Here is an essay by the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the director of the Cardinal Van Thuân International Observatory, on the teachings of Benedict XVI on the role of reason and Christianity in the public square.
German Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen has ruffled quite a few feathers with her plans for radical changes in family policy aimed at reversing the country's dismally low birth rate.
The German government in Berlin is prevailing over the resistance that had been raised by several EU governments and is imposing central elements of a European-wide "constitution".
President Lech Kaczynski, who is participating in the EU Brussels summit, has appealed to include references to Christian values in the Berlin Declaration to be adopted in connection with the 50th anniversary of European integration.
Year-long talks on the future status of Kosovo ended Saturday in deadlock, a UN envoy said, reflecting bitter divisions between Serbia's government and the disputed province's pro-independence ethnic Albanian leadership. "I regret to say that at the end of the day, there was no will on the part of the parties to move away from their positions. The parties' respective statements on Kosovo's status do not include any common ground."
This coming war is shaping up to be far more significant than the 6-Day War of 1967 or the Yom Kippur War of 1973. This war will have Syria buttressed strategically by Iran and Russia. Another key item is the presence of massive US/NATO military power to the east in Iraq, the Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea, and in Afghanistan, not to mention and EU military in southern Lebanon. The mixed forces in Lebanon could lead to a military free-for-all.
A militant Islamist group in Iraq has threatened to kill two hostages - a German woman and her son - in 10 days if the German government fails to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
An Islamist group urged Germany and Austria in a video to withdraw troops from Afghanistan to prevent attacks against the two nations.
Washington, the frustration of doing business with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is matched only by the fear of living life without him. For years, the notion that Musharraf is all that stands between Washington and a group of nuclear-armed mullahs has dictated just how far the White House feels it can push him to root out Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives who enjoy a relatively safe existence in Pakistan.
Eritrea has warned of dire consequences unless Uganda pulls its peacekeeping troops out of war-torn Somalia.
Iranian officials last night demanded a timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq as they attended a rare meeting with American diplomats in Baghdad. The conference was aimed at stopping Iraq being used as a sectarian battleground by Sunni and Shia neighbours.
Israel would be able to face any Iranian nuclear threat alone if international sanctions failed to yield results, Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday. "Israel is capable of dealing alone with the Iranian threat even if sanctions don't work. Israel is prepared to face the Iranian issue even if it remains alone."
An Iranian general who defected to the West last month had been spying on Iran since 2003 when he was recruited on an overseas business trip, according to Iranian sources. A daring getaway via Damascus was organised by western intelligence agencies after it became clear that his cover was about to be blown. Iran's notorious secret service, the Vavak, is believed to have suspected that he was a high-level mole.
Chancellor Merkel said on Saturday she was confident world powers would agree on further steps against Iran, which has repeatedly defied international calls to suspend its nuclear fuel program. Merkel's comments come a day after China, backed by Russia, balked at the idea of financial sanctions.
President Ahmadinejad has said he wishes to personally appear before the UN Security Council in New York in order to defend his country's nuclear rights, reports said today. Iranian news agency ISNA quoted the government spokesman as saying that Ahmadinejad intends to attend a Security Council meeting to be held in order to discuss the international dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.
The prospect of Libby's serving time is fueling an intense debate in Washington: should President Bush pardon him? Conservatives immediately began agitating for clemency, arguing that Fitzgerald, unable to convict anyone for leaking, had made Libby a scapegoat. Vice President Dick Cheney may also weigh in. Former and current colleagues say Cheney has been shaken by the prosecution of his former chief of staff. Out of obligation and duty, Cheney is almost certain to press Bush to pardon his close friend and protégé. But don't count on Bush to go along—at least not yet.
Winston Churchill suggested Jewish people were "partly responsible for the antagonism" that saw them branded "Hebrew bloodsuckers", according to an article made public for the first time today. The article argues that "the wickedness of the persecutors" was not the sole reason for the ill-treatment of Jews down the ages. Churchill criticised the "aloofness" of Jewish people from wider society and urged them to make the effort to integrate themselves."
China will soon create one of the world's largest investment funds, with ramifications for global stock, bond and commodities markets and for how the US finances its trade deficits. Finance Minister Jin Renqing said the aim is to make more profitable use of its $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves that have piled up as it posted huge trade surpluses year after year. Most of those funds are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding US Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.
This is an old conservative propaganda chestnut that deserves to be exposed for the defamatory fraud that it is, but most reasonable people would be forgiven for thinking that indeed it does, that what goes coyly by the reassuring moniker of "free enterprise" is in fact the economic equivalent of human nature, the only system of social organization aligning itself effortlessly with the temperamental inclinations of most people.
Christianity, as it currently exists, has done some terrible things to men. When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe that God put them on the earth to be a good boy. The problem with men, we are told, is that they don't know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children. But, if they will try real hard they can reach the lofty summit of becoming . . . a nice guy.
That's what we hold up as models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys. We don't smoke, drink, or swear; that's what makes us men. Now let me ask my male readers: In all your boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream of becoming a Nice Guy? (Ladies, was the Prince of your dreams dashing . . . or merely nice?)
Really now—do I overstate my case? Walk into most churches in America, have a look around, and ask yourself this question: What is a Christian man? Don't listen to what is said, look at what you find there. There is no doubt about it. You'd have to admit a Christian man is . . . bored.
Really now—do I overstate my case? Walk into most churches in America, have a look around, and ask yourself this question: What is a Christian man? Don't listen to what is said, look at what you find there. There is no doubt about it. You'd have to admit a Christian man is . . . bored.
At a recent church retreat I was talking with a guy in his 50s, listening really, about his own journey as a man. "I've pretty much tried for the last 20 years to be a good man as the church defines it." Intrigued, I asked him to say what he thought that was. He paused for a long moment. "Dutiful," he said. "And separated from his heart." A perfect description, I thought. Sadly right on the mark.
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