NYTimes can't even get anti-semitism right

In contrast to the NY Sun's fair treatment of the increasingly harsh facts of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic faculty at Columbia University, the NY Times whitewashes the story, and attempts to give all credit to the administration for their investigation. The story even defends Joseph Massad - a well known polemicist against Israel and even the concept of a Jewish homeland.


By Sam Dillon - October 29, 2004.

Columbia University's president, Lee C. Bollinger, asked on Wednesday that the university provost investigate assertions that some professors have intimidated Jewish students during discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said in an interview yesterday.

Ten current and former Columbia students voiced the complaints in a half-hour video documentary, "Unbecoming Columbia," produced last winter by the David Project, a group based in Boston that seeks to document campus harassment of Jewish students. The producers have shown it to several New York journalists this week.

In the video, several students say professors in the Middle East and Asian languages and cultures department have often accused Jewish students during classroom discussions of responsibility for Palestinian deaths. The students also say professors have routinely focused discussions exclusively on what the professors called Israeli war crimes, without discussing human rights violations by Arab regimes.

Mr. Bollinger said that because of the offensive nature of some of the episodes described, he had asked the provost, Alan Brinkley, to evaluate the film and develop the university's response.

"This is a serious matter," Mr. Bollinger said. "I'm talking about the intellectual climate on a major American campus. We've got to be able to talk about the most controversial subjects of our time and do it in a way that doesn't suppress passion but invites the full range of opinions. And no students should feel intimidated from participating."

The David Project was formed two years ago by Charles Jacobs, a management consultant who was a co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group, and by Avi Goldwasser, a technology industry executive, the two men said in an interview yesterday.

The interview took place in an Upper East Side apartment where the group played the video documentary for a reporter. The apartment is the home of Rachel Fish, a Harvard Divinity School graduate who led a successful campaign last year to persuade Harvard to return a $2.5 million gift to its donor, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates.

Ms. Fish, who began working with the David Project last year, said the group decided to produce the video after she visited the university during the fall 2003 term and heard of incidents of intimidation of Jewish students.

In the video, a female student who graduated in 2003, Lindsay Shrier, says that in one history class, a professor showed a documentary saying Arabs have a more legitimate claim to land in Israel than do Jews. In a discussion after the film, the professor told Ms. Shrier that she could not have ancestral ties to Israel because her eyes were green, she says in the video.

Another Columbia student, an Israeli Army veteran, Tomy Schoenfeld, says in the video that a professor refused to answer his question in class and instead asked Mr. Schoenfeld, "How many Palestinians have you killed?"

None of the 10 students interviewed in the documentary filed complaints with Columbia about the confrontations, Mr. Jacobs said. The university's normal grievance procedure, he said, involves reporting problems to professors or department chairmen, and in some cases those are the people who have helped create an intimidating atmosphere.

One professor in the Middle East and Asian languages and cultures department mentioned in the documentary, Joseph A. Massad, said yesterday that he had not seen it but had read press descriptions of it.

"This is a propaganda film funded by a pro-Israel group as part of a racist witchhunt of Arab and Muslim professors," he said. "I have intimidated no one. Neither Columbia University nor I have ever received a complaint from any student."

Neville Hoad, an English professor at the University of Texas, sent a letter to Mr. Bollinger, signed by hundreds of colleagues, calling Dr. Massad "a public intellectual who has courageously written in Arabic and in English against anti-Semitism and anti-Semites."

The new inquiry comes five months after six professors designated by Mr. Bollinger investigated similar allegations of biased scholarship and intimidation. The professors reported in May that it had found no evidence of academic abuses, he said.


The New York Times ladies and gentlemen, failing on racism, the first most basic issue in liberalism.

Hating Israel now includes pro-Israel Students

From the New York Sun:


Bias Festered 'For Years,' Professor Says

BY JACOB GERSHMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
October 29, 2004

A leading scholar of Hebrew literature at Columbia University said yesterday that for years students have complained to him about anti-Israel bias in the classroom.

As Columbia University begins to investigate claims from students who say professors routinely promote hatred of Israel, the scholar, Dan Miron, a tenured professor in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, told The New York Sun that the school is awakening to a long-existing problem.

"It's been going on for years now," Mr. Miron said. Students who have come to his office, he said, complained that they "were humiliated."

"They were not allowed to ask questions," he said. "It's high time for this to be investigated."
Mr. Miron, a scholar of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature who came to Columbia 17 years ago from Hebrew University, said he is one of the department's few sympathizers of Israel.
"The department as a whole has been developing an ideology or agenda that is not particularly pro-Israel," he said. "There are some professors who question the legitimacy of Israel as it is."
The department has come under intense public scrutiny with the release of a documentary film, "Columbia Unbecoming," which alleges numerous cases of professors' displaying open hostility toward Jewish students who express support for Israel.

Lee Bollinger, who is in his third year as president on Morningside Heights, decided Wednesday to investigate allegations about professors' conduct. That was announced after reports of the film provoked a flurry of concerned reactions from Jewish leaders and alumni. In addition, Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, demanded that Columbia "fire" an assistant professor accused of intimidating Jewish students.

While avoiding the issue of faculty bias against Israel - a common complaint among Jewish students at the school - Mr. Bollinger has pledged Columbia will set up a "well-articulated process for airing grievances" against professors who exhibit intolerance toward students with opposing viewpoints.

Mayor Bloomberg praised Mr. Bollinger yesterday for "taking the allegations of intolerance on his campus so seriously."

Mr. Bollinger also met with the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman. After his visit to Columbia, Mr. Foxman said he was satisfied with Mr. Bollinger's handling of the student complaints.

"Under President Bollinger's leadership, Columbia University will put into place practices that will contribute to a bias-free academic atmosphere," Mr. Foxman told the Sun in a statement.
"Columbia Unbecoming," produced by a Boston-based group called the David Project, features testimonies from several students describing instances in which professors from the department have silenced pro-Israel views in courses on the Middle East.

One of those scholars - and the target of the Weiner complaint - is Joseph Massad, an assistant professor of modern Arab politics, who says Israel is a racist state that does not legitimately represent Jews. In a class discussion about Israel's 2002 incursion into Jenin in the West Bank, Mr. Massad reprimanded a student who defended Israel's actions, according to a student who was interviewed for the film, Noah Liben. "Before she could get her point across he quickly demanded and shouted at her, 'I will not have anyone sit through this class and deny Israeli atrocities,'" Mr. Liben, 22, said.

Mr. Miron, who saw the film, said he hears similar stories from students about once a week, often concerning professors' laughing at them or shouting them down. He said he hasn't passed the complaints to the administration because "it's not my role - if they want to go, it's their thing." He also said Columbia's response to the situation in general has been "very weak."
Mr. Miron said he has a cordial relationship with most professors in the department, which he says "handles itself amicably." And he spoke in glowing terms of the department's Hebrew language courses, which enroll about 150 students.

He said the department has grown increasingly hostile toward Israel and America, with more professors viewing global politics "as a clash between the colonized and colonizers." More than a third of the professors in the department signed a 2002 petition urging Columbia to divest its holdings from companies that sell arms to Israel.

Mr. Miron also said the anti-Israel atmosphere in the department has "anti-Jewish overtones."
"Israelis are put to a test that is not applied to anyone else," he said. "You will not hear a murmur about the people of Sudan, but you will hear that Israeli soldiers are raping Palestinians. Israel is singled out in a way that is racist."

He said, "The needs of Israel, the legitimate concerns of Israel, are never taken into account."
Mr. Miron said he decided to teach a course about the history of Zionism three years ago because he wanted students to learn about Zionism "from someone who is not branding it racism."
The chairman of the department, Hamid Dabashi, and Mr. Massad declined to speak to the Sun.
A number of Jewish students who have taken courses offered by the department said they were treated fairly by the professors.

"I haven't experienced anything that has made me personally uncomfortable," said Frances Kreimer, a junior majoring in Middle East and Asian languages and cultures and a member of Jews for Social Justice, a left-wing group on campus.

Those with the strongest complaints tended to be pro-Israel students saying they were offended by professors' hostility toward the country. Aharon Horwitz, a recent graduate who majored in political science and Arabic, told the Sun that when he asked a professor how to use an Arabic word meaning "prevents," the professor offered the example, "Israel prevents ambulances from going into refugee camps."


It would seem Ms. Kreimer has no idea what is at stake. But otherwise, a highly enlightening article that is long overdue. The NY Sun is fast becoming the paper of record for NY.

The Imminent Absence of Arafat

"Yasser Arafat never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Abba Eban


I think things can happen now that would never have happened with him alive. Much will depend on what Hamas does and what the PA can do about Hamas – Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs gain in the short-term, on the ground with recruits, but the US will not deal with Hamas as a political actor. The PA and Fatah will then have yet another opportunity to reform itself, to become moderate leaders, to become statesmen. They will have to offer their people more than Hamas-lite, something more than "a bit less violence" or " a bit more sovereignty".

Arafat's removal is undoubtedly another opportunity for that, but only an opportunity. It will require enormous courage from PA leaders to marginalize Hamas and other militants. We have yet to see such courage. But maybe. Perhaps the intifada has been enough of a failure to force the Palestinians to give up destroying Israel. Perhaps.

There will be magic in the air – lots of hope and lots of anger – and it might also become true movement. If Bush is re-elected it helps Israel immensely – with Kerry it’s all up in the air again, (but the American pro-Israel community will most likely scare him to serious action).
Bush could do more, and more quickly, due to his fear level in the Arab world – they know he will do what it takes to protect Israel. Kerry probably will – but more out of political expediency than his character. No one in the Arab world is the tiniest bit afraid of John Kerry.

For the PA to step up and have the courage to make peace will be both essential and shockingly out of character. But it's one more opportunity.

Germans for Bush

Largest Newspaper in Europe

BILD gives stunning endorsement of Bush:


The Ten Reasons Germany should support Bush's Reelection:


1. Bush has clear priorities. He sees the inhuman Islamic fundamentalism and the murderous mullahs as the largest danger for the Western world.

2. Bush has learned the lessons of history. Military strength, not pleasant talk, is the only thing that helps against violent fanatics. And with Bush -- unlike with Kerry -- there is no doubt about this.

3. Under Bush, the US, as a superpower, will continue to bear the financial, military and casualty burden in the fight against terrorism in a "holy war" which Islamic fanatics unilaterally declared.

4. Along with fighting terror and the terrorists, a re-elected Bush will do everything he can to prevent nuclear proliferation. That is especially true with regard to the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

5. Bush has learned that America can defeat every country in war, but needs allies in peace. Thus, his second term will be characterized by cooperation with international partners. But he will not depend on how Syria or Libya vote at the UN.

6. Bush knows that Europe and Germany don’t have the military at their disposal to become involved in any further foreign military engagements. Therefore he won't ask them for help. Kerry will do exactly that – and will further burden already damaged German-American relations.

7. Under Bush, America will remain a reliable partner for Israel in its fight for survival. That must especially be in our German interest.

8. Republicans have always been stronger supporters of free trade than Democrats. That is also true of Bush when compared to Kerry. And that is good for Germany as an export nation.

9. Every new American administration makes mistakes. Bush has already made his. Kerry, on the other hand, has of yet held no (executive) position in the government. He would be worse prepared than most Presidents preceding him.

10. With Bush, we know what to expect. With Kerry, nobody knows what he stands for and where he wants to lead America – and the world.


Translation from Davids MedienKritik - a good German Blog on the media bias of Europe.

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 29, 1562: George Abbot, translator of the Gospels, Acts and Revelation for the King James Bible, is born. He became head of the Church of England in 1611, but his popularity (and his health) declined sharply after he killed a man in a hunting accident in 1621.

October 29, 1837: Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper is born in Rotterdam, Holland. He became so popular and famous that on October 29, 1907, the whole nation celebrated his 70th birthday, declaring, "the history of the Netherlands, in Church, in State, in Society, in Press, in School, and in the Sciences the last forty years, cannot be written without the mention of his name on almost every page.

October 29, 1919: A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and Nyack College, dies.

French will "always be on the side" of Arafat

I guess it's a start. At least they aren't lying.

French foreign minister Michel Barnier:

"France, as I told you (Arafat) in Ramallah on June 30, will be always on your side to back your effort in favor of a just and negotiated peace," Barnier said. "It is with concern and sympathy that I keep informed of the development of your health," said Barnier.

"After all," the minister continued, "you kill Jews so well! You are a glorious Jew-killer! Such as France has not seen nigh on sixty years."

The rest of the minister's comments were drowned out by applause from the U.N. General Assembly and the BBC.

Spectacular

Bohemian Rhapsody - 2004

NYTimes: Hoisted on its own Canard

Belgravia Dispatch has the best break down of it all. Unbelievable. Craven. Hypocrisy.

I pray for the re-election of George W. Bush for a host of reasons, but one is that it will ruin NYTimes day.

From Oswald Chambers today:

Justification by Faith

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life —Romans 5:10

I am not saved by believing—I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me—repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves—they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done—

"It is finished!" ( John 19:30 ).

On this day...

in Christian History:

October 28, 312: According to tradition, on this date the 32-year-old Roman emperor Constantine defeated Maxentius at Milvian Bridge. Before the battle, Constantine had seen the symbol of Jesus, chi-rho, in a vision, accompanied with the words "By this sign conquer." He is considered Rome's first Christian emperor (see issue 57: Converting the Empire).

October 28, 1646: At Nonantum, Massachusetts, missionary John Eliot preaches the first worship service for Native Americans in their native language.

October 28, 1949: Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecuador's Auca Indians, writes in his journal the most famous of his sayings: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

October 28, 1958: The Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, is unexpectedly elected pope, taking the name John XXIII. Expected to be a mere caretaker in office, he became one of the Catholic church's most activist popes, convening the Second Vatican Council in 1962 (see issue 65: The Ten Most Influential Christians of the Twentieth Century).

October 28, 1992: The Korean Hyoo-go (Korean for "rapture") movement, led by prophet Lee Jang Rim, predicts that this is the day of the rapture (see issue 61: The End of the World).

Poll Watch Update

2004 Presidential Race - Head to Head

RCP Average
10/21 - 10/26
49.2%
46.4%
Bush +2.8

Rasmussen (3,000 LV w/leaners)
10/24 - 10/26
50%
48%
Bush +2

TIPP (792 LV)
10/23 - 10/26
47%
43%
Bush +4

CNN/USAT/Gallup (1195 LV)
10/22 - 10/24
52%
46%
Bush +6

Los Angeles Times (881 LV)
10/21 - 10/24
49%
48%
Bush +1

Newsweek (880 LV)
10/21 - 10/22
48%
47%
Bush +1


Still anyone's race.

Some Good Chrisitian Pro-Israel Efforts

Here are a few I like and use for good information:


Christian Friends of Israel, is geared to young people and has tons of info.

Stand for Israel, now in its third decade, one of the most respected on the Israeli side.

Migdal Arbel, from the Billye Brin Ministries.

Christian Action for Israel, also with great info homepage and lots of in-Israel efforts.

Episcopal Craziness Just Keeps Coming

From the CT Weblog:


Episcopal Church Officially Promotes Idol Worship

"Women's Eucharist" calls for worship of pagan deities specifically condemned in Scripture.

Compiled by Ted Olsen posted 10/26/2004

Imagine for one moment that you're a leader in the Episcopal Church USA. You know that within the next few days, a global commission is going to release a report on how the global Anglican Communion should respond to your church, and is likely to be critical of the ordination of an actively homosexual man as bishop. You know, and have said yourself, that the debate isn't just about sexuality: It's about how one views the Bible. And you know that all eyes will be on your denomination over the next few weeks. What do you do?

What the real leaders of the Episcopal Church did was to take an action that makes ordaining a homosexual man as a bishop almost a non-issue. They started promoting the worship of pagan deities.

This is not a joke nor an overstatement. In all truth and seriousness, leaders of the Episcopal Church USA are promoting pagan rites to pagan deities. And not just any new pagan deities: The Episcopal Church USA, though its Office of Women's Ministries, is actually promoting the worship of idols specifically condemned in Scripture.

"A Women's Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine" is taken almost completely (without attribution) from a rite from Tuatha de Brighid, "a Clan of modern Druids … who believe in the interconnectedness of all faiths." But who cares where it's from? Look at what it says. Here's how it begins.

We gather around a low table, covered with a woven cloth or shawl. A candle, a bowl or vase of flowers, a large shallow bowl filled with salted water, a chalice of sweet red wine, a cup of milk mixed with honey, and a plate of raisin cakes are placed on the table.

You might be wondering: What's with the raisin cakes? Is it just Communion wafers with raisins? No. The plate of raisin cakes is raised and a woman says, "Mother God, our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven and baked these cakes in your honor in defiance of their brothers and husbands who would not see your feminine face. We offer you these cakes, made with our own hands; filled with the grain of life—scattered and gathered into one loaf, then broken and shared among many. We offer these cakes and enjoy them too. They are rich with the sweetness of fruit, fertile with the ripeness of grain, sweetened with the power of love. May we also be signs of your love and abundance."

The plate is passed and each woman takes and eats a cake. So those raisin cakes have a historical reference: Those "brothers and husbands" banned them. Sound familiar? It's a reference to Hosea 3:1: And the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

Now there are other biblical references to raisin cakes, but this is the only reference (except possibly this one) to them having any kind of role in worship. Many scholars believe they were offerings to the goddess Asherah, the female counterpart to Baal, but in this context it may be more directly tied to Ishtar/Ashtoreth/Astarte, the "Queen of Heaven."

"Our ancient sisters called you Queen of Heaven," says the Episcopal liturgy. That's a reference to Jeremiah. And not a happy one. In Jeremiah 7, God complains, "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger."

The liturgy's reference to defiant women worshipping the Queen of Heaven with cakes comes directly from Jeremiah 44: Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." And the women said, "When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"

In other words, it wasn't their brothers and husbands that the women were defying: It was God. And now Episcopal Church leaders want you to do the same. Defy God. Worship pagan deities. There is no other possible reading of this "Eucharistic" text.

It should be noted that the pagan rite isn't on some hidden page in the deep recesses of the Episcopal Church's web site. The site is actually promoting this. The main pages of the web site (there are three: one for members, another for visitors, and a third for leaders) all link to an Episcopal News Service article on the "The Women's Liturgy Project." The article says, in part:
The Office of Women's Ministries is working towards creating a resource to be used by women, men, parishes, dioceses, small groups, within the context of a Sunday morning service, or any other appropriate setting where the honoring of a woman's life passages and experiences beckons a liturgical response. These can include, but are not limited to, liturgies/rites pertaining to: menstruation, menopause, conception, pregnancy, any form of pregnancy loss, childbirth, forms of leave taking, and many others. … There is already a working section on the Women's Ministries website that contains worship resources that are currently available to be downloaded and used by all.

Go to that worship resources page, and there are only nine offerings, the second of which is the "Women's Eucharist." Another troubling entry is the Liturgy for Divorce, which includes this theology: While the couple have promised in good faith to love until parted by death, in some marriages the love between a wife and a husband comes to an end sooner. Love dies, and when that happens we recognize that the bonds of marriage, based on love, also may be ended . God calls us to right relationships based on love, compassion, mutuality, and justice. Whenever any of these elements is absent from a marital relationship, then that partnership no longer reflects the intentionality of God.

Such a view of love and marriage is profoundly unbiblical, but at least there's no prayer to fertility goddesses. (Commenters over Midwest Conservative Journal are discussing both rituals.)

The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, has been explaining that the difference between his church and the Episcopal Church USA isn't your standard intradenominational infighting. The Episcopal Church (along with other western churches, he says), isn't even Christian any more. Instead, he says, it's "embroiled in a new religion which we cannot associate ourselves with."
One would have thought that the Episcopal Church USA might have argued whether it was really practicing a different religion. Instead, their challenge to Akinola's statement might be that it's not new at all: Their idolatry has been around since Old Testament times.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 27, 625: Honorius I begins his reign as pope. His belief in Monothelitism (that Christ had only one will, not two), since condemned as heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, have long been a point of conflict for Catholic discussion of papal infallibility.

October 27, 1553: Michael Servetus is burned at the stake in Geneva for his heretical beliefs regarding the Trinity.

October 27, 1746: Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian William Tennant obtains a charter for the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton. He had founded the school in 1726 as a seminary to train his sons and others for ministry. Presidents of the college later included Aaron Burr, Jonathan Edwards, and Reverend John Witherspoon, who led the school to national prominence.

October 27, 1771: Francis Asbury, sent from England by John Wesley to oversee America's 600 (or so) Methodists, lands in Philadelphia. During his 45-year ministry in America, he traveled on horseback or in carriage an estimated 300,000 miles, delivering some 16,500 sermons. By his death, there were 200,000 Methodists in America.

October 27, 1978: The complete New International Version (NIV) of the Bible is published.

Ill-considered Theological Critiques of Bush

I'm sorry but this theological critique of Bush infuriates me. I respect Stassen but this is one more example of blinkered academics living in la-la-land where they can condemn the actions of the government without a single mention of A) what they would do instead, or B) the real evil of the enemy we face. This just Sontag liberalism dressed in (self-righteous) Christian vestments.

Over the last weeks, we have agreed to the attached statement. We identify five points that we believe are indispensable for followers of Jesus, and rejections of the current teachings that nullify those points. We believe we have made a critical and thoughtful statement on the theology of war that endangers us, and points to a better alternative.

Well, I suppose we can at least be glad they didn't call them the "five pillars."


The Vatican weighed in too, but with the same selective outrage? The same vague non-principled stand? The same lack of alternatives? The same craven opportunism? We wait and see.

Certainly Encouraging

to see Fuller, and evangelicals in general, addressing this. Let's hope they went home thinking.

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 26, 899: Alfred the Great, ruler of Wessex, England, from 871, dies. His defeat of the Danes ensured Christianity's survival in England, but he is also known for his ecclesiastical reforms and his desire to revive learning in his country.

October 26, 1466: According to some accounts, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus was born on this date. The first editor of the Greek New Testament, he also wrote In Praise of Folly (a satire of monastic and ecclesiastical corruption) and many other works.

October 26, 1529: Thomas More becomes Lord Chancellor of England. Though he defended religious freedom in his book Utopia, he strongly opposed the Reformation and wrote against Luther, Tyndale, and others. Because he also opposed Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the English church, as well as the king's divorce, he was executed.

October 26, 1633: The Puritan congregation at Newton (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, chooses Thomas Hooker as its pastor. Hooker, like many Dissenters, had earlier fled persecution in England by traveling to Holland. He then sailed to America with preachers John Cotton and Samuel Stone, leading grateful Puritans in Boston to quip that they now had "Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building."

October 26, 1950: Mother Teresa founds the first Mission of Charity in Calcutta, India.

October 26, 1966: The first World Congress on Evangelism opens in West Berlin, attracting approximately 600 delegates from about 100 countries.

Emergents Discussion at Wheaton

CT had this synopsis of the recent visit of "Emergent" spokesman Brian McLaren and Wheaton President Duane Liften.

Protestants Constipated from their Origins

And now we have found some evidentiary support!

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 25, 431: The Council of Ephesus replaces Nestorius with a new patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius was anathematized for holding the belief that two separate persons indwelled the incarnate Christ (see issue 51: Heresy in the Early Church).

October 25, 1400: English poet Geoffrey Chaucer dies in London, having abruptly stopped writing his famous Canterbury Tales some time before. Though not a religious writer, his characters aptly illustrate the best and worst of the church in his day. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey, a high honor for a commoner, and became the first of those entombed in what is now called Poets' Corner.

October 25, 1147: Because of bickering and ineffective leadership, the German armies of the Second Crusade (1147-49) are destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum in modern Turkey.

Kerry's Hunting Trip

I’m still not convinced this wasn’t brilliant.

Kerry was seen out doing his thing and bagging a bird. Rush has been hammering it. Hannity wants it compared to the Dukakis tank photo. And the NRA blasted Kerry in what to me seem pretty effective blunt ads. I am still of the opinion that there are a lot of Democratic conservatives in the Midwest who will now feel slightly better about voting for Kerry – those that wouldn’t vote Republican but might have stayed home. Now they might come out. Rush and Co. seem to think he's after Republican votes. He's not. He's after ConDems who HATE liberals, but are union people, go to Church, hunt, and vote Democratic.

Maybe the RightBoys are right. But maybe they are a little afraid of just what I’m afraid of. If not brilliant, perhaps this trip was still sound political tactics.

A lot of the liberal press made fun of it too, sotto voce. But it was in the same tone that East Coast press makes fun of the Midwest in general. The beltway-centric press travelling with Kerry forgets that most Midwesterners know that the DC press are a bunch of blinkered elitist snobs.

Therefore, if the liberal press is making fun of Kerry hunting in Ohio - it's potentially helps Kerry in Ohio. If the commentary from the Right is able to make this a Dukakis tank photo, fine. But I don't see that yet.

My series prediction:

My Cardinals in 6.

Red Sox have focused on beating the Yankees. Cardinals have focused on the winning the World Series.

NY Sun Gets it Right on Columbia U.

I thank God for this editorial by the New York Sun:

Bollinger's Blindness
New York Sun Staff Editorial, October 22, 2004

"I think something extremely important is happening on our campuses. They are now turned into sites for cultivation of critical judgment for responsible citizenship in what we hope will remain a free republic. Even as late as five years ago no one would have dared stand on the steps of the Law Library on Columbia Campus and condemn the military thuggery of people like Ariel Sharon. Innocent people in Jenin, Kandahar, Shalamcheh, or Baghdad are brutally massacred and no one would have dared to condemn these acts publicly. But not anymore."

- Hamid Dabashi, speaking to the Electronic Intifada online magazine, September 30, 2002.


Professor Hamid Dabashi, chairman of Columbia's notorious Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department, is quite correct to point out that "something extremely important" is happening on our campuses. While Mr. Dabashi would celebrate this change - summarized as a growing hatred for America and Israel among students and faculty members - we believe it represents one of the most troubling trends in higher education and a critical problem for Columbia University. It has become increasingly clear that Columbia's standing as one of the great research universities in the nation is jeopardized by a contingent of professors whose disdain for Israel, America, democracy, and freedom has a remarkable influence over Columbia's curriculum and quality of its research.

To appreciate how commonplace and accepted anti-Israel sentiment has become at Columbia, one simply has to take a look at the Web site Columbiadivest.org, the home page of a recent effort at the Morningside Heights campus to persuade Columbia's administration to divest its holdings in companies that sell arms and military hardware to Israel. More than a third of the full-time faculty of the Mealac department signed the petition, as have a total of 107 Barnard and Columbia faculty members. Signers of the petition include Joseph Massad, a non-tenured professor of modern Arab politics who teaches a course on Middle East nationalism. Mr. Massad is not shy about his hatred for Israel, a country whose legitimacy as a Jewish state he denies and whose policies he routinely calls "racist." He is the professor, as described in an underground film produced by the Boston-based David Project, who upon completing a lecture refused to answer a question from an Israeli student but ordered the student to say how many Palestinians he killed as a soldier. Rep. Anthony Weiner is absolutely correct to call, as he did yesterday, for Columbia to fire him.

Another signer is Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said chair of Arab studies and author of "Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East." Mr. Khalidi, whose professorship was funded with $200,000 from the United Arab Emirates, is on record condemning terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, but he has also said he condones attacks on Israeli soldiers in areas he describes as occupied territories, violence that he describes as "resistance." His recent book was riddled with errors and anti-Jewish themes.

We recognize that the vast majority of the Columbia community is untainted by these hatreds. But these are the professors whose loathing of Israel, dismissal of Israel's security concerns, and contempt of Israel's democratic values cannot be explained or rationalized but are best understood as irrational expressions of anti-Semitism.

The fact that these professors share views that are abhorrent to a great majority of Columbia's community has not stopped them from shaping Columbia's research and teaching of subjects related to the Middle East. Take, for example, a course called "Hate" taught within the Mealac department by comparative literature professor Gil Anidjar. Mr. Anidjar's interest isn't Islamic fundamentalism and its spread through the Middle East, but Jewish self-hatred and how it relates to Israeli culture and Zionism.

Columbia and other schools affected by this anti-Western strand of thought require leadership. Columbia and Barnard need leaders who can state clearly that their schools do not side with enemies of freedom and democracy. Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, has criticized the divestment campaign but has so far defaulted when it comes to confronting the academic issues or returning the money from the United Arab Emirates. Astonishingly, he told the Daily News that he appointed a committee that found not only no bias, but not even any "claims of bias." The way to begin correcting the situation would be with a grand gesture. A Columbia honorary degree for Prime Minister Sharon would be one way to do it. So would firing Mr. Massad, or giving back the money from the United Arab Emirates, or disciplining Mr. Khalidi for the errors in his book. Then Columbia could set about hiring some teachers who display genuine critical judgment.



Amen and Baruch Hashem.

Neat piece on Billy Graham...

Turning Point:
The Day God Settled the "Bible Question" for Billy Graham

By Collin Hansen

link.

On this day...

in Christian History:

October 22, 4004 BC: According to James Ussher, the well-respected and scholarly Anglican primate of the Irish Church in the early seventeenth century, God created the universe on this date at 9:00 a.m. GMT.

October 22, 1811: Pianist Franz Liszt, known for his Romantic orchestras and songs, but also the author of more than 60 religious works (including the song known today as "Fairest Lord Jesus"), is born in Raiding, Hungary.

October 22, 1844: Between 50,000 and 100,000 followers of Baptist lay preacher William Miller prepared for "The Day of Atonement"—the day Jesus would return. Jesus didn't, and though Miller retained his faith in Christ's imminent return until his death, he blamed human mistakes in Bible chronologies for "The Great Disappointment." Several groups arose from Miller's following, including the Seventh-Day Adventists (see issue 61: The End of the World).

The BBC Motto: All Wrong, All the Time.

Just when you thought they couldn't get any worse, the BBC even tops the NYT in making stuff up. It actually hurts to read this stuff.

The Presbys Continue Anti-Semitic Trend

First, the doctrine-by-committee American Presbyterians passed an anti-Israel divestment petition that set new standards for malicious and selective outrage.

As Jay Leftkowitz wrote in WSJ:

The church has singled out Israel, alone among all the nations of the world, for divestment. It has demonized Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and it has delegitimized Israel's right to self-defense. The church is not calling for divestment of its $7 billion portfolio from China, despite China's denial of the most basic political and religious rights and its particularly harsh treatment of followers of Falun Gong. It is not condemning Russia, even though Russia's policies in Chechnya are by any human-rights standard atrocious. It is not even calling for economic sanctions against Syria or Iran, whose human-rights records for their own people are egregious and whose Jewish citizens are denied the basic civil rights and liberties afforded to all Israelis, including its Arab citizens, some of whom even serve in the Knesset.

In contrast to the action taken by the Presbyterian Church this month, the Roman Catholic Church has recognized that one-sided criticism of Israel can at times be so grotesque that there is no name to describe it other than anti-Semitism. And in a document ironically signed the same week as the Presbyterian General Assembly, the Catholic Church equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

Unsatisfied with the level of Jew hatred this revealed, now Presbyterian Church has now declared open allegience with those who would destroy Israel, meeting with Hezbollah - a terrorist group responsible for the deaths of more than 29 American citizens and founded to destroy a democratic ally of the U.S.

Fellow Christians, this is how it begins. Will we sit back and watch the conjuring of vanguished demons?

Completely surreal story. Suicide bombing? terrorists attacks on Israel? Explicit foundational purpose to destroy the state of Israel? Nope. None of this came to Harper's mind. Wonder where he's from? Hmmm...... Oh! look at that! Ann Arbor, Michigan. Whodathunkit?

Islamists keep trying to convert American kids

Here we have another example of Islamists attempting to infiltrate and evangelize American youth.

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 21, 1555: Finding that the recent martyrdom of bishops Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer had intensified Protestant zeal, Queen Mary launches a series of fierce persecutions in which more than 200 men, women, and children were killed.

October 21, 1663: Virginia colonist John Harlow is fined 50 pounds of tobacco for missing church.

October 21,1692: William Penn is deposed as governor of Pennsylvania. His grateful overtures to James II for permitting religious freedom for Dissenters from the Church of England led William and Mary to charge Penn with being a papist. They were also troubled by his pacifism.

October 21,1970: John T. Scopes, the Tennessee teacher convicted for teaching evolution, dies at age 70 (see issue 55: The Monkey Trial and the Rise of Fundamentalism).

German Anti-Americanism

From Belgravia Dispatch today:

Some comments on Schroeder and then an explanation of the anger at America from a German reader:

Anti-Americanism is not new. For anyone who has spent time in Germany listening to the talk on the streets it’s apparent that a long-term security alliance can never rid a society of its prejudices. It’s understandable that defeat and occupation culminating in an alliance of necessity does not breed admiration. But compounding post-war resentment were Cold War expectations. A constant theme of the German-American relationship during the Cold War was the German desire for a partnership of equals. That was an unrealistic goal. There can be no equality when one nation’s social and economic well-being depend on another nation’s security guarantee.

And more:

As a member of the NATO alliance, the majority of German defense costs during the Cold War were borne by the United States, freeing up valuable GDP for social entitlements. And while Germany can continue to starve its military without consequence, it cannot influence strategic events any longer by virtue of its geography. For half a century Germany was at the center of American security policy. Germany had grown used to being consulted on every nuance of Cold War diplomacy. Then came 9-11 and a strategic shift took place that Germany has still not comprehended. It is neither the focus of American foreign policy nor America’s most important ally. Military events in Pakistan and economic developments in India are of far more importance to U.S. security and economic well-being. But Germany labors under the illusion that its interests should continue to be of vital importance to the United States as if it were the natural state of affairs and any deviation from the Cold War arrangement lacks legitimacy. Germany’s failure to influence U.S. actions subsequent to 9-11 is cited as evidence of American unilateralism rather than a changed strategic environment where it no longer enjoys a privileged position.

These are uncomfortable facts that demand change, something Germans do not willingly embrace. Unfortunately, its Chancellor won an election by pandering to latent anti-Americanism, increasing the probability it will be used to gain political
advantage in the future. While that may be a safe response to the latest opinion polls, it is no substitute for national policy.

That's the crux of the issue. They need us more than we need them. And European anti-Semitism is at a post-Nazi high.

The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard-
The cry of those ye humor
Ah, slowly toward the light:
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian (heathen) night?"

THK being a moron again.

Can't someone just tell her that she's hurting her chances of becoming First Lady?

"I don't know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don't know that she's ever had a real job — I mean, since she's been grown up."

Anglican Conservatives React to Windsor

CT has several major pieces on the Conservative backlash.

Windsor Report Leaves Conservative Episcopalians Hopping Mad

Conservative network leader: "The disease of the U.S. church has found its way into this report."

link.

Disappointed Anglican Conservatives Mull Options, Threaten Revolt

Americans must belong to Episcopal Church, report says.

By Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service posted 10/19/2004

link.

Stronger Action Needed, Say Global Anglican Leaders

"The primates will add teeth" to Windsor Report, conservatives predict, hope.

By Kathleen Rutledge posted 10/19/2004

link.


Thrust: Conservatives feel that Windsor Report was soft and unclear and opened the door for more Episcopalian hijinks.

More Untruths from Academics

HR 3077, passed unanimously by the House and now in Senate Committee, is the latest exmple of academics perfectly willing to lie about anything to avoid accountability to taxpayers or students.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra yesterday in NRO.

JCH on HR 3077 in May.

Same outright lies from professors.

Anglican Report on Gay Bishops

The Windsor Report is seen by Episcopalians as major rejection of their wayward trend. It does reveal how weak - meaning vague and devoid of leadership - Canterbury is on this issue.


The main points regarding Gene Robinson's elevation are addressed here.

Section 134:

"Mindful of the hurt and offence that have resulted from recent events, and yet also of the imperatives of communion - the repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ - we have debated long and hard how all sides may be brought together. We recommend that:

• 
  the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to express its regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached in the events surrounding the election and consecration of a bishop for the See of New Hampshire, and for the consequences which followed, and that such an expression of regret would represent the desire of the Episcopal Church (USA) to remain within the Communion
• 
  pending such expression of regret, those who took part as consecrators of Gene Robinson should be invited to consider in all conscience whether they should withdraw themselves from representative functions in the Anglican Communion. We urge this in order to create the space necessary to enable the healing of the Communion. We advise that in the formation of their consciences, those involved consider the common good of the Anglican communion, and seek advice through their primate and the Archbishop of Canterbury. We urge all members of the Communion to accord appropriate respect to such conscientious decisions
• 
  the Episcopal Church (USA) be invited to effect a moratorium on the election and consent to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges.

The Archbishop stated his position at the press conference on 16 October 2003 which followed the Primates' Meeting. The Archbishop of Canterbury said, in answer to a question, “It is also a fact that because of the present discipline of the Church of England, Gene Robinson would not be in a position to be received as a bishop here, to be licensed to exercise episcopal functions here.”

Then in later passages - the actual blessing of Gay marriages is addressed in classic Anglican style:


"While we recognise that the Episcopal Church (USA) has by action of Convention made provision for the development of public Rites of Blessing of same sex unions, the decision to authorise rests with diocesan bishops. Because of the serious repercussions in the Communion, we call for a moratorium on all such public Rites, and recommend that bishops who have authorised such rites in the United States and Canada be invited to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorisation. Pending such expression of regret, we recommend that such bishops be invited to consider in all conscience whether they should withdraw themselves from representative functions in the Anglican Communion. We recommend that provinces take responsibility for endeavouring to ensure commitment on the part of their bishops to the common life of the Communion on this matter."

145.

"We urge all provinces that are engaged in processes of discernment regarding the blessing of same sex unions to engage the Communion in continuing study of biblical and theological rationale for and against such unions. Such a process of study and reflection needs to include clarification regarding the distinction, if such exists, between same sex unions and same sex marriage. This call for continuing study does not imply approval of such proposals."

146.

We remind all in the Communion that Lambeth Resolution 1.10 calls for an ongoing process of listening and discernment, and that Christians of good will need to be prepared to engage honestly and frankly with each other on issues relating to human sexuality. It is vital that the Communion establish processes and structures to facilitate ongoing discussion. One of the deepest realities that the Communion faces is continuing difference on the presenting issue of ministry by and to persons who openly engage in sexually active homosexual relationships. Whilst this report criticises those who have propagated change without sufficient regard to the common life of the Communion, it has to be recognised that debate on this issue cannot be closed whilst sincerely but radically different positions continue to be held across the Communion. The later sections of Lambeth Resolution 1.10 cannot be ignored any more than the first section, as the primates have noted[102]. Moreover, any demonising of homosexual persons, or their ill treatment, is totally against Christian charity and basic principles of pastoral care. We urge provinces to be pro-active in support of the call of Lambeth Resolution 64 (1988) for them to “reassess, in the light of study and because of our concern for human rights, its care for and attitude toward persons of homosexual orientation”[103]. "


So, in other words. We the Anglican leadership find there is no Scriptural or doctrinal support for blessing gay unions whatsoever. There is also no support for bigoted, hateful language or behavior toward gays. The Episcopal Church (USA) is running ahead of the discourse in a "Massachusettes' Supreme Court" sort of way, but our Anglican Church is so weak and undecided on this issue we are unable to enforce any conservative ruling we might have. We have no idea what to do so we are going to "invite" the Americans "to express regret" at having run into the street without consulting us.

Kids, can you say schism?

College anti-Semitism

As a Christian who studied in Israel, one of my pet issues:

Columbia U. students now have to go around their own administration to get anyone to deal with anti-Semitism.

NY Sun today.

It should be noted that the worst offenders on campuses are frequently the professors.

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 20, 751: Pepin the Short, son of Frankish hero Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne, deposes the last of the Merovingian kings and becomes the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. He was crowned by Pope Stephen II, who later asked for his help when threatened by Lombards of northern Italy. Pepin defeated the Lombards, then ceded the territory he captured back to the pope, laying the foundation for the papal states.

October 20,1349: Pope Clement VI condemns self-flagellation, speaking out against a veritable flagellation frenzy. The practice, first taught by the Benedictine monk Peter Damian in the mid-eleventh century, gained popularity during the thirteenth-century Black Death scare and continues today in isolated incidents.

Texas revisits Abstinence

From National Review Online:

Heritage's Melissa Pardue writes on the abstinence issue in Sex Ed.

The meat:

The Texas board of education has held two hearings to help it decide how to vote on Nov. 5, when board members will rule on whether to replace health textbooks now in circulation with updated texts, beginning in the 2005-06 school year.

The stakes are high. Texas is the country's second-largest buyer of textbooks (after California), and publishing companies often market the books that Texas adopts to the other 49 states. The updated texts could be required to include information on abstinence as well as medically accurate information on sex education. That means facts on the ineffectiveness of condoms and other forms of contraception in preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy. The current textbooks fail to explain that abstinence is the only 100-percent-effective method to prevent STDs and pregnancy.

Nationwide, ten scientific studies prove that abstinence education reduces teen sexual activity and dramatically decreases out-of-wedlock childbearing.

And this money stat:

A recent Zogby poll found that three out of every four parents disapproved or strongly disapproved of "abstinence-plus" curricula. About the same number say they want their children to receive an authentic abstinence education. An overwhelming 91 percent say they want their teens taught that sex is best when it is linked to love, intimacy, and commitment — qualities most likely to occur in a faithful marriage.

Now, while yes, it is true that being taught that sex is best when it is linked to love, intimacy, and commitment would also fall under "parenting", the point here is that 91 percent of parents don't want the school to be working against them.

On that NYT/CBS poll

Bush at 44%, Wrong Track at 59%, Right Security Decisions 68%

Link.

I know Andrew Sullivan is probably right - on both points - about the poll being bad for Bush and Kerry. But I have to say, when I see a NYT/CBS I just discount it. Yes, I actually believe that both of these organizations are actually corrupt enough to rig a poll and publish it. I truly believe they would do this.

I would feel the same if the poll was Bush up by ten - it would simply mean they are trying to get Dems to vote and encourage R's not to. I realize this isn't quite rational, but I simply cannot believe a word spoken or written by these sources.

I just have zero faith in anything coming from CBS or the Times. Just zero. They are simply not credible sources for this election. Their allegiance, and the lengths they will go to advocate it is simply too established.

Though my reaction would be more friendly, I would similarly discount a Heritage Foundation/WSJ poll. It's not so much a conscious dishonesty (though that it quite possible) as an institutionalized ideological mindset that forfeits any semblance of objectivity.

From the People's Republic of Chicago

PM Daley checks in with the Middle Kingdom

Among some of the programs planned:

Also Monday, Daley signed an agreement with China's Education Ministry to receive support for the teaching of Mandarin in Chicago's public schools. Chicago in the last few years has built a Chinese language program that now covers 3,500 children in 15 schools. The Chinese government agreed to help set up a teacher training resource center in Chicago and donate 2,000 books a year, said Robert Davis Jr., the Chicago Public School system's Chinese language coordinator."They promise to send delegations over throughout the year with experts in teaching Chinese so they can train our teachers with newer methods of learning," Davis said. It's good for business on the Chicago side, Davis said, because speaking Chinese will become more important for Chicago-based companies. Mayor Daley agreed. "It's extremely important in this century to learn English and Chinese," he said. "It is imperative that our city lead the effort, which we are."

And what's next for 2005? City Hall to be renamed "The Politburo".

On this day...

in Christian History:


October 19, 1512: Martin Luther receives his Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Wittenberg.

October 19, 1609: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, founder of an anti-Calvinist Reformed theology, dies at age 49 in Leiden, Netherlands.

October 19, 1720: Quaker minister John Woolman is born in Roncocas, New Jersey. He was known for his concerns to live a simple life exemplifying "the right use of things," and to end war, slavery, and injustice toward the poor and to Native Americans. His journal, written from 1756-72, influenced nineteenth-century abolitionists and demonstrated his concern for both the oppressors and the oppressed.

October 19, 1744: English revivalist George Whitefield arrives in Maine for his third (of seven) evangelistic visit to America.

October 19, 1779: English poet William Cowper and curate John Newton publish Olney Hymns, a classic collection of evangelical and Reformed hymns.

October 19, 1856: A Sunday evening service led by Charles Haddon Spurgeon turns tragic when someone shouts "Fire!" in London's enormous Surrey Hall. There was no fire, but the stampede left 7 people dead and 28 more hospitalized. Though the episode plunged Spurgeon into weeks of depression, it also catapulted him to overnight fame.

From Belgravia Dispatch...

A popular and well written blogger from London, giving a tour-de-force defense of Bush over Kerry.


Good quote:

George Bush, in my view, understands the nature of the evil we are combating. He understands it deep in his gut, to his very core, and this is why I will be voting for him in November. To be sure, I am voting for him with many reservations (of which more below); but I am confident and, indeed, proud of my vote because Bush's intellectual firmament has grasped this essential truth. A few days after 9/11; Bush movingly went to Ground Zero and rallied a nation. This was critical to our national fabric, and I will always honor him for it. To be frank and more revelatory than I may like on this blog--I still get emotional when I remember that day. To the grotesquely cheap Mooreian attacks regarding the "My Pet Goat" readings at the Florida school--I say remember the moment Bush grabbed that megaphone and rallied a profoundly wounded nation.

Bush then proceeded to go about methodically gaining Pakistan's vital support in the fight against the Taliban--through the hugely admirable efforts of Colin Powell. Next, Bush swept the Taliban from power--denying al-Qaeda their key state sanctuary. Kerry now trots out the Tora Bora meme-that we let UBL get away because we "outsourced" the effort to local Afghans. This is a risible argument, as any serious observer well realizes. The Tora Bora mountain range is massive--and even if we had sent in many tens of thousands of our troops (as if Al Gore would have done so; a laughable notion as well)--there were myriad escape routes. Not only that, as recently pointed out in an op-ed in the WSJ, local tribesmen might well have taken up arms against us in the foothills before we even got to the die-hard al-Qaeda fighters--should such a massive insertion of U.S. fighting forces have occured. And, besides, we are not even sure UBL as even in Tora Bora during that time frame. No, more realistically, better to conclude: thank God Bush was Commander in Chief during the Afghan operation rather than Al Gore! Can you imagine a Les Aspin type planning such an operation?

Out of the rubble of Ground Zero and through the advent of Afghanistan--the Bush doctrine was orn--the policy that states that nations that harbor terrorists would be held just as culpable by he United States as the terrorists themselves. Afghanistan, of course, was the wholly controversial enunciation of this doctrine--and Iraq the much more controversial one. But, whatever you make of Iraq, can anyone now deny that the U.S. takes the threat of terror with the utmost seriousness? Have we not proven that we are not a paper tiger? That we will fight valiantly and hard in pursuit of our security and our values? This too, is part of Bush's record--no matter how often it is poo-pooed by cynics who think this is all dumb Simian-like macho talk that doesn't matter. I'm sorry, but it very much does. To deny this is to deny reality.

This is pretty much where I come down too.

Another Look at those Wacky Christians

This New York Magazine piece reveals again the current level of contempt for Christianity in the anti-Bush crowd. Christians are not "reality-based" and if they are Bush doesn't like them, because he's just WAY too Christian. "Faith" is the Christian replacement for "intelligence".

Tribune Endorses Bush

Magnificent editorial on the state of the choice before us.


Linked here.

John Kerry has been a discerning critic of where Bush has erred. But Kerry's message--a more restrained assault on global threats, earnest comfort with the international community's noble inaction--suggests what many voters sense: After 20 years in the Senate, the moral certitude Kerry once displayed has evaporated. There is no landmark Kennedy-Kerry Education Act, no Kerry-Frist Health Bill. Today's Kerry is more about plans and process than solutions. He is better suited to analysis than to action. He has not delivered a compelling blueprint for change.For three years, Bush has kept Americans, and their government, focused--effectively--on this nation's security. The experience, dating from Sept. 11, 2001, has readied him for the next four years, a period that could prove as pivotal in this nation's history as were the four years of World War II.

On this day...

In Christian History:


October 18, 1405: Enea Silvio Piccolomini (a.k.a. Pope Pius II) is born at Corsignano, Italy. Though faulted for taking radical and sometimes contradictory positions on issues, he was one of the best popes of his age: he wrote an important study of geography and ethnography, a popular love story, and an autobiography. He died in 1464 while planning a battle against the Turks, who controlled Constantinople.

October 18, 1685: French King Louis XIV issues the Edict of Fontainebleu, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and once again forbids Huguenots (French Protestants) from worshipping (see issue 71: Huguenots).

October 18, 1867: The United States purchases Alaska for $7.2 million, or about 2 cents an acre. Ten years later, after lax military administration had only worsened the territory's moral condition, an army private stationed in Alaska begged, "Send out a shepherd who may reclaim a mighty flock from the error of their ways, and gather them into the true fold." Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson answered the call and spent decades raising funds, building schools and churches, and crusading for better laws (see issue 66: How the West Was Really Won).

On this day...

in Christian History:

October 15, 1880: Germany's Cologne cathedral is completed, 633 years after construction began.

October 15, 1900: Charles Fox Parham opens Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, Kansas, where Agnes Ozman and other students would speak in tongues and begin the Pentecostal movement.

October 15, 1932: A small party of supporters gathers in Liverpool, England, to send Gladys Aylward, a 28-year-old parlormaid, off on a dangerous missionary journey to China. Though she'd been turned down by the missions agency she applied to, she went on to become one of the most amazing single woman missionaries of modern history. Her dramatic rescue of a hundred orphans is told in the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman.

October 15, 1949: Billy Graham skyrockets to national prominence with an evangelistic crusade in Los Angeles.


link.

On this day...

in Christian History:

October 15, 1880: Germany's Cologne cathedral is completed, 633 years after construction began.

October 15, 1900: Charles Fox Parham opens Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, Kansas, where Agnes Ozman and other students would speak in tongues and begin the Pentecostal movement.

October 15, 1932: A small party of supporters gathers in Liverpool, England, to send Gladys Aylward, a 28-year-old parlormaid, off on a dangerous missionary journey to China. Though she'd been turned down by the missions agency she applied to, she went on to become one of the most amazing single woman missionaries of modern history. Her dramatic rescue of a hundred orphans is told in the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman.

October 15, 1949: Billy Graham skyrockets to national prominence with an evangelistic crusade in Los Angeles.


link.

"Mark of the Beast" Conspiracists Rejoice

Sub-dermal chips are here.

It begins. All so innocently. Muah hah hah!

On this day...

October 14, 1066: William the Conqueror leads the Normans to victory over the English Saxons in the Battle of Hastings. William is also considered one of England's most important religious reformers; he spent his last days in intense Christian devotion.

October 14, 1633: James II of England, whose conversion to Catholicism in 1670 created a constitutional crisis in Anglican Britain, is born.

October 14, 1644: William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania and one of the most engaging religious figures of his age, is born in London.

October 14, 1656: Massachusetts enacts a law prohibiting "Quakerism" or harboring Quakers.

October 14, 1735: John and Charles Wesley, cofounders of Methodism, set sail for ministry in America.


link.

Duke to host Anti-Israel Conference

The Palestinian Solidarity Movement, allied with the controversial International Solidarity Movement, an organization that openly supports Hamas and calls for the destruction of Israel, is holding a conference at Duke to "put pressure on the Israeli government, partly by urging universities to sell their stock in companies with military ties to Israel."

See article here.

It's one thing when anti-semitic groups have open conferences, it's another when the tax-payer funded university provided the forum. Can anyone imagine a KKK rally or white supremacist group getting away with this?

Hating Jews is still the left's most accepted racism.

Here's another, even more frightening example.

Supremes to Rule on Decalogue

Compiled by Ted Olsen posted 10/12/2004 2:30 p.m. Christianity Today

Days after rejecting Roy Moore case, Supremes say they'll rule in two Decalogue disputesIn what the Associated Press calls "a surprise announcement," the Supreme Court today said it will consider two cases focusing on public displays of the Ten Commandments.

Liberty Counsel, which represents three Kentucky counties in one of the two cases, calls it "the blockbuster church/state case of the year."

"The decision to review a case involving the display of the Ten Commandments is long overdue," Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver says in a press release. "The lower courts are hopelessly in confusion over the constitutionality of governmental displays of the Ten Commandments."
The Kentucky case focuses on county officials' posting the Decalogue in courthouses, and their adding other historical documents to the display after complaints. In December, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the displays were religious in nature and therefore unconstitutional.

But last November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar display in Texas has "both a religious and secular message," and is therefore constitutional.

The Associated Press says the justices will consider the two cases separately. Last week, the Supreme Court declined to hear former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's appeal to be reinstated after he was removed from office for not removing a massive Commandments monument.

In the 1980 case Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court ruled that it's unconstitutional to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. But that decision narrowly focused its decision on the nature of students as a "captive audience," so the question of other public displays is still unsettled.

We're still waiting to hear whether the Supreme Court will consider Bass v. Madison, which challenges the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). As with the Commandments cases, decisions have split on the U.S. district court level. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that inmate Ira Madison does indeed have the right to a kosher diet under RLUIPA, which the court says does not unconstitutionally advance religion. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, said that the law does have "the primary effect of advancing religion," and said prisons may deny inmates access to religious literature and the opportunity to conduct religious services.

The Commandments cases may indeed be a "blockbuster" in the sense of getting much public attention. But the question there is whether the state can honor religious statements, whereas the question in the RLUIPA cases is whether the state can at whim bar religious activity. To lose the former would be a travesty. To lose the latter would be tyranny.

On this day...

in Christian History


October 13, 1605: Theodore Beza, Calvin's successor as leader of the Swiss Reformation, dies.

October 13, 1670: Virginia bans slavery for Negroes who arrive in the American colonies as Christians. The colony repealed the law 12 years later.

October 13, 1917: Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, report visions of the Virgin Mary.

Iraq's first woman politician at Brandeis

The school news paper had this account of Ahood Al-Fadhal's visit.

"I tell the Arabs here that we appreciate the freedom," Al-Fadhal said. "We are very thankful and grateful for [the Americans] and we also appreciate the liberation and freedom. I want to say to the mothers and fathers, who lost their sons and daughters, we are very sorry. I am here to say [to] the U.S. army [we are] very thankful [to them] for putting their life on the line for us."

Amen, sister.

Getting into God’s Stride

From Oswald Chambers:


Enoch walked with God . . . —Genesis 5:24

The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35-37 and John 3:30 ). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him—it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself.
The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus—"He will not fail nor be discouraged . . ." ( Isaiah 42:4 ) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him.

It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now—get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.

I pray to my Lord and My God for nothing less than this.

On this day...

October 12, 1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in the Caribbean.

October 12, 1518: German reformer Martin Luther undergoes an excruciating interview about his 95 Theses (posted one year earlier) with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan in Augsburg. It was so painful, Luther later recalled, that he could not even ride a horse because his bowels ran freely from morning to night.

October 12, 1971: The rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" debuts on Broadway.

Congress Honors Victims of 1963 Bombing

Congress has formally commemorated the four young black girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, who died in the 1963 bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama was constructed in 1911 and served as a center for African-American life in the city and a rallying point for the civil rights movement during the 1960s. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, segregationists protesting the mandatory integration of Birmingham's public schools firebombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The blast killed Addie Mae Collins, age 14, Denise McNair, age 11, Carole Robertson, age 14, and Cynthia Wesley, age 14, all members of the Church, while they were preparing for Sunday service. September 15, 1963 has been called the darkest day in the history of Birmingham and one of the darkest days of the entire civil rights movement. This act of terrorism raised national and international awareness of the African-American civil rights struggle and galvanized those dedicated to the cause of civil rights.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the wake of the bombing. The 4 men suspected of the bombing, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton, and Robert Chambliss, were not immediately prosecuted because authorities believed it impossible to obtain a conviction in the heated racial climate of the mid-1960s. Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley successfully prosecuted Robert Chambliss 13 years after the bombing. After the indictment and conviction of Robert Chambliss the bombing investigation was closed. The investigation was reopened in 1995 due to the efforts of Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Rob Langford and local African-American leaders. In 2001 and 2002 a joint Federal and State task force, under the supervision of United States Attorney Douglas Jones and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, successfully prosecuted Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry with the assistance of State and local law enforcement personnel; and the bombing, the prosecution of the offenders, and the cause of civil rights in general have become national and international concerns.

On this day...

From the Christian History pages:



October 10, 1560: Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius, the founder of a theology that challenged Reformed assumptions, is born in Oudewater, Netherlands.

October 10, 1821: Law student Charles Finney, 29, goes into the woods near his home to settle the question of his soul's salvation. That night, he experienced a dramatic conversion, full of what seemed "waves of liquid love throughout his body." Finney later became American history's greatest revivalist and purportedly converted of 500,000 people.

October 11, 1521: Leo X conferred the title "Fidei Defensor" (Defender of the Faith) upon England's Henry VIII for his tract "The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments," written against Martin Luther. Three popes and 13 years later, Henry severed all ties with Rome, making the Church of England a separate church body.

October 11, 1531: Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli dies in the Battle of Kappel.

October 11, 1551: The 13th Session of the Council of Trent opens to discuss the Eucharist. The Counter-Reformation Council affirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and repudiated Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian eucharistic doctrines.

No End for Howard

Conservatives get a 4th Term Down Under

Australian PM John Howard picks up a mandate and a 10-18 seat cushion in parliament. Lots of good stuff here, here and here.

Looks good for Bush, too, methinks.

Violence wins at Concordia University

Due to repeated violence and destruction by Islamist and Palestinian activists on Canada's Concordia University (have some irony, there's plenty to go around) whenever any pro-Israel speaker is scheduled, the admin has again cowered, caved, and cancelled visit by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Yes, Barak, the Labor Prime Minister, the one who withdrew from Lebanon and offered Arafat the best deal in Arab-Israeli history. "Pro-Israel" would now apparently be defined as anyone not willing to actively assist in its demise.


More on the story here, and this is the pathetic statement from Concordia. An eyewitness account of the riots surrounding Netanyahu's 2002 visit is here.

From the Christian History pages:


October 9, 1000: Leif "the Lucky" Eriksson, who later evangelized Greenland, is reported to have been the first European to reach North America on this date. But while he was certainly a member of an early Viking voyage to "Vinland" (probably Nova Scotia), it's doubtful he led the initial expedition.

October 9, 1747: David Brainerd, pioneer missionary to Native Americans in New England, dies of tuberculosis at age 29. His journal, published by Jonathan Edwards, inspired hundreds to become missionaries, including the "father of modern Protestant missions," William Carey.

October 9, 1890: Pentecostal evangelist and national sensation Aimee Semple McPherson is born in Ontario, Canada.

October 9, 1958: Pope Pius XII, whose record of protecting Jews in 1940s Germany is hotly debated and who formally defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1950), dies.

A Case for Capital Punishment

I remain unconvinced, but this treament is second to none.

The entire argument is turned on its head:

The questions we must address are therefore three: Is it ever permissible for public authority to give the wrongdoer less than he deserves? If it is permissible, then when is it permissible? Is it permissible to grant such mercy categorically?

In a sense, the article proceeds from the idea that "death deserves death" is unimpeachable maxim. I'm not sure I'm able, in good conscience, to begin there.