With these catecheses we are reflecting on the great figures of the early Church. Today, we will talk about St. Justin, philosopher and martyr, the most important among the apologist fathers of the 2nd century. The term "apologist" refers to those ancient Christian writers who wanted to defend the new religion from the weighty accusations of the pagans and the Jews, and to spread Christian doctrine in terms understandable for the times.
Puh-leaze...
According to the president of Indian bishops' conference, shrines are visible signs of God's loving power. "Christians, when they visit these places experience immense joy and … feel the presence of Jesus."
Germany undoubtedly is a special case in Europe; an estimated 3.2 million Muslims live in the country, most coming from a guest-worker background and stemming from Turkey. Last September Germany held the first-ever official conference on Islam in an effort to better integrate the country's Muslim population.
Support is waning in the Social Democratic Party for the country's deployment in Afghanistan. Keen to spin the party as one of peace, the party's base is growing restless. Will it have implications for Chancellor Merkel's government?
German doubts about the nation's expanding role in Afghanistan have arisen in recent months. The controversy has created a conflict within Germany's grand coalition government that echoes the crises faced by other European nations such as Italy. The conflict in Afghanistan is seen by many as a litmus test of NATO's strength and credibility in a post-9/11 environment. "Failure could be a death blow for the organization."
After senior UN and EU officials met with members of the Palestinian government this week, Germany is making its own efforts to improve relations. Angela Merkel will travel to the region at the end of the month.
Setting aside his personal feelings for the sake of his party, Jacques Chirac on Wednesday endorsed his longtime younger rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, as the man best-suited to succeed him as president of France. The long-awaited endorsement came without fanfare, passion or enthusiasm.
(IHT op/ed: Farewell, Jacques Chirac)
Chancellor Merkel has called for a united Europe in dealing with the controversial US plan to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. A united Berlin would be nice too.
Next week, Germany's foreign minister and other EU diplomats travel to Kazakhstan to meet their counterparts from the Central Asian republics. Despite their miserable human rights record, the Central Asian republics east of the Caspian Sea are becoming increasingly important to Europe for another reason: They have the natural gas the EU needs to reduce its dependence on Russia. "Central Asia is the new region for power politics. Europe needs more gas. It needs to diversify in order to weaken its dependence on Russia. The game is clear in Central Asia. The question is whether the EU has the political will to succeed in this region."
The Balkans could plunge into chaos unless there is a prompt UN agreement on the final status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo, the EU enlargement commissioner has warned. "If the UN Security council fails to pass a resolution, there will be political instability and even chaos."
The newly created Empire has thus set itself on a collision course with Russia over a patch of land in the southeast of Europe where many empires have clashed before. The arrogance, intransigence and belligerence of the American Empire have now produced a realistic threat that Bismarck's prediction of a European war caused by "some damned foolish thing in the Balkans" could be fulfilled once again.
The control of Kirkuk divided Kurds from Arabs in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and continues to do so. The city is commonly called "a powder keg" though it has yet to explode. But that does not mean it will not happen and the referendum might just be the detonator for that explosion.
Iran's mission to the UN has in a press release protested the movie 300, saying it is full of deliberate distortions and derogatory depictions of ancient Persia.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday Iran would hit back with everything it has if attacked over its nuclear program. "If they want to threaten us and use force and violence against us, they should not doubt that Iranian officials will use all they have in their power to deal a blow to those who assault them."
Paranoid Protestant pagan preaching prophecy poppycock!...
If anyone still thinks that the radical end-times "prophecy" movement is not a threat to peace and stability, think again. John Hagee is perhaps the most powerful and influential Christian Zionist figure in America. Hagee has a long history making strange predictions about world events that are almost always wrong. It's time for both Christian and non-Christian alike to call this crowd out on their bad theology, false prophecies, and deadly worldview.
In October 2006, Bush signed into law the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. Quietly slipped into the law at the last minute, at the request of the Bush administration, were sections changing important legal principles, dating back 200 years, which limit the US government's ability to use the military to intervene in domestic affairs. These changes would allow Bush, whenever he thinks it necessary, to institute martial law - under which the military takes direct control over civilian administration. So the changes to posse comitatus signed into law by Bush are extremely significant and ominous.
We're not ready for the proverbial Big One: The nation is ill-prepared for a nuclear attack, according to a study released yesterday that offers both nightmare scenarios and sensible interventions.
Over the past couple of years the Politically Incorrect Guide series has released numerous successor volumes. The beginning of this year saw the release of still another entry in the series: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South, by Clint Johnson. The professional haters and emotional hypochondriacs who pounce on anyone with anything favorable to say about the South will have a hard time digging up much dirt on Johnson, the respected author of 7 books on the misnamed Civil War, ranging from volumes on the conduct of the war to guides for visiting Civil War sites today.
Fatal scratch?...
On a winter's day in 1707, this old, stone town saw the Scottish Parliament sign itself and the independence of Scotland out of existence by voting for a treaty of union with England that created Great Britain. Today, 300 years later, polls suggest that Scots who would undo all that seem poised for a significant victory in a restored Scottish Parliament during elections in May.
The Anglican Church took another step towards its apparently inevitable schism when US Episcopal bishops rejected the ultimatum from primates of the Anglican Communion to fall into line over homosexuals.
Between a rock and a hard place...
The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that economic prospects were "mixed" and edged away from previous signals that the most likely direction of US interest rates would be up. But for the first time since it stopped raising rates, it omitted its statement indicating a bias towards raising rates rather than lowering them.
The dollar sank to a 2-year low against the euro Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve announced a shift in its policy statement that appeared to open the door to a cut in interest rates later this year. Some market observers said the euro could be poised to rise even further against the dollar.
[WAR: Remember what was in Monday's WAR - "Ironically, the recent resurgent strength of the euro in international currency markets could be the trigger for its demise."]
You are about to witness the first large-scale repercussions of the dangerous, world-wide, and unregulated experiment on your health with genetically modified crops. The problems that will result due to a loss of honeybees are much greater than a simple shortage of honey. The inevitable agricultural and economic catastrophe that will result is a stark reminder of how complex, fragile and interdependent our biosystem really is. The loss of one plant, one animal, one species can cause potentially devastating repercussions that can wreak havoc on the entire system.
Neurologists have identified part of the brain that defines us as human and allows emotion and intuition to work in tandem with logic to solve moral dilemmas. The brain section is crucial to solving extreme moral conundrums but rather than applying rational thinking alone, decisions are coloured by emotion, a study shows.
(Pravda: Some "other" heart facts)
[WAR: Amazing ... just last night I was deeply contemplating this very thing - wondering where the "heart" is that is mentioned so frequently in the Bible.]
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