William E. Huber Jr.: Cowboy Christianity

Learning to say I Love You more often

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:39:40 GMT

One of the great sins of being married a long time is not saying you love your spouse often enough. We slip into this quite innocently. By the time we recognize our problem the solution requires some caving in to materialism. So I bought some fancy chocolate and a goofy valentine's day card and hid them in a place where she would see it first thing in the morning. She was impressed. She thought I forgot. Now for the hard part. Learning to say I Love You more often.

Worried about the ACLU? Display only the commandments Jesus taught us

Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:06:19 GMT

BY GREGG EASTERBROOK
Friday, February 4, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

Soon the Supreme Court will take up the question of whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed on government property. At the heart of this culture-war blockbuster will be two familiar and rivalrous claims: first, that any government sanction of religious material violates the separation of church and state; second, that the Ten Commandments promote morality and so their display must not be prohibited. We will undoubtedly hear one side decrying Christian activism run amok and the other godless secularism run amok.

Yet there is an alternative to the Ten Commandments--namely, the Six Commandments, enunciated by Jesus himself. And the Six Commandments could hang in any public facility without jeopardizing the separation of church and state.

In the Gospel of Matthew, a man asks Jesus what a person must do to enter heaven. He answers: "Keep the commandments." The man inquires: "Which ones?" Here is how the biblical account continues: "And Jesus said, 'You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Debating what laws are more important than others was a long-standing exercise of the rabbinical tradition in which Jesus was educated. But in these verses, which have a parallel retelling in the Gospel of Mark, Christ is not merely offering an opinion about law. Something wholly remarkable happens--Jesus edits the commandments.

Quickly now, which commandments did he leave out? "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath Day, and keep it holy." These are the commandments having to do with formal religious observance--from today's perspective, the ones that clash with the Establishment Clause. Jesus' Six Commandments make no mention of God or faith. They could be posted on public property without constitutional entanglements.

If Jesus taught Six Commandments, why do Christians talk so much about 10? As a churchgoer, I am amazed at how many of my fellow Christians do not seem to know Christ's teachings. Consider, for instance, that Jesus instructed: "Give to everyone who begs from you." Watch throngs of Christians pass panhandlers without giving and you'll have an example of how unfamiliar many are with the content of their Redeemer's ministry.

Because the Six Commandments de-emphasize formal observation of religion, some Christian traditionalists pretend that the verses do not exist. In a lifetime of sitting through the sermons of various denominations, I have never heard a minister make more than passing reference to Christ's deletion of commandments. Such was his gift that, in the Gospel of John, he simplified all moral and spiritual instruction into a single dictum: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." That modification of the original commandments also de-emphasizes formal religion and as such is also given short shrift by institutional Christianity. Many Christians seem to prefer the Ten Commandments because they embody a sense of might, mountaintops and divine wrath.

But if displaying Scripture in public is meant to encourage morality, surely the Six Commandments serve the purpose. Read them again:

You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
Honor your father and mother.
Also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Thu, 14 Oct 2004 14:41:04 GMT

I was helping out in an info area at the church last Sunday. A woman came in after the service and was visibly distraught over something. Although my primary job is to help people find information on our various programs, I occasionally find myself in many different roles. This woman was upset over Farenheit 911 and wanted to know what the church was going to do about the issues brought up in the movie. Then she told me she knew it was propaganda but she couldn't get over it. So I listened. She desparately needed to talk this problem out. When I did talk to her it was to share my concerns over the conditions of the Iraq people and our young soldiers. I carefully avoided political opinions since I knew this her seeking healing and not about how smart I was. I tried to encourage here to step back from the rhetoric of the movie and talk to her friends about her concerns. She started to feel much better. As we were finishing up she tried to talk me into seeing the movie. I politely refused. I have not seen any of the previous Michael Moore movies. I am not anti-Michael Moore as much as I would prefer to spend my $9 to go see something like Spiderman 2. Now that's entertainment! When I wanted facts about 9-11, I read the 9-11 commission report.

God made us sisters, Prozac makes us friends

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:42:12 GMT

I was real happy with the progress our dysfunctional family had made towards sitting at a table and having a pleasant Sunday dinner and converstation. That is until last night. My wife got into quite a snit with her sister. The subject of the arguement is not important. Arguements like this are never about anything important. It quickly got out of hand and could not be reigned in. My son later described it as a brawl. I was embarrased by my wife's behavior. The only thing worthwhile that occurred that evening was on the way home. My son started to counsel his mother on forgiveness, pig headness, and controlling her temper. He was calm and earnest and she reluctantly discussed her feelings about her sister with him. He navigated the minefield of his mother's emotions quite nicely. I am proud of him.

Surviving Sunday dinner

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:09:50 GMT

My wife, her sister, and her mother do not get along. I still find it amazing that I am the only one who can keep a civil relationship with all three but sometimes I wish I had community water fountain laced with Prozac for those ladies. Last night we had a Sunday dinner together. It has been quite a while since we last ate together. During dinner I guided the conversation away from the petty personal issues to the petty issues of politics and we had a fine time. The food was great and everyone was happy. I topped off my contribution with a dementia test Aunt Ann had sent me in an email. We ate desert and laughed as we all failed the test miserably.

The Grand Experiment

Mon, 16 Aug 2004 18:26:08 GMT

Recently I heard Dr. Dobson provide an idea about encouraging saving and generosity in teenagers. He recommended making a standing offer to match any contributions your child makes to their savings account or to the church. Two days ago I offered the same plan to my son. Yesterday at church I had forgotten my offer to my son when the offering plate arrived. Dutifully he reached into his billfold and put some of his money in and looked at me. I found myself scrambling throught my billfold to match him. I hope he continues and has fun with this. The importance of managing money wisely is a difficult lesson.

When does the separation of church and state become threat to good public policy?

Thu, 05 Aug 2004 18:09:10 GMT

I have been playing around with several thoughts about the separation of church and state. The doctrine of separation of church and state appears to mean different things to different people. This subject continues to be very misunderstood. I did a little internet search and came up with a very nice page, Separation of Church and State Home Page. It makes a persuavise argument for the separationist viewpoint. Their politics slip in here and there but overall the presentation is factual and informative.

The most interesting question that wandered into my brain after reading most of the site is: How much of the federal interpretation of separation of church apply to state governments?

My thought process goes this way. Their site does a nice job explaining the limited role of the Federal government and they make a nice argument that the Constitution does not borrow a lot from the Ten Commandments by saying murder, stealing, etc., are state issues. Then it struck me! When you get down to it, most issues affecting the common man are covered by state law. So why has the federal courts stepped in and made changes on state and local government public policy issues? Is this good law or just an example of federal power? Most of the court cases have been really silly and the only effect has been to make the Federal courts look silly. If the powers of the Federal Government are “few and defined” and religion is not one of the powers defined, why do they seem to be stretching to take on cases that forces their interpretation of church and state doctrine on the states? The polls show that the people believe in the separation of church and state but not to the degree required by the Federal courts. I don't believe that courts should change their decisions because of recent polls but popular opinion ultimately sways judicial opinion. I get this sense of a desire by the Federal courts to try explain their decisions on this law as perfect when the public says something different is required. If a state or local government has a practical reason for including a relationship to religious texts (Ten Commandments text posted in public buildings) or symbols(e.g. cross in the seal for LA) and the people agree, why not let the states and local governments make the decisions on public policies that affect them? This begs the question, does a state have the authority to implement "less strict" separation of church and state view because their need to change the public’s perception to state issues(e.g. murder, quality of local education) is higher than the need of the Federal courts?

RE: Men on "marriage strike?"

Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:55:32 GMT

Frankly I have a low interest in the Marriage Amendment because I believe it is not a major cause of the decline of marriage. Here is an interesting study courtesy by Carey Roberts. For someone who's wife had a child after 34 the fact that men are delaying or completely avoiding marriage is a serious problem. Carey Roberts has some sobering news from the marriage front. According to a Rutgers Univ. study, just released, of attitudes of American men, ages 25-34, toward marriage: Among those men, 53% said they were not interested in getting married anytime soon -- the marriage delayers. That figure alone is cause for concern.

But this is the statistic that every American who wants to strengthen and protect marriage should be worried about: 22% of the men said they had absolutely no interest in finding their Truly Beloved. The report described these guys as "hardcore marriage avoiders."

When almost one-quarter of single men in their prime courting years -- that’s two million potential husbands -- declare a Marriage Strike, we’re facing an unprecedented social crisis.

Why are these men refusing to marry? Some of their reasons are spelled out in the 2002 report:

-- "Some men express resentment towards a legal system that grants women the unilateral right to decide to terminate a pregnancy ... There is also a mistrust of women who may ’trap’ men into fathering a child by claiming to be sterilized, infertile or on the pill."

-- "Many men also fear the financial consequences of divorce...They fear that an ex-wife will ’take you for all you’ve got’ and that ’men have more to lose financially than women’ from a divorce." ...

Four decades ago, radical feminists, taking their cue from Marxist-Leninist theory, decreed that marriage was nothing more than gender slavery. Claiming to speak on behalf of American women, feminists set out to radically rework -- or even do away with -- the age-old social contract of marriage. And women, mesmerized by the ephemeral promise of liberation and empowerment, opted to go along for the ride.

Now, feminists are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. And women are left to wonder why their Prince Charming is nowhere to be found. You know, "be careful what you wish for . . ." [Via One Hand Clapping]

Greatest Danger

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 17:01:38 GMT

But Reich concludes his article with a stunning and surprising paragraph, which I'll cite here verbatim:

The great conflict of the 21st century will not be between the West and terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The true battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernists; between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe their allegiance and identity to a higher authority; between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is mere preparation for an existence beyond life; between those who believe in science, reason, and logic and those who believe that truth is revealed through Scripture and religious dogma. Terrorism will disrupt and destroy lives. But terrorism itself is not the greatest danger we face.

Via Mark D. Roberts I got this link via Donald Sensing. I have been personally questioning the validity of the secular viewpoint as a primary foundation of public policy. I do not think this was the intention of the founding fathers. The Protestant Reformation was still vivid in their minds. I continue to think that our "enhancements" to the secular viewpoint would not be appreciated by the founding fathers and are not the basis for good public policy. I do believe in the separation of Church and State but not when it encourages bad public policies. In this case Robert Reich attempts to argue the case for an increased secularization of the government and public policies. In reality when reasonably open minded people read his words and begin to understand the superficiality of his arguements, they see why the secular viewpoint is not popular with the common folks and makes for poor public policy. Public policy derived from this increasingly secular viewpoint just do not seem to work. I think one of the most obvious failures of this increasingly secularized public policy is genocide. In this information age it is hard not to know when your brother is suffering and yet we do nothing. It is hard to find the moral high ground in arguing for science, reason, and logic when a couple hundred thousand people are massacred in Rwanda. Unfortunately this scenario keeps repeating itself. Science, reason, and logic are important but not sufficient to deal with the various human tragedies. Ignoring these tragedies is our greatest danger because they provide the breeding ground for the next civil conflict and the next group of desperate people.

Ties tighten between religion and politics | csmonitor.com

Fri, 25 Jun 2004 12:42:08 GMT

"This country is the most religious developed democracy in the world," says pollster Celinda Lake. "On the one hand, Americans want separation of church and state, but on the other they feel comfortable with 'In God we trust' and 'One nation under God.' It's a core value."

RE: Ronin Thought of the Day

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 14:29:45 GMT

This is from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai:

A warrior should not say something fainthearted even casually. He should set his mind to this beforehand. Even in trifling matters the depths of one's heart can be seen.

[Via IMAO]

Quote of the Week

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 13:12:06 GMT

I’ve always believed that we were, each of us, put here for a reason, that there is a ... divine plan for all of us. I know now that whatever days are left to me belong to him [God].

--Ronald Reagan [Via the Presidential Prayer Team]

RE: If you truly love a girl...

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 01:00:51 GMT

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a36150180158f.htm Letter from President Reagan to his son Michael before Michaelis to be married:

Dear Mike:

You’ve heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn’t know won’t hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three a.m., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame.

There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it. The man who puts into the marriage only half of what he owns will get that out. Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back on an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn’t take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick, and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music.

If you truly love a girl, you shouldn’t ever want her to feel, when she sees you greet a secretary or a girl you both know, that humiliation of wondering if she was someone who caused you to be late coming home, nor should you want any other woman to be able to meet your wife and know she was smiling behind her eyes as she looked at her, the woman you love, remembering this was the woman you rejected even momentarily for her favors.

Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.

Love, Dad.

P.S. You’ll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day.

As I approach my 21^st anniversary this is still great advice to remember!

Remarks about Church and State by Ronald Reagan in 1984

Tue, 08 Jun 2004 14:44:58 GMT

I believe that faith and religion play a critical role in the political life of our nation -- and always has -- and that the church -- and by that I mean all churches, all denominations -- has had a strong influence on the state. And this has worked to our benefit as a nation.

I heard about this speech from the radio, K-LOVE. It is intriguing that the issues that plague us today were hot issues in 1984. The scary thing is that his entire speech is just as appropiate to today's issues as they were in 1984. I cannot help but associate this lack of progress with the polarization of the political process. We just do not listen to the other side.

Generosity versus charity

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 15:20:09 GMT

"Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity."

[Via Quotes of the Day] A reminder about the heart needed to perform charity. When we let the generosity coming from the heart whither away, we are not practicising charity.

8^th grade boys retreat/my son has a girlfriend

Wed, 02 Jun 2004 16:17:37 GMT

A few weeks ago some friends of mine at our church found out that I lived on a farm and asked if they could bring out some 8^th grade boys for a retreat. I said yes though I knew nothing. Eventually I found out that between a little tackle football, capture the flag, and archery they were planning on talking to the guys about:

Honor
Purity and how to talk to women
How on being a warrior
Courage

In hindsight this retreat was about a man’s heart and his relationship to sex. These boys are going into high school. In this sex saturated society they were going to be severely challenged if they wanted to avoid the pitfall of meaningless sex. Meaningless sex may seem exciting and forbidden for high school students but it wounds the heart in a way that it is difficult to repair. Instead of building and supporting the intimacy that is essential for a good marriage, they develop a fake intimacy. They rely on movies and television to provide them with the role model of their attempts at intimacy. Like the movie characters they remember, they try to play the part. Unlike the movies they do not have a script for their movie. Ultimately a sense of failure and fraud sets in. They do not feel like the man they envisioned when they embarked on this journey. This fake intimacy colors all future relationships with women. It is repairable but it takes time.

I mention this because something amazing happened at the retreat. The boys had just finished a rousing game of tackle football in the arena. Demonstrating great common sense I avoided participating in tackle football. Sorry! Been there! Done that! The results are always bad for a man my age. While they were playing I lit the bonfire and moved some logs around the fire to sit on. We were probably thirty minutes into the talk about purity and how to talk to a woman when it started to rain. Everyone went inside except my son. So I sat down next to him. He told me he had a girlfriend. I was shocked! Like many boys his age he seems entirely preoccupied with video games and sports. When he is around girls his age he seems wonderfully clumsy. I thought he had a great chance about being labeled a jerk for the next five years. Boy, was I wrong! He told me that there was a girl at school he liked and she liked him. He said they were very comfortable being around each other and talking about things. So we sat in the rain and he went on to explain what he liked about her. I sat and listened. When he finished we got up and joined the group inside. This was quite an amazing experience for a father. My son was invited to participate in the retreat because he lives here. He is just a 7^th grader. It is possible that he will make the same mistake as others before him and succumb to the pitfall of meaningless sex. Then again maybe God has armed him with the armor to protect his heart and the desire to seek out a deeper relationship with God and women.

It feels somewhat strange that God has used me to help my son start the journey in search of his heart. Like many parents I am pretty comfortable with God using the retreat leaders in this manner but I forgot that my participation is not only necessary but required. I should know better. I just finished reading John Eldredge’s great book, Wild at Heart, just before the retreat. There is a lot of wisdom about God and the masculine heart in that book. I find myself going back to reread sections several times as I continue to try and understand my heart and others I care about. I thought I had a lot of time before I needed to apply what I had learned on my son. Boy, was I wrong! The path to understanding your heart and your son’s heart is out there. The difficulty lies in the fact that God’s plan is not the same as your plan.

Presidential Prayer Team - May 20, 2004

Sat, 22 May 2004 19:05:12 GMT

If we fail now, then we will have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith; freedom asks more than it gives; and the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, Inaugural Address, 1965

Evolution Again

Thu, 13 May 2004 12:54:47 GMT

Here we come to an interesting question: Do the superior pass along their genes more reliably than the inferior? In primitive tribal societies do we observe that the brighter have more children than the not so bright? Do the most fit men breed with the most fit women, or with the most sexually attractive? As a matter of daily experience, a man will go every time for the sleek, pretty, and coquettish over the big, strong, bright, and ugly. I mention this to evolutionists and they make intellectual pretzels trying to prove that the attractive and the fit are one and the same. Well, they aren't. (5) If intelligence promotes survival, why did it appear so late? If it doesn't promote survival, why did it appear at all?

RE: Karl Marx explains the Bible

Tue, 11 May 2004 14:33:26 GMT

I also have written that a primary feature of modern Bible scholarship is to liberate Bible students from the Bible rather than immerse them in it.

and

Massive numbers of papers and books have been written since the mid-twentieth century attempting to show that the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are patriarchal, oppressive documents that tell less the story of humanity's struggle with its relationship with the divine, than they are the record of proto-Marxist class and gender struggles of power, exploitation and domination.

[Via One Hand Clapping]

A fascinating piece that attempts to explain the odd political nature of the old line, western churchs. I have wondered for some time about some Bible scholars I have seen on television. I could tell they believed in something but I was pretty sure it was not the Bible that I have read. Where I have found considerable joy in being a "mere christian", they appear to find joy in their academic pride for their position on controversial issues. It saddens me because I cannot help but believe their joy is shallow and unfulfilling. It is hard work to keep the heart open when the mind is doing all the talking. The great puzzle has been how did they develop this belief and how do they hold on.

When prayer and politics intersect | csmonitor.com

Thu, 06 May 2004 02:24:33 GMT

"Prayer is really about the heart, and political life is about thinking and hard choices," Alan Wolfe says. "That's why it's better not to mix these two."

RE: The soul

Tue, 04 May 2004 13:10:15 GMT

Another view point on the soul of a man though I do not think it so easy to find.

I think each of us has a kernel, under all the layers of experience and pain, that’s ageless and perfect. Some people call this a heart, the organ that pumps blood thru our bodies. Others call it a spirit, the essence of the person. Whatever you call it, it’s there, and you can easily find it.

[Via Roughly seven years ago in Scripting News]

Searching for a new host provider

Tue, 04 May 2004 01:10:26 GMT

I bit the bullet last week and set up a host with godaddy. The price and features looked good and I had been pleased with godaddy's service. Then I tried to install phpwebsite. I could not get it to install and naturally they were of no help. I searched the web and did not find any help so I started to debug the php code. It took me awhile but I finally narrowed the problem down to the set_ini statement that godaddy had disabled for security reasons. The set_ini function is used by phpwebsite to modify the include path so that PHP can find the Pear library. After a few more emails to see if they would either modify the settings for my host to allow me to use set_ini or install the Pear library as a system library, I gave up and started searching for a new host provider. There were several "independent" reviews available out on the web so I scanned the lists and several of the top rated sites. I sent off a few emails to the sales departments inquiring about their PHP settings but ended up narrowing my list down to those top-rated sites that supplied the Fantastico application installer. Fantastico is an amazing CPanel/PHP based Web application that integrates with CPanel and allows clients like me the ability to automagically install a variety of Open Source Applications including phpwebsite and wordpress. So I called bluehost.com and they encouraged me to try it out since there was a money back guarantee. Within about ten minutes I had created a website, installed both phpwebsite and wordpress, and completed my initial testing. Now that is slick! On top of that the CPanel application provides a slew of nice features such as ssh/script access and secure browser based file transfers. They did not skimp on hosting features either. You get 1GB of diskspace, 10 databases, perl/php, and slew of other features. This all comes at a very competitive price of $6.95 a month. Wow! I am impressed. I knew deep down that setting up a web site is not that hard. The hard part is selecting the right host provider. Click here to checkout or signup for bluehost.com.

RE: Marines Find Faith Amid the Fire

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 14:01:29 GMT

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-baptize29apr29.story

Great story and accompanying image sin the Los Angeles Times by Tony Perry and Rick Loomis about four Marines baptized on the battlefield in Falluja at a school from which they’ve been fighting. (all images by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times)

Sgt. Andrew Jones, 25, of Sullivan, Ind, is among four Marines baptized by Navy chaplain Lt. Scott Radetski in Fallujah, Iraq. “With everything that has happened here,… I thought it was a good place to be reborn,” said Jones. Echo Company is battling insurgents. Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times

Lance Cpl Chris Hankins, 19, of Kansas City, Mo, gets a dunking in the font- boxes of MRE’s lined with plastic. Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times

On Monday, Echo Company battled insurgents for two hours. One Marine was killed and 15 were wounded in the latest and bloodiest of numerous skirmishes.
Then four Marines — from the battle-hardened company, part of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division — asked a Protestant chaplain to arrange a battlefield baptism.

"I've been talking to God a lot during the last two firefights," said Lance Cpl. Chris Hankins, 19, of Kansas City, Mo. "I decided to start my life over and make it better."

To give the occasion even greater significance, the Marines chose to have Wednesday’s baptism in the courtyard of a bullet-riddled school that they used in their fight with insurgents.

Two Marines died and several were injured in the same courtyard when a mortar round landed among their group April 12. A small memorial has been erected in the courtyard to the two: Lance Cpl. Robert Zurheide, 20, of Tucson and Lance Cpl. Brad Shuder, 21, of El Dorado Hills, Calif.

After Monday’s battle, a memorial was added in the courtyard for the Marine killed in that fight: Lance Cpl. Aaron Cole Austin, 21, of Amarillo, Texas.

Battlefield baptisms are not unusual among front-line troops, said Navy Lt. Scott Radetski, the battalion’s Protestant chaplain. So many service personnel on deployment request to be baptized that the military even has a two-page sheet on how to create a battlefield baptismal font, called the Field Immersion Baptismal Liner Instructions.

Radetski said he performed one ceremony in Kuwait when Marines were waiting to move into Iraq. Three Marines at another encampment in Fallouja also have asked to be baptized.

"When chaos shows its head," Radetski said, "we need an anchor for our faith. You need that rock that God promises to be. I consider it an honor to fulfill their request."

For Wednesday’s ceremony, Radetski had boxes containing MREs, or meals ready to eat, arranged to simulate a smallish bathtub. A large piece of plastic was placed inside, and water from 14 five-gallon Marine Corps cans was poured.

Sgt. Andrew Jones, 25, of Sullivan, Ind., said he had been considering getting baptized before he left for Iraq. His combat experiences convinced him that the time was right.

"With everything that has happened here, all the good friends I’ve lost, I thought it was a good place to be reborn," Jones said.

The fight Monday, in which insurgents hurled grenades and fired rockets and machine guns at the Marines, left many of the young men of Echo Company shaken and emotionally drained.

Protestant and Roman Catholic services held in the Marine encampment hours after the battle drew heavy attendance. On Wednesday, little of the initial pain was evident.

Capt. Douglas Zembiec, commander of Echo Company, said he had tried to console his Marines while reminding them that they have to continue to do their jobs, including launching a possible assault on insurgent strongholds in the center of Fallouja.

"There’s no room for self-pity out here," he said. "It will get you killed faster than the enemy."

The four Marines — Hankins; Jones; Lance Cpl. Kenneth Hayes, 22, of Redding; and Lance Cpl. Michael Fuller, 20, of Spring, Texas — stripped to their skivvies and removed their combat boots before being dunked individually by Radetski.

Two dozen Marines stood quietly. Radetski, honoring the four Marines’ request, said the baptism was also being performed to show respect for the fallen and wounded Marines.

The elementary school shows the ravages of three weeks of fighting.

Its windows are broken, debris is strewn about, furniture is broken and books thrown to the dusty floor. Bullet holes cover all surfaces. Windows are boarded or sandbagged to hinder snipers.

Insurgents are holed up in houses a few hundred yards away, their weapons aimed at the school, hoping to kill Marines with a well-timed shot.

Still, the four Marines thought that the courtyard was the ideal spot to make a public profession of their religious belief.

"What better place to do this than here, in the middle of hell," Fuller said. [Via The Beacon]

Huntington's Warning

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 13:26:43 GMT

I got this from Tim Curlee’s blog, The Beacon. This piece really hits home with me. I know I have thought about all of these things but Rich brings it all together and with greater meaning.

http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200404280850.asp

Rich Lowry on Samuel Huntington’s latest book, Who Are We?. (cheers to BobbyC for the tip).

He writes that few Americans now anticipate the dissolution of the United States. But few anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union either. Huntington warns, "The greatest surprise might be if the United States in 2025 is still the country it was in 2000 rather than a very different country (or countries) with very different conceptions of itself and its identity.
Huntington sees an America gripped in a "crisis of national identity." What is that identity? It is partly based on what Huntington calls The Creed, our belief in liberty, democracy, individual rights, etc. But The Creed has a particular source: America’s Anglo-Protestant culture, which includes "the English language; Christianity; religious commitment; English concepts of the rule of law, the responsibility of rulers, and the rights of individuals; and dissenting Protestant values of individualism, the work ethic, and the belief that humans have the ability and the duty to try to create heaven on earth, a ’city on the hill.’"

This culture forged a country where people from across the world could arrive and become rich, happy and free — if they assimilated. Huntington writes, "Throughout American history, people who were not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants have become Americans by adopting America’s Anglo-Protestant culture and political values." He notes that this is "an argument for the importance of Anglo-Protestant culture, not for the importance of Anglo-Protestant people." The continued vibrancy of this culture is crucial for the country’s future. Without it, according to Huntington, The Creed that sprung from it is in danger of collapsing — thus eliminating the two fundamental supports of America as it has been defined for centuries.

But Anglo-Protestant culture has taken a pounding during the past three decades. From multiculturalism, which rejects the idea of a dominant culture. From the assertion of group identities based on race, ethnicity and gender. And from "denationalized" elites, hostile to America’s culture and determined to weaken it in myriad ways. "These efforts by a nation’s leaders," Huntington writes, "to deconstruct the nation they governed were, quite possibly, without precedent in human history." All these forces have weakened the nation’s ability to assimilate immigrants, just as it is experiencing a massive, decades-long wave of immigration. Feeling less pressure to learn English or naturalize, the new, largely Mexican and Hispanic immigrants have been able to establish unassimilated ethnic enclaves.

Huntington worries that this dynamic could create "a country of two languages, two cultures, and two peoples," as America’s distinctive culture and The Creed atrophy. Huntington hopes for a better future — for the sake of all of us. "Americans should," he writes, "recommit themselves to the Anglo-Protestant culture, traditions, and values that for three and a half centuries have been embraced by Americans of all races, ethnicities, and religions and that have been the source of their liberty, unity, power, prosperity, and moral leadership as a force for good in the world."

A world of grief awaits Huntington. He will inevitably be misunderstood and smeared. On the contrary, only a writer of Huntington’s stature has a chance to punch through the oppressive pieties surrounding these issues and force a forthright debate of them. Huntington says he undertook his new book in the spirit of "a patriot and scholar." A courageous one.

[Via The Beacon]

Hernia operation

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 03:13:45 GMT

My wife got some bad news at the doctor's office. He says she has a hernia and they need to operate. He went on to say that after the surgery she will need to stop riding horses for two months and to expect recover about 80% of her original abdominal strength. My wife's world just crashed down on her. She rides about six horses a day for much of the week. Many of her clients rely on her ability to get up on their horses if necessary to fix problems. All of that has changed! My wife is one unhappy camper and there is nothing I can do but listen and sooth. I doubt that will be enough.