Michelle Malkin in sj-r: "Yes, it’s maddening when politically correct bur-eaucrats ban Nativity scenes and Christmas carols in the name of 'diversity' and 'toler-ance.' We are under attack by Secularist Grinches Gone Wild. But the war on Christmas in America is a mere skirmish. Around the world, a bloody, repressive war on Christians rages. In Iraq, Islamist rebel troops have declared open season on Christian churches, priests and missionaries. In February, four American pastors were traveling near the capital when terrorists ambushed them. The Rev. John Kelley, pastor of Curtis Corner Baptist Church in rural Rhode Island and a for-mer Marine, was killed in the attack...."

Bill Tammeus, KRT: "says the Rev. Greg Boyd, senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and author of 'Is God to Blame? Moving Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Evil' ...'Jesus didn't go around causing natural disasters. So I don't have any grounds for assuming natural disasters are ever God's will.' When people wonder why God doesn't prevent evil, some theologians ask us to imagine a world in which God, in fact, did just that. 'Do we really want God...manipulating the laws of physics in such a way that we would never know from one moment to another which were working and which had been suspended?" asks author and teacher John Blanchard."

Science&Theology News: "most dictionaries simply define 'universe' as 'all matter and energy, including Earth, galaxies and intergalactic space.' So even if there is more out there than we previously thought, it makes sense that 'universe' would cover it all. But when we say 'universe,' we really mean 'the universe as we understand it' — our concept of the unchanging laws of nature, the pull of gravity, the dimensions in which we move. The places beyond our realm, where these constants may not be so constant, are all parts of the multiverse. We can’t see these places, even with the best lenses on the biggest telescopes. These other universes, if they exist at all, are inaccessible. ..."

AgapePress: "Call it Barna's annual "greatest hits" parade: ...Born-again Christians and adults who attend Christian churches are more likely than atheists, agnostics, and adherents of non-Christian faiths to buy lottery tickets. There is significant attrition of men from Christianity. The number of unchurched men is rising, while the number of men who are "deeply spiritual" and who possess an active faith (attend church, pray and read the Bible during the week) is diminishing. Tithing is uncommon and almost non-existent among those under the age of 40. The number of unchurched adults in the United States has doubled since 1991 especially among men, people under 40, singles, and people living in coastal states." And the hits keep on coming.

Walter E. Williams, Columbia Daily Tribune: "The attack on Christian ideas and Christian public displays is part and parcel of the leftist control agenda in an-other way. Certain components of the leftist agenda require that our primary allegiance be with government. As such, there must be an attack on allegiances to the teachings of the church and family. After all, for exam-ple, if you want popular acceptance of homosexual marriages, there must be a campaign against church teachings that condemn such practices. Emboldened by their successes in the courts and intimidation of public officials, leftists will no doubt make other de-mands; there’s no logical end point except complete Christian capitulation."

Bobby Ross, Jr., AP: "church members Ken Suther-land and Mike Connor approached the pastor with a suggestion: Why not show the Cowboys' game on a big screen in the church fellowship hall? The Rev. Ellen Debenport thought a 'Holy Huddle' was a fine idea. 'I preach all the time that we need to live balanced lives. ...If someone's interested in church and football and being with their families on Sunday, I think that's great.' ...Across the football-crazed nation, the temp-tation to skip services in favor of the home team chal-lenges many regular churchgoers.... Some, like Tim McMillen, who operates a Pittsburgh Steelers fan Web site, do the best they can. In one post, McMillen wrote that he would play on the church praise team, 'then burn rubber back home to catch the start of the game.'"  

Tim Stafford: "If 23 million Americans who claim Jesus as their Savior have no discernible church connection, they are joined by many more who attend church (bet-ween 40 percent and 50 percent of Americans do in a given week, according to Barna) but sit loose in their commitment. A good sermon, a moving worship experi-ence, a helpful recovery group—these they look at to find 'a good church.' When they become dissatisfied, they move on. Their salvation, they believe, is between them and God. The church is only one possible re-source....We do not need to condemn those alienated from the institutional church, but to help them reconsi-der. By keeping away from church commitments, they miss out on life essential. ...How can you follow Jesus and then...not follow him?"

Gerard Baker, The Australian: "In the Dark Ages, disasters were ascribed to the wrath of God. Now, in an odd inversion that we like to think of as progress, they are adduced as evidence of no God. In the absence of a deity to decry or appease when the earth moves in such devastating fashion, humankind reaches for the next best thing - worldly authority....There is plenty of authority to blame for the devastation caused by the Sumatran earthquake this week. Governments in Bangkok, Jakarta and Colombo will shoulder some of it. Governments farther afield will be inculpated for the poverty of their response. Media organisations will be attacked for being too callous and too mawkish. Unsurprisingly, perhaps the most inviting target is the US."

AP via SFGate: "The show, 'Unlocking the Mystery of Life,' challenges Darwin's theory of evolution....'The funders of this program have a clear and specific agenda that they openly promote,' said Joan Rebecchi, KNME-TV's marketing manager. 'KNME has no position regarding this agenda, but we must guard against the public perception that editorial control might have been exercised by the program funders,' she said. Chad Davis, KNME program manager, said the show lists five Christian organizations as funders, including the Crowell Trust, whose Web site says it promotes 'the teaching and active extension of the doctrines of evangelical Christianity through approved grants to qualified organizations.'"

AP via MSNBC: "Archaeologists in Jerusalem have identified the remains of the Siloam Pool, where the Bible says Jesus miraculously cured a man's blindness, researchers said Thursday—underlining a stirring link between the works of Jesus and ancient Jewish rituals. The archaeologists are slowly digging out the pool, where water still runs, tucked away in what is now the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. It was used by Jews for ritual immersions for about 120 years until the year 70, when the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple. Many of Jesus' acts are directly linked to Jewish rituals, and the miracle of the blind man is an example. According to the Bible, the man was undergoing ritual immersion in the Siloam Pool for entry into the Temple compound, and Jesus used the occasion to cure his blindness. "

Laurie Goodstein: "What does all this rising religios-ity add up to? It is easy to assume that a more religious world means a more fractious world, where violent conflict is fueled by violent fundamentalist movements. But some religion experts say that while it is clear that religiosity is on the rise, it is not at all clear that fundamentalism is. Indeed, there may be a rising backlash against violent fundamentalism of any faith. The world's fastest growing religion is not any type of fundamentalism, but the Pentecostal wing of Christianity. While Christian fundamentalists are focused on doctrine and the inerrancy of Scripture, what is most important for Pentecostals is what they call "spirit-filled" worship, including speaking in tongues and miracle healing...."

Washington Times: "The tug of war between political correctness and Christmas became more prominent this year because of a revival of Christianity, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, said yesterday. 'Those who are so opposed to [Christmas] feel that the tide is turning now, once again, against them,' Cardinal McCarrick said. 'I think that might be because those who are so opposed to it feel that they're caught in a corner. I believe there is a real revival of religion in our country, not just of Christianity, not just of the traditional religions, but of people who really believe in God and may not be able to express it in the words of present-day religion,' the Catholic cleric told 'Fox News Sunday.'"

Author Jim "Wallis...the founder and editor of the maga-zine Sojourners, described as 'a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice.' Wallis is an evangelical Protestant leader committed to a prophetic vision of social and political transformation. The plight of the poor and the corrosive social and spir-itual effects of rapacious corporate capitalism, racism, militarism and war, and threats to the well-being of families are all on Wallis' docket. Progressive on the economy and foreign policy, conservative on sexuality and families, Wallis criticizes both the political right and left for having not taken the visions of justice articulated by the Hebrew prophets and the gospel writers suffici-ently seriously."

AP's Richard Ostling: "the novel has provoked unpre-cedented protest from serious scholars. First, it was Roman Catholic and Protestant conservatives, protes-ting that Brown's characters inaccurately malign Chris-tianity. Now, more liberal thinkers likewise say Brown's claim to present facts through fiction is itself fictional and misleads readers. The leader of this sec-ond wave is Bart Ehrman, religion chairman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code.... Ehrman, an expert in early church documents that are central to Brown's plot, says he wants 'to separate the fact from the fiction, the historical realities from the flights of fancy, for anyone interested in knowing about the historical beginnings of Christianity."

Rabbi Aryeh Spero in Human Events: "It should be obvious by now that the Bill of Rights forbade only Con-gress from making national laws establishing a religion, not however local communities and their majorities from voting to express their religious ethos. Unique to Amer-ica is the ideal that what may be forbidden to the 'Feds' is permitted on a local level....But even if some wish to extrapolate Jefferson's metaphor of a "wall of separa-tion" between church and state onto local communities, how does the display in winter of a sparkling Christmas tree, or a freely-chosen Grace before meals, or the ack-nowledgement of the Ten Commandments as the basis of the American legal system, and the existence of a God-believing, heterosexual Boy Scout troop 'establish' a national religion?"

A Christmas gift from Xnmp—The "gift" is a tip. Add the Google toolbar to your computer's Internet Explorer browser. It zaps popup ads on news websites, which is great, but even better, its search option to "search this site" is awesome. It's virtually an index of any site, including this one. Try it—go to the web address below, click "download," and it automatically installs itself if your computer is WIndows XP. And Merry Christmas!
(This endorsement was not paid or solicited.) — webmaster

http://toolbar.google.com/