Islam Online: Esther Benbassa said, "France has been always encountering problems with its minorities, noting that it did everything possible to melt them away into one crucible....the "hard-line' tone of the French govern-ment...will never work with Muslims or Arabs, though it was used with the Jews in the 18th century. She warned that the principles of the French Revolution are threat-ened with extinction if France fails to live up to its multi-cultural society. 'The real danger lies in the mono-view-point adopted by France,' she said.... The Jews, at that time, had no place to go, whereas the Arabs and Mus-lims in France still have connections with their homelands"

Newsweek via MSNBC: "On the ground in Iraq the pillaging is all but impossible to stop. ...With the future of Iraq so uncertain, the protection of its buried past is not really a priority of the occupation troops or the newly sovereign regime of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. 'The reality is, we put Iraqi guards on many of the most important sites with little training, and at first they weren't armed,' says Bog-danos. "Four men pull up in a pickup truck, and they are armed: What are you going to do? Is the guard going to lay down his life for antiquities? Do you put an American platoon on every site?'"

Albert Mohler: "The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America...is an all-out assault on American conserva-tives and residents of the states that voted for George W. Bush in 2000. Most pointedly, however, this book and its associated $2-million advertising campaign are the project of a man who is fanatically determined to reset America's political equation—and to counter the influence of evangelical Christians. ...The man behind all this is a case study in the intersection of big money and crackpot politics. John Sperling, age 83, made billions in the business world, founding the nation's largest for-profit educational enterprise, the University of Phoenix....no longer under his control."

AP's Richard Ostling: "Good as New is the wildest, wackiest and possibly worst of those trendy attempts to update Holy Writ. Billed as 'women, gay and sinner friendly,' it has stirred up a minor ruckus in Canada and Britain.... This project might have slipped into obscurity if it weren't for the fond foreword from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of...Anglicans worldwide....Good as New was produced by the radical ONE Community for Christian Exploration, which next plans to overhaul Christianity's creeds [one of which says] God is 'personal and passionate. God seeks friends. God is active, creative, explorative; God is strong and tender with a great sense of humour.'"

Daily News Tribune: "In a discrimination lawsuit pend-ing in federal court, machinist Mark A. Peterson con-tends supervisors at [MIT's] Lincoln Lab in Lexington joined the harassment, 'openly telling jokes about God' and refusing to reprimand workers who spit in his coffee and left a noose on his workbench. Peterson, who be-gan work in the lab in 1982 and is now on disability leave, declined comment.... 'Employees and/or super-visors at MIT Lincoln Lab have harassed Peterson be-cause of his religious beliefs (Christian), including as-saulting him with a chemical, vandalizing and stealing his property, tampering with machines he was working on and making verbal threats,' the suit says."

Carolina Morning News: "Pick up your Bible. 'Bible' comes from the Greek 'biblia,' meaning books or library. The Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek in 285 B.C. when 70 rabbis were hired by the librarian in Alexandria, Egypt, to translate the un-known, mysterious Hebrew into a language the world could understand. It was called the 'Septuagint,'
meaning "seventy." All of the New Testament was written in Greek and much on Greek soil with an important part by a Greek physician, Luke. The first part of the New Testament was Paul's letter to the Thessalonians written from another Greek city, Corinth, in 49 A.D."  

The Economist: "The impression in Rome is that the pope is doing as much as he can to repair relations with the east while his strength holds out. One of the most warmly received visitors to Rome this summer was Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based prelate who by tradition is the 'first among equals' in the eas-tern Orthodox hierarchy—and who has often risked the ire of his fellows by keeping relations with Rome cordial. With an alacrity that impressed the patriarchal party, the pope agreed to pay a return visit to Istanbul in November. This trip to the see of 'Constantinople and New Rome'—to use its ecclesiastical title—is one of the few journeys still left in the papal diary."

Washington Times: "Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, requested the government inquiry on Monday after the university closed a Christian fraternity that refused to accept non-Christian mem-bers. UNC Chancellor James Moeser said the deci-sion to revoke the charter of the five-year-old Christian fraternity, Alpha Iota Omega, was made on grounds that the group is violating the school's nondiscrimin-ation policy by not allowing students to join regardless of their religious beliefs.... Forty-two other recognized student religious groups at the college with nearly 5,000 members—'the overwhelming majority of them being Christian'—abide by the university's policy." 

Christianity Today: "Democratic Sen. John Kerry hardly evokes the typical 'I Vote Values' crowd, but in July he explained his campaign this way: 'In the end, it's about values.' He is using values to change his public image just as President Bush used compassion in 2000. That both candidates are appealing to values should be encouraging to evangelicals. With up to 40 percent of the American population, evangelicals are in every region and both major parties. Granted, 80 percent of evangelicals voted for Bush in 2000, but up to 4 million didn't bother to vote at all. Values matter deeply to all Christians, but not just any values."

CNSNews via Townhall: "According to the National Right to Life Committee, the email came 'out of the blue' from Todd Eastham, a news editor for Reuters. Eastham was responding to a press release that the [group] sent to news outlets after a federal judge struck down a ban on partial birth abortion. Eastham's email read as follows: 'What's your plan for parenting & educ-ating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?'"

Amelia Gentleman, Guardian Newspapers Ltd: "France's teaching community is braced for a wave of tension as schools implement new and controversial legislation banning the wearing of Islamic headscarves and other 'conspicuous' religious symbols. A hotline was launched by Muslim pressure groups last Wed-nesday, advising students on how to circumvent the legislation discreetly. Though officials claim that fewer than 100 pupils plan to defy the law, the Government has warned that radical Islamist organisations are using them as pawns, encouraging them to provoke confrontation.The Education Minister, Francois Fillon, said the Government would be unflinching."  

WRMEA.COM: The Western Pennsylvania museum "opened to the public with a special exhibition entitled 'A Man from Lebanon: The Art of Kahlil Gibran.' The display includes 40 original pieces of art produced by the noted author and 20th century multi-media artist. ...'The Gibran exhibition affords many opportunities for enriched learning about the Eastern heritage and culture through collaborative partnerships for special lectures and readings,' stated Fr. Michael Massouh, executive director for Antiochian Village. 'Kahlil Gibran is a renowned name in literature and fine art whose paintings will attract regional and national visitors.'" 

ProudParenting [edited]: "After months of simmering[,] the dispute within the Episcopal Church over the [role] of gays is threatening to boil over as the conser-vative former Archbishop of Canterbury travels to the US to conduct services in breakaway churches. Lord George Carey next month will confirm several hundred adults and children from 11 conservative parishes in Virginia which have rejected the ministry of their diocesan bishop...because of his support for Gene Robinson, Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop. Carey's visit is expected to provide a major boost to the conservative minority in America which is demanding protection from the liberal majority."

AP via MSNBC: "the former president, speaking at Riverside Church in upper Manhattan, said, 'Politics and political involvement dictated by faith is not the exclusive province of the right wing.' The Democrats, Clinton argued, need to show their policies are also rooted in faith. 'The religious right has tried to turn us all, in disagreeing with them, into two-dimensional car-toons,' he said. Speaking of Bush’s religious beliefs, he said, 'I believe President Bush is a good Christian. I believe that his faith in Jesus saved him. I believe it gave him new purpose and direction to his life. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t see through a glass darkly'..."

SBC Baptist Press: "'David Lynch used me in his film, "Mulholland Drive," a few years ago. I was a novice, a fish out of water. But he said to me, "Why don't you do this for a living? You're an actor." But after finishing that movie, I felt like I had made a deal with the devil. I felt like I'd done something dark. It's a dark film. And as you know, there ain't a whole lotta light in Hollywood. So I prayed, asking God what He wanted me to do. I prayed, "God, if you want me to be an actor, send me the kind of work that You want me to do." Days later I got the script for Doc. I read it and said, "Man, this is about faith and hope and compassion." I loved it. I told myself, this is what God had intended for me to do.'"

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!
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