OUR COLUMNISTS (Click on photos for archives) Singing Christmas in the Most Unlikely of Places Commentary by Matt Friedeman Christmas carols outside an abortion clinic? Those songs can pack a spiritual punch -- certainly for those considering abortion. Where Have All the Christians Gone? Commentary by Joe Murray Christians have retreated from politics to the subculture and divided amongst themselves. Christians have not remained united in this cultural battle, but have resorted to bickering and infighting -- and in the process have divided our churches and diluted our votes. A Forest of One Tree Commentary by Jane Jimenez No issue this year looms larger than marriage and the fight to define what marriage will be for the next generation. Thousands of words are printed daily on the subject, but they fail to speak to the central point of marriage. Win -- and Win Now Commentary by Brad Locke The pressure to succeed, immediately and frequently, has become a defining characteristic of our culture. This may be a big reason why many people don't get God. He Bought Up the Records Commentary by Mark Creech God bought up all of life's records and forever put them away -- never to be played -- for everyone who trusts Him for forgiveness and receives Him as Lord.

...Christmas trees are going back up at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The trees were removed over the weekend after a rabbi complained that the airport's holiday decor did not include a menorah for Hanukkah. But when the airport got word that the rabbi was not planning to sue, it decided to bring the trees out again. The airport was worried that if it displayed a menorah, it would have to put out symbols of other religions and cultures. The president of the agency that runs the airport notes that the rabbi never asked that the Christmas trees be removed. There are no immediate plans to display a menorah but the rabbi has offered to give the port an electric one to use. After the big trees were removed, some airline workers decorated ticketing counters with their own miniature Christmas trees. [AP]

...Some pro-family leaders believe liberal attitudes and misplaced priorities may be the reasons behind a soaring divorce rate among older couples in Canada. The Edmonton Journal reported recently that nearly half of Canadian married couples in the 55-59 age range are seeking to end their marriages -- and the statistics are almost as bad for couples in the 50-54 age range. Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, believes there is a connection between this trend and the more liberal attitudes towards divorce and marriage that have evolved over the last 40 years, including a no-fault divorce provision that came into play in 1985. Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family says the increase in older couples filing for divorce may also be traced back to their priorities in early married life. He believes these couples may have spent so much time pouring themselves into career and home and providing for their children that they forget to develop their own relationship. And now that the children have left the nest, Stanton says, the couple finds little to hold them together. [Fred Jackson]

...For the second time in as many months, the founding pastor of a Colorado church has resigned over allegations of homosexual involvement. First it was prominent evangelical and mega-church leader Ted Haggard, who resigned after a male prostitute said they had had sex for years. Now, on Sunday, the founding pastor of Grace Chapel in Englewood told his congregation in a videotaped message that he had engaged in homosexual sex and was stepping down. According to Associated Press, 54-year-old Paul Barnes, who has led Grace Chapel for 28 years, told his congregation that he has struggled with homosexuality since childhood and often "cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away." Rev. H.B. London heads up the pastoral ministry of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family. He says his staff gets hundreds of phone calls from pastors struggling with the kind of sins that caused the downfall of Haggard and Barnes. London explains that pastors fall into sin for three reasons: unresolved conflicts at home, a lack of accountability, and a lack of intimacy with God. He says that while pastors face unusual pressures, 97 percent of them "do not fail morally and do their best to live above reproach." [Jody Brown/AP]

...The founder of Liberty Counsel says the refusal of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a lawsuit by California parents objecting to sexually-oriented school surveys highlights the need to create parental rights protection under state laws. Parents who filed the case in Fields v. Palmdale School District hoped to set a precedent with a review and reversal by the justices of a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision which said the U.S. Constitution does not protect parents from having their children exposed to such surveys. Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver says California parental notification law about sexual topics has been passed since the suit was filed in 2002 and will protect the parents and their children in the future. But since a Supreme Court precedent was not established, he adds parents everywhere in the U.S. need to make sure they know if their state has laws that do the same. "And I think that's one of the things this case really signifies around the country," the attorney explains. "Some federal courts are not finding any federal constitutional protection for the parents to object and/or opt out of those sexually explicit curriculum or questionnaires -- which means that until such right is protected, therefore, we must turn to the states." Staver says about half of the 50 states have laws requiring parental permission, or allowing opt-out provisions, when human sexuality is addressed. [Ed Thomas]

...A former military aide to Bill Clinton believes the recently released Iraq Study Group report is another example of how liberals simply refuse to study history and realize that appeasing tyrants never works. The Baker-Hamilton report has recommended that the U.S. sit down and talk to both Iran and Syria. In fact, James Baker -- who heads the group -- suggested that the Bush administration's failure to talk with those two countries is the reason why Iran is not yet stabilized. But Air Force Lt. Col. (Ret.) Buzz Patterson says all of the group's recommendations are a waste of time. "I think in the long term they can recommend all they want about setting a timeline in Iraq or negotiating with the Iranians and the Syrians, whatever," says Patterson. "It's just not going to happen." He describes the report as "a huge waste of taxpayers money and our time -- and I think ultimately we're going to find out that you cannot negotiate with the Iranians." Patterson says just as the appeasers of the 1930s wanted to allow Adolf Hitler to do what he wanted to do in Europe, it is unbelievable that there are modern-day appeasers who want to do the same thing for Iran and Syria. [Chad Groening]

...An Egyptian-born woman whose father died as a martyr for jihad hopes her new book will help dispel the myth that Islam is a religion of peace. Nonie Darwish calls her book Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror. Darwish was eight years old in 1956 when her father, a military officer, was killed by the Israelis. As the daughter of a "shahid" -- or martyr for jihad -- Darwish's family was instantly afforded great respect and accorded the highest social standing. But the author says she was skeptical. "After I lost my father, I started resenting the idea of jihad and martyrdom and being a shahid, even though we were congratulated by Egyptian officials that we were the children of a shahid," she shares. Still, Darwish says her complete conversion from Islam did not happen until she moved to the United States. "When I moved to the states in 1978 and I started seeing the truth," she recalls, "I discovered that Jewish people are just as good as anybody else." Darwish says she is now a proud American citizen, a Christian, and a conservative Republican who wants everyone to recognize the culture of hatred and paranoia that has long defined the Islamic world. [Chad Groening]

...A white marble sarcophagus believed to be the final resting place of the apostle Paul has been unearthed from beneath the altar of Rome's second-largest basilica after centuries hidden from view, but those curious about its contents will have to wait still longer. Vatican experts say they want to examine it more closely before possibly looking inside. According to tradition, Paul was beheaded in Rome in the first century during the persecution of early Christians by Roman emperors. Popular belief holds that bone fragments from his head are in another Rome basilica, St. John Lateran, with his other remains inside the sarcophagus. The coffin, which was buried under the main altar of St. Paul's Outside the Walls Basilica, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and ended last month. [AP]

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