really good questions

Wow, Dom gets it right. I am in awe of his insight.
Let's try a thought experiment: Iraq is to Islam as Poland is to Europe.
Poland, from whence sprang my mother's parents, is a self sustaining agricultural society caught between the agressive central europeans and the aggressive russians. Although they are routinely invaded, they retain their strong sense of themselves.
I believe that this is what MO and Dom are saying. Iraq is the breadbasket, the region within the region that can sustain itself.
In a region that has seen wars of biblical proportions Iraq still stands. Is that something we should help these people remember?
The pope's words are very thought provoking. We're fooling around in a part of the world that is very, very significant.
I didn't miss the President's words today. he called it "the holy land". NOT to claim it as a christian, but to remind everybody that they are treading on sacred soil.
This is all so interesting. The faithful Vs the unfaithful.
On the one hand we have the radical muslims who proclaim that EVERYBODY who doesn't agree with them is unfaithful. Muslim, Jew, Christian or Bahai, either you are with the radicals or you are unfaithful.
On the other side is a western culture that has cast off it's belief in God. These unbelievers are secular Europeans, Angry leftist Americans and old line communists that seek to replace an old faith with their new faith.
I really wonder if a poll that compares the strength in the belief in God with a strength in a belief in the war against terror would show a statistical correlation.
What's the pope saying? Could it be that "they believe in their god, do you believe in yours?"
These are things about which we should think deeply. We are being asked some very important questions.
I don't church up often, but I went to Mass on Sunday to thank God for my son's return.
Thank you lord.
During the course of the ceremony the city of Tyre (Sour) was mentioned. I thought about the recent battles between Hezbullah and Israel and I thought "Holy shit, we're at it again"
I believe that our president was talking directly to devout muslims. I believe that he was saying that he understands the situation both currently and in its biblical sense.
Think about it. He called it the holy land. Show some respect Hamas, we have deep roots there too.
The messages of the last few days have been very intense. The muslims routinely use ancient terms when describing the modern world. Both the pope and Mr Bush used terms that are both historically accurate and heavily laden.
A message was sent, that much is clear.
VDH called the current situation a pause in the war. Many wars have had such a pause. The question for us AS A SPECIES is can we sustain this pause and achieve true peace?
Must we resume warfare? I firmly believe that the next move belongs to the Arab/muslims. Do you want peace or do you want war? We are prepared for either. We fervently wish for peace but we will fight to acheive it if we must.
But, back to the Pope's words. Is islam driving us back to our faith? Is is about ideologies? Or is it about that gray area between ideology and religion?
Can we protect our culture and discard the belief in God that spawned it?
We've got some homework. We need to think about this.