First, I'm grateful that more than half of the miners trapped underground in Carletonville, South Africa, have been rescued. I pray that they all get out safely. Next, I know I've got comments I've not responded to, but, once more, please bear with me. We've been away. Before I play catch-up, though, I want to comment on a NY Times article today about “SECRET” government "ENDORSEMENTS" of "SEVERE INTERROGATIONS" (emphases mine) by US intelligence operatives. Ironic, since I watched "The Good Shepherd" on VCR a couple days ago. No point getting into the story, which is about the early CIA years. Enough to say that near the end, the audience are privy to a joke: we hear that the reason insiders refer, not to "the CIA", but to "CIA" without the "the" prefix, is much the same as the reason one refers, not to "the God" but to "God". Not fussing about blasphemy here. God is Cool and can take care of Godself. What I wonder is how anybody, let alone Christians, can stomach this devilish soup? How is it perfectly fine for Some People to treat Other People vilely and without regard for their worth as children of God, ostensibly to secure the safety of the aforementioned 'Some'? As far as I know, there is no religious teaching of any kind that says that any of us is NOT a child of God. One's clear obligation in charity to one's fellow human person has no caveat. For Christians, the teaching (Luke 6:27-8) is "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you...." As a person who believes the whole Jesus foolishness (First Cor 1:17), I find this duplicity both daring and dangerous. Still, it’s the inconsistency that needs to worry ALL of us, Christian or otherwise. How is anybody to trust anybody or believe anything when, on a matter as basic as the integrity and inviolability of the human person, there’s no widely advertised, consistently held moral position according to which states and individuals are accountable? There’s a notion out there that since the Body of Earth has held out this long, the environment will simply continue to take the battering we give it. That is supremely foolish. The same is true for the Societal Body. It won’t keep taking the beating we give it any more than the Earth will. And when we are overtaken by the Absolute Corruption of Absolute Power, it ain’t gonna be pretty. Selah.