CovenantNews.com

Random Thoughts Touching The Political Scene

Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
This election is the perfect storm. Two massive ideological fronts in American history are colliding. The cold front of Obama's Marxism vs. The hot weather pattern of Palin's Pentecostal Dispensationalism. If a person can't find twisted entertainment in this there is something seriously wrong with them. Indeed, I would contend that this may be the best programming that TV has seen in decades.

If Sarah Palin really is a Christian then shouldn't II Cor. 6 apply to her decision to run for VP? II Cor. 6 teaches that Christians are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Is Sarah disobeying Christ's Word by yoking herself with McCain. Stretching out this point a bit I can't understand how a Christian voting for pagan candidates likewise isn't an un-biblical yoke.

Stupid and Evil

Laurence M. Vance / LewRockwell.com:
It's done, it's over, it's official: The Republican Party nominated John McCain to be its 2008 presidential candidate. Conversely, and more importantly, this means that the Republican Party failed to nominate Ron Paul to be its 2008 presidential candidate. It wouldn’t normally matter whom the Republican Party nominated. Bigger government and less liberty have always been the result. And if you think Reagan was an exception then you are sadly mistaken.

Over 10,000 'Rally For The Republic'

Sarah Foster / NewsWithViews.com:
MINNEAPOLIS - If the Republican leadership thought that marginalizing Rep. Ron Paul and ignoring his message of personal liberty and limited government would shut him up and make him go away, they sure figured wrong. "There is room now for the defense of liberty, and the people know that the system we have is not working," Paul told an estimated crowd of 12,000 cheering supporters Tuesday evening at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. "It is not working economically, it is not working monetarily, our foreign policy is not working and therefore they're looking for answers."

ARTLA Rebukes Dobson for Breaking Pledge before God

American RTL Action:
Sit-in Protest at Dobson HQ -- ARTL Action members are holding a sit-in to protest Dr. James Dobson at his Focus on the Family headquarters at 8655 Explorer Drive in Colorado Springs today, Thur. Sept. 4, starting at 9:00 a.m. The political 527 group is exposing Dr. Dobson for violating his pledge in which he invoked the name of God by declaring that he is voting for John McCain. On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life Dr. Dobson stated, "I want to give a pledge to you on a political level… I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby." (See pledge video and more at ARTLaction.com.) James Dobson is violating this pledge by voting for John McCain for president, a Republican who has recently voted to authorize funding to kill some children by surgical abortion.
Click Here For The Full Story......

The Palin Paradox: Death of the Christian Right?

Paul Abrams / The Huffington Post:
Enter, daughter Bristol's out-of-wedlock pregnancy. The Christian right had to make a quick choice (choice?!) -- either applaud the pregnancy or dump Palin. By choosing to applaud the pregnancy, and to take the line of Steve Schmidt, "life happens", the Christian right ceded most of the claptrap they have been preaching for 30 years. No longer can they rail against big-town, or Hollywood, or Washington DC (read, experts) or New York (read, Jewish) or San Francisco (read, gay) "values" as the cause of peoples' "misbehavior" and social disintegration. No longer can they even call it misbehavior. No longer can they wring their hands about poor role models for children, about out-of-wedlock sex being a sin against God, about how books can be the devil's work.

Nothing's Changed - No Reason To Vote Republican

Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
I continue to stand in slack-jawed amazement at how putatively Reformed Christians are acting like two-year-olds who have just discovered chocolate in their rediscovered passion for the McCain-Palin ticket. The reasons that have been put forth in order to put aside what had been their principles against voting for John McCain and the Republican party have evaporated faster than the buzz picked up by attending a rock concert of your choice. In this article I just want to review some things that haven’t changed since the choice of Palin, and then perhaps spend some time examining the arguments that are being put forth to now vote for McCain.

Sarah Palin or Ron Paul?

Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
While both Left and Right drones on about Sarah Palin, her qualifications, and the status of her family, a very important event was taking place in Minnesota at Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic. Of course, there is a media blackout of this event, since the word "Constitution" is now considered profanity. All eyes are on the 2008 presidential race. Well, all eyes but mine. I prefer to place my political energies in another direction: building off the freedom revolution growing around the likes of men like Ron Paul. Education is paramount at this time, and until Christian Conservatives awake from their statist delusions, it should be obvious where work is most needed.

Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic Speech

Pluralism's Trojan Horse

Gary DeMar / American Vision:
With the leveling of religion, we are seeing the leveling of morality. All lifestyles are permitted in the name of diversity and pluralism. In nearly every case, Christians are the losers. Pluralism is the bait for Christians to embrace a distinctiveless Christianity. The call for Christians to adopt pluralism is just another way of diluting the truth. Pluralism becomes a club to pound out the theological bumps that makes Christianity unique among all the religions of the world. And what is the fruit of the new and improved pluralist worldview?

Caution On The Palin Pick

John LeBoutillier / Ether Zone:
"Take a long, slow breath. Relax. Slow down. Don't hurry. Wait a bit." This is my advice to everyone about the selection of the almost-totally-unknown Sarah Palin to be the GOP Vice Presidential nominee. None of us knows much about her - and what we do know comes from Team McCain, an entirely un-trustworthy enterprise with a motive to spin her the way they want. Her announcement speech was written by McCain’s alter ego, Mark Salter, a complete manipulator who cannot ever be trusted to tell the truth.

Palin at AIPAC: That Didn't Take Long

Jim Lobe / Antiwar.com:
MSNBC and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) are reporting that Gov. Palin met this afternoon with the board of directors of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Sen. Joe Lieberman to, in the words of one McCain campaign official cited by MSNBC, put “the American Jewish community at ease over her understanding of US-Middle East relations.” It’s worth noting that Palin, who has obviously been completely off-limits to reporters since she was rolled out as McCain’s running-mate in Dayton Friday, stiffed a reception in her honor sponsored by none other than Phyllis Schlafly a couple hours later. (One wonders what other lobbies have tried to arrange a meeting with Palin in the last 96 hours and with what success.)

Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'

The Associated Press:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God." In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Related:
Pentecostalism obscured in Palin biography
The Associated Press:
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sarah Palin often identifies herself simply as Christian. Yet John McCain's running mate has deep roots in Pentecostalism, a spirit-filled Christian tradition that is one of the fastest growing in the world. It's often derided by outsiders and Bible-believers alike. Palin was baptized Roman Catholic as a newborn. She was then baptized in a Pentecostal Assemblies of God church as a teen and attended that church until six years ago, when she and her family adopted a different home church, an independent evangelical church.

Bush Announces $1 Billion in Aid for Georgia

The Associated Press:
President Bush said Wednesday the U.S. will send an extra $1 billion to Georgia to help the pro-Western former Soviet republic in the wake of Russia's invasion. "Georgia has a strong economic foundation and leaders with an impressive record of reform," Bush said in a statement. "Our additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover from the assault on their country, and continue to build a prosperous and competitive economy."

Related:
Georgia's Influence Peddlers in Washington
By Wayne Madsen / Online Journal:
A little-known Georgia lobbying network in Washington, DC, is working together with faux progressive guru George Soros and John McCain foreign policy adviser/Georgia uber-lobbyist Randy Scheunemann to prop up Georgia as a NATO client state and engineer a renewed Cold War with Russia, with U.S. defense contractors poised to rake in even more obscene profits.

IMF Loans Georgia $750 Million
By Andrew Higgins / The Wall Street Journal:
When Russia sent troops into Georgia last month, the West balked at joining the fight. But now that the shooting has ended, Western nations are mobilizing to thwart a key Russian war aim: regime change in Tbilisi. Their weapon is cash. The International Monetary Fund is set to reach a preliminary deal this week that will throw the former Soviet republic a $750 million credit line, according to officials close to the negotiations. Both the U.S. and Europe are also working on big assistance packages that Georgia hopes will provide $2 billion or more.

Russia Sends Cash, Builders to S. Ossetia
The Associated Press:
TSKHINVALI, Georgia - Russia has sent hundreds of workers to rebuild this shattered rebel capital just weeks after its military routed Georgian forces here, and has promised cash payments for every South Ossetian -- the latest in efforts to shore up its alliance with the breakaway Georgian province. Moscow is matching in South Ossetia what the U.S. and its allies are doing in Georgia, pouring in aid to support its ally along the new confrontation line that has grown up between Russia and the West.

Homeland Security Fascism

Mike Shelton / The Yuma Sun:
A growing number of international travelers have complained about missing laptops, cell phones and other digital devices that wound up being confiscated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Based on a recent report, as part of our border search policy these agencies have the right to take any electronic equipment from anyone, including U.S. citizens, without reasonable suspicion, without stated cause, without notification. They can take a traveler's laptop and hold it indefinitely. Maybe they'll return it to its rightful owner. Maybe they won't.

Obama Might Pursue Criminal Charges Against Bush

Elana Schor / The Guardian:
Democrat vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November. Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin. But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

Recessions and Career Opportunities

Gary North / LewRockwell.com:
As this recession accelerates, will your career accelerate with it? Or fall behind? It is one thing to recognize that your career has hit a brick wall. There are solutions for this. The appropriate strategy is different when your career hits a detour because of the recession. One of the reasons why the general public does not perceive what would previously have been regarded as recessionary economic conditions is that the employment rate has stayed high. One of the reasons for this is that the United States has moved from a manufacturing economy, in terms of its total labor force, to a service-based economy.

Jesus Wouldn't Yell

Coach Dave Daubenmire / NewsWithViews.com:
I had been asked to address the opening day assembly of a local Christian School. I came out of the chute fast as I usually do, especially with young people. In this youth-culture where everything is “extreme” I want to make sure that the audience knows that it is ok to be extreme for Jesus. I spent nearly thirty years dealing with kids and have learned that the best way to keep their attention is to be “alive” when making a presentation. This day I was working with an especially captivated audience.

Can Two Walk Together Without Agreement?

Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News:
John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate was exactly what he needed to do to make himself competitive against Barack Obama in the November elections. (For the record, I predicted three weeks ago that Palin would be his choice.) As a result (and right on cue), conservatives throughout the country--especially Christian conservatives--are now fully supporting McCain's candidacy for President. Even James "I-will-never-vote-for-John-McCain" Dobson has endorsed McCain.

Palin And The Christian's Quandary Part III

Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
First, Scripture teaches that God's created order disallows a woman as civil magistrate. Though most American citizens and most American Christians hate it, the reality is that God's word teaches that Man was to be the covenant head, and that woman was made to be man's companion and help-meet. Scripture teaches (I Tim. 2:13, I Cor. 11:13, I Cor. 11:8-9) that the creation order was by design and that the teleological end of that creation order, in regard to male female relationships was that man should have positional, authority and leadership priority. The position of men and women in this regard is not something that is cultural, nor is it something that came about because of the fall, but rather the position of men and women is anchored in the creation order. People are welcome to defy that order but someone has to be the one who tells them that the snap-back of reality is painful. [Part I] [Part II]

More On Palin

Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report:
Doug Wilson over at Mablog continues to fudge on the issue of how it would be un-biblical to vote for Sarah Palin as a female civil magistrate. Most recently Doug has tried to enlist John Knox on his side. According to Wilson, Knox wrote The First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women aiming at Bloody Mary. According to Wilson, Knox while aiming at Blood Mary hit Queen Elizabeth square between the eyes as Mary died and Elizabeth ascended to the throne just when Knox's work was being published. Wilson goes on to record that "because of Elizabeth's attitude toward the Reformation, Knox was more than willing to accept Elizabeth as a godly Deborah, and wrote to Elizabeth, telling her so." Wilson goes on to try to conclude that Knox, therefore, can't be claimed as somebody who is against women in office unreservedly.

'Evangelicals' Say Palin's Daughter Won't Be an Issue

Liz Halloran / U.S. News & World Report:
Less than two hours after expected Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her husband announced that their unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, evangelical leaders told U.S. News that they don't believe the revelation will harm the GOP ticket within the conservative faith community. "I don't think it [hurts] at all," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, who hailed Palin's nomination.

Gay Republicans Endorse McCain

Reuters:
The Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain's bid for the presidency on Tuesday, four years after the gay Republican group refused to back President George W. Bush's bid for reelection. The endorsement may boost McCain's reputation as a maverick who reaches across partisan lines, but it may not go down well with his party's conservative Christian base. "Sen. McCain is no George Bush when it comes to gay issues. We are much more optimistic and enthusiastic about Sen. McCain," Patrick Sammon, the group's president, told Reuters. The 20,000-member group backed Bush in 2000, but did not endorse him in 2004 when the Republican Party used opposition to gay marriage as a "wedge" issue to galvanize evangelical Christian voters.

Hannity Offers McCain Adultery Excuses

The American View:
On a recent (8/12/08) "Hannity & Colmes" program the topic was John Edwards' admission that he had committed adultery. Hannity made many good and correct points about the untrustworthiness of public officials who violate their wedding vows. But, when Alan Colmes raised the issue of John McCain having cheated on his first wife, Republican Party cheerleader Hannity went bananas. It was beautiful the way Colmes allowed Hannity to get several coils of rope around his neck before he sprung the trapdoor leaving hypocrite Hannity swinging in mid-air, waving his partisan pom-poms, babbling away about how the two adulteries were very, very different when - as adultery — they are not. Colmes' timing was exquisite. He pounced at just the right moment. It was beautiful.

'Fornicators shall not inherit the kingdom of God'

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
(1 Corinthians 6: 9-10)

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
(Galatians 5: 19-21)

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them."
(Ephesians 5: 1-7)

'Feminists for Life' as VP Candidate?

Doug Phillips / The Vision Forum:
He is elderly; she is young. He has a poor record on abortion; she is pro-life. He is a man; she is a woman. And by picking 44-year old mother and pro-life feminist Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, John McCain has made a politically strategic choice aimed at softening conservatives and evangelicals. Mrs. Palin, a long-time member of "Feminists for Life," is the mother of five children ages 7, 13, 17, and 19, and a four-month old Down’s syndrome baby born on April 17 of this year. She returned to the office of governor three days after giving birth to her child.

Sarah Palin as Stalking Horse

Stephen W. Carson / LewRockwell.com:
"Stalking horse" comes from hunting. To avoid scaring the prey, say a group of wild ducks, the hunter lets his horse wander towards the ducks since the ducks are not startled by seeing a horse. The hunter stays carefully behind the horse until he is close enough to shoot the ducks. McCain and his coterie of neocon, war-mongering imperialists are the hunters. Sarah Palin is the stalking horse. And you and me, we're the ducks.

Threat of Race War if McCain is Elected

Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
An opinion writer--Fatimah Ali--at the Philadelphia Daily News is voicing what is probably being discussed in Black churches, homes, workplaces, and centers of activism. It is a threat to American social stability. She's calling for a "full-fledged race and class war," if McCain is elected president. This is disgusting and so predictable from the likes of Black elites that are benefiting greatly from the well-organized, stability of the White American Establishment. She, like so many other deluded man-worshipers, believes that Obama will bring true and lasting change--he'll bring in a utopia for the lower and middle class. Watch how she looks past Obama's elitism and swears that he'll still be compassionate--he has to be, right? After all, he's Black. Well, kinda Black.

Indulgence And Indifference

Paul Proctor / NewsWithViews.com:
What is it about today's compromised church that compels certain pastors to emulate the world and call it "evangelism"? Is it to quiet their conscience and camouflage their own cravings? I think some have become so envious of the lost and the world we were called out of for Christ that they can't help but gaze back at their old lives longingly like Lot's wife looked back at Sodom. The news these days seems to be chocked full of Christians trying all sorts of gimmicks and bribes to entice people into a churchianity that cannot save them -- all the while convinced that the end justifies the means.

My Life's Goal

David Alan Black / Dave Black Online:
I keep hearing nowadays glowing (at times boastful) reports about churches that are growing numerically. Most churches, after all, have a "vision to grow." To tell you the truth, I have very little interest in numerical size anymore. I'll teach a class with 3 or 30 or 300 students in it. It doesn't matter to me in the least. My goal is not class size or popularity.

Foolish Interpretations

Eric Rauch / American Vision:
Biblical knowledge is at an all-time low among evangelicals, and even lower among those outside the church. The postmodern idea of "literary deconstruction" has wreaked havoc on the written (and spoken) word, turning each of us into an interpretive law unto himself. We've all heard the stories about Bible-studies or Sunday-School classes where each person is asked what the biblical text "means to them." The usual conservative reply goes something like: "I don’t care what it means to you, what does it mean, period?" In other words, the author has an intended meaning that he is trying to communicate to the reader.

Why The Coming Election Is Meaningless

Al Cronkrite / The Covenant News:
Alaskan Governor Sarah Pulin appears to be a fine young woman. However the delightful gushing among naive Republicans over her selection as Vice Presidential running mate for the elite Senator John McCain may or may not produce the victory they hope for, and, even if it does, and Ms. Pulin ultimately becomes president, she will be unable to stop the downward spiral of our nation.

Palin's 17-Year-Old Daughter: A 'Slut' and Pregnant

Liz Sidoti / The Associated Press:
John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, said Monday her 17-year-old unmarried daughter was five months pregnant, the latest in a string of disclosures that left the McCain campaign defending the thoroughness of its background check of the little-known Alaska governor. It was also revealed Monday that an attorney had been hired to represent Palin in a state ethics probe and that her husband, Todd, had been arrested for drunken driving two decades ago. The man who led McCain's vice presidential search team said he thought everything that came up as a possible red flag during the background check had now been made public. "I think so," Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. told The Associated Press. "Yes. I think so. Correct."

Related:
Baby's Father Says: I'm A Redneck
By Sky News
The teenager said to be the father of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter's baby reportedly describes himself on his MySpace page as a "redneck" who does not want children. Just days after being named as Republican candidate John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin announced that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant.

Palin And The Christian's Quandary Part I

Bret McAtee / Back Water Report:
Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mater for campaign 2008. Considered from the non-Christian view of political pragmatism McCain's choice, strategically and tactically speaking is brilliant. Now, no Biblical Christian should be able to vote for McCain solely on the basis of his choosing Palin as his VP but nonetheless from a purely politically pragmatic perspective McCain did himself a favor by choosing Palin.

In this article I am going to examine why, from the non-Christian view of pure pragmatism why McCain’s view is exceptional. Second, I am going to examine the weaknesses that Palin brings to the ticket. Lastly, I am going to probe as to why it is that Biblical Christians cannot cast their vote against Christ by voting for female civil magistrates.

Palin And The Christian’s Quandary Part II
Sarah Palin does not come without her weaknesses to the McCain campaign.

Palin And The Christian’s Quandary Part III
Now comes the "quandary" part.

The Non-White Male vs. The White Non-Male

Bob Strodtbeck / Ether Zone:
With the nomination of Barrack McBama, the American two-party political system is throwing itself into its self-adulatory, everybody-loves-us-you-can't-do-without-us, delusional campaign mode. Even John O'Cain took an advertisement after McBama's nomination to mark the great event. After all, we have become a great nation because one of the two important political parties have a nominee that is not a WASP. I wonder how Angela Davis must feel. O'Cain would not be outdone in joining the superficial historicity of the coming electoral choice by asking an obscure female governor from the political hotbed of Alaska to be his running mate. The choice is intended to reach to the Democrat supporters of Hillary Clinton. After all, they didn't vote for Hillary simply because she was a woman. They've been itching for the opportunity to show its support a candidate that is also embraced by Dr. James Dobson of gFocus on the Familyh fame.

Did McCain Make a Pro-Family VP Pick?

Voddie Baucham Ministries:
Conservatives are all aglow as John McCain pulled off an apparent coup d'etat this week by naming Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President. Bob Unruh, writing for the conservative Christian web magazine, Worldnet Daily may have put it best when he opened his column: "Pro-family advocates and Republicans are saying presumptive GOP nominee for president Sen. John McCain may have checkmated Democrat Sen. Barack Obama with his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate." Everyone from Liberty Counsel to FRC is raving about the political genius displayed by Mr. McCain. It seems Christian conservatives have received the bone they were hoping McCain would throw their way in order to alleviate doubts about his conservative bona fides.

With Palin On Ticket, Pseudo-Evangelicals Energized

The Washington Post:
Outside his evangelical church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Sunday, David Chung was mobbed by friends and church members suddenly excited about the Republican ticket. "I had half a dozen people come up to me," said Chung, a delegate to the Republican National Convention. "It's a night-and-day change." Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition, reported the same reaction at his church in Atlanta to John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. "It's really extraordinary," Reed said.

McCain In Talks With Ron Paul for Backing

Ralph Z. Hallow / The Washington Times:
The McCain campaign, acting through the Republican National Committee, has been negotiating with Rep. Ron Paul to win his support and acquire the names of his sympathizers among the 4,607 delegates and alternates at the Republican National Convention, according to a senior aide to the Texas congressman. The aim is to try to win support for the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket from Paul sympathizers, some of whom formally committed to Mr. Paul during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and others of whom are closet sympathizers of his libertarian brand of Republicanism.

Interview: Michael Lampiris On Evolution

The American View:
On this "The American View" program, Michael Anthony Peroutka interviews Michael Lampiris, author of the book "Taking A Bite Out of Evolution" published by "Gift of a Lifetime." Mr. Lampiris says, among other things, that: Evolution is a lie that poisons every area of life; it is radically anti-Christian; there’s no doubt that evolution IS a religion; and evolution is a central tenet of a so-called New World Order. So, stay tuned, please, right here, right now, to THE American View where the topic of this program is evolution.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Leads Women Out of Church

Chris Ortiz / Chalcedon Blog:
In the past two decades, nearly 50,000 women have deserted churches in the U.K. "because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives." So claims a female sociologist at the University of Derby: "In short, women are abandoning the church. Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Young women tend to express egalitarian values and dislike the traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the church."

After 1,500 Years, Pagans Plan Acropolis Prayer

The Associated Press:
A small group of pagans pledged Thursday to hold a protest prayer among the ruined Acropolis temples, more than 1,500 years after Christians stamped out worship of the false Greek gods. Group spokeswoman Doretta Peppa said the worshippers would pray Sunday to Athena _ goddess of wisdom and patron of ancient Athens _ to protect the 2,500-year-old site. Peppa said followers of the old religion object to the removal last year of hundreds of sculptural masterpieces from a tiny museum on the Acropolis to a large new building under the citadel.