Trials and tribulations

In spite of having two firewalls, anti-virus software and adware protection, I still got hit with a computer virus last week and had to reformat my computer to get back to normal. This is a frustration. While computers have enabled us to do many amazing things, the problems associated with the internet make us all wonder from time to time if it is worth it. Have our lives become simpler? More productive? Or are we just overloaded with information? I guess we take the good with the bad and adjust. Needless to say, regular posting has been delayed.

Powerline has a post on the killing of a killing of a Coptic Christian family in Jersey City . It had been reported in previous days that the father was involved in writing internet posts critical of Islam. Michelle Malkin also posted on this topic. Both referred to an ABC News news report that presents more information about potential motives. The key quote, which appears on both blogs this morning is this...

"ABC News has learned that a cousin of the slain family has been a translator working for the prosecution in the trial of Lynne Stewart. She is the radical lawyer accused of smuggling messages from imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to terrorist cell members and associates. "



The potential conclusion is that this is not merely a hate crime, but may have a potential terrorist link. If the motive is persecution of a Christian family, that it would happen in our country is chilling. This was the killing of a family, not just a single individual. An 8-year old girl was repeatedly stabbed and had her throat slit. This was an attempt to send a message. If it is related to terrorism, then it is even more chilling.

We hear from Fox News that Norma McCorvey will request Roe v Wade be overturned. That this challenge is being filed by the "Roe" of Roe v Wade should mean that it will get a lot of attention in both media and legal circles and should get a hearing in the High Court, one would think. Apparently, her case must prove that advances in medical science have dramatically changed since the ruling, making the previous ruling unjust. From my perspective, it should be a slam dunk, but I know that the social activists on the court have been avoiding this for thirty years. Justice O'Connor said that Roe was "on a collision course with itself". Perhaps the court can't hide from this collision any longer.

Finally, Fox also has a strange little story about disclaimers stuck on textbooks in Georgia which simply try to inform students and parents that evolution should not be considered established fact. The disclaimers read:

"This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

Apparently, having an "open mind", and studying evolution "critically" are notions some judges cannot tolerate. A federal judge ruled that the stickers, put in place by the school board, constituted an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. Note that the stickers endorse nothing and do not mention religion. One more evidence that any questioning of the religious faith of naturalism in our public schools will be met with swift censure. The school board plans to appeal on the basis that the judge was interfering in local control of the schools.

While the three stories above are essentially unrelated, they each show that we are in a growing crisis in this country. We still cannot respect innocent life and tolerate not only abortion, but partial birth and live birth abortion, as well as becoming increasingly callous to active euthanasia. Many speak of separation of church and state while adherence to the "orthodoxy" of naturalism is compulsively enforced upon school children. And many still do not admit that we are in a "war" on terror that is unconventional. It is still politically incorrect to speak of radical Islamists as terrorists, whether they kill Christians for simply being Christians or because a relative may have actually taken steps to assist in prosecuting a person tied to a terrorist cell.

We simply don't have a collective identity anymore. We have no visible consensus on what we stand for or what we should be fighting for. To me the answers are simple. Teaching evolution exclusively is establishment of a secular religion and needs to be balanced with evidence against it and a non-sectarian inclusion of Intelligent Design. Actively killing unborn children, living children or adults cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. And we can and should do whatever is necessary to stop those who kill civilians, particularly 8-year old girls, for the sake of a cause.

That Roe has survived for 32 years, that Intelligent Design is seen as unconstitutional, that significant numbers of Americans can't adjust to the war on terror being a real war against a real enemy, is hard for me to fathom. Will we have the will to persevere? Hopefully enough of us will...