Two must reads this Paschal (Easter) season

First of all, why “Paschal”? The word comes from Pascha which means Passover and is the proper term for the resurrection of Christ. Christ is the “Paschal Lamb” (Passover Lamb). Think of John the Baptist’s words when he first laid eyes on Christ: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” To a first century Jew, the term “Lamb of God” would powerfully recall Exodus, when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Children of Abraham and the Egyptians during the final plague and killed all the first born sons of the families who did not place the blood of the unblemished lamb on their door posts. “Easter” is a later import and is not a historically proper term.

In any case, read these two articles about Pascha in Dachau:

Dachau 1945: The Souls of All Are Aflame

Pascha (Easter) in Dachau

10 Questions For Al Gore And The Global Warming Crowd

Townhall.com John Hawkins March 30, 2007

I’ll be the first to admit that like most conservatives, I’m deeply skeptical of the idea that mankind is causing global warming. Is that because I take payoffs from the energy industry, don’t like Al Gore, don’t like science, or any of the other silly excuses global warming alarmists come up with to explain why people don’t buy their theory?

No.

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Global Warming Heresy

Townhall.com Walter E. Williams March 28, 2007

Most climatologists agree that the earth’s temperature has increased about a degree over the last century. The debate is how much of it is due to mankind’s activity. Britain’s Channel 4 television has just produced “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” a documentary that devastates most of the claims made by the environmentalist movement. The scientists interviewed include top climatologists from MIT and other prestigious universities around the world. The documentary hasn’t aired in the U.S., but it’s available on the Internet.

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Crisis in Indonesia

NEWS FROM THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MISSION CENTER (OCMC)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Crisis in Indonesia – March 19, 2007

The Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (Ecumenical Patriarchate) wishes to issue the following statement, concerning situations in Indonesia.

The Orthodox Christians in Indonesia have joined the list of those attacked by Muslim extremists. Father Methodios Sri Gunarjo, his family and other Orthodox were terrorized and threatened this past weekend. Although there are no reports of physical harm at this point, the verbal, psychological and other forms of abuse continue. At one point, a knife was put to the throat of Father Methodios, as his attackers demanded that he close the Churches in the Boyolali area of Central Java. It should be noted that there is a thriving ministry in this area.

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A Journey That Will Come Full Circle and End With a Ring

New York Times (free registration required) Sergei Kivrin March 21, 2007

Danilov Monastery bellsAt the Danilov Monastery in Moscow, Hierodeacon Roman, a bell ringer, may be able ring the tower’s original bells by next year.

MOSCOW, March 20 — The bells of Lowell House at Harvard — so much a part of the university’s tradition that they have their own society of bell ringers — will soon return to the Russian monastery from which they were sold more than 70 years ago.

The Russian Orthodox Church and the university announced a final agreement on Tuesday to move the bells next year to Danilov Monastery, the residence of the Russian patriarch, after a replacement set for Harvard is completed.

The bells have become a symbol for the resurgence of the Orthodox Church and its drive, much like Russia’s, to reclaim its former glory.

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A climate of fear

Ed. I said it two months ago: The global warming movement is really secular apocalypticism. IMO, the movement is best understood as a cultural rather than scientific movement. The scientific jargon only serves to lend it a veneer of authority and thus legitimacy.

The Age March 18, 2007

Apocalyptic talk about global warming has stirred the sediment of old fears – the mushroom cloud has returned to haunt us. But, Thornton McCamish writes, the last great fright was a little different from the new one.

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From a friend in Iraq

A friend of mine who served in Iraq sent this along:

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, here’s a sobering statistic: There has been a monthly average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theatre of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2,112 deaths.

That gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000 persons for the same period. That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in the U.S. Capital than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington.