accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears [seems to be as important] the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure

Military Evangelism Deeper, Wider Than First Thought | By Jason Leopold | t r u t h o u t | Report | Friday 21 December 2007

For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure.

That's the message directed at Fort Jackson soldiers, some of whom appear in photographs in government issued fatigues, holding rifles in one hand, and Bibles in their other hand.

Frank Bussey, director of Military Ministry at Fort Jackson, has been telling soldiers at Fort Jackson that "government authorities, police and the military = God's Ministers,"

Bussey's teachings from the "God's Basic Training" Bible study guide he authored says US troops have "two primary responsibilities": "to praise those who do right" and "to punish those who do evil - "God's servant, an angel of wrath." Bussey's teachings directed at Fort Jackson soldiers were housed on the Military Ministry at Fort Jackson web site. Late Wednesday, the web site was taken down without explanation. Bussey did not return calls for comment. The web site text, however, can still be viewed in an archived format. ...

The "Founding Fathers" on Religion, and Crackpots - Part one: Franklin

The "Founding Fathers" on Religion, and Crackpots - Part one: Franklin | by Bob Higgins | January 16, 2008

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."
[Benjamin Franklin, in _Toward The Mystery_]

"My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the dissenting [puritan]way. But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. [Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was a British physicist who endowed the Boyle Lectures for defense of Christianity.]It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough deist"
[Benjamin Franklin, "Autobiography,"p.66 as published in The American Tradition in Literature, seventh edition (short), McGraw-Hill,p.180]

The White House's Super Christian Christmas Card | Huffington Post | Danny Shea | December 13, 2007 11:07 AM

This morning on "The View," Barbara Walters displayed the Christmas card she recently received from the White House. She said it was the most religious White House Christmas card in her memory. The card included explicit religious references beyond just a bible verse.

The super-Christian card features a verse from Nehemiah (Old Testament, it should be noted):

You alone are the LORD.
You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to everything,
and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
NEHEMIAH 9:6 (NIV)

But whereas in previous years the President and the First Lady opted for messages of happiness, goodwill, and peace, this year featured the following closer:

May the joy of all creation fill your heart this blessed season 2007.

It is then signed by both George and Laura Bush.

Texas ousts State director of science ... for forwarding an e-mail message about a talk by a distinguished professor who debunks “intelligent design”

Evolution and Texas | Published: December 4, 2007

Is Texas about to become the next state to undermine the teaching of evolution? That is the scary implication of the abrupt ousting of Christine Comer, the state’s top expert on science education. Her transgression: forwarding an e-mail message about a talk by a distinguished professor who debunks “intelligent design” and creationism as legitimate alternatives to evolution in the science curriculum.
...
In most states, we hope, the state department of education would take the lead in ensuring that students receive a sound scientific education. But it was the Texas Education Agency that pushed out Ms. Comer after 27 years as a science teacher and 9 years as the agency’s director of science.

As Ralph Blumenthal reported in The Times yesterday, Ms. Comer forwarded to a local online community an e-mail message from a pro-evolution group announcing a talk by Barbara Forrest, a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. Professor Forrest testified as an expert witness in a 2005 Dover, Pa., case that found intelligent design supernatural and theological and definitely not part of a scientific education.

An hour later, Ms. Comer was called in by superiors, pressured to send out a retraction and ultimately forced to resign. ...

Judge: tax funding of an evangelical Christian rehabilitation program at an Iowa state prison violates the separation of church and state and must end

Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Public Funding Of Evangelical Prison Program In Iowa | Monday, December 3, 2007

Americans United Praises Court Ruling That Upholds Separation Of Church And State

A federal appeals court today ruled that tax funding of an evangelical Christian rehabilitation program at an Iowa state prison violates the separation of church and state and must end.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that government support for the InnerChange Freedom Initiative at Newton Correctional Facility -- a program operated by Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries -- advances religious indoctrination at state expense. Americans United brought the litigation against InnerChange on behalf of inmates, their families and taxpayers.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, hailed the ruling.

"This is an extremely important decision," said Lynn. "Government officials have no business paying for religious indoctrination and awarding special treatment and benefits to those willing to embrace one religious perspective.

"Government should not single out a particular religion for special treatment," Lynn continued. "You simply cannot give government funds to a religious group for its evangelism program." ...

[Audits] checking into whether the religious groups are illegally using this federal funding to promote their faiths, are weak or nonexistent.

Faith-Based Spending Goes Relatively Unchecked | By Thomas D. Williams | t r u t h o u t | Report | Friday 23 November 2007

For the past six years, President George W. Bush's administration has spent billions of dollars to largely aid Christian faith-based groups, in assisting prison inmates as well as the poor and less-fortunate persons here and worldwide. Yet many experts and investigators nationwide agree government controls auditing this spending, or checking into whether the religious groups are illegally using this federal funding to promote their faiths, are weak or nonexistent.

Federal funding of a host of non-faith-based social programs can be critical in child or adult health, housing and other subsistence aid to the poor or disadvantaged. However, with tight or even regular federal budgets, waste in one program can adversely impact others.

Several inquiries and complaints dug up a host of systemic dangers and violations of the rules and law resulting in questionable or wasted spending.

In just one instance, a 2006 US Government Accountability Office inquiry discovered: "Four of the 13 faith-based organizations that offered voluntary religious activities - such as prayer or worship - did not appear to understand the requirement to separate these activities in time or location from their program services funded with federal (dollars)." And, the GAO concluded: independent audits apply only to religious organizations spending $500,000 or more. As well, federal administration is costly. "Since fiscal year 2002, the five federal agency centers handling the funds estimated that they had cumulatively expended more than $24 million on administrative activities," the GAO concluded.. ...

Huge fine for anti-gay US church ... extended pickets to funerals of soldiers, ... being punished by God because of America's tolerance of homosexuals

Huge fine for anti-gay US church | Thursday, 1 November 2007,

A church whose members cheered a soldier's death as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality has been told to pay $10.9m (£5.2m) in damages.

The Westboro Baptist Church was taken to court by the father of Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, a marine who died serving in Iraq in March 2006.

The church cited its constitutional right to free speech in its defence.

But Albert Snyder's lawyer urged the jury to ensure the damages were high enough to stop the church campaigning.

Members of the church - based in Topeka, Kansas - have denounced homosexuality for years, initially targeting the funerals of Aids victims.

But they later extended their pickets to the funerals of soldiers, who they say are being punished by God because of America's tolerance of homosexuality. ...

Lavish televangelist lifestyles raise eyebrows ... all "prosperity theology adherents who preach that wealth is a sign of God's favor."

Lavish televangelist lifestyles raise eyebrows at Senate Finance Committee | Jason Rhyne | Published: Tuesday November 6, 2007

The reportedly extravagant lifestyles of six television evangelists are raising some eyebrows at the Senate Finance Committee, which wants to know if the popular preachers are paying their fair share in taxes.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, has written letters to the evangelists, asking that they "disclose their assets, spending practices, compensation plans and business arrangements," according the Wall Street Journal's Suzanne Sataline. "The letters aren't formal subpoenas, and the six aren't required to reply."
...
Evangelists receiving letters from Grassley were Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer and Paula White. Spokespersons for Dollar, Hinn and Meyer all denied any wrongdoing in statements to CBS News.
...
According to the Wall Street Journal, the ministers under scrutiny are all "prosperity theology adherents who preach that wealth is a sign of God's favor."

"Ministers who espouse prosperity theology promote themselves as conduits for God's blessings, saying that believers will reap benefits as long as they give generously to the ministries," continued the Journal."Most evangelical ministers urge believers to donate, but don't link donations to earthly wealth."

Oral Roberts University: asked a professor in 2005 to use his students to aid in political race ...

Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U. | Oct 5, 4:35 PM (ET) | By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS
...
Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."
...
Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign.

The professors also said their dismissals came after they turned over to the board of regents a copy of a report documenting moral and ethical lapses on the part of Roberts and his family. The internal document was prepared by Stephanie Cantese, Richard Roberts' sister-in-law, according to the lawsuit.

An ORU student repairing Cantese's laptop discovered the document and later provided a copy to one of the professors.

It details dozens of alleged instances of misconduct. Among them:

- A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an underage male friend of Mrs. Roberts could have his position.

- Mrs. Roberts - who is a member of the board of regents and is referred to as ORU's "first lady" on the university's Web site - frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to "underage males who had been provided phones at university expense."

- The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was billed to the ministry as an "evangelistic function of the president."

- Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico's clothing store alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and California. She also repeatedly said, "As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off." The document cites inconsistencies in clothing purchases and actual usage on TV.

- Mrs. Roberts was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes convertible by ministry donors. ....

[Prostitute hypocit] Sen. David Vitter [R] has secured $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund an anti-evolution effort spearheaded by a religious group

Vitter secures $100K for Louisiana anti-evolution group | Nick Juliano | Published: Monday September 24, 2007

Religous conservatives receiving funds have political ties to embattled senator

In a move ostensibly aimed at providing "better science education" in Louisiana schools, Sen. David Vitter has secured $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund an anti-evolution effort spearheaded by a religious group politically connected to the alleged prostitute-soliciting Republican.
...
The group was founded by Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state lawmaker who now leads the conservative Family Research Council. The Louisiana Family Forum works to "present biblical principals" on public policy issues, and until a reporter questioned them about it, the group's Web site included a "battle plan to combat evolution," which argued the theory "has no place in the classroom."
...
The political ties between Vitter and the group go beyond some much-needed recent PR help and stretch to the senator's first campaign in 2004, although the Family Forum's tax exempt status prohibits it from engaging in political activity, the Times Picayune reports.

"Dan Richey, the group's grass-roots coordinator, was paid $17,250 as a consultant in Vitter's 2004 Senate race," according to the newspaper. "Records also show that Vitter's campaign employed Beryl Amedée, the education resource council chairwoman for the Louisiana Family Forum." ...
...
"This is a misappropriation of public funds," Charles Kincade, a civil rights lawyer in Monroe, La., who has been involved in church-state cases told the Times Picayune. "It's a backdoor attempt to push a religious agenda in the public school system."

"There is a feeling that religion is being forced on an unwilling public," ... religion represented condemning gays, stem cell research, contraception

In Europe and U.S., Nonbelievers Are Increasingly Vocal | By Mary Jordan | Washington Post Foreign Service | Saturday, September 15, 2007; Page A01
...
Wright, 59, said he was overwhelmed by a feeling that religion had become a negative influence in his life and the world. Although he once considered becoming an Anglican vicar, he suddenly found that religion represented nothing he believed in, from Muslim extremists blowing themselves up in God's name to Christians condemning gays, contraception and stem cell research.
...
"There is a feeling that religion is being forced on an unwilling public, and now people are beginning to speak out against what they see as rising Islamic and Christian militancy," Sanderson said.
...
Though the number of nonbelievers speaking their minds is rising, academics say it's impossible to calculate how many people silently share that view. Many people who do not consider themselves religious or belong to any faith group often believe, even if vaguely, in a supreme being or an afterlife. Others are not sure what they believe.
...
But the church has disproportionate power and influence in Parliament, she said. For example, she said, polls show that 80 percent of Britons want the terminally ill who are in pain to have the right to a medically assisted death, yet such proposals have been effectively killed by a handful of powerful bishops.

"We can't accept that religious faiths have a monopoly on ethics, morality and spirituality," Massey said. Now, she added, humanist and secularist groups are becoming "more confident and more powerful" and recognize that they represent the wishes of huge numbers of people.
...
He and others said secular groups are also gaining strength in countries where religious influence over society looms large, including India, Israel and Turkey. "Any time we see an outspoken movement against religion, it tells us that religion has power there," Zuckerman said. ...

Only army religious radio: Dominionist and Apocalyptic: This tells Muslims they face a new Christian Crusade.

Armed Forces Radio Broadcasts Only One Religious Program; No Surprise that It Is Dominionist and Apocalyptic | www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/8/32210/85815
sent by emf since 1 day 3 hours 7 minutes, published about 23 hours 5 minutes

The ONLY religious service broadcast to American service men and women by the Pentagon-run Armed Forces Network Radio is the Coral Ridge Hour. This is wrong on so many levels; it is unconstitutional, unfair, unrepresentative and unsafe. The Coral Ridge Hour website is full of radio and TV clips that can be understood only as justifying the Iraq invasion and the GWOT from a fundamentalist Christian point of view. This tells Muslims they face a new Christian Crusade.

Dismay and anger as Pope declares Protestants cannot have churches | John Hooper in Rome and Stephen Bates | Wednesday July 11, 2007 | The Guardian

· Text quotes 'absence of sacramental priesthood'
· Declaration criticised as huge step backwards

Protestant churches yesterday reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they were mere "ecclesial communities" and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion. ...

Operation Straight Up views its entertainment tours as a "holy crusade" to convert soldiers and Iraqis to fundamentalist Christianity

Holy war! Game tests troops' rapture readinessAugust 12, 2007 | BY ZAY N. SMITH | Sun-Times Columnist | As If We Weren't Putting Our Brave Soldiers Through Enough (cont'd):

The Defense Department at www .americasupportsyou.mil is endorsing an Iraq tour by Operation Straight Up to offer "faith-based entertainment" there.

It does not mention that Operation Straight Up views its entertainment tours as a "holy crusade" to convert soldiers and Iraqis to fundamentalist Christianity.

The entertainment includes the distribution of packets with religious tracts printed in both English and Arabic, along with a rapture video game, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," in which the player is assigned to convert or kill the unbelievers left behind after the rapture.

The game's virtual character shouts "Praise the Lord!" every time a nonbeliever is killed.

The Bush administration knows what our soldiers in Iraq need -- additional holy wars.

Texas: School Board Chairman Seeks Religion In Science Class: united under a “big tent” against evolution

Trouble In Texas: School Board Chairman Seeks Religion In Science Class | August 9th 2007

The Texas Freedom Network (TFN) on Tuesday revealed a side of “intelligent design” proponents rarely seen by the public at large. The group released a transcript and recording of an extraordinarily candid speech given in 2005 by recently named State Board of Education Chairman Ron McLeroy.

McLeroy told a gathering at Grace Bible Church in Bryan, Texas, of his efforts to expunge evolution from the state’s high school biology textbooks. “Back in November 2003, we finished [the]…adoption process for the biology textbooks in Texas…. I want to tell you all the arguments made by all the intelligent-design group, all the creationist intelligent design people, I can guarantee the other side heard exactly nothing,” he said.

He went on, condemning other Christian board members for not following his lead.

“[T]he four really conservative, orthodox Christians on the board were the only ones who were willing to stand up to the textbooks and say they don’t present the weaknesses of evolution,” he said. “Amazing.”

He admonished the audience not to bicker over the finer points of creationism because they were united under a “big tent” against evolution.

“Whether you’re a progressive creationist, recent creationist, young-Earth, old-Earth, it’s all in the tent of intelligent design,” McLeroy said. “And intelligent design here at Grace Bible Church is actually a smaller tent than you would have in the intelligent design movement as a whole, because we are all Biblical literalists…. So because it’s a bigger tent, just don’t waste our time arguing with each other about…all of the side issues.”

“Modern science today,” McLeroy complained, “is totally based on naturalism,” thus “it is the naturalistic base that is [our] target.” ...

Texas: 400 executions: testament to the influence of the state’s conservative evangelical Christians [and culture]

Religion, culture behind Texas execution tally | Lone Star State’s death penalty toll due in part to evangelical influences | Updated: 1:31 p.m. CT Aug 15, 2007

DALLAS - Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the state’s conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old South and Wild West.

“In Texas you have all the elements lined up. Public support, a governor that supports it and supportive courts,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

“If any of those things are hesitant then the process slows down,” said Dieter. “With all cylinders working as in Texas it produces a lot of executions.” ...

Supreme Court limits citizens' ability to question state/religion connections, gives victory to president's religious patronage program

Aug 10,2007 | Faith the Nation: Part 5-4 | by Bill Berkowitz

Supreme Court limits citizens' ability to question state/religion connections, gives victory to president's religious patronage program

On Monday, June 25, the United States Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers have no right to challenge discretionary spending by the executive branch. The 5-4 ruling in the case of [Jay] Hein [Deputy Assistant to the President and the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives] v. Freedom From Religion Foundation "revolved around a 1968 Supreme Court ruling that enabled taxpayers to challenge government programs that promote religion," the Associated Press reported. "That earlier decision involved the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which financed teaching and instructional materials in religious schools in low-income areas."
...
The decision will no doubt encourage the administration to keep pouring money into its faith-based initiative. And while it dealt a blow to the initiative's critics, it will not prevent advocacy organizations from continuing to challenge the faith-based initiative in the courts; a news release by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United), pointed out that the decision would not "affect most legal challenges to the 'faith-based' initiative."

"The decision is a slap in the face to those of us who are trying to safeguard freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state," Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told Media Transparency in an e-mail exchange. "Its one thing to disagree with FFRF on the merits of our lawsuit, but it's quite another to bar the courtroom door. What is the Supreme Court majority afraid of in letting us argue our case?" ...

Southern Christian Leadership Conference to honor Michael Vick ... under federal indictment on dogfighting charges

August 03, 2007 | SCLC making plans to honor Vick | By ERNIE SUGGS | The Atlanta-Journal Constitution | Published on: 08/03/07
...
During a press conference announcing the opening of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's 49th annual convention to celebrate the organization's 50th year, president Charles Steele noted that the organization would find some way to honor and recognize the embattled Falcon's quarterback who is under federal indictment on dogfighting charges.
...
The SCLC's support of Vick is the most significant and prominent since he was indicted on July 18 on charges of running a dogfighting ring out of a home he owned in rural Virginia. ...

Sex abstinence programmes do not stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy ...

Thursday, 2 August 2007, | No-sex programmes 'not working'

Sex abstinence programmes do not stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, a research team has concluded.

The Oxford University team reviewed 13 US trials involving over 15,000 people aged 10 to 21.

They found abstinence programmes had no negative or positive impact on the rates of sex infections or unprotected sex, the British Medical Journal said.
...
Researchers found none of the abstinence-only programmes had an impact on the age at which individuals lost their virginity, whether they had unprotected sex, the number of sexual partners, the rates of sexually transmitted diseases or the number of pregnancies.
...
Lead author Kristen Underhill said: "Our analysis suggests that abstinence-only programmes that aim to prevent HIV are not effective.
..
But abstinence-only programmes don't work because they provide no safety net for those young people who do have a sexual relationship - and research shows that many do." ...

“Neither Pagan nor Mahometan, nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the commonwealth because of his religion. The Gospel commands no s

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 by CommonDreams.org | A Christian Nation? | by Carol Hamilton

On August 6, 2007, the New York Times reported on an interesting dispute between the campaign of Sam Brownback and that of Mike Huckabee. According to Times reporter Sarah Wheaton, the following remark set off the dispute:

“‘I know Senator Brownback converted to Roman Catholicism in 2002,” Mr. Rude wrote. “Frankly, as a recovering Catholic myself, that is all I need to know about his discernment when compared to the Governor’s.” The message struck some as an attempt to highlight Mr. Brownback’s Catholicism in a state with a large Protestant electorate.
...
What about the influence of John Locke? I asked them. Locke, himself a devout Christian from a Puritan family, inspired Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom written in 1777 and passed, thanks to James Madison, in 1786. Jefferson’s statute is particularly indebted to Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), which you can read in its entirety here. In it Locke declared, “Neither Pagan nor Mahometan, nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the commonwealth because of his religion. The Gospel commands no such thing.”

As Locke knew, religious strife-not only between Catholics and Protestants, but among Protestants-had resulted in “factions, tumults, and civil wars,” causing the death or exile of thousands of Europeans. “It is not the diversity of opinions (which cannot be avoided),” Locke wrote, “but “the refusal of toleration to those that are of different opinions (which might have been granted) … that has produced all the bustles and wars that have been in the Christian world upon account of religion.” The only way to avoid such conflicts was to separate Church and State, he concluded, because

“If each of them [Church and State] would contain itself within its own bounds - the one attending to the worldly welfare of the commonwealth, the other to the salvation of souls - it is impossible that any discord should ever have happened between them.” ...

nor the danger of the Left Behind theology which is in bed with the political ideology of the neo-conservatives

UK's Rev. Sizer's U.S.A. Tour: The Right Christians Versus the Christian Right July 09, 2007 09:19 AM
...
In the last three years, this concerned, committed, thoughtful Christian has searched to learn-and do something- about the heretical and inherently anti-Semitic theology of Christian Zionism, for in my hometown in Florida, I have not found one church, priest or pastor who even seems aware of the facts on the ground in the Holy Land, nor the danger of the Left Behind theology which is in bed with the political ideology of the neo-conservatives.

I didn't even have a clue as to how little I knew about what was going down in the Holy Land until my first journey in June 2005, when I passed through my first checkpoint and entered into the Little Town of Bethlehem, which is Occupied Territory.

What I witnessed and viscerally felt in my gut was the injustices of oppression caused by a military occupation that denies human rights to innocent ones simply because they were born on the wrong side of the tracks ; in the West Bank and Gaza.
...
"The origins of 'Christian Zionism' lie within nineteenth-century British premillennial sectarianism, but by the early twentieth century it had become a predominantly American dispensational movement, and pervasive within all main evangelical denominations. The contemporary Christian Zionism movement emerged after the 'Six Day War' in Israel in 1967, and it has had a significant influence on attitudes towards the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. Evangelicals are increasingly polarized over whether Christian Zionism is biblical and orthodox or unbiblical and cultic." [2]
...
"The "father of modern dispensationalism" John Nelson Darby was born in Ireland, in the year 1800, and died in 1882. He was an honor student in Westminster and Trinity College, where he studied law, and worked as a lawyer until he became a curate in the Church of England until 1827, when he joined the Brethren movement. Darby, along with the rest of the Brethren, claimed to have been given many "rediscovered truths." These alleged truths supposedly had been taught by the apostles, and then lost sight of. Even the great Reformers had not known of these doctrines. These "rediscovered truths" were, in fact, the direct opposite of all historic Christian teachings proclaimed by the Reformers and extant commentaries. Even some of Darby's best friends hesitated at some of his doctrines. He was accused of heresy a number of times." [3]

Missouri Governor Signs Anti-Choice Bill From Sanctuary Of Baptist Church

Missouri Governor Signs Anti-Choice Bill From Sanctuary Of Baptist Church By: Logan Murphy on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 5:01 PM - PDT

Missouri abortion clinics will face new regulations and new restrictions on teaching sex education classes.

Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation Friday placing more abortion clinics under government oversight by classifying them as ambulatory surgical centers. Planned Parenthood claimed the law, HB 1055, could force it to spend up to $2 million to remodel one of its clinics and halt medical abortions at another site.

The new law, which will take effect Aug. 28, also bars people affiliated with abortion providers from teaching or supplying materials for sex education courses in public schools, and it allows schools to offer abstinence-only programs.

It cements into state statute an existing grant program for centers that encourage women to deliver babies instead of having abortions.

Blunt proclaimed the law “one of the strongest pieces of pro-life legislation in Missouri history” as he spoke from a cross-shaped lectern during a signing ceremony in the sanctuary of Concord Baptist Church. The governor also was scheduled to promote the legislation in Joplin, Hannibal and suburban St. Louis. Read more…

The New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta next year have decided to exclude two Baptist groups that are inclusive towards gays ...

The Same Old Exclusion | By Carlos | Jul 25, 2007 at 01:58:44 PM EST

The facilitators of the The New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta next year have decided to exclude two Baptist groups that are inclusive towards gays. This highlights the delicate or insecure position of moderate or "common ground" Baptists as they try to find their own voice in response to the more vocal and public Christian Right Baptists. ...
...
But Pennings said such an attitude betrays the purpose and name of the celebration itself. "This really is more like the Old Covenant than the New Covenant," he said July 23. "Why would we want to participate in this? There's nothing new about this; it's the same old exclusion."

Law on religion in school spurs fear ... specifically allowing spontaneous religious expression by students [e.g. Football team captains?]

Law on religion in school spurs fear | Web Posted: 07/25/2007 01:51 AM CDT | Jenny Lacoste-Caputo | Express-News Staff Writer
...
This year, the Texas Legislature added more fuel to the decades-old debate by passing a law that could leave the spiritual conscience of a school up to the captain of the football team.

Lawmakers approved that law and two others that could ease the way for more religion in public schools. The changes will take effect when students return to classrooms in August.
..
One of the measures adds the phrase "under God" to the Texas pledge, which schoolchildren say each day right after the pledge to the U.S. flag. Another directs the State Board of Education to come up with a curriculum for elective Bible classes to ensure that such classes across the state are being taught in uniform manner. Neither measure sparked much controversy.

The third new law, dubbed the Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act, has superintendents nervous as they figure out how to implement it in the coming weeks.

It requires public school districts to adopt policies specifically allowing spontaneous religious expression by students. A so-called model policy included in the law states that upperclassmen who are student leaders — such as student council officers, class officers or the captain of the football team — should be designated as speakers.
...
"If a kid on the football team expresses a religious message that is not in keeping with everyone in the room, will there be protests? That school principal will have to deal with that," Woods said. "What if someone wants their time to respond then and there? If we allowed a Christian to express a religious viewpoint, and then a Wiccan wants equal time, how could we prevent them from doing the same?"

[Foreign Policy?] evangelical support for Israel is largely based on "End Times" theology ... Muslims are satanic

Delay: US and Israel must enjoy second coming | Will Menaker | Published: Thursday July 26, 2007

After attending the College Republican convention, Nation journalist Max Blumenthal took his camera to the Christians United for Israel's annual Washington-Israel Summit in D.C. Founded by right-wing mega-church pastor John Hagee, the group has "added the grassroots muscle of the Christian right to the already potent Israel lobby," "forging close ties with the Bush White House and members of Congress."

That evangelical support for Israel is largely based on "End Times" theology is largely irrelevant to the Israeli politicians who share the goal of expanding settlements into the West Banks and a military strike on Iran, but it is anything but irrelevant to the rank-and-file members and even one former House Majority Leader.

Blumenthal opens the video by interviewing Tom Delay, who when asked how much the "Second Coming" plays into his support for Israel, says, "obviously, it's what I live for, I hope it comes tomorrow."

Delay closed by saying, "we have to be connected to Israel to enjoy the second coming." ...
...
Blumenthal then interviews a string of conference-goers who explain how when Jesus returns all of the Jews will be "saved" after realizing the divinity of Christ. He also speaks to several people who say they are looking forward to Armageddon, because it will bring about the "cleansing of the earth." ...
...
Other conference attendees were quick to note that Muslims are satanic, and that the anti-Christ would most likely be a "man of peace." Much like the College Republican convention, Blumenthal is eventually kicked out after confronting Hagee with a passage from his book that blames the Jews for their own persecution.