News, Prophecy and other

[Soldier4Christ]

A C-5 cargo plane, the military’s largest aircraft, crashed Monday just short of a runway at Dover Air Force Base after developing problems during takeoff, officials said. All 17 people aboard survived, though several were injured.

The plane went down about 6:30 a.m., according to Tech. Sgt. Melissa Phillips, a spokeswoman for the base.

Officials with the state and the military had no immediate details on the extent of the injuries to those aboard. BayHealth in Dover had about 10 people from the plane, including some who appeared able to walk, hospital spokeswoman Pam Marecki said.

The huge C-5 broke into three pieces, with the cockpit separated from the fuselage and left lying at a right angle to the main part of the plane. The broken-off tail assembly was several hundred yards away and a wing was shattered, but there was no evidence of smoke or flames.

Emergency crews, some in hazardous materials suits, examined the wreckage in light rain and under overcast skies.

According to initial reports, the plane had just taken off and had some indications of a problem, said Col. Ellen Haddock, spokeswoman at the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff. It turned back to land and fell short of the runway, she said. It wasn't immediately clear if the plane was carrying cargo when it went down.

Maj. Ange Keskey of the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois confirmed 17 people were aboard and said the crash is being investigated.

Dover is home to the 436th Airlift Wing, with more than 4,000 active-duty military and civilian employees, and operates the largest and busiest air freight terminal in the Defense Department. The base is also home to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, which processes bodies from the nation’s wars.

The C-5 Galaxy cargo plane, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., is one of the largest aircraft in the world, according to the Air Force. It was first delivered to the military in 1970. Even with a payload of 263,200 pounds, the latest version can fly non-stop for 2,500 miles at jet speeds, according to the manufacturer.

[Soldier4Christ]

While assuring the United States he is trying to stem the flow of Mexicans into the country, President Vicente Fox says Mexico has its own border problems.

"We are working in the inner part and in the southern part of the country to stop migration flows that come from Central America that are crossing illegally the southern border of Mexico," Fox said.

Mexico has caught and sent home some 240,000 illegal immigrants in the past year, The Washington Times reported Sunday.

In two days of meetings with U.S. President George Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week, Fox also pledged to reduce border violence and illegal-alien smuggling, and to work to boost jobs so that fewer Mexicans feel the need to leave the country and look for work in the United States.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Senate Judiciary immigration, border security and citizenship subcommittee, told the newspaper he's heard his Mexican counterparts lament towns devoid of young men and say privately they want those workers to return home, rather than remain in the United States permanently.

[Shammu]

Russia Unaware of Ukraine’s Nuclear Supplies to Iran

Created: 03.04.2006 13:01 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:23 MSK, 6 hours 54 minutes ago

MosNews

Russia’s General Staff has no information on Ukraine’s nuclear supplies to Iran, the head of the General Staff said Monday.

Army General Yuri Baluyevsky was quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying he had no information on 250 nuclear warheads Ukraine had allegedly passed to Iran.

“I do not comment on such reports, which have no foundation,” Baluyevsky said.

Novaya Gazeta newspaper wrote Monday that Ukraine had failed to return 250 warheads to Russia in the 1990s when the former Soviet republic declared itself a nuclear-free zone. The paper suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, including Iran.

Former top official of Russia’s Defense Ministry Yevgeny Maslin quoted by Interfax news agency refuted the information regarding “lost” warheads. He called such reports “nonsense caused by the journalists’ hunt for a cheap sensation.” “All the nuclear ammunition that was in the Ukraine before the collapse of the USSR was removed to Russia.” The ministry directorate led by Maslin was in charge of nuclear ammunition safety during the period when it was passed from Ukraine to Russia. He said he had personally controlled the ammunition removal.

Russia Unaware of Ukraine’s Nuclear Supplies to Iran

[Shammu]

Mormonism thriving in heavily Catholic US Northeast
Mon Apr 3, 2006 8:43 AM ET169

 By Jason Szep

BELMONT, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Stepping into a Mormon temple is like watching a cinematic take on heaven: everything glows in white -- from the rich upholstery to the ivory outfits of worshipers and polished marble floors.

It's also a step more people are taking in the heavily Roman Catholic U.S. Northeast, where Mormon numbers have jumped 37 percent in 10 years, nearly double the religion's national growth rate of 21 percent, church data show.

"The number of new members here is just utterly amazing," said Allan Barker, president of the Massachusetts temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the faith is formally known.

The once-isolated sect based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is now one of the world's fastest-growing and affluent religions, with 12.3 million members globally. More than half live outside the United States, including a flourishing Latin American flock.

Sociologist Rodney Stark, who predicted in 1984 that Mormonism would eventually rival Catholicism, Islam and other major religions with 267 million members worldwide by 2080, said aid lavished on new converts by a lay clergy rooted in international business and other top-tier professions explains much of the global appeal.

"The fact that the church provides substantial social services is very attractive, especially when you start getting into places where social services are really lacking," said Stark, author of "The Rise of Mormonism".

"Mormons tend not to ever appear on the welfare rolls because the church tends to step in and take care of them," he added. "Elderly people will get their houses painted by a group of guys from the local church over the weekend. There's a lot going on there that doesn't meet the eye."

Church officials and religious scholars attribute its growth in the Northeast to a steady influx of Hispanic worshipers, the allure of top-flight universities in Boston and New York, and to turmoil in the Roman Catholic Church following a clergy sexual abuse scandal that erupted in Boston in 2002.

"Catholicism has stumbled," said Jan Shipps, president of the American Society of Church History, adding that Massachusetts's Mormon governor -- potential 2008 White House contender Mitt Romney -- also boosted the church's profile.

Tim Wilson, a 31-year-old former Catholic, said news that U.S. bishops moved priests known to have abused minors to new parishes instead of defrocking them sealed his decision to join the Mormon faith in December 2002.

"I didn't have any vested interest in belonging to an organization that would conduct such an awful situation among its priests," said Wilson, a research executive.

However the Northeast's 333,000 Mormons remain vastly outnumbered by its estimated 20 million Catholics.

RETURN TO ROOTS

But the expansion marks a historical triumph in a region where Joseph Smith, a Vermont native, founded the sect in 1830 in upstate New York a year before being persecuted and forced to flee to the Midwest.

But as it expands, Barker and other Mormon leaders are quietly bracing for a possible new threat to the church's image.

"Big Love," a new series on cable TV channel HBO about a fictional polygamous family headed by a Viagra-popping husband in Utah, casts light on its awkward and embarrassing ties to polygamy, which the Mormons practiced before the Civil War then banned in 1890.

"The show has to be a negative," said Barker. The central characters are not Latter-day Saints and Mormons who commit polygamy are excommunicated, he noted, echoing a point recently reinforced by a statement from church headquarters in Utah.

Mormon leaders have spent decades countering critics who dismiss the faith as a cult and a threat to Christianity. They distance themselves from about 30,000 breakaway Mormons in Utah and nearby states who practice polygamy illegally, as well as the many excommunicated Mormons in polygamous marriages who still identify with the faith.

Founder Joseph Smith took at least two dozen wives, say historians. His successor, Brigham Young, had about 20. The custom was officially banned when Washington, angered by its spread, threatened to deny statehood to Utah.

Today, about 30,000 missionaries -- often young men in business suits walking the world's streets in pairs -- project a wholesome, family-oriented image that has helped swell global Mormon adherents by 36 percent from 1995 to 2005.

Under the faith's tenets, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco are banned, while no one goes to hell.

Exactly how the clergy sex-abuse crisis has played into Mormon numbers growth in the Northeast is unclear, scholars say. The last formal survey of the Catholic population in the region was held in 2001, a year before the scandal surfaced.

Some 90 percent of about 900 members of the six-year-old Mormon temple in the Boston suburb of Belmont converted from other religions. Barker declined to say how many had been Catholics.

But doctrinal similarities with Catholicism could account for some of the expansion, Shipps said.

Like Catholicism, Mormonism offers clear-cut answers to big theological questions. In contrast, she said, American Protestantism offers greater room for spiritual debate.

Barker, 79 and a Utah native, recalls the suspicion he faced in Boston in the early 1950s. Once, when a furniture saleswoman found she was talking to a Mormon, she turned to Barker's wife and exclaimed: "How could you live with this man?"

"Here we are 50 years later," he said. "It's remarkable how much things have changed."

Mormonism thriving in heavily Catholic US Northeast

[Shammu]

ID chips implanted in humans

BY BETSY SHEA-TAYLOR/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

Newborns, employees, frail elders, the chronically ill may someday be routinely implanted with radio frequency identification technology, security chips with personal ID numbers that `` tag'' the user for linking to medical records or security clearance.

Right now that prospect is mere speculation.

But the technology, the size of a grain of rice, is off the drawing board and into the biceps of early adopters, a trend that is alarming, unsettling, intriguing and exciting --- depending upon your point of view.

Six million pets in the United States have ID chips. The human application is new.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in 2004 cleared the VeriChip for medical applications. It was used by morgue workers to track Hurricane Katrina remains, and it is used or being considered for use by 80 medical facilities, said John Procter, spokesman for VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Applied Digital. The first was Hackensack Medical Center in N.Y. The remainder are mostly on the East Coast, he said, but would not confirm possible negotiations in Massachusetts.

VeriChip works this way: A 16-digit chip injected into an arm can be read in a scanner-equipped emergency room, providing immediate health record access. Privacy is built in, said Procter, and the chips do not have the capability to track movement, like global positioning installations on some vehicles.

`` VeriChip (company),'' he said, `` feels that with the system in place it is very similar to online banking tools used to protect customers.''

The technology is not available to parents, fearful of kidnappings, who want to apply it to children.

The company states that it is not for use in anyone younger than age 16 and should only be voluntary.

One of the first recipients of VeriChip, however, is an elderly woman whose daughter adopted it on her behalf, said Procter, using her legal authority as caregiver.

Many prospects

Many Big Bother prospects are ripe for speculation.

`` Even though the idea of chips under skin sounds very scary and sci-fi horrific, we've been implanting devices in people for a long time and to great effect (pacemakers being perhaps the most obvious example here),'' said Stephen Mathis, chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Wheaton College in Norton. `` So, once one gets past the visual or bionic person implications, the greatest concerns arising from the use of these devices on the medical front are, it seems to me, ones of privacy.''

This will certainly become a focus as the chip is introduced into workplaces for security clearance purposes. A private video surveillance company in Cincinnati, Ohio, is already employing it on a voluntary basis. A scanner set up near secured areas reads the chip, determining whether an employee should be allowed access.

`` Even though the VeriChip does not allow tracking via GPS (global positioning), such chips are probably not far away and already exist in a different form in most cell phones,'' said Mathis. `` The GPS technology and the always-on character of an implanted chip make for even more troubling possibilities on the invasion of privacy and unwarranted surveillance fronts.''

In the works

But, as always, it is not technology but its application that matters.

John D. Halamka, a medical doctor and chief information officer of Harvard Medical School, agreed to be implanted with by VeriChip in December 2004 and began a first-hand assessment.

Halamka said he climbed several summits, including Mount Washington, in harsh environments without any restrictions. The chip, he said, gave him assurance that he could be identified in case of emergency. It accurately read his identification number 100 percent of the time, up to five inches from his insertion site.

`` The three applications that I envision for the technology are identifying the non-responsive patient,'' Halamka said, `` reducing medical error by using RFID to positively identify the patient, nurse and medications during drug administration and verifying the right medications are being given to the right patient; and authentication for secure applications/access to buildings.''

The chip does not have nor need the FDA's approval for security, financial or personal identification/safety applications. There's little to stop it from leaching into all areas of life. One young couple reportedly programmed chips in their hands to give them access to locked cars, house and computer.

`` Tech enthusiasts have begun to use implantable RFID chips we believe are for animal use, in applications for a variety of purposes,'' said Procter.

Mission creep

Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Association of Massachusetts, worries about what she calls `` mission creep'' -- applying technology developed for one purpose to other, often unforeseen uses.

`` I think this is the kind of technology that raises the specter of moving toward a total surveillance society,'' she said. `` We have to think about the implications toward a police state, as a public policy matter. Is it inherently evil or bad? No. But technology outpaces our ability to deal with it as a public policy or legal matter, ability that we gain through hindsight.''

VeriChip differs dramatically from existing IDs.

`` The subcutaneous ID tag is not like an ID card, or even like a fingerprint,'' said Wheaton's Mathis. `` One cannot control when the chip would be accessed or `shown' to anyone else, so it is quite natural to worry who will be able to get access to the information on that chip. Even though, as I understand it to work, the chip does not actually store one's medical history, but rather only an ID number which would then pick one's medical history out from a database, the problem is that the database in question here would presumably be centralized, thus giving a number of hospitals and medical professionals access to it (not to mention insurance companies and the government via Medicare and Medicaid).''

He said he could imagine decreased control being problematic for people with HIV/AIDS, for example, who might be discriminated against more easily in the workplace and by insurance companies.

`` Of course, for some, especially elderly folks with incapacitating diseases or with complicated drug interaction profiles,'' said Mathis, `` the benefits of an ID chip might very easily outweigh such risks.''

Patient controls

VeriChip's John Procter said the company only supports voluntary use of the device.

An individual implanted for medical purposes decides who has access -- just the local hospital, for instance -- and controls content of records, said Procter. This might be as minimal as name and medical condition, or extensive as an entire health history.

The user name and password would be maintained by Applied Digital.

`` The primary geographic focus is to get hospitals online in the Washington, D.C to Boston corridor,'' said Procter. It was within this area that the idea emerged -- out of the horrors of the World Trade Center bombings on Sept. 11, 2001.

`` A researcher with the company was watching the aftermath and recovery at Ground Zero,'' said Procter. `` That individual saw a first responder writing his badge number in indelible marker on his arm so in the case they were found they would be easily identified. A light bulb went off and he began to research human use for the chip.''

I can't post the link because of advertising, so.............

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.... DW

[Shammu]

Iran says UN council risks worsening dispute
Sun Apr 2, 2006 8:02 PM ET

 By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran warned the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that it risked worsening a dispute over the country's nuclear development by pressuring it to halt uranium-enrichment work.

In a move that could raise further concerns about the country's military development, a senior Iranian navy commander said Iran had test-fired a sonar-evading underwater missile that can outpace any enemy warship.

Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," Aliasghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, said the Security Council's adoption last week of a statement calling on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment work was "hasty" and that it should stay out of the process.

"The best action of United Nations Security Council is no action, merely just to take note of the documents which have been sent to United Nations Security Council, and let the IAEA to do its own job," Soltaniyeh said.

"The more the United Nations Security Council is engaged and involved, the situation will be further deteriorated. And we have to prevent confrontation," he said.

The council called on Iran to comply with resolutions of the IAEA, including a suspension of enrichment-related activities, which can provide fuel for power plants or atom bombs. It asked the watchdog to report back in 30 days.

Iran's decision to resume uranium enrichment in January prompted Britain, France and Germany to break off 2-1/2 years of EU talks with Tehran and back a U.S. demand to refer Iran to the Security Council.

Western nations have also been watching developments in Iran's missile capabilities with concern amid the standoff over the nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Iran says the program is for peaceful, civilian purposes.

MISSILE TEST

Sunday's announcement of the underwater missile test, part of a week of war games in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, is likely to add to Western worries.

"This missile evades sonar technology under the water and even if the enemy sonar system could detect its movement under the water, no warship could escape from it because of its high velocity," Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said.

Diplomats in Europe said this month that Iran was stepping up development of missiles capable of carrying atomic warheads, but Iran denied the charge and Soltaniyeh said on Sunday that the latest test should not worry the world.

Soltaniyeh said Iran would not withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and would keep cooperating with the world body's nuclear watchdog, adding that a team from the Vienna-based nuclear body would visit Iran next week.

He said the nuclear issue been taken "hostage" by U.S. policy and should be brought back to a "multilateral atmosphere."

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told a news conference in Doha that the Security Council action would strengthen the IAEA's hand.

"We think it is important to increase international pressure on Iran to get them to rethink the policy of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and thereby try and bring a peaceful and diplomatic solution to this problem," Bolton said.

Washington is pushing for the Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran if it does not halt enrichment, but fellow permanent council members China and Russia are reluctant to take that step.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that the United States remains committed to a diplomatic solution.

"I just want to be very clear, Iran is not Iraq," she said in an interview with Britain's ITV aired on Sunday.

"However, the president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table; we are committed to a diplomatic course because we believe that a diplomatic course can work."

Iran says UN council risks worsening dispute

[Shammu]

Its Terrorism Networks Make 'al Qaeda Look Like a Kindergarten'

April 3, 2006 — - The Iranians continue to ratchet up the tension with the United States, testing a high-speed torpedo this weekend that they say can destroy warships and submarines. This follows the test-firing just two days earlier of a new multiple warhead missile they say can evade radar.

Despite the provocation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice downplayed the possibility of a military strike, although she did not rule it out.

"We are committed to a diplomatic course because we believe that a diplomatic course can work," she said on ITVL's "Jonathan Dimbleby Programme."

In a front-page story on Sunday, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence analysts believed Iran would retaliate against U.S. military strikes on its nuclear sites by carrying out terrorist attacks, including on American soil.

"Iran is the No. 1 world sponsor of terrorism," said Richard Clarke, ABC consultant and former national security official.

"Iran has a host of instruments they could throw at us, and they are much better organized and well-equipped than al Qaeda. And in the event of a U.S. attack on Iran, you could expect attacks on the U.S."

The United States believes Iran is attempting to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusation, saying it intends only to generate electricity. The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran give up uranium enrichment, a crucial part of the nuclear weapons production process. Washington is pressing for sanctions if Tehran, Iran's capital, continues its nuclear program.

Clarke said that Iran had three terrorist organizations it sponsored or controlled. The most important is the Lebanon-based paramilitary organization Hezbollah, which destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and killed 241 Marines. Hezbollah is suspected in the 1996 attack on the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia.

Iran also has control over Shiite militias in Iraq and has its own special forces called the Qods Force. These three organizations make al Qaeda look like a kindergarten, Clarke said.

The United States Will "Suffer"

Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has warned that the United States will "suffer" if it takes action against its nuclear program. Some have seen that as a threat to increase militant action in the region or turn to the oil weapon.

Clarke said the missile test might actually hurt Iran.

"The missile test may backfire. Iran is claiming that missile has multiple warheads," he said. "We don't know if that's true, but you can argue the only reason for having multiple warheads is if you have nuclear weapons. So Iran may have further confirmed in the eyes of U.S. analysts that it is in fact trying to get nuclear weapons. That, in turn, will step up the pressure by the U.S. on Iran."

If diplomacy fails and a military strike becomes the only option, experts fear a devastating response by Iran and not by conventional means.

"Their best option is to use other ways of attacking to support terrorist and extremists," said Anthony Cordesman, an ABC News national security analyst.

Last month, a senior Iranian official warned the United States that "it may have the power to cause harm and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain."

At the time, some analysts believed that was a reference to withholding oil but now they are not so certain.

"U.S. policymakers have to be thinking a move ahead," Clarke said. "They have to assume: If we attack Iran, Iran will attack us. So what's step two? Do we bomb Iran even more? Where does that get you?"

Its Terrorism Networks Make 'al Qaeda Look Like a Kindergarten'

[Shammu]

SAUDIS SAID TO LAUNCH NUKE PROGRAM

LONDON [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia was said to have launched a nuclear program with assistance from Pakistan.

On Saturday, the German magazine Cicero, quoting Western intelligence sources said, Saudi Arabia launched its nuclear program in 2003. The magazine said Pakistani scientists arrived in the Saudi kingdom to make preparations for a nuclear program.

Both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have denied the report.

Between October 2004 and January 2005, visiting Pakistani scientists spent up to three weeks away from their Saudi hotels to work on Riyad's nuclear program, German security analyst Udo Ulfkotte told Cicero. The Pakistanis were said to have been disguised as Islamic pilgrims.

SAUDIS SAID TO LAUNCH NUKE PROGRAM

[Shammu]

Ancient Christian sect prays for Turkey to join EU
By Gareth Jones

MARDIN, Turkey (Reuters) - Like most Turkish men, Gabriel Oktay Cilli likes to drink tea with his mates and go to soccer matches.

However, one detail marks him out sharply in this overwhelmingly Muslim country: every Sunday he goes to church.

On the wall of his jewellery shop, next to the more familiar portrait of modern Turkey's founder Kemal Ataturk whose image decorates stores, restaurants and offices throughout the country, hangs a picture of Jesus Christ and his disciples.

Cilli belongs to one of Turkey's most ancient communities, the Syriac Christians, who still speak a form of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. In Turkey they number barely 20,000, down from 250,000 when Ataturk founded the republic in 1923.

The 20th century was hard on the Syriacs, bringing religious persecution and economic hardship, but Cilli is confident about his future in a democratic Turkey that aims to join the European Union. He has no plans to follow relatives into exile.

"I plan to stay here, this is my home. If we all left, who would look after our churches and monasteries?" he said in his shop in Mardin, a town in southeastern Turkey near Syria.

"Twenty years ago, life was quite difficult but now I have no problems. Things are changing, thanks partly to the EU," he said, serving home-made red wine rather than the customary tea offered to visitors.

A fresh wave of Syriacs emigrated as recently as the 1980s and 1990s as fighting raged in their historic homeland between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists. Kurds are the biggest ethnic group in the region.

The violence fell sharply after the 1999 capture of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and the government eased language and cultural restrictions on its minorities as part of EU-linked reforms.

WE HAVE PEACE NOW

"Some Syriacs are even coming back here now. Up to 50 families have returned in the last few years," said Cilli.

At his residence in the ancient, ochre-coloured monastery of Deyrulzafaran -- which means the Saffron Monastery in Arabic -- Saliba Ozmen, metropolitan (bishop) of Mardin, was also cautiously optimistic.

"We have peace now, we can draw breath," the bearded, Oxford-educated clergyman told Reuters.

He is worried that his fifth century monastery will receive fewer visitors this year because of the conflict in Iraq and tension between the Muslim world and the West triggered by Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

The monastery receives more than 100,000 visitors a year, most of them Turks. Britain's Prince Charles and Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer are among recent visitors.

Any increase in tensions between Muslims and the West puts non-Muslim minorities in countries such as Turkey in a delicate position, although Ozmen said the cartoon crisis passed quietly for the 3,000 Syriacs in the southeast region.

"We were a little nervous. People blamed Christians generally for the cartoons, but here in Turkey the crisis was less acute than in the Arab world," said Ozmen.

Turkish authorities acted sensitively, for example ensuring that protests against the cartoons in Mardin were held in the Muslim, not the Christian, part of town, church members said.

"We need to overcome prejudice between religions...Muslims and Christians alike, we are all citizens of Turkey. We too pay our taxes and do our military service. The most important thing for us is freedom and trust," Ozmen said.

RIGHTS RESTRICTED

Ozmen said the worldwide community of Syriacs, also known as Jacobite Christians, now numbers up to 15 million, three million of them in India where they trace their roots to the decades after Christ's crucifixion.

Since the collapse of the relatively tolerant Ottoman Empire, Turkey's Syriacs have seemed vulnerable and beleaguered.

They are not an officially designated minority in Turkey like the Greeks or Armenians and so have no special protection for rights such as private education under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne's provisions for non-Muslim minorities.

Turkey's Syriacs -- who include up to 15,000 people in Istanbul -- attend state schools where teaching is in Turkish and where they can learn about Islam.

They can be taught about their own language and religion only informally outside school hours by priests, monks and nuns. About 20 boys live and study at Deyrulzafaran.

Would-be priests have to study in Damascus, home to the Syriac patriarch, head of their church, or in the West.

There are other problems, too. Isa Gulten, a teacher of Aramaic, says local Kurds are taking land that still legally belongs to Syriacs residing abroad.

"The state turns a blind eye to this. It should be protecting the rights of minorities more vigorously," he said.

However, the overall picture is one of live-and-let-live.

Cilli said Christians and Muslims in Mardin celebrated each other's religious festivals. Christians would offer painted eggs at Easter while Muslims would invite them to eat lamb during the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice.

Ozmen's monastery is due to receive 600,000 euros ($726,900) from the European Commission for major renovation work.

"As a religious minority we look to the EU. But it is important for Turkey too, as a bridge between East and West, to preserve its ethnic and cultural mosaic," he said.

Ancient Christian sect prays for Turkey to join EU

[Shammu]

U.S. Christian Activists Forewarned by Canadian Clergyman
'Speak Up!' Warns Christian Civil Rights Advocate

By Gail Besse
April 3, 2006

MARLBORO, MA (AgapePress) - American Christians had better start defending their right to religious expression before that liberty is outlawed, a Christian civil rights advocate from Canada warns.

Christians are being humiliated, intimidated, and stopped from expressing their beliefs in public, Rev. Tristan Emmanuel recently told a gathering concerned about judicial activism and the erosion of free speech in Massachusetts. He outlined the situation in Canada, where same-sex "marriage" is legal and a 2004 law criminalized the criticism of homosexuality as a hate crime. America is headed the same way unless people of faith stop apologizing for their sincerely held beliefs, said Emmanuel, who founded the group Equipping Christians for the Public Square Centre.

Rev. Emmanuel, a Presbyterian minister, gave the keynote speech at a March 29 Article 8/MassResistance dinner to an audience comprised of mostly pro-life and pro-family Christian lay leaders. Brian Camenker, director of the organization and founder of the Parents Rights Coalition, highlighted the timeliness of Emmanuel's message.

"Over the last several weeks, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, has withstood a wave of hateful, venomous attacks by the media, the liberal establishment, and even the business community that is truly unbelievable," he said prior to the meeting.

Camenker, who is Jewish, noted that the nationwide public fury came solely because the cardinal and the three other Massachusetts bishops announced February 28 that they would "stand by Catholic religious doctrine [and normal common sense] and declare that Catholic Charities will not allow kids in its care to be adopted by homosexual couples."

Recent articles against the state's Catholic leadership in the secular and homosexual press have labeled the bishops "hateful ... bigoted ... out of touch with reality ... and extremists" without explaining that the motive behind the Church teaching is to protect children and uphold the sanctity of marriage.

This kind of tactic -- an "ad hominum attack" -- seeks to malign the character of a person rather than allow discussion on an issue, noted Rev. Emmanuel. He said it is a method used to silence debate and called the media "a prime facilitator of this dehumanization."

Language that vilifies religious spokesmen, the clergyman asserted, is dangerous because eventually it produces "a psychological deadening effect on Christians to the point where they accept not being able to speak up in the public square. The Islamic community would not tolerate this treatment."

Emmanuel stressed the danger involved when a legislative body defers to a judicial one, as the Massachusetts Legislature's avoidance of the same-sex marriage issue eventually led to such unions being legalized by the state's Supreme Judicial Court.

In Canada, he said, human rights tribunals started out as watchdog groups but became empowered by Parliament with police powers. The tribunals investigate what they consider to be human rights violations, "educate" people with mandatory sensitivity training, then prosecute and judge on grounds of guilty until proven innocent, according to the pastor. One case involved a Toronto printer who refused to print material on lesbianism. The ensuing court battle -- which the printer lost -- lasted nine years and cost the printer $170,000.

Too many Christians "buy into the idea that if it's not affecting me and my family personally, it's too vague and abstract to bother about," Rev. Emmanuel said. "But if you are a Christian, you cannot and you must not keep your convictions to yourself. We fall all over ourselves to issue edicts that we're about love. We need to show our love for people by saying homosexuality is wrong."

He pointed out how differently people feel about telling smokers that their habit is unhealthy and will not be condoned. "Do we consider the feelings of smokers? Do we worry what effect this will have on their psyches?" he asked.

Rev. Emmanuel is the author of Christophobia: The Real Reason Behind Hate Crime Legislation. He defined "Christophobia" as "an irrational and visceral rejection of the public expression of Christianity" expressed by "militant secularists who demand that only they set the standard for what may be spoken of publicly."

In his book, Emmanuel suggests that Christians engage in politics, but realize that secular humanism "affects every aspect of our nations' identities." Referring to both Canada and America he wrote, "Our cultures should be Christian -- not by political coercion, but by cultural discipleship. We need to get back into all the relevant culture-shaping institutions and become the best in the field as Christians."

U.S. Christian Activists Forewarned by Canadian Clergyman

[Shammu]

Publisher Won't Print Bibles With Porn Reference
'Jesus Loves Porn Stars' Called Inappropriate

POSTED: 5:49 pm EDT April 2, 2006
UPDATED: 6:07 pm EDT April 2, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- The American Bible Society is refusing to print New Testaments with covers that say "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

California pastors Mike Foster and Craig Gross, whose anti-porn ministry is called (link removed... DW), had ordered 10,000 of the customized Bibles to hand out at adult film conventions.

But the edgy cover led the publisher to cancel the paid order.

The American Bible Society said that while it appreciates the pastors' mission, the words "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" are "misleading and inappropriate for a New Testament."

In a statement released on the Web site, the pastors said that they believe the publisher is wrong.

"We think this goes with the central message of the gospel and Jesus loves you regardless of your profession," the statement read. "This is not about shock tactics, this is about trying to get the word of God to places most say would be impossible but we have found a way to do it."

The pastors said they are confident the Bible will be printed, saying someone will step up and help in the effort.

Advertising on site, so no link....

[Soldier4Christ]

American Christians had better start defending their right to religious expression before that liberty is outlawed

AMEN!

[Shammu]

 Pakistan, Turkey for peaceful settlement of Iran nuclear issue
Islamabad, April 3, IRNA

Pakistan-Turkey Iran nuclear
Top Pakistani and Turkish diplomats called on Monday for a peaceful settlement of Iran's nuclear issue.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and Turkish Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ali Tuygan held the second round of political consultations in Islamabad.

The first round of consultations between the two countries was held in Ankara in August 2003.

They stressed the need for an amicable settlement of the Iran nuclear issue, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said.

Both the sides also expressed support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, it said.

On Afghanistan, they noted the successful completion of the Bonn process and wished the country further progress.

The Turkish side expressed appreciation for Pakistan's positive contributions to peace and stability in the region, in particular to counter terrorism.

It expressed support for the Pakistan-India composite dialogue.

The two sides reviewed bilateral relations, in particular trade and economic as well as cultural and educational cooperation, the statement said.

Regional and international issues, including developments in the Middle East, South Asia and Afghanistan also came under discussion.

In addition, views were exchanged on counter-terrorism and UN reforms.

Trade between the two countries rose by 22.19 per cent in 2004-05.

However, the growth would be paced up further to reach the target of $1 billion in two years.

It was agreed that trade and economic cooperation would be discussed in greater detail when the 13th JMC meeting is held in August in Islamabad.

The Turkish Undersecretary also called on Foreign Minister Khurshid M.Kasuri.

The Foreign Minister would be visiting Ankara later this month on the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Dr. Abdullah Gul.

Pakistan, Turkey for peaceful settlement of Iran nuclear issue

[Shammu]

 Iran determined to produce nuclear energy, president
Tehran, April 3, IRNA

Iran-Guinea-Ahmadinejad
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Iranian nation will exercise its determination to produce nuclear energy it needs for economic development.


In a meeting with the Guinean Foreign Minister Fatoumate Kaba Sidibe, President Ahmadinejad said that Iran has nationalized know-how to produce nuclear energy thanks to the efforts of Iranian scholars.

He dismissed the state of suspicion being pretended by several European countries and the US about Iranian nuclear program.

"The path followed by Iran to produce nuclear energy is transparent and in line with Safeguards Agreement of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and is monitored by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Turning to the Iraqi-imposed war and economic and political sanctions against Iran by its enemies, the chief executive said that today the Iranian government and nation has resumed a new movement for multifaceted independence and self-sufficiency in all domains.

Ahmadinejad pointed to the deep relations and Islamic solidarity between the two states and said, "Iran's potentials also belong to its allies. African countries, including Guinea, have a special status in the country's foreign policy.

The president expressed satisfaction with the efforts of Guinean people to gain full independence and freedom, establish Islam and make economic achievements.

"Supports of Iran and Guinea for each other in international fora lay a good cornerstone for cooperation of Muslim and free nations, which should be expanded and strengthened in all domains," added Ahmadinejad.

For her part, Sidibe said that bilateral relations should bolster and underlined her country's support for Iran's efforts to produce nuclear energy.

Iran determined to produce nuclear energy, president

[airIam2worship]

Publisher Won't Print Bibles With Porn Reference
'Jesus Loves Porn Stars' Called Inappropriate

POSTED: 5:49 pm EDT April 2, 2006
UPDATED: 6:07 pm EDT April 2, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- The American Bible Society is refusing to print New Testaments with covers that say "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

California pastors Mike Foster and Craig Gross, whose anti-porn ministry is called (link removed... DW), had ordered 10,000 of the customized Bibles to hand out at adult film conventions.

But the edgy cover led the publisher to cancel the paid order.

The American Bible Society said that while it appreciates the pastors' mission, the words "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" are "misleading and inappropriate for a New Testament."

In a statement released on the Web site, the pastors said that they believe the publisher is wrong.

"We think this goes with the central message of the gospel and Jesus loves you regardless of your profession," the statement read. "This is not about shock tactics, this is about trying to get the word of God to places most say would be impossible but we have found a way to do it."

The pastors said they are confident the Bible will be printed, saying someone will step up and help in the effort.

Advertising on site, so no link....

What is wrong with these 2 pastors? First off the only thing I think should be printed on the Bible should be Holy Bible, and some people might have their name on it. God loves all humans, that is why He sent His Son. These 2 pastors are trying to imply that it's ok to be a porn star because Jesus loves them, they will undoubtedly take it as a license to continue to promote porn.