only guarantee a deepening of the problem he thinks will be solved by the eradication of religious belief, especially Moslem belief. He writes point-blank on page 133 that if Moslem societies prospered they would more than likely threaten and harm “us” even more and therefore the best thing for “us” is that those societies stay undeveloped! He writes that millions of Moslems (suggesting the majority) want to set up a Taliban-like society over “us”. He equates Hammas with a terrorist outfit pure and simple. The only hope in the book to balance such ignorance is his pleading for a rationality that is open to new evidence (p.235). One can only hope that Harris is open-minded enough to seek out and embrace evidence that will surely to be new to him — evidence about the truth of the majority of Moslems and Hammas that is freely available in western societies like his to any who care to seriously inform themselves.

First 10 pages of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Cross-reference METAXY for Neil Godfrey

* Who's Who on the Religious Right?

AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

"Religious Right leaders often claim that they offer a mainstream vision for America. Their own words, however, demonstrate a radical worldview far removed from the values of most Americans. Over the past two decades, their rhetoric and agenda have been shrill, divisive and extreme."

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the Religious Right TOP 10, PDF

Read all about 'em ...

* Christian Terrorists Attack New Jersey School ~ Take Hostages in Mock Drill

American Center for Law & Justice

New Jersey School Drill Portrays Killers as Christians

April 3, 2007
by WorldNetDaily.com

"School officials in Burlington, N.J., who wanted to stage a "hostage situation" drill have portrayed the attackers as Christians, including one who was upset that his daughter was expelled for praying before class.

"Supt. Chris Manno praised the exercise to test the response of the school and police, explaining, "You perform as you practice. We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

"Lifesite News reported that the Christian students in the school were offended when the student body was told the alleged gunmen were "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state."

"The Burlington County Times said the mock gunmen pretended to shoot several students in the hallways before taking 10 students hostage in the district's media center."

Certainly this drill drew irrate reactions. In defense, Public Safety Director Walter Corter said the scenario was created to represent “anybody who was an extremist and not dealing with reality,” and never specified “Christian terrorists” or other religious or ethnic groups.

However, it is not a so far out scenario that absolutely could not happen. Just as there are Islamic and other religious hate groups, Christianity is not without potential.

Christian Terrorism

Purported hate groups of all ilk . . ., and see Wikipedia

Christian Identity

* Today's Annual White House Easter Egg Hunt Complete with Activist Groups Hunting Bombs

ABC News
by NATASHA T. METZER

WASHINGTON Apr 9, 2007 (AP)— Thousands of kids dressed for winter weather scrambled for eggs Easter eggs, that is at a White House ceremony dating back to the 19th century

The annual White House Easter Egg Roll, started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878, typically has been a rite of spring in Washington. But on Monday, it was afflicted by winter's parting bite cold air and even colder grounds. Undaunted by any of this, the young guests sprang into action under the watchful eyes of their families, hostess Laura Bush and several Bush administration Cabinet secretaries.

"In Washington, we know spring has arrived when the White House lawn is filled with children for the Easter Egg Roll, one of the happiest traditions here at the White House," the first lady said. . ."

"Across from the White House, meanwhile, a handful of activists at Lafayette Park hunted for brightly colored tennis balls in an alternative "Easter cluster bomb hunt," intended to dramatize the fact that many areas of the globe, such as South Lebanon, are not safe for children because of persistent fighting and unexploded munitions.

"What we're really trying to get across is that all children should be able to have fun like this and not be worried about getting blown up," said Brian Hennessey, from the Vineeta Foundation, one of the organizers."

Bomb hunt at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, sponsored by the Vineeta Foundation, Code Pink, DAWN, Voters for Peace, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Coalition for Justice and Accountability, Democracy Rising, US Campaign to End the Occupation, Backbone Campaign, After Downing St, Iran Coalition and Jewish Voices For Peace

ReverendFun.com

* Easter at the White House

On Friday, President George W. Bush issued his 2007 Easter Message It says in part: "In this season of renewal, we can rejoice in Christ's rising, draw strength and inspiration from His example, and remember that in the end, even death itself will be defeated. This Easter we pray for all our men and women in uniform and for the military families whose loved ones are deployed on important missions in distant lands. We remember especially those who have given their lives in freedom's cause. On this powerful day, let us join together and give thanks to the Almighty for the glory of His grace."

Of course, as is usual for Bush, he violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. He consistently promotes his Jesus in his speeches to America.

* US to Launch a Missile Attack on Iran Today, "Operation Bite." Is this an April Fools Joke?

'US ready to strike Iran on Good Friday'

by JERUSALEM POST STAFF AND AP
April 1, 2007

"The United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6," according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday.

"According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf."

This story has been making the rounds on the blog scene, e.g., AfterDowningStreet, April 4, 2007. The reported reason for an attack would be that Iran was holding 15 British soldiers who have now been released. See Wikinews

Gulf allies say they won't allow the strike.

Why has this story not been reported by major US new sources, e.g., CNN and MSNBC? It originated from the Associated Press.

*Some of George W. Bush's actions lately, including his recess appointment of Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium, create the impression that he is asking for impeachment, something many Americans want.

do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means.

~ Clarence Darrow, Scopes Trial, Dayton, Tennessee, July 13, 1925

* Does the USA have a Unique Relationship with God? Mighty Madeleine and the Almighty

The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs, with an Introduction by President William J. Clinton, is a 2006 memoir written by former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

“A particularly candid first draft of history. . . . The result is a book that makes an important contribution to the question of how our foreign policy should adjust to the rise of religion worldwide.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“In this meditation on how faith shapes world events, Albright explores Islam’s roots, predicts that the U.S. invasion of Iraq may rank ‘among the worst foreign policy disasters’ in our history and urges America to tread lightly. . . . An engrossing, important read.”
—People (4 stars)

“An absorbing, well-written, informative and thoughtful look at U.S. foreign policy and the role religion plays within it. . . . Albright offers a thought-provoking and original approach to incorporating religion into international relations.”
—Associated Press

Dr. Albright addresses some of the most controversial political and social questions of our time. Does America have a unique relationship with God? Has the United States, as George W. Bush has proclaimed, been divinely ordained to bring liberty and democracy to the world? What role does the Christian right have in influencing U.S. foreign policy? What strategy should America adopt in shaping its relations with the Muslim world? Is peace still possible in the Middle East?

ABC News: Read Chapter One

Albright lectures on foreign policy

Yale Herald
by Kristen Von Hoffmann
April 2, 2004

"Madeleine Albright, U.S. secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, LAW '73, and the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government, spoke to a packed audience at the Yale Divinity School on Tuesday. The speech, entitled 'The Mighty and the Almighty: United States Foreign Policy and God,' examined how religion affects foreign policy and specifically how the United States has undertaken certain political actions using religious justification in the war against terrorism.

"Albright said that the United States will never unite the world with the idea that America has a unique position with God. She went on to say that the problem with Bush's approach is that it comes very close to justifying America's fight against terrorism using Christianity, which "plays right into terrorists' hands," she said.

"'I believe that we can unite the world in opposition to the murder of innocent people,' she said. 'But we will never unite the world in support of the idea that Americans have a unique relationship with God.'

"She prompted the audience to consider how to establish certain universal moral standards without religious guidelines. She admitted that there would inevitably be disputes between cultures who were asked to agree on moral norms without a religious motive but stated that certain moral standards, 'should not be in question.' The killing of innocent people is not acceptable, she said. 'We must stop turning humans into robots and people into bombs. We must ask ourselves how best to do this.'

"She emphasized that one of America's founding principles was the separation between church and state and that this should be upheld in future politics.

"However, she said that religion can play an important role in moderating differences between cultures. "The borderless nature of religious faith often makes it easier for leaders to talk to one another, easier for nations to agree on common values," she said.

"During her tenure, Albright successfully expanded and modernized NATO, promoted peace in the Balkans, and expanded democracy in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America."

Los Angeles Times
Good versus evil isn't a strategy: Bush's worldview fails to see that in the Middle East, power politics is the key

by Madeleine Albright
March 24, 2006

PBS Interview, May 2006

Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of humankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of humans.
~ War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy

* I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the ... huh?