Free Republic

One thing I've been thinking about is where the blame lies for the current state of factionalism in Christianity. As a parent, I don’t tolerate my children blaming someone else for their own unloving actions. “He started it,” I hear. When I follow up on the story, I usually find out a little more than I wanted to know about the ability of children to think like lawyers, and present the facts as skillfully as any defense attorney. But my children also know the response they will get from me. I always point back to their God-given responsibility for their...

If creeds are so useful for the truth they may contain, but are not authoritative for our salvation, then we might as well call Moby Dick by Herman Melville a creed. Scripture is quoted in the novel, so it contains some inerrant truth, right? People view creeds as watchdogs to protect a group from heresy, but if the creed has no real authority, then it is a toothless watchdog. One bit of prose is as good as another, provided there is some semblance of truth in it.As long as we are all free to dissent with this phrase or that...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Iran: The Invisible Revolution. During the U.S. presidential campaign, debate over Iran policy received unprecedented attention. The reasons are multifold. With Iran on the verge of developing both nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capability, Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the Iranian threat, especially when confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei lead televised chants of "American will be annihilated," as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati did last June. American concern over a nuclear Iran is multifold. The danger is not necessarily that Iran would conduct a nuclear first strike, although former president Ali Akbar...

As the Democratic primaries reach a critical stage, partisan spirit is running high, and the presidential campaign is already verging on blood sport. George Washington's birthday today serves as a reminder of how presidents can transcend politics and embody the national spirit. From the time he was recruited as commander in chief in 1775, Washington personified the often tenuous hope of unity among the 13 fractious colonies. With most of the early patriot blood spilled in Massachusetts, the second Continental Congress wanted a Southern general who could lend a national imprint to the struggle. Washington shed his Virginia identity and...

Fighting rages between Afghan factions Twenty people have been killed and 40 wounded in battles between rival armed factions in north-eastern Afghanistan. Fighting broke out near Orgo in Badakhshan province between forces loyal to the district chief and a local militia commander. Provincial officials have sent hundreds of soldiers to the area to try to stem the fighting, which are still raging in five different places. Government officials in Kabul could not immediately be reached for comment. Story filed: 15:51 Saturday 7th February 2004

May 28 — In the months preceding the intervention in Iraq, there were almost as many arguments within the “regime-change” constituency as there were between it and the “peace” camp. On both sides, indeed, some internal disagreements were subordinated to the main quarrel. The most enduring suspicion, among the Arab and Kurdish supporters of an attacking policy, was that elements within the American government would seek to keep them from harvesting an “Iraq for the Iraqis” victory. HENCE THE LONG tussle between Ahmad Chalabi and the CIA, and hence also the enduring memory among Kurds of the times when they...

Over 80 dead in rioting and looting, as ethnic gangs clash amid anarchy. Fires burn in business districts, storefronts destroyed, hooligans make off with any loot they can carry. Our liberal friends might cite this example to support their claim that we are becoming embroiled in a quagmire in Iraq. Unfortunately, this is not Iraq at all, It is Los Angeles after the verdict in the Rodney King trial. The naysayers will spout that we will never establish order in Iraq and will tell us that the whole operation was a mistake. Please remind them that killing, looting, and lawlessness...