OUR COLUMNISTS Your Name is Mo! The Church's Finest Hour Commentary by Matt Friedeman Saints from Kansas, and Ohio, and Maryland, and Colorado, and ... well, from everywhere it seems ... are descending on the places hurt by Hurricane Katrina with healing hands and words of compassion. Audio-visual Christians, I have heard it described lately. Kiss, Kiss, I Love You Commentary by Jane Jimenez Summer is the time for true love to flourish. What better place to witness this than in the airport? Playing Through the Pain Commentary by Brad Locke I once wrote that it's ludicrous to think something as inconsequential as sports could help people cope with tragedy. I fear I misspoke. Amnesia Commentary by David Sisler What would it be like to wake up and not remember the evil that you had done, the people you had hurt, the sins you had committed? What would you pay for a little selective amnesia? North Carolina Enacts a State Lottery Commentary by Mark Creech The Tarheel State has now entered the gambling business' world of vice and deception. Mark Creech of the North Carolina-based Christian Action League says only a miracle in the courts could possibly change matters.

...Nigeria's Anglican church has purged its constitution of any reference to the mother church in England, deepening a rift over homosexuality. A statement on the Nigerian church's website says "all former references to 'communion with the see of Canterbury"' have been deleted. Instead, Nigerian Anglicans affirm their ties with churches that maintain the historic "faith, doctrine, sacrament and discipline." Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of more than a fifth of the world's Anglicans, has emerged as a leader of Anglican conservatives who oppose any church acceptance of homosexuality. The Nigerian and Ugandan churches broke ties with the U.S. Episcopal Church over its 2003 consecration of a homosexual bishop, V. Gene Robinson. A dispute over same-sex marriages in England has deepened divisions. [AP]

...Two women's groups within the United Methodist Church -- one conservative, the other more liberal -- debated their differences on social and theological issues today (Wednesday) in an open forum in the nation's capital. Faye Short, the president of the RENEW Network -- the theologically conservative UMC women's group -- calls the event "significant" in the life of the denomination because the other group invited to the table, the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, is "one of the most influential and well-funded agencies" in the UMC. The Women's Division oversees the program ministry of United Methodist Women (UMW). Short says the objective of the public forum was to engage in "an intense discussion regarding the direction" the Women's Division has taken UMW. She says one of her RENEW Network members claims to find no evidence, for example, that the Women's Division uses any funds to fulfill the Great Commission. "In a broken world," says Short, "Christian mission without the gospel message is like putting a small Band-Aid on a massive hemorrhage." Short adds that she hopes the debate on issues of disagreement between the two groups leads to "reform and reconciliation" within the Women's Division. [Jody Brown]

...The Washington Nationals have suspended the baseball team's chapel leader. The decision was made following an article in The Washington Post. The newspaper reported that Nationals chapel leader Jon Moeller nodded when a player asked whether Jewish people are doomed if they do not believe in Jesus. In a statement, the Nationals say the opinions reported in the story do not reflect the views of the franchise. The team has asked the Christian group that provides chapel leaders to appoint an interim replacement while the comments are investigated. But the president of the Washington, DC-based National Clergy Council says the Major League Baseball franchise has handled the matter "very badly." Rev. Rob Schenck, alluding to the fact that the team is reacting to criticism from Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of the National Synagogue in the nation's capital, says the Nationals "seem to be saying that the club's policy on religion will be rule by intimidation." Schenck says the only way to correct that impression is to reinstate Moeller, who leads the team's Baseball Chapel, which is an international ministry recognized by Major League Baseball. [AP/Jody Brown]

...The Fairfax County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors has voted to ignore several violations of federal law and proceed with the establishment of three "day laborer" sites for illegal aliens. Despite the threat of a lawsuit from the legal watchdog group Judicial Watch, Fairfax County is going ahead with the labor sites, using a $400,000 federal block grant. Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch says the county is blatantly violating federal law. "Number one, it's illegal for these folks to be in the country to begin with. Number two, it's unlawful for them to seek employment," he says. "And then thirdly ... if they were to be employed and they lacked the proper documentation [it would be in violation of the law]." Judicial Watch is representing several county citizens who are angry over the establishment of the day labor sites of illegal aliens. Use of tax money to fund the sites has angered even more citizens. [Bill Fancher]

...A human rights activist says there is no reason for the U.S. to trust North Korea in light of the latest back-pedaling by the Pyongyang regime. On Monday, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for energy aid, economic cooperation, and security assurances. But the next day, Pyongyang backed off, saying it will not dismantle its program until the U.S. gives it nuclear reactors to generate power. Suzanne Scholte, vice chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, says the North Koreans cannot be trusted. "They've never abided by an agreement," Scholte says. "I don't know why we think they will now -- they never have before. They have a history of using negotiations to extract aid." And Scholte says North Korean defectors have told her the regime would have already collapsed if it were not for previous appeasement during the Clinton administration. "The general consensus among the defectors who have left that country [is] that if we hadn't rushed in and given them aid in the 90's, the regime would have collapsed," she shares. "At the very least, it would have put enormous pressure on Kim Jong Il's to reform. That regime has got to reform." Scholte says giving concessions to Kim Jong Il would only give him a license to continue to terrorize the North Korean people by letting more die of starvation. [Chad Groening]

...An advocate for a "flat tax" has told Washington that the time to scrap the United States' income tax code is here. Former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes told a Heritage Foundation audience recently that the nine-million-word tax code needs to be changed. "I think the thing ought to be replaced with a flat tax [which is] very simple: throw out the nine-million-word monstrosity [and] replace it with a single rate -- in my case, 17 percent," the tax reform advocate explains. "You'd have generous exemptions for adults and for children -- $13,200 for each adult, $4,000 for each kid -- [and a] $1,000 tax credit for each kid. So for a family of four, your first $46,000 would be free from the federal income tax." Forbes says his plan would allow Americans to fill out their income tax on a postcard. [Bill Fancher]

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