OUR COLUMNISTS So, Now the Church Is the New Whipping Boy for the GOP? Commentary by Matt Friedeman While acknowledging GOP Senator Tom Coburn has courage to "slap around" the Religious Right, columnist Matt Friedeman questions the lawmaker's accusation that the church has played a role in food stamp fraud. Teaching the Value of Love Commentary by Jane Jimenez Many sex educators are fond of stating, "We don't teach values." If that's true, then aren't they admitting they're failing? A Cynic's Playground Commentary by Brad Locke The Olympics...NASCAR...spring training...March Madness.... Unfortunately, much of the current optimism will give way to the cynicism that has been infecting the sports world with alarming frequency the last few years. Comparing Islamic Fascists to Christian Conservatives Commentary by Mark Creech The media has often compared Christian conservatives in America to violent Islamic radicals. Such comparisons are common today by those on the left, but nothing less than asinine -- and recent events on the world stage prove it.

...On Wednesday, terrorists detonated bombs inside the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines, destroying its golden dome and triggering more than 90 reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. The nation's largest Sunni group says at least seven people, including three clerics, were killed in the attacks, which were mainly in Baghdad and predominantly Shiite provinces south of the capital. President Bush urged restraint among rival religious factions in Iraq after the bombing. In a written statement, the president said "the terrorists in Iraq have again proven that they are enemies of all faiths and of all humanity" and that "the world must stand united against them, and steadfast behind the people of Iraq." The president said it was a senseless, cowardly crime that is an affront to people of faith throughout the world. Bush said the American people pledge to work with the people of Iraq to rebuild and restore the Golden Mosque to its former glory. Meanwhile, a key spokesman for Islamic-Americans says Iraqis should reject the lead of those who attacked the shrine and who retaliated by attacking Sunni mosques. Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says the attacks are meant to incite full-blown civil war. And he says religion is not the only source of conflict; that it is also over politics, ethnicity and geography. [AP]

...Two openly homosexual priests are candidates to become bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, and the election of either could worsen the rift over homosexuality in the bitterly divided church. Reverends Bonnie Perry of Chicago and Robert Taylor of Seattle -- both of whom have longtime same-sex partners -- are among the five candidates. In 2004, an emergency panel of the global Anglican Communion, which includes the U.S. Episcopal church, asked for a moratorium on installing bishops in same-sex relationships. The request came after Gene Robinson, who has a longtime male partner, was consecrated bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. The American Anglican Council, which advocates on behalf of traditionalists who have formed a separate network of dissenting churches, posted a strongly worded letter on its website opposing the two homosexual nominees. Conservatives believe the Bible bans same-sex relationships. [AP]

...Because she shared her faith with co-workers during lunch breaks and after work hours -- and because she refused to sign a document agreeing not to do that -- a Christian woman in California has been terminated from her internship with the Department of Children and Family Services and threatened with expulsion from a graduate program at Cal State-Long Beach. The document the school had asked Jacqueline Escobar to sign also included a statement admitting she had "an inability to separate her religious beliefs from her role" as an intern. Consequently, Escobar's legal representative -- the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) -- filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf against the DCFS. Escobar, according to a press release from PJI, demonstrated outstanding academic and work performance but "came under scrutiny" for sharing her faith while an intern at the DCFS. That state agency, says PJI president Brad Dacus, "has no business telling an intern that she cannot share her faith during non-working hours." The attorney says he is confident a federal court will "cut off [the] muzzle" that the agency has used to silence his client. [Jody Brown]

...An evangelist who trains believers to share the gospel effectively says many Christians are too concerned with receiving praise and affirmation from the secular world. While playing basketball for Auburn University, Mark Cahill was a teammate of Charles Barkley. Now Cahill travels the country teaching Christians how to witness using God's moral law, the Ten Commandments. He says many Christians are growing weary of preachers and teachers who promote a motivational message for the masses. "I just know that more people [are saying to] get back to the basics, which means getting back to the Bible," he shares, "and when we do that, honest to goodness I tell you what, you're seeing some really, really solid believers. But I think we're also going to see [as described in Matthew 25] the real separation of the people who really want to get serious by serving Jesus Christ [from] those falling away...as the Bible promises, before the Lord Jesus Christ returns." Cahill has just released his latest book, One Heartbeat Away: Your Journey Into Eternity. [Allie Martin]

...Mississippi federal judge Charles Pickering, one of President Bush's nominees who was successfully filibustered by Senate Democrats, says there is a great conflict taking place -- and his experience before the Judiciary Committee demonstrated it, he adds. In a speech delivered at the Heritage Foundation, Judge Pickering said the conflict boils down to two contrasting worldviews. On the political right, he stated, are people who have deep religious faith and a belief in absolutes that should govern life's activities. The other side, said Pickering, has its own set of traits. "Those on the left do not believe in absolutes, even though [they] believe absolutely that they're right -- and that everyone else is wrong," the jurist said. He notes that is an obvious contradiction, but one that "goes unnoticed, as far as they're concerned -- and as far as the press is concerned." Pickering says the outcome of this struggle will determine the kind of world children will face in the future. [Bill Fancher]

...A man considered by many to the "father of the modern conservative movement" has been given an appointment by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The Republican lawmaker from Tennessee has named Paul Weyrich to a post on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. Frist says Weyrich's appointment is a wise one. "He is a man of high quality, integrity, tremendous experience and expertise," says Frist, adding those are qualities beneficial to attaining the Commission's objective, which is "a transportation system that is accountable, that is complete, and that is responsive to the needs of the American people." For Weyrich, it is the second honor in as many weeks. He was recently given an award for "lifetime service" by the American Conservative Political Action Conference. [Bill Fancher]

...An advisor to President Bush says Americans should brace for lots of healthcare ideas coming from the administration. Tim Goeglein, Deputy Director of the White House Office of the Liaison, says Bush is busy getting his message about healthcare out to the public. "He's talking about health savings accounts and a market approach to health in this country. It's a very important domestic priority for the president," the White House spokesman says, noting that the president spoke of those issues in his State of the Union message. "And there's going to be some very important policy developments as a result of how we go forward in the second part of the 109th Congress." Lack of rhetoric on healthcare issues has been a recurring theme for critics of the Bush administration. Goeglein suggests there will be plenty of that in the future. [Bill Fancher]

...Christmas will be coming a little earlier than usual this year for thousands of children in Rwanda, a country that was subjected to genocide in the mid-1990s. It was 12 years ago when almost a million Rwandans died during the genocide -- and now many of the children affected by that slaughter will be touched by the thousands of people who care enough to pack a shoebox with small toys, paper and pencils, personal hygiene items, and perhaps something to eat. In cooperation with Operation Christmas Child -- an outreach of Samaritan's Purse -- gospel singer and songwriter Darlene Zschech and her husband Mark are coordinating "Hope Rwanda: 100 Days of Hope" -- an effort to mobilize the global community into action, bringing hope and healing to the people in that tiny central African nation, one of the poorest in the world. Part of the outreach includes distribution of 70,000 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes between April 7 and July 15. Zschech says Hope Rwanda offers the global Church an opportunity to focus its combined strengths and resources to help Rwandans rebuild their nation. The project is being supported by several well-known Christian humanitarian groups, bands, churches, and Christian leaders. [Jody Brown]

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