Free Republic

Despite 9/11 and the almost numbing frequency of suicide bombings in Iraq, Israel, London. Madrid, Istanbul, Bali, and elsewhere, some people continue pedaling two discredited arguments: 1) that blame for these attacks ultimately lies with the policies or mere existence of the victims’ governments; and 2) that we must listen and can learn something of value from the terrorists themselves. Most Americans realize that "it’s not us, it’s them," in other words, it is the terrorists, not the victims of terrorism, who are to blame. Accordingly, it is the terrorists, not us, who need to change or to be stopped....

The pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church has sent a letter to Chicago's 50 aldermen formally distancing himself from the decision of a denomination leader to meet with representatives of Hezbollah, an anti-Israeli group with terrorist ties. The City Council last week passed a resolution condemning the meeting and expressing "dismay" with Rev. Bob Reynolds, head of the Chicago Presbytery. Reynolds was part of a church group that met with Hezbollah leaders during a trip to the Middle East last month. During the debate on the resolution, two aldermen also threatened to oppose a zoning change sought by Fourth Presbyterian Church...

Hezbollah official Nabil Qawuq is undoubtedly a busy man. As Hezbollah’s commander in Southern Lebanon, Qawuq is responsible for leading the bulk of the Shi’ite terrorist group’s combat forces, while frequently overseeing attacks on Israeli positions and attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers or civilians. A confidante of Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah, Qawuq is also a fixture on Al-Jazeera and Lebanese television, his appearances generously mottled with calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Nevertheless, Qawuq recently found the time in his busy schedule to meet with -- of all things -- a church group. On October 20th, a...

First rule of getting out of a hole: quit digging. Now that Jewish groups have stepped up their criticism of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has been forced to defend the denomination in the wake of its latest delegation to visit Hizballah. ironically enough, on the front of the PCUSA website is an article for the "Say NO to torture" Epiphany gathering and an article where Kirkpatrick restates PC(USA)'s opposition to capital punishment. However, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States can only find weasel words to condemn a foreign terrorist organization with an unambiguous track...

The Democratic National Committee came out against efforts to divest from Israel or the Palestinian areas. The DNC executive, meeting Monday in Phoenix, passed a resolution declaring “its opposition to efforts to boycott, divest from, or otherwise single out companies for their work in Israel or the Palestinian Authority, and commends members of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faiths who courageously continue to work together to attain a peaceful negotiated settlement to any conflict in the Middle East.” The resolution called efforts to divest from Israel “counterproductive.” Susan Turnbull, a DNC vice-chairwoman, told JTA that the initiative arose out...

In a letter to presbyteries and synods, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick contends that a Presbyterian delegation that met recently with Hezbollah, a terrorist group, was not sanctioned by the Presbyterian Church (USA). "We have been in contact with the leaders of the trip and have learned that it was not a delegation representing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but rather a study trip for individuals, under the auspices of the Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery," Kirkpatrick said. Kirkpatrick did not mention that Nuhad Tomeh, the regional liaison of the PCUSA for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf, helped arrange...

Now, let's meet Rev. Dr. Nuhad Tomeh, an employee of Presbyterian Church USA. It looks like his main mission is to be full Representative and Ambassador to Hezbollah (Party of God). Whenever Presbyterians have a contact with the terrorist organization Nuhad Tome is always listed as a facilitator: EMEU in May 2002 SFTS in June 2004 Ron Stone in October 2004 Worley in October 2005 More, October 20, 2005 ADL's press release is a correct first step. This is good but not nearly enough. We are demanding from ADL a full-scale attack on the pro-terrorist activities of the mailine liberal...

Scrambling to maintain fragile friendships with Jewish groups, local and national officials of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are distancing themselves from a meeting in Lebanon between a Hezbollah commander and a Presbyterian delegation that included the denomination's Chicago leader. Jay Rock, the church's national coordinator for interfaith relations, promised Jewish leaders in a letter this week that Presbyterians would develop guidelines for members traveling in troubled regions, saying those at the Hezbollah meeting should have made clear the church's positions "against terrorism in any form, and for the security and vitality of Israel." At the same time, the Rev. Robert...

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) joined today with four other leading Chicago Jewish organizations to denounce a recent meeting with the terrorist group Hezbollah attended by leaders and members of the Presbytery of Chicago of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). ADL Regional Director Lonnie Nasatir issued the following statement on the terrorist group Hezbollah: It is unconscionable that Presbyterian leaders would meet with Hezbollah, which our government designates as a foreign terrorist organization. Hezbollah (Party of God) has a track record of terror that is unambiguous. It pioneered the use of suicide bombing in the Middle East. It is committed to the...

This past week, Hizbullah invaded Israel with the intention of kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Make no mistake, Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed Friday that attempts to abduct Israeli soldiers would continue, saying Hizballah has no intention of laying down its arms. They are not considered the world's most dangerous terrorist organization for nothing. Now, operations to kidnap Israelis take a lot of planning. An operation as large as this, which used every type of weapon in the terrorist organization's arsenal, must have been in planning last month, when a group from the PCUSA visited southern Lebanon at the invitation of...

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has denounced renewed contact between the U.S. branch of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror organization. According to the Middle East Research Institute, Lebanese media confirmed that a PCUSA delegation headed by Robert Morley, a retired professor from McCormick Theological Seminary and Father Nihad Tomeh, the Church’s Mideast liaison met with Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hezbollah’s commander in Southern Lebanon. The Church delegation reportedly wanted to learn more about Hezbollah’s charitable works and its "concern" for people. "The people of Lebanon struggle mightily to reassert their independent democracy, Israel evacuates Gaza and continues negotiations...

Witches, pagans give Christmas curseFrom: By Milanda Rout, Geraldine Mitchell and Tanya Giles November 22, 2005 Curse ... witches and pagans have cursed Victorian Premier Steve Bracks after he ruled schools should celebrate Christmas/(file photo) WITCHES and pagans yesterday cursed the Bracks Government for asking all Victorian schools to celebrate Christmas with carols, nativity scenes and other Christian traditions. But the Government's decree has been strongly supported and welcomed by schools and religious leaders. The Pagan Awareness Network said several pagan parents had raised concerns their children were being forced to sing hymns and carols in school assemblies against their...

Jerry Falwell and an army of conservative lawyers drew a line in the snow yesterday, warning Boston and other cities: Don’t mess with Christmas. And even before the first volley was fired, City Hall caved. Just after a top lawyer for the conservative Liberty Counsel blasted the Hub’s annual “holiday tree” ceremony, a Menino administration official scrambled to do damage control. “This is a Christmas tree,” Boston Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak insisted about the Nova Scotia spruce the city will light Dec. 1 on historic Boston Common. “It’s definitely a Christmas tree.” However, the city’s official Web site refers to...

Thanksgiving: Thanking God for That Dead, Liberal Church By Matt Friedeman November 21, 2005 (AgapePress) - I thank God for that dead, liberal church. It was theologically and spiritually frustrating then, it is theologically and spiritually frustrating now, and in all likelihood it will be theologically and spiritually frustrating in the future. But that dead, liberal church, with pastor after pastor who was theologically and spiritually disappointing, did this for me: provided a Sunday school class that helped save my dad (and thereafter, my mother); taught me the Apostle's Creed; familiarized me with the awesome hymns of the faith; exposed...

What began as a search for common ground between Congressman Tom Tancredo and Colorado interfaith leaders has disintegrated, with the two sides unable to agree on a joint statement about religion, terrorism and retaliation. For more than two months, the Colorado Republican and a group of Muslim, Christian and Jewish representatives tried to broker peace after Tancredo suggested it was acceptable to bomb Muslim holy sites in response to terrorist attacks. Not only did the envisioned statement crumble over a few words but the religious leaders came away even more upset over Tancredo's comments linking Islam to the French riots...

Overseas Anglican archbishops told about 2,500 Episcopalians meeting in Pittsburgh yesterday they might have to leave the Episcopal Church unless its leaders "repent" at the church's General Convention next June for consecrating an openly homosexual bishop. If Episcopal leaders refuse to back off from the 2003 installation of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the prelates said they might boycott the 2008 conference of the world's Anglican bishops. The mood at the David C. Lawrence Convention Center -- the site of the three-day Hope and a Future Conference sponsored by the Anglican Communion Network -- ranged from upbeat to...

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop insisted Wednesday he was not encouraging Roman Catholics to leave their church when he criticized its view of homosexuals during a recent speech in London. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, at a service Friday commemorating the 10th anniversary of Changing Attitude, a British group which advocates full inclusion of gays in the Anglican faith community, noted during his talk that many Catholics in his home state were becoming Episcopalian. "Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church," Robinson said, referring to former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is...

LOS ANGELES - The Internal Revenue Service has warned a prominent liberal church that it could lose it's tax-exempt status because of an anti-war sermon a guest preacher gave on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, according to church officials. The Rev. George F. Regas did not urge parishioners at All Saints Episcopal Church to support either President Bush or John Kerry, but he was critical of the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts. The IRS warned the church in June that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy because such organizations are prohibited from intervening in political campaigns and...

WASHINGTON, November 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Former US President Jimmy Carter knows how to play his audiences. Last week Carter appeared on MSNBC's Hardball slamming President George W. Bush in a fashion perhaps never before seen from an ex-President, but also last week Carter spoke to the conservative Washington Times newspaper, revealing his apparently new-found strong pro-life views. Not surprisingly, Carter did not mention his anti-abortion stand with Hardball's Chris Matthews. Stephen F. Hayward, PhD., who last year wrote a book on Carter noted Carter's political exploitation of abortion in the past. In an interview with National Review, Hayward recalled...

A CBS producer who led the network's coverage of the recent Michael Jackson trial has been marketing a brand of wine under the label "Jesus Juice," complete with a logo of a Christ figure sporting a Jacksonesque red glove, fedora hat, white socks, and penny loafers NewsBusters.org has learned that Bruce Rheins, a high-level producer for such shows as the "CBS Evening News", and his wife, Dawn Westlake, began preparations for their marketing campaign while the Jackson case was still in court, registering a U.S. trademark for the words "Jesus Juice" in January of 2004, days after word got out...