A short history of abortion

http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/326798256475493.php

interesting notes:

The first government to sanction abortions was the atheistic communist government of the Soviet Union in 1920, followed by Nazi Germany in 1935.
It was not however until the 1950s that any other governments or major religious bodies came to sanction abortion for the sole purpose of killing the unborn child.

For such a ruling to be credible, it was necessary to remove the legal protection of the unborn child by declaring that "legal person-hood does not exist pre-natally (i.e. a baby is not a person until it is born and therefore has no rights to life under the law)".
It is perhaps appropriate, in the circumstances, to point out that this same declaration had once been made by the Supreme Court in respect of slaves in 1857 in order to legitimise slavery and that in Nazi Germany, Gypsies, homosexuals and Jews were all declared to be non-persons in order to sanction their extermination.

(boldface added by me...)

read civil war post from yesterday.

China's Christian Multitude

The gospel truth about China's Christian millions

 

I have heard that Christianity is growing in Asia and Africa but is in the decline in the Western nations.  What can we do in the US to revitalize our faith?

Is Modern Terrorism Inspired by Islamic Theology?

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=35728&sectionid=351020602

 

Russia's president doesn't think so.

Huckabee Sees Islamic Terrorism Having Theological Roots

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2007/12/19/huckabee-iowa-manager-were-fighting-radical-religion-islam

 

"Vander Plaats' statement runs counter to the way that President Bush and virtually all other national figures have been very careful to say that we are not fighting a war against Islam."  Mark Finkelstein

 

Many people are very careful not to link the war on terror with any religion, but Huckabee's Iowa campaign manager links the two together rather boldly in this interview.

 

I think it IS important to think about the recent terrorist threats from a theological perspective as well as a political one.  I think that religion plays a huge motivating force behind the acts of terror.  Religion has great power to inspire people to do great good or great evil.  It would be careless to try to deal with this terror threat and not seek to consider the religious motivation as well as the political motivation.

 

What are the theological motivations that terrorists have?  What kind of future do they foresee?  What is their worldview?

They Know We're Leaving

Today we told our boys we were leaving. It was very sad but they appeared to take it well. I'm still following leads to find an Art Teacher position and working on my Alternative Certification. It's difficult looking for work, a place to live, school for kids, and childcare all while working at a 24/7 job. I think the boys knowing that we're leaving will help us work together in this transition.

Put in Notice

WE put in our letter of resignation at our work today. Our supervisors made no comment as of yet. My wife and kids went to the movies today to see I forget what. They had a good time.

Today at dinner, I was interrupted by a call and went into the other room leaving 7 teen boys alone. I was annoyed by all the noise the boys were making in the dining room and checked up on them. There were two boys running around the table and house holding their mouths and turning red. They had been dared to eat a fresh serrano pepper. They both ate half. One boy ran around the house huffing and puffing with a towel wrapped around his face and drinking water from the outside faucet. One of the other boys was recording it on video with his digital camera. I was mad but I agreed that the situation was funny.

I reminded my brother to start planning our next family reunion for just the immediate family. Him and his wife get to choose the spot.

I talked to a cousin at the reunion who said that the Mexican way of doing things was better than the American way. The American way, he stated, had to do with getting more and more stuff, while the Mexican way was working to pay the bills and living as simply as possible to free up time to spend with family. My dad told me that in America many people live to work while in many other countries the work to live.