News, Prophecy and other

[Soldier4Christ]

Bush: Iran Letter Doesn't Answer Question


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - President Bush says a lengthy letter from Iran's leader doesn't answer the question the world is asking, which is: "When will you get rid of your nuclear program?"

The president made his first public comment on the letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a session with reporters from several Florida newspapers in Orlando.

The president tells reporters that the U.S. and other nations are in agreement that Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon or the capacity to make one. But he says the letter didn't address that question.

Yesterday, the president said he's confident diplomacy will work with Iran, although the U.N. Security Council hasn't reached agreement yet on a measure to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that a new proposal that European diplomats will soon present to Iran makes plain the international cost of going forward with disputed nuclear development.

Rice acknowledged that any attempt to punish or coerce Iran through the United Nations Security Council is on hold while Britain, France and Germany renew diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to back down.

"Iran knows that there are two options that have been there all along. They can have a civilian nuclear program that is appropriate and that the international community can support, or they can face isolation," Rice told reporters in Washington.

[Soldier4Christ]

Putin to Boost Russian Military, Economy
The Russian president is also calling for incentives to women to have more babies


MOSCOW -- President Vladimir V. Putin, in a blunt response to U.S. criticism of his domestic and foreign policies, declared today that Russia will boost its military strength to ensure the ability to resist foreign pressure.

In an annual address to parliament, Putin said new weapons will enable his country to maintain a strategic balance with the United States, which he compared to a wolf — the arch-villain in Russian fairy tales — doing as it pleases in the world.

 Despite the strong language on international and military issues, the bulk of the speech focused on domestic policies. Putin called today for wide-ranging measures to reverse Russia's sharp population decline by providing financial incentives to women to have more babies.

He also stressed a need to place greater emphasis on developing the economy's technological foundations, while admitting that Russia has not solved the growth-inhibiting problem of corruption in business and the government bureaucracy.

Putin's comments did not seem to signal a return to Cold War hostility so much as a bid by an increasingly self-confident Russia to engage in tough bargaining on international issues, and to reject outside interference in its domestic politics.

Moscow's fresh assertiveness comes, in part, from rising oil prices, which have fueled strong economic growth in this energy-rich nation for the past seven years.

Putin said that despite recent increases in Russian military funding, the United States spends nearly 25 times more. "This is what is described in the defense sphere as, 'Their home is their fortress,' " he said. "Well done, guys," he added, casually congratulating Americans on this achievement.

"But this means that we should also build our own home to be strong and reliable, because we can see what is happening worldwide," Putin said. "As they say, 'Comrade Wolf knows whom to swallow. He swallows without listening to anyone.' Nor does he intend to listen to anyone, judging by all appearances."

Putin went on to ridicule those who claim "the need to fight for human rights and democracy" when they instead have "the need to realize their own interests."

Putin's remarks implied criticism of such U.S. policies as the invasion of Iraq to topple former President Saddam Hussein, which Moscow opposed. His words also appeared to be a response to American accusations that Russia has cut back democratic freedoms at home and attempted to bully neighboring former Soviet states on issues such as energy supply and territorial integrity.

Speaking to Eastern European leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania on May 4, Vice President Dick Cheney declared that Russia's government had "unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people" and used its energy reserves as "tools of intimidation" against former Soviet states. Cheney also criticized Russia's support for separatist enclaves in Georgia and Moldova.

Putin said today that because the United States so heavily outspends Russia in the military sphere, Moscow's aim is not to match U.S. forces in quantitative terms.

"We should not burn money uselessly," he said. "Our responses should be based on intellectual superiority. They will be asymmetric, less costly, but they will undoubtedly make our nuclear triad more reliable and effective."

Over the next five years, Russia will "substantially increase the provision of strategic nuclear forces with modern long-range planes, submarines and launchers," Putin said. "Along with the means of overcoming the systems of anti-missile defense, which we already have, new types of weapons enable us to preserve what is undoubtedly one of the most important guarantees of lasting peace, namely, the strategic balance of forces."

Russia is developing "unique high-precision weapons" and missiles "whose trajectory is unpredictable for the potential enemy," Putin said.

Grigory A. Yavlinsky, head of the liberal Yabloko Party, issued a statement criticizing the speech as leaving Russia with an uncertain place in the world.

"The foreign policy set out in the address is a policy of a besieged fortress, mistrust of partners and the feeling of superiority over neighbors," Yavlinsky said. "There is still no answer to the question as to what Russia will be like, where it is going, and with whom."

Georgy Satarov, president of the INDEM Foundation, a Moscow think tank that aims to promote democratic values, said he did not believe Putin's comments signaled a major break in Russian-U.S. relations.

"Naturally, Dick Cheney's remarks in Vilnius needed a response," Satarov said. "And it is not surprising that the response came clad in the Cold War spirit. We have slipped toward Cold War rhetoric quite a while ago, and such passages in Putin's speech are nothing new in that sense."

Putin described Russia's steady loss of population as the country's "most acute problem," saying that the number of people living in Russia — a country of 143 million — has been falling an average of nearly 700,000 per year.

He called for better healthcare, increased birthrates, and the encouragement of immigration by "educated and law-abiding people" as ways to address the problem.

He put particular emphasis on financial incentives for women to have a second child because many couples, faced with the difficulties of paying for housing and education in Russia's new market-oriented economy, limit their family to one child.

Putin's most dramatic proposal was that payments of nearly $10,000 would be made to women who have a second child. He suggested that the money could be used to acquire housing, for the children's education or for the mother's own pension.

Putin also recited a list of other financial incentives for mothers. Special maternity payments, he said, should be boosted to $56 a month for a first child, and $113 a month for a second child, from the current $26 a month. Working women on maternity leave for up to one and a half years should receive from the state at least 40% of their last salary, he said. Certificates for care at maternity clinics should be boosted to $263 from $188.

Putin also called for efforts to encourage the domestic adoption of Russian children, rather than sending orphans abroad.

"I think foreigners adopt more of our children than our own citizens inside the country," he said, proposing that monthly payments to guardians and adoptive parents should be nearly doubled, to at least $150 a month.

Parliament should act quickly on the population-boosting measures, Putin said.

Satarov, the foundation head, questioned whether the measures proposed by Putin would have much effect on birthrates.

"To simply give people more money will not help resolve the demographic crisis," he said. "I think that is a very naïve approach to this most complex issue."

Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov had strong praise for the various social measures proposed in the speech, which also included a 20% boost in pensions for the elderly.

"The message was stunning, pleasant and very businesslike," Luzhkov told reporters in the Kremlin, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Leonid D. Ivashov, a former Russian defense ministry official who now is vice president of the Academy for Geopolitical Studies, a Moscow think tank, said that in his view the Cold War never really ended, but simply was transformed into a geopolitical rivalry.

"For a long time Russia didn't pursue an independent economic policy, nor did it pursue an independent policy on defense and security," Ivashov said. "By way of one-sided concessions, we were just giving up our positions one after another. President Putin made it clear today that this trend is over."

[Soldier4Christ]

Jordan says arrested 20 Hamas activists in plot

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan said on Wednesday it had arrested 20 Hamas activists in an alleged plot last month to stage attacks on its soil and was searching for new arms caches after it found weapons that included Iranian rocket launchers.

Government spokesperson Nasser Joudeh told reporters latest interrogations of the Palestinian group's members revealed the militant organization had sought to recruit activists in Jordan for military training in Syria and Iran.

"Hamas was attempting to recruit elements in the Jordanian arena and trying to recruit elements from abroad to send to Syria and Iran to get military training," Joudeh added.

Jordan said last month rocket launchers, detonators and explosives seized from a secret Hamas arms cache in the kingdom had been smuggled from Syria, where the Palestinian militant groups' exiled leadership is based.

A week later it said a group of Hamas activists arrested by its security forces were close to staging attacks on senior Jordanian officials or orders from its Syrian-based leadership.

Hamas has repeatedly denied accusations its members were involved in arms smuggling to Jordan from Syria, and said they would not join a security committee set up by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to investigate the case with Jordanian officials.

The charges have brought ties to its lowest point since Jordan expelled leaders of Hamas in 1999 for alleged illegal activities.

[Shammu]

Putin to Boost Russian Military, Economy

Brother I'm waiting for the revolution to be over with again. We are already seeing an alignment between, Russia, Iran and several other mid-east countries.

[Soldier4Christ]

Brother I'm waiting for the revolution to be over with again. We are already seeing an alignment between, Russia, Iran and several other mid-east countries.

And the people that say let's use diplomacy will be quite surprised as there will be no time for any diplomacy.

[Shammu]

And the people that say let's use diplomacy will be quite surprised as there will be no time for any diplomacy.

AMEN!!

[Shammu]

Putin: Arms race with U.S. not over

By Michael Mainville
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 10, 2006

[1:50 p.m.]
    MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin warned today that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation's nuclear and conventional forces so Moscow can better resist foreign pressure.

    The remarks, in his seventh state of the nation address since taking power in 2000, follow increasingly sharp criticism of Russia's democratic and foreign policy directions from the United States, including a harsh rebuke by Vice President Dick Cheney last week in Lithuania.

    "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," said Mr. Putin, who pointed out in the nationally televised address that U.S. defense spending is 25 times higher than Russia's and said his country needs to catch up.
    "Their house is their fortress? Well done," he said. "But it means that we must build our house strongly, reliably, because we see what is going on the world.

    "We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen positions at our expense," he continued. "The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us."

    Mr. Putin said Russia's military would work to strengthen both its nuclear deterrent and its conventional forces but without repeating "the mistakes of the Soviet Union and of the Cold War" by draining the country's resources.

    Many analysts attribute the collapse of communism in Russia to the Kremlin's inability to keep up with U.S. arms spending during the Reagan administration, particularly its space-based anti-missile initiative known, familiarly as "Star Wars."

    Skyrocketing world energy prices have provided oil-rich Russia with windfall surpluses that could be used to fund at least a modest defense buildup. Russian revenues totaled $41.8 billion compared to expenditures of $25.5 billion in the first two months of this year, the Novosti news agency reported.

    Mr. Putin said his government would soon commission two nuclear submarines equipped with the first new intercontinental ballistic missiles developed in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and that land-based strategic forces soon would get their first unit of mobile Topol-M missiles.

    He said the new missiles and warheads would be able to change direction in flight, foiling advanced defense systems such as the one being developed by the United States.

    In the hourlong speech, which focused largely on domestic problems, Mr. Putin also responded to the wave of criticism from the United States, which questioned Moscow's fitness to serve as president of the Group of Eight industrialized nations this year after it cut off gas deliveries to Europe in a midwinter pricing dispute with Ukraine.

    Mr. Cheney went further during a visit to the Lithuanian capital last week, accusing Moscow of backsliding on democracy and using its vast energy resources as a tool for "intimidation and blackmail" against its neighbors.

    "Where does the whole pathos about the need to struggle for democracy and human rights disappear to, when the talk is of ensuring one?s own interests?" Mr. Putin asked rhetorically in an apparent reference to U.S. actions in the war on terrorism, including the indefinite detention of suspects without trial.

    "Then it seems everything is possible. There are no limits at all," he said. Invoking a Russian proverb, he added: "As the saying goes, comrade wolf knows whom to eat, and he eats without listening to others."

    In an apparent reference to Iran's nuclear ambitions, Mr. Putin said Russia stood "unambiguously" for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons around the world. However, he also said: "Methods of force rarely give the desired result, and often their consequences are even more terrible than the original threat."

    Analysts saw the speech as a signal to the West that Russia would not back down from promoting its interests abroad.

    "What we saw was a declaration that Russia is coming back as a global power and will pursue an aggressive foreign policy," said Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center. "And while he only mentioned the United States a couple of times, it was clear that Putin sees the U.S. as his major opponent."

    Mr. Putin did seek to reassure Western markets of Russia's reliability as an energy supplier, saying, "We must do everything not only for our domestic development, but also to fully meet our obligations before our traditional partners."

Putin: Arms race with U.S. not over

[Shammu]

Russia Says New Strategies Aimed at Iran

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Wed May 10, 9:36 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Russia's U.N. ambassador said Wednesday the confrontational approach to Iran over its nuclear program has changed to a new strategy of offering Tehran broad incentives to suspend uranium enrichment.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the change came about after the meetings Monday and Tuesday involving the foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany.

"The mood has changed completely," Churkin said.

He said the key nations are now focusing on putting together a package of incentives to try to achieve a peaceful solution instead of talking about how many days Iran should be given to halt enrichment or face possible further measures including sanctions.

"We are quite pleased that what started basically as something which could be seen as trying to dictate matters has turned into a process of dialogue, broad dialogue which hopefully will involve Iran, and which will bring a political and diplomatic solution to the problem," he said.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scorned Western concerns over its nuclear program "as a big lie" despite the new approach by the key Security Council members to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.

"They pretend that they are concerned about the nature of the nuclear program of the Islamic republic of Iran," Ahmadinejad said In Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Russians and Chinese have balked at British, French and U.S. efforts to put a new U.N. resolution requiring Iran to suspend uranium enrichment under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which would declare Iran a threat to international peace and security. That would set the stage for further measures if Tehran refuses to halt enrichment that could include diplomatic, military or economic sanctions and military action.

Churkin said a revised resolution will include the package of incentives and spell out the two directions that Iran can take.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton — who before the ministerial meeting wanted a vote on the resolution with or without Russian and Chinese support — said Wednesday the possibility of getting the five permanent veto-wielding council members to agree on a resolution "is very important" and that's the aim of the new initiative spelling out incentives and disincentives.

The British, French and Germans, who cut off more than two years of negotiations with Iran earlier this year after Tehran said it would resume its enrichment activities, are working on the package and Churkin said Russia would all be involved.

Political directors of the six countries are scheduled to meet in London on May 19 to try to agree on the measures, said France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, whose country co-sponsored the resolution with Britain.

European officials said the package is likely to include provisions for Iran to have a civilian nuclear energy program without enrichment, to ensure the country's energy security and trade benefits.

Asked about the package, China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya called it "a good idea because we are talking about carrot and sticks, so there have to be carrots."

Churkin said "Iran needs to be cooperative and ... stop seeing an enemy in the Security Council."

"They should not be looking at the process in any kind of a confrontational mode, because the process is not confrontational to them," he said.

Russia Says New Strategies Aimed at Iran

[Shammu]

Iranian leader ramps up anti-Western rhetoric

by Samantha Brown Thu May 11, 7:53 AM ET

JAKARTA (AFP) - Iran's hardline president ramped up his rhetoric against Israel and the West, labelling Israel a "cancer" that would "one day vanish" and shrugging off the threat of sanctions or war over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

In speeches to university students in the capital of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also accused the West of peddling lies and oppression.

"This regime one day will vanish," he said of Israel.

"We believe that a government such as this one will not last long because it is built on tyranny and tyranny will not last long," he said.

The Iranian president said in October 2005 the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map". In April he said that Israel "cannot survive" and that migrants to the Jewish state should go back to where they came from.

Ahmadinejad, who has already dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth", again questioned its veracity.

"Is it logical if (after) the annihilation of Jews by the West, the territory belonging to the Palestine people is taken and occupied for the building of a new nation and its people?" he asked the students.

"Is it logical to give compensation in the Middle East for an incident that occurred in Europe, if this incident is indeed true... by murdering thousands of local Palestinians and making millions of Palestinian refugees?"

Ahmadinejad said that the West had created Israel for its own interests.

"But at the moment, continuously, on a daily basis, Israel is moving backwards and can no longer put pressure on countries in the region, and has become a cancer that is continuously swallowing funds from the West."

Ahmadinejad, who is on a five-day visit to Indonesia, earlier told Metro TV in an interview that any military action against Iran would hurt any nations launching such hostilities more than Tehran.

The United States has refused to exclude possible military action against Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities, which Tehran insists are peaceful but Western nations fear may be a cover for developing an atomic bomb.

"The idea of going to war is a joke, it's like a joke. Why should there be a war?" he said.

"They do know that any mistreatment of the Iranian people will actually cause more losses to them than for us. They need us more than we do actually need them."

Ahmadinejad also said that Iranians would rise to the challenge of sanctions if they were imposed.

"Many of our scientists and experts will be more than happy to hear that we are put under sanctions by the West because this will motivate a great leap in our industrial and economic progress," he said.

The United States has been unable to win support for sanctions against Iran, and on Wednesday gave its European allies "a couple of weeks" to draft a fresh approach to persuade Tehran to drop its disputed nuclear programme.

UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Thursday he was "optimistic" about the fact Washington had given its European allies more time to seek a solution.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who met Ahmadinejad on Wednesday, backed Tehran's claim that its nuclear program was peaceful and also offered to help mediate in a bid to reduce rising tensions over the programme.

The Iranian leader will meet Indonesian and Islamic leaders on Thursday and Friday, before flying to Bali for a summit of the Developing-8 (D-8) group of large Muslim countries on Saturday.

Iran's courting of Indonesia comes at a time when both the United States and Britain are seeking ties with Jakarta and holding up its moderate version of Islam and democratic credentials as an example to other Muslim nations.

Iranian leader ramps up anti-Western rhetoric

[Shammu]

Iran Leader: Israel a 'Tyrannical Regime'
 Email this Story

May 11, 5:17 AM (ET)

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Iran's president on Thursday intensified his attacks against Israel, calling it a "a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed," but also said he was ready to negotiate with the United States and its allies over his country's nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be wiped off the map, told a cheering crowd of students in the Indonesian capital that it is every country's right - not just the United States - to use new technology to meet energy needs.

He said his country was willing to negotiate, but that the United States first must drop its "bad attitude."

"We are not only defending our rights, we are defending the rights of many other countries," he said. "By maintaining our position, we are defending our independence."

Ahmadinejad, known for his fiery rhetoric, is visiting Indonesia amid a deepening standoff over his country's nuclear program and suspicions it is developing nuclear weapons. This week, key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.

The move will delay a draft U.N. resolution that could lead to sanctions and possible military action if Iran does not suspend uranium enrichment.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies, saying it aims only to generate energy.

The Iranian leader told Indonesia's Metro TV station earlier Thursday he was unconcerned about the possibility of U.N. sanctions, saying the West had more to lose than Iran did if the country was isolated.

"We do not need to be dependent on others," he said, adding international isolation would serve only to "motivate" the country's nuclear scientists.

He also said Western nations with large stocks of nuclear weapons were practicing "double standards" in pressing Iran to stop its peaceful nuclear program.

Asked what it would take to begin talks with the United States to resolve the standoff, he said Tehran would talk to anyone except Israel, which Iran does not recognize.

"There are no limits to our dialogue," he said. "But if someone points an arm (a weapon) at your face and says you must speak, will you do that?"

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spoken out against Israel and provoked a world outcry in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Israeli officials have described Iran's nuclear quest as the Jewish state's greatest threat. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres warned Monday that Iran could be threatened with destruction if it continues to vow to destroy Israel.

Israel had no immediate comment on Ahmadinejad's latest remarks, said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

At a meeting Tuesday, representatives of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as well as Germany agreed to tell Iran the possible consequences of its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program and the benefits if it abandons it.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she and her counterparts on the U.N. Security Council agreed to give Iran another two weeks to reconsider its position.

The Chinese and Russians have balked at the British, French and U.S. efforts to put the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Such a move would declare Iran a threat to international peace and security and set the stage for further measures if Tehran refuses to comply.

Those measures could range from breaking diplomatic relations to economic sanctions and military action.

Iran Leader: Israel a 'Tyrannical Regime'

[Shammu]

Vatican, churches work on conversion plan

By BRIAN MURPHY
AP RELIGION WRITER

ATHENS, Greece -- The Vatican and the world's largest alliance of Christian churches plan to seek a common code for religious conversions, a leader of the effort said Wednesday. The groups also will open contacts with Islam and other faiths to study ways to avoid conflicts.

Religious freedom and missionary outreach by Christian groups have become increasingly sensitive topics as many Muslims perceive their faith as under threat by the West and nations such as China struggle to maintain state controls on churches.

"How can we - anxious to maintain, develop and nurture good relations with people of other faiths - deal with this highly complex issue that sometimes threatens the fiber of living together?" said the Rev. Hans Ucko, head of the interreligious relations office for the World Council of Churches.

Envoys from the Vatican's office on interreligious dialogue and the Geneva-based WCC - which includes more than 350 mainline Protestant, Orthodox and related churches - are scheduled to open a four-day conference Friday near Rome to sketch out the broad outlines toward an eventual "code of conduct" on Christian conversions. The document could take at least three years to research and draft.

Members of other faiths, including Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims, also plan to attend the meeting in Velletri, about 25 miles southeast of Rome.

The biggest challenges to the project will be highlighted by who will be absent: Pentecostal and evangelical-style congregations that often lead the drive for conversions around the world and represent the fastest-growing bloc in Christianity.

The WCC maintains links with some groups, including the 50 million-member Assemblies of God churches and the World Evangelical Alliance. Ucko said leaders hope to use the contacts to talk more with "the most zealous groups to try to find a common voice."

The details of the conversion code will take shape in the coming years, said Ucko, but it will explore "the dos and don'ts" of trying to spread Christianity among other faiths - including places in the Muslim world where conversion from Islam is a punishable offense.

advertising
"This is complex moral and ethical territory. We want to open up a space to talk about this with other faiths," said Ucko in a telephone interview. "What are the limits on seeking new Christians? What about people who have converted, but are afraid to come forward because they could be persecuted?"

Such questions took a global stage earlier this year with the arrest of Abdul Raman, a Christian convert from Islam who faced a possible death sentence in Afghanistan before the charges were dropped in March. Rahman ultimately was granted asylum in Italy, while the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Afghanistan to its "watch list."

Last month, lawmakers in the western Indian state of Rajasthan become the latest region in the country to outlaw proselytizing with punishments up to five years in prison. Critics claim the laws will be used to target Christian missionaries, who are often the target of denunciations from Hindu nationalists. But Muslims - who account for about 14 percent of India's population - also say the measures could be used against them.

The discussions over conversions could also spill into the religious politics of Asia, including the alleged persecution of "house churches" in places such as Vietnam and the escalating clash between the Vatican and Chinese authorities over the allegiance of Catholics.

Chinese Catholics must worship in the state-approved church, which doesn't recognize the Vatican.

Last week, China angered the Vatican by ordaining two bishops without the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican warned that those who took part might face excommunication.

The WCC represents more than 500 million Christians worldwide. The Roman Catholic Church, with about 1.1 billion members, is not a WCC member, but cooperates closely on many levels.

Vatican, churches work on conversion plan

[Shammu]

'Da Vinci Code' Now a Tool to Win Christian Converts
Some churches think book and new film are offering a perfect chance for Bible lessons.
By Stephanie Simon
Times Staff Writer

May 11, 2006

LITTLETON, Colo. — Evangelical churches across the nation are launching an aggressive effort to save souls by talking about a fictional murder mystery that many regard as blasphemous.

Pastors are setting out doughnuts and sandwiches and inviting non-Christians to come discuss "The Da Vinci Code" bestseller. They're creating hip marketing campaigns to draw nonbelievers to sermons about the thriller. They're even giving away free iPods loaded with their commentary on the novel.

The goal is to instill trust in the Bible and faith in Jesus' divinity — principles that many Christian leaders believe are threatened by "The Da Vinci Code," which opens in movie theaters May 19 as a film starring Tom Hanks.

A poll by Outreach Inc., a church marketing firm, found 68% of its customers, mostly Protestant churches, planned to respond to "The Da Vinci Code" with some form of evangelism.

The Catholic response has been ambivalent. Some Catholic groups and a few Vatican officials have urged the faithful to shun Dan Brown's book and the movie, directed by Ron Howard. But priests expect that many Catholics will see the movie anyway. So hundreds of parishes have set up study groups to pick apart the film's historical and theological claims.

"The Da Vinci Code," which has sold 40 million copies, opens with the murder of a curator at the Louvre Museum. A professor of religious symbology called in to consult discovers clues hidden in the art of Leonardo da Vinci. Racing to unravel the puzzles, he learns that Christianity is built on falsehood: Jesus was not divine; he left an heir by his wife, Mary Magdalene; and the Bible as we know it was pieced together by a 4th century Roman emperor intent on suppressing the role of women in the Catholic Church.

If those claims are true, "the Christian faith is a sham," according to a Catholic website that offers priests tips on how to respond to the movie.

Though angry, Christian leaders say they have nothing to gain by organizing pickets outside movie theaters. That would make them look closed-minded and defensive, when what they really need to counter the power of the film is "a very positive, wholesome, winsome" response, said Josh McDowell, a Christian writer and evangelist in Richardson, Texas.

Besides, "it's probably going to be an awesome movie," said Garry Poole, a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago.

Poole drew 22,000 to a sermon about "The Da Vinci Code" last month. He hopes that those who came for the sport of hearing a minister take on a bestseller will return this Sunday for another round. Over time, he hopes they will find truth and comfort in the church and develop an abiding faith.

Moved by a similar vision, California pastor Ken Baugh plans to hand out free tickets to "The Da Vinci Code."

Other Christian leaders think that's going too far: "I don't have to watch pornography in order to be able to dialogue about it," said Matthew Pinto, president of Ascension Press, a Catholic publisher.

But Baugh wants to encourage members of his congregation to see the film with non-Christian friends. He plans to give them Starbucks gift cards along with the tickets so they can sit down over coffee when the movie ends and offer their perspective on Jesus.

Baugh has already distributed 325 iPod Shuffles loaded with his "Da Vinci" sermons to young members of his congregation so they can give them to friends who do not come to church.

"I think the Lord is going to use this film to bring more people to Christ, absolutely," said Baugh, senior pastor of Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo.

At the very least, it has given churches a potent marketing tool. In Littleton, a suburb south of Denver, more than 50 first-time visitors joined 530 regulars at Valley View Christian Church last month when Pastor Gene Barron launched five weeks of sermons on "The Da Vinci Code." (He advertised the series by mailing out 15,000 postcards with an image of the Mona Lisa on one side and a map to Valley View on the other.)

Barron opened the first service by quoting an e-mail he had received from someone who had read Brown's book: "Is the last 25 years I've been a Christian all a lie? Is everything I was raised to believe just made up for the money? … Please help me … I'm brokenhearted."

"You need to know about this story and the potential damage it could do," Barron told his congregation.

His sermon, like many on "The Da Vinci Code," was no fast-paced romp through the novel's intrigues. It presented historical, archeological and theological evidence about key elements of Brown's conspiracy theory: The Gnostic gospels, the Council of Nicea, the Roman Emperor Constantine, the Priory of Sion.

In recent years, evangelical pastors have shied away from such dense sermons, preferring to preach practical self-help messages instead. "The Da Vinci Code" has prompted a renewed interest in basic theology — to many scholars' delight.

"When I go around the country lecturing on New Testament history, I'm pretty excited if I get an audience of 15. But if I say I'm speaking on 'The Da Vinci Code,' I can almost guarantee an audience of 600. And it's basically the same lecture," said Darrell L. Brock, who teaches New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Ministries have used pop culture as a springboard before, embracing the recent films "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." But those movies drew wide praise from Christian leaders.

Movies challenging Christianity have been greeted with far more hostility. In 1988, for instance, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ tried to buy — and destroy — every copy of the Martin Scorsese film "The Last Temptation of Christ," which depicted Jesus on the cross fantasizing about Mary Magdalene.

About 25,000 protesters marched in front of Universal Studios in Los Angeles when the film was released. A few theaters were vandalized and studio executives reported death threats.

Mike Licona was among those urging a boycott of "Last Temptation." Looking back, he regrets it as an "immature" response.

"It created the perception that we as Christians are not interested in having our faith challenged," said Licona, an executive with the Southern Baptist Convention outside Atlanta.

"The Da Vinci Code" gives Christians an opportunity to build a new image as being open-minded and willing to listen respectfully to skeptics, said Michael Buckingham, who runs Holy Cow Creative, a church marketing firm in Midland, Mich. Not only that, he said, the film gives churches a chance to look hip, relevant and attuned to pop culture, instead of stiff, stuffy and dull.

"People are looking for answers," Buckingham said. "We're saying, 'Let's dig into God's word and find out the truth.' "

Sony Pictures has encouraged precisely that response. The studio invited dozens of Christian scholars to post essays challenging the film.

Brown himself writes on his website that he hopes readers will "use the book as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration."

"The truth is, Dan Brown gave us a great opportunity," said Steve Clifford, pastor of WestGate Church in San Jose. "People everywhere will be gathering around water coolers to talk about the reality of Christ. Maybe not in the exact manner we'd like, but I'll take advantage of it."

'Da Vinci Code' Now a Tool to Win Christian Converts

[Shammu]

Nazis ‘shipped arms to Palestinians’

British National Archives unveil presence of Nazi S.S. agents in Mandatory Palestine, working closely with Palestinian leaders
Yaakov Lappin

Historical documents in Britain’s National Archives in London show that Nazi Germany attempted to ship arms to Palestinian forces in the 1930s.

A British Foreign Office report from 1939 reports of “news of a consignment of arms from Germany, sent via Turkey and addressed to Ibn Saud (king of Saudi Arabia), but really intended for the Palestine insurgents.” Britain’s chief military officer in Mandatory Palestine also noted reports “regarding import of German arms at intervals for some years now.”

British documents from the same period, and German records photographed by an American spy and sent to the British government, said that a number of Nazi agents were sent to Mandatory Palestine, in order to forge alliances with Palestinian leaders, and urge them to reject a partition of the land between the Jewish and Arab populations.

One Nazi agent, Adam Vollhardt, arrived in Palestine in July 1938, and was reported to have gained strong influence with Arab leaders, meeting with Palestinian leaders throughout 1938. Vollhardt held several meetings with leading Arab politicians and told them “that the Palestine question would be settled to the satisfaction of the Arabs within a few weeks,” adding that “it would be fatal to their (Palestinians’) cause if at this juncture they showed any signs of weakness or exhaustion.”

“Germany was interested in the settlement of the (Palestine) question on the basis of the Arabs obtaining their full demands,” Vollhardt was reported to say to Palestinian leaders, according to a report by the British War Office. Vollhardt also assured Arab leaders that “the Germans could continue to support the Palestinian Arab cause by means of propaganda.”

German documents photographed and sent to Whitehall by an American spy revealed that in 1937, German officials had calculated that “Palestine under Arab rule would… become one of the few countries where we could count on a strong sympathy for the new Germany.”

‘Arabs admire our Fuhrer’

“The Palestinian Arabs show on all levels a great sympathy for the new Germany and its Fuhrer, a sympathy whose value is particularly high as it is based on a purely ideological foundation,” a Nazi official in Palestine wrote in a letter to Berlin in 1937. He added: “Most important for the sympathies which Arabs now feel towards Germany is their admiration for our Fuhrer, especially during the unrests, I often had an opportunity to see how far these sympathies extend. When faced with a dangerous behaviour of an Arab mass, when one said that one was German, this was already generally a free pass.”

A second Nazi agent, Dr. Franz Reichart, was reported to be actively working with Palestinian Arabs by the British Criminal Investigation Division “to help coordinate Arab and German propaganda.” Reichart was also head of the German Telegraphic Agency in Jerusalem.

German records show that the Nazis viewed the establishment of a Jewish state with great concern. A 1937 report from German General Consulate in Palestine said: “The formation of a Jewish state… is not in Germany’s interest because a (Jewish) Palestinian state would create additional national power bases for international Jewry such as for example the Vatican State for political Catholicism or Moscow for the Communists. Therefore, there is a German interest in strengthening the Arabs as a counter weight against such possible power growth of the Jews.”

Jewish refugees abandoned

The records also show that the news of increased Nazi-Arab cooperation panicked the British government, and caused it to cancel a plan in 1938 to bring to Palestine 20,000 German Jewish refugees, half of them children, facing danger from the Nazis.

Documents show that after deciding that the move would upset Arab opinion, Britain decided to abandon the Jewish refugees to their fate.

“His Majesty’s Government asked His Majesty’s Representatives in Cairo, Baghdad and Jeddah whether so far as they could judge, feelings in Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia against the admission of, say 5,000 Jewish children for adoption… would be so strong as to lead to a refusal to send representatives to the London discussions. All three replies were strongly against the proposal, which was not proceeded with,” a Foreign Office report said.

“If war were to break out, no trouble that the Jews could occasion us, in Palestine or elsewhere, could weigh for a moment against the importance of winning Muslim opinion to our side,” Britain’s Minister for Coordination of Defence, Lord Chatfield, told the British cabinet in 1939, shortly before Britain reversed its decision to partition its mandate, promising instead all of the land to the Palestinian Arabs.

Nazis ‘shipped arms to Palestinians’

[Shammu]

Merkel plays down hopes of EU constitution revival
10.05.2006 - 09:49 CET | By Mark Beunderman
German chancellor Angela Merkel has played down expectations that next year's German EU presidency will bring about a revival of the EU constitution, while pleading for "less Europe" in terms of over-regulation from Brussels.

In a Europe Day speech on Tuesday (9 May) the chancellor said that the union should not "rush" in trying to revive the frozen charter.


"It is right not to rush now, but to watch developments calmly and explore the possibilities of one day putting in place such a constitutional treaty," Ms Merkel said, according to press reports.

"Waiting does not mean letting it slowly go to sleep, but finding the correct time to act," she added.

The comments of Ms Merkel, a staunch supporter of the constitution, are notably less ambitious than earlier signals from Berlin which had pointed at the constitution being one of the main items at the 2007 German presidency agenda.

Last autumn's coalition treaty of the Merkel government stated "We pledge to continue the ratification of the European constitutional treaty after the first half of 2006 and to give new impulses to [its ratification] under the German presidency in the first half of 2007."

The European Commission hopes that 2007 will be a breakthrough year, urging EU leaders to agree to a declaration on the EU's goals and values as a first concrete step to ending the bloc's constitutional impasse.

On top of this, France and the Netherlands which rejected the constitution in popular referendums last year will hold elections in 2007, with constitution supporters hoping that a change of political leadership will boost the chances for a revival of the charter.

'Less Europe can mean more'
In her speech, which came ahead of a major EU policy address to the German parliament on Thursday, the German chancellor also attacked over-regulation and bureaucracy from the EU institutions.

She indicated that the German presidency will prioritise the scrapping of superfluous legislation and red tape, a process which is also being championed by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

"Less Europe can mean more," she said, explaining that Europe would be able to better concentrate on core tasks when removing unnecessary laws.

Enlargement rift with Helsinki
The German leader also held talks with Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen, which revealed a rift between the upcoming Finnish and German presidencies on EU enlargement.

Mr Vanhanen, whose country will take over the helm of the union in July this year, spoke out against setting fixed borders of the bloc.

He told German media that "Every European country that shares our values has the right to membership," adding "20 years ago, nobody could have imagined today's EU."

But Ms Merkel said "We should clearly say where the borders of Europe lie," echoing French and Dutch calls for a break in EU expansion.

Merkel plays down hopes of EU constitution revival

[Soldier4Christ]

President Bush Says NSA Leaks Hurt Our Ability To Defeat Enemy


Bush responds to the new NSA leaks.

    THE PRESIDENT: “After September the 11th, I vowed to the American people that our government would do everything within the law to protect them against another terrorist attack. As part of this effort, I authorized the National Security Agency to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations.

    In other words, if al Qaeda or their associates are making calls into the United States or out of the United States, we want to know what they’re saying.

    “Today there are new claims about other ways we are tracking down al Qaeda to prevent attacks on America. I want to make some important points about what the government is doing and what the government is not doing.

    “First, our international activities strictly target al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. Second, the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Fourth, the privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.

    “We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates. So far we’ve been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil.

    “As a general matter, every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy. Our most important job is to protect the American people from another attack, and we will do so within the laws of our country.

    “Thank you.”

Absolutely.