When I recently put my mother-in-law on her plane home to Iowa after a months stay, I saw U.S. servicemen in uniform, many of whom were probably traveling home for the holidays. That immediately conjured memories of my first trip home in a U.S. Army uniform for Christmas in 1969.There was something amazing about that experience. The public actually demonstrated a genuine kindness and respect for me that I had never experienced before or since. Conversations were easy, greetings were universal, doors opened, people smiled. I was 10-feet tall in that uniform. As I recall, we got a special break in the cost to fly, but we had to be in uniform. At the time, I was stationed at Fort Polk, La. I remained on post on Christmas Day, then took a bus on Dec. 26 to Houston, then flew from there to Des Moines, Iowa. I stayed at a first cousins house overnight, then caught up with my parents the next day for the annual Griffiths family Christmas in nearby Polk City. The whole trip was one of typical melancholy and homesickness, yet feeling the pride of the Army uniform while a half a world away, the Vietnam War was raging.That would also be the Christmas when the advance infantry training companys clerk went AWOL and never returned. Being proficient at typing, I was recruited, in January, to take over his responsibilities first temporarily and then permanently. I learned the role so quickly that I would stay in that job for the next 17 months, until my discharge from the Army in May 1971. During that time, I provided administrative specialist services to Company B-4-3 and steadily won promotions to specialist E-5, with acting sergeant stripes. I would be the company clerk and mail clerk for groups of 220 men every eight weeks, as they trained in specialized infantry skills for assignments in Vietnam, Germany or National Guard and Army Reserves units.It was daunting duty being in that role as bearer of long-awaited mail to the trainees, as the one who helped guys get emergency leave for a family illness or the birth of a child, to help process conscientious objector applications or to write up the paperwork for punishments for AWOL or Article 14 infractions or prepare nominations for military awards. There were preparing daily morning reports, keeping rosters current, answering the phone, writing letters and getting coffee for the company commander in the best tradition of Radar OReilly of M.A.S.H. fame.How many times I looked into the eyes of cash-strapped servicemen who were trying to figure out how get home on leave or to get off the post for an emergency. Most were able, through a process, to borrow on their future pay, but that was never enough.I am reminded of that by what the chaplaincy program at Sky Harbor International Airport routinely does in its travelers aid outreach. For years, the Rev. Al Young and his team of volunteers have sought to help people who pass through the airport, often burdened by family distress and dysfunction, domestic violence, physical handicaps and too little money to be even in a traveling mode. Over the years, I have written a number of features about that earnest chaplaincy program, which, itself, relies on donations.In 1999, the program teamed with Travelers Aid International, a network of agencies spread across the U.S. and Canada committed to crisis response for people in transit. It has given Sky Harbor Interfaith Chaplaincy better resources and skills to help those distressed and stranded. That effort got a new boost in August 2005, when Young started a conversation with administrators at Sky Harbor to come up with still better strategies and tactics. That led to a contract between the chaplaincy and Phoenix Aviation Department, which went into force on July 1.It focuses on seven services: 1) assistance to military personnel in collaboration with Sky Harbor Military Hospitality Room; 2) travel options for stranded people who have exhausted the services of their ticketed airlines; 3) provide stranded passengers with financial assistance for food or lodging; 4) act as ombudsmen for passengers to assist in resolving traveling issues; 5) provide referrals to local social service agencies for additional help; 6) arrange relocation for victims of domestic violence; and 7) provide meet and greet or escort for special needs passengers, such as youth, the elderly and disabled and others. Accompanying the agreement is a $35,000 commitment, which has allowed the program to add Elvia Jaurequi as a case manager.It’s a vital ministry. Imagine if Sky Harbor had had the kind of crisis at Denver Airport did last week with the massive snowstorm that stranded thousands. No doubt, Sky Harbor travelers were affected by that and needed help from the chaplaincy. For more information, see http://members.iinet.com.au/~holloway1/PHX.html

In recent years, what you do and what you say get out there into the marketplace faster and the watchdogs are quicker to respond. Some would say the politically correct folks are too apt to pounce on whatever offends them. Other would say the system is working because reckless talk and actions are being promptly spotted, pointed out and dealt with. The Internet, of course, lets tens of thousands of groups monitor events, blogs, web sites, press conferences, C-span and 24-hour news stations, then instantly fire off their reactions to tens of thousands of media people and all those with computers. I am fed all day by special interest groups reacting and reacting. Of course, it takes an understanding of context to perceive why responses can be so vociferous, swift and uncompromising. Still, its a significant advancement from the past when there was little more than the U.S. mails to transport a press release to targeted people in the media. Such reactions were a week or more in arriving and thus weakened in their force.I appreciate the alacrity of Jewish and Muslim leaders and others on Wednesday and Thursday to come out hard against Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., for using the election of a Muslim, Keith Ellison of Minnesota to Congress, as the red flag warning to America that its the first sign that the America we know and love one day will be another part of the Islam world. The Democrat is the first Muslim to be elected to Congress and has announce he would take his oath office in January with his hand on the Quran, rather than the Bible. In fact, this seemingly is not even an issue because all members of Congress first take their official swearing-in without any religious text. Subsequent ceremonial swearing-ins have been done on the Torah (for Jews), Bible for Christians and others or on no text at all for others. In a letter to hundreds of constituents, Goode, said, The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by voters of that district and if Americans citizens dont wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran (Quran). He wants illegal immigration abruptly ended and legal immigration reduced. I fear that in the next century, we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped, Goode said. Such blatant, straight-forward stuff like that makes for an easy target.Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., wrote Goode, first pointing out that the U.S. Constitution has no religious test as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Pascrell told Goode that he should know about the official swearing-in procedures where no text is used. Keith Ellison serves as a great example of Muslim-Americans in our nation, and he does not have to answer to you, to me or anyone else in regards to questions about his faith, Pascrell said.Aptly the Council on American-Islamic Relations quickly responded: Rep. Goodes Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office. There can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry. Jewish groups, as well, lambasted the Goode remarks, calling it bigotry and pointing out how the dozens of Jews in Congress ceremonially took their oath on Jewish texts, not the Bible with its New Testament.In another quick response to a topic, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs Thursday sent a letter to the new U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, stating distress over recent reports that military leadership has actively violated the religious freedoms of military personnel. The say those studying in academies are being proselytized by zealous Christians in positions of authority within chains of command. Specifically criticized is Christian Embassy, Campus Crusade for Christs outreach to diplomatic, political and military leaders. Cited is a Christian Embassy video shown to military personnel that promotes evangelical Christianity. High-ranking military officials, wearing military uniforms, identified by military rank and depicted in military offices, expressly endorse Christian Embassy and its sectarian religious viewpoint, the Jewish Council noted in its letter to Gates.Executive director Steve Gutow rightly questioned the Pentagon giving Christian Embassy office space and such easy promoting of its work to military personnel. We believe strongly that the United States military has an obligation to protect the religious freedom of all military personnel, he said, noting that, little by little, such things may accumulate to create an environment that is hostile to those of minority faiths.We in the press, the historic watchdogs and surrogates of the people, recognize the great value of those with the eyes and ears to spot conduct that serves to undermine hard-gained and fundamental American rights. Those seeking an advantage or locked into narrow mindsets continue to develop new strategies that must be monitored. May vigorous vigilance and quick reaction continue to slap down the self-serving and overzealous.

Nebraska has the hapless distinction of being home to Americas least progressive Catholic diocese. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz cuts no slack for Catholics in the Diocese of Lincoln to think independently or to speak out for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. Now, the Vatican has affirmed his actions.Progressive Catholics are fuming over a Nov. 24 letter from the Vatican (made public Dec. to the bishop that supports his 1996 decision to excommunicate Catholics who belong to the reform movement Call to Action, a group of Catholics who have pushed for such things as married priests and an end to mandated celibacy, for women in the priesthood and for greater roles of the laity in church governance. The letter addressed only those who were Call to Action Catholics, but Bruskewitz has also named other enemies of orthodox Catholicism in his realm of the Cornhusker State: Planned Parenthood, Society of S. Pius X, Hemlock Society, St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, Freemasons, Jobs Daughters, DeMolay, Eastern Star, Rainbow Girls and Catholics for a Free Choice.So being a Call to Action member in his diocese and presumably to any of those other groups — means automatic excommunication. But theres a way off the road to moral ruin. Disavowing Call to Action, having ones name removed from its rolls, seeking out the sacrament of reconciliation and being guided by a priest in confession and penance make everything OK. The judgment of the Holy See is that the activities of Call to Action in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint, said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in Rome.Thus to be a member of this association or to support it is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic faith, Re said. That prompted Bruskewitz, bishop since 1992, to say, My prayer will always be that when people understand they have taken a wrong turn, they will stop and take the right turn. He told the Catholic News Service that he feels an obligation to lead people under his pastoral care away from organizations perilous to the faith.If church leaders combed through the lives of records of other diocesan Catholics, theyd probably find some other affiliations worthy of drumming folks out of the Church of Peter. The idea of freedom of association and even the First Amendment’s right of freedom of assembly seemingly have no place in Bishop Bruskewitz’s world.Call to Action had appealed the bishops 1996 action, and through the years, its leaders say they could get nowhere in finding out where that appeal was in the Vaticans bureaucracy. It now has the option to appeal Res ruling to the Apostolic Signatura, or the Vaticans supreme court equivalent.The 71-year-old bishop likened his responsibility to that of good parents. Parents have to tell children that they cant test everything in the medicine cabinet or everything under the sink, he explained. The church is our mother and gives us these instructions as protection against dangers we might not perceive . It is liberating, not enslaving.Those are patronizing words to the 25,000 members of Call to Action in some 53 local chapters around the nation. Quite a reach to liken adult Catholics to children — adult Catholics seeking changes that other people of religious faiths have successfully adopted, like clergy with normal home lives. Catholics who bemoan parish closings for lack of priests and to come up with the funds to pay sexual misconduct lawsuits. Catholics who know how much having spouses and children make life so much richer for them. Catholics who know countless highly intelligence, deep-thinking, gifted women who would make better priests than some of the ones they know. Catholics who know that mere gender of a person is a pretty shallow characteristic to determine ones life vocation. Catholics who see duplicity in the treatment and acceptance of gays in their parishes. Catholics who see the layer after layer after layer of authority that keeps their calls for progressive change stifled and not even heard. Catholics who want their church to have a new renaissance that will make the church more consistent with Christs life and teachings.So it is not odd that it took 10 years for the Vatican to just come back with an answer to their ultra-observant priest on the American prairie.

The east central Arizona communities of Snowflake and Taylor were invaded Oct. 1 by fast-moving folks leaving DVDs in blue plastic sacks on doorknobs, a blitz by the Mesa-based Concerned Christians, an ex-Mormon support group. Mormons and non-Mormons in the towns were indiscriminately reached with the gift from the watchdog group.Foot Soldiers Swarming Snowflake Sowing Seed is the title of an article about Project Doorknob in the December-January issue of The Cross, the bimonthly newsletter of Concerned Christians of Mesa. It reports how 100 people spent just 90 minutes in Snowflake and Taylor delivering 4,000 to 5,000 DVDs titled, The Bible vs. the Book of Mormon. It was pulled off on a Sunday morning when most Mormons would be glued to their TVs watching the fall meetings of the churchs twice annual General Conference from Salt Lake City. Jim Robertson, Concerned Christians executive director, explained that the group intentionally planned the quick work in two hours because we knew it wouldnt take long for the Mormon leadership to catch on to what we were doing and instruct their members not to look at the DVD. They actually accomplished their work a half hour early, according to Robertson. Everything went without a hitch, said Robertson, a former Mormon, who, with his wife Judy, has spent nearly three decades marshalling former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help them take the truth of Christianity to current Mormons and try to enable them to leave that religion. Three of the participants in the days work gave accounts of their experiences in The Cross: n Duane Strohmeyer: From the day we planned to distribute (the DVD) I could see Gods hand in it. Plans to raise $1,000 to cover just part of Snowflake grew to $5,000 and they went forward to expand the effort to three communities and the new area of Shumway. May God bring many Mormon souls into the kingdom for many years to come.n Andy Poland: As the day grew closer, God provided Snowflake with a support group of former Mormons. It was amazing to see people gather from different churches to help distribute DVDs. God even sent us wonderful cooks to prepare for us a picnic in the park. n Karrie Browning: A lot of us were overcome by emotion as we felt the excitement building in preparation and the hope for a mighty move of God in these mountains .It was touching for everybody to see how many ex-Mormons were there to assure the team that the days efforts will not be in vain. On a tennis court, bags of 100 DVDs were given to teams with instructions as to where to take them. One of the rules of engagement was that we were not there for confrontation. Browng called for prayer for the team members who live in the Snowflake and Taylor area. They will be the ones who need to be prepared for any backlash from those who are resistant to the message of the cross, and more importantly, prepared for those who may seek them out to share the truth. Volunteers said they expected to look back to find earnest church members trailing them and pulling off the sacks as quickly as they put them onto doorknobs, but they spotted no one in pursuit.Snowflake is home for the second and newest church temple in Arizona. The churchs 108th sacred temple, the Snowflake Arizona Temple, was dedicated there in 2002 to serve about 35,000 members in that part of the state. Mormon settlers arrived there in 1878. The Robertsons founded Concerned Christians a century later, in 1978.So will these truth squads have an impact? Do these tactics smack of cowardly stealth-like methods to discredit a religion in one of its strong bastions? Most likely, scissors were taken to a lot of DVDs that day. Some disks were likely taken and hidden away by one family member to be seen on the sly. No doubt, some families sat down and soberly watched their copies, confident that the presentation wouldnt shake their beliefs. Jim Robertson calls Project Doorknob an outreach. The Saints likely see it more as a rude knock at their door and yet another reminder that theirs remain a persecuted faith.

So how great is the family feud in legendary evangelist Billy Grahams family over where he and his wife, Ruth, will be buried one day? Like all larger-than-life Americans, there always seems to be controversy with life and death issues.For a week, the media has been reporting and speculating on how deep a division exists for the five Graham children and their octogenarian and fragile parents. Should they be buried in Charlotte, N.C., near the museum and library being erected near the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association headquarters? Or should their remains one day go to The Cove, a Bible training center near the mountainside home near Montreat, N.C.?Certainly, the most famous American evangelist, who made the Bible crusade an international phenomenon filling stadiums night after night, will attract travelers to his grave long after he is gone. Seems the Graham youngest son, Ned Graham, 48, wants the folks buried on the mountain site, while the well-known Rev. Franklin Graham, the 54-year-old heir to the famed ministry, insists the burial spot be at The Cove, a $25 million, 40,000-square foot museum in the state capital. The Cove will seek to create a farm setting to look like where the evangelist grew up outside of Charlotte. Billy Graham, 88, is nearly blind and suffers from Parkinsons disease and declining health, while Ruth Bell Graham, 86, is bedridden and has spinal degeneration. Its said she is in constant pain while curled up in a hospital bed.The Washington Post called the family debate a struggle worthy of the Old Testament, pitting together brother against brother, son against mother and leaving the famous fathertrapped in the middle pondering what to do. Ned, its reported, has abidingly cared for his mother for nearly four years. The Post said Ruth signed a notarized documents with six witnesses, saying she wanted them buried in the mountain resting place. But its said that she has tended to agree with the last person who talked to her.Seems part of the family objects to The Cove. Consultants had worked with the Walt Disney Co. to create a large barn and silo a reminder of Billy Grahams early childhood on a dairy farm near Charlotte. As it is planned, visitors will pass through a 40-foot tall glass entry cut in the shape of a cross and be greeted by a mechanical talking cow. From there, visitors will walk on path of straw through rooms of exhibits. At the end, a stone walkway, also shaped like a cross, will take them to a garden were the Grahams will have been interred. The Post also reports that tourists will have more than one chance to get their names on a mailing list and later be solicited for funds. According to the news story, the Post reporter sat in on a session with Billy and Ruth, while crime novelist Patricia Cornwell gave her first-hand account of touring The Cove building site. Cornwell accused the planners of making The Cove an evangelistic fund-raising experience. Its a mockery. People are going to laugh. Please dont be buried there, she tells the couple. Billy Grahams eyes never leave Cornwells face as she talks. Ruth Graham sighs. A lot, reporter Laura Sessions Stepp writes. That prompts Ruth to add, Its a circus … a tourist attraction. According to the account, Ned Graham has been earnestly trying to get the three Graham daughters, Gigi, Bunny and Anne, to take his side.Franklin Graham told the Post that no decision had been made and both sites were under study. As for the museum, he said, I wanted to show to another generation of pastors and evangelists what God did through a man who was faithful and who communicated it simply. After a weekend of buzz, Billy Graham released a six-paragraph statement Monday saying that, despite media reports, he and Ruth have no disagreement about our future, for we know that after we each take our last breath on earthh, we will be together in heaven. That wont be long, he said. After 63 years of marriage, the decision on where to be buried will be theirs alone, he said. I love all five of our wonderful children. Through the years in our discussion about religion, politics and domestic situations, there have been many opinions and often disagreements, but our family remains close and united in our deep faith in God. He lauded all who are making the library at The Cove a reality and a place for his personal papers. The statement made no mention of the mountaintop retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Might be a big hint there. The Grahams are not the first family to battle over where to put mom and dad when theyre gone.

An Arizona State University faculty couple is solidly involved in an important debate over acceptable means to enhance the human condition and even change the character of human life. Futurists, buoyed by medical and technological breakthroughs, cannot resist the challenge to apply it to the greatest creature of all, humans.Yeah, its be nice if violence, hate, jealousy, greed, rage, sociopathic strains and other nasty traits could be eliminated from people. Or go through the DNA and make bodies disease-resistant. Or do something about tooth decay, weight gain and hair loss. But would the super humans produced be human? With our empty prisons, empty hospitals and drug-free world, would there be other troubles for perfected people in paradise?Norbert Samuelson, professor of religious studies, and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, professor of history and a member of the Arizona State University Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, recently summarized their positions on transhumanism in the monthly publication of the John Templeton Foundation, Milestones. ASU itself has been hosting the 2006 Templeton Research Lecture project, led by Hava, with a distinguished interdisciplinary committee of ASU faculty. Williams Grassie of Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science writes about the issues in his piece, What does it mean to be human?Its brave new world stuff. He quotes University of Chicago bioethicist Keon Kass as one voice of warning: Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenics and neophysic enhancement, for wholesale redesign For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come to pay attention. Biotechnology may be able to create magic.Grassie quotes Oxford University professor Nick Bostrum who leads the World Transhumanism Association (www.transhumanism.org) and authored its manifesto. Bostrum puts its this way, We foresee the feasibility of redesigning the human condition, including such parameters as the inevitability of aging, limitations on human artificial intellects, unchosen psychology, suffering and our confinement to the planet earth.But Hava Tirosh-Samuelson responds, Many people, especially those committed to a religious outlook, intuitively recoil from the transhuman vision and find within that vision an affront to human dignity. It is precisely the belief that humans are created by God in the image of God that leads many people — including religious scientists to resist the transhuman vision as a new hubris that will destroy humanity by redefining it, and further endanger life on our vulnerable planet.Norbert Samuelson adds to the discussion by wondering aloud what kind of elitists is hellbent on reinventing humans. The transhumanist vision reflects the interests, lifestyle and political preferences of affluent, secular, Caucasian males in Western post-industrial societies. He notes that, in the tradition of Aristotle, the ultimate end of human existence is the attainment of happiness, but happiness for transhumanism consists primarily in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.He further warns that the secular-utilitarian ethics that supports transhumanism emphasize individual autonomy, so that the ultimate guiding principle behind all moral decisions is individual rights.In the end, Norbert Samuelson suggests, the transhumanism model runs counter to the traditional values of western religious faiths. And Grassie says that these new scientists may even conquer mortality. In this generation or the next, death too may fall before our amazing human prowess. He hopes that ethicists, religious voices and his own Templeton researchers have a place alongside scientists in such epic work — that science doesnt leave humanities in the dust in its rush to transform the human race.

On Friday night, we took in the dramatic Christmas lights extravaganza at the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My wife and mother-in-law chose a moderately chilly and clear night to saunter through the gardens just east of downtown Mesa and marvel at what can be done intentionally with simple, colorful glowing lights.On Friday night, we took in the dramatic Christmas lights extravaganza at the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My wife and mother-in-law chose a moderately chilly and clear night to saunter through the gardens just east of downtown Mesa and marvel at what can be done intentionally with simple, colorful glowing lights.The temple lights always charm us. The tasteful balance of lights often solid clusters of only reds, only blues, only greens or only whites — is so self-evident. Unlike the notion of so many homeowners that the more lights put up the better, the lights on the temple grounds demonstrate an eye-catching use of lighting that is properly restrained and thought out. Its a glorious exhibition of making full use of all the fences, walls, railings, trees, shrubs, flower gardens, walkways, nooks, fountains and water features to showcase a spectrum of colors. Spotlights bathe the light gray walls of the 1927-built temple next door. In between, shaped arcs of white light grace fences, while draped clusters of lights hang from palm trees like frozen white fireworks. I write a Tribune feature article each year about the displays, now in their 27th season. Over the years, I have listened to the masters who design the lighting layouts, fashion displays and coordinate the hundreds of volunteers from the churchs wards who are put in charge of sections of the grounds to decorate. Theres been a maturing of the ambitious project. In some ways, it is successfully achieving simplicity and an avoidance of clutter. The lighted waterfalls and the simple wisemen on the main sprawling lawn catch attention because they dont compete with anything else.We arrived in time to hear the Taylor Junior High Teen Tones present a snappy concert of holiday favorites. Their voices cascaded around the grounds, and later, they were joined by adult singers for a dramatic singing of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handels Messiah. The striking, familiar music accented the scene of the temple grounds, which were busy with people ambling back and forth down all the paths and sidewalks to take it all in. Over the years, the Temple lights have won a place in USA Todays Ten Great Places to Have a Bright Christmas, and, in the 1980s, Good Morning America listed it among the nations best light spectaculars for Christmas. In more recent years, the sprawling manger scene has grown, while across the reflection pool on the west side is a fenced area featuring the pregnant Mary on a donkey, while a supportive Joseph is at her side. A few feet away is a scene of the Prophet Isaiah, seated outside his home, writing and foretelling the coming of a great prince of peace.We stood in line to go through the International Nativity Exhibit in the Visitors Center. It features finely crafted crches and nativity settings from such materials metal, stone, ceramic and fiber. They showr how many ways the manger scene and the Bethlehem environment can be presented, especially against the backdrop of cultures. An eager female missionary carried out a spirited conversation with us about her church, looking to connection points in our lives. The many missionaries and church members bounced with pride around the grounds that attracted about 1.3 million lights sightseers last year. It was fun watching young couples ooh at displays and to see full families share their glee and maneuver through the crowds to get to all sides of the grounds. An hour later after, zagging around the enchanting ground and letting our eyes drink it all in again, we left through the gates leading out to the front entry of the temple then to a quiet neighborhood street to find our car. It was an illuminating light and it inspired me the next day to put up the lights on my house and shrubs.The temple lights are a true gift to the Valley. Make a trip over there some night up through New Years Eve. They are lit from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the grounds at 525 E. Main Street, Mesa. More information, including names of music groups performing at 7 each night for 30 minutes, can be found on line at christmastemplelights.com.

History is strewn with boneheaded political leaders whose acts defy all logic. So beyond his obvious and relentless torment of Israel, what does Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands to gain by holding a two-day conference to prove the Holocaust was a hoax? He obvious has no shame, but THIS tactic is a huge step in discrediting his very standing in the international community and completely impeaching his credibility. What arrogance! What bold meanness! How could Ahmadinejad ever expect anything else he says or does to have merit? Sadly, this stunt only undermines hope for finding common ground with Iran on other urgent issues. Why deal with such a nut?Just as happens at a party when one guest gets too intoxicated and begins being anti-social folks move away and write him off so, it would seem, Ahmadinejad committed a kind of credibility suicide here. The conference, which brought together 67 writers and researchers from 30 countries, including Louisianas white supremacist David Duke, was a charade — something akin to the Vaticans Inquisition in 1633 to renounce Galileo and his theories on the earth, sun and skies in support of Copernican theory. Duke, a one-time Ku Klux Klan leader and former state representative, would say, The Holocaust is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder.There was talk that the number of Jews who died in concentration camps and furnaces were inflated, that Auschwitz, for example, never was large enough to accommodate the one million said to have died there. Ahmadinejad said the conference was establishing a fact-finding commission to decide, once and for all, whether the Holocaust (1933-1945) occurred and help end a 60-year dispute, according to the Associated Press.Back in 2001, my wife and I spent most of day at the partly restored concentration camp at Dachau, just outside of Munich, Germany. We came away so sickened by the experience. Records showed more than 200,000 prisoners were held there, more than 130,000 were killed and more died from disease and starvation during the 12 years it was used. The vast record of first-person testimony, survivors reports, stark film, photos and independent stories fully corroborate historys darkest atrocities. If all those people werent killed, where were they hidden?News reports suggest all who gathered in Tehran had their tongues in their cheeks and really werent there to factually disprove the Holocaust. Instead, they were gathered to take turns affirming their most of deep-seated hatred of Israel. It became a forum to draw parallels between the oppression and war crimes of the Nazis and accusations that Israel has dastardly mistreated its neighbors.Ahmadinejad wants Europeans to shoulder the responsibility for the creation of Israel and those consequences to the region. If you committed this big crime (Holocaust), then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price? he asked. This is our proposal: Give a part of your own land in Europe, the U.S., Canada and Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country, he said.Talk like that tends to put any civilized debate with a tyrant on any topic more remote. It polarizes and further confirms Ahmadinejad as an extremist too objectionable to deal with. Jews have long feared that when this generation of Holocaust survivors have passed on, that it opens the door for doubters and skeptics to gain followers. Never again must continue to be the vibrant, unrelenting call for all generations that follow so such horrors can never be repeated.

If my workplace is typical, we dont really know much about our colleagues religious preferences. It is a bit of an unwritten dont ask-dont tell matter, and most employees regard it as a personal realm. Those who work more closely together and know a lot about each other typically know about one anothers religious identity and maybe something about their faith habits. Obviously, most companies guard against employees using their positions to proselytize others. Management of Chandler Serranos Restaurant rightly fired a manager in 2001 who refused to stop leading a Bible study, outside of work, with some of her subordinates, in violation of the Mexican restaurant chains work policies. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came to the managers defense, lawsuits followed and though a jurys ruling sided with Mexican restaurant chain, a judge tossed out the verdict in August 2005 because he believed it was against the clear weight of the evidence. Another trial was ordered. The Conference Board, a 90-year-old religious research organization, reports that companies are not necessarily holding back when asked to implement religion-friendly activities in the workplace. The faith-at-work movement is beginning to demand serious attention from employers and in some cases pose major workplace challenge, a study summary said. Companies are getting requests to allow workers to form affinity groups (maybe a Christian book club or a lunchtime Book of Mormon study) or other groups for workers who are like-minded in their faith. Prayers breakfasts are being sought. Another common request is for company chaplains to counsel and console employees. Many employers are uncertain how to deal with such emotional and potentially divisive topics, the Conference Board said. How companies frame their response will determine if the issue becomes a legal minefield or a source of competitive advantage, it said.Inappropriate, it said, would be the formation of anything suggesting a faith-based company, but being faith-friendly is acceptable. The key is not to establish anything suggesting privileging one tradition over another. It delineated the goal of a faith-friendly company is to recognize the centrality of faith in many employees and their desire for an integrated holistic life. Faith-friendly companies do this in ways that are respectful of all faiths by creating a culture of respect, diversity, inclusion and tolerance.Companies operating internationally must transcend cultures and function in societies where the idea of separation of church and state is foreign itself, where workers more readily live out their religions in their work areas. The report found that in some companies today in America, employees spend more time with workers than anywhere else, thus recreating what is, in fact, their true community or the hub of life and they want faith to be a part of it. . Not demanding that ones spiritual side be checked at the office door can provide employees with access to a tool to help deal with their emotional and spiritual needs. Strong moral and worker contentment often translates into higher productivity and more customer-friendly attitudes.The Conference Board suggests that caring for both the physical and spiritual health of the workforce is becoming a part of good business practice. It referred to a 2001 study that found that fewer than a third of 550 human resources professionals had any written policy regarding religion in the workplace. It further found that 77 percent of companies named religion as one area that applies to the standard harassment policy, but just 16 percent offered any training on religious accommodation.It concludes that any faith-at-work movement is only its nascent stage, that companies that want to accommodate its believers need to move carefully to balance any religious workplace activity with a show of corporate neutrality. There must be protection of minorities, guarantees of inclusion and practices that prevent lawsuits. The Conference Board sums it all up in its reports title: Faith at Work is No Longer Taboo.

Heres an appeal TO SAY SOMETHING when you send out your Christmas and Hanukkah greeting cards. My wifes uncle in Iowa signed Art nothing more to his Christmas card. And he is far from alone.Seems to me that if you value your relatives and friends enough to buy or make a greeting card, address it and slap a 39-cent stamp on it, you could take some time and write a note or share some news or personal comments. It is so sterile to just get a signed name. Of course, newsman that I am, the best course is to thoughtfully write a comprehensive family newsletter. Put meaty information into it, recount your year, tell what family members are doing, reflect on adventures, explain what you are doing in the community or in your hobbies, talk about work and milestones, even comment on the welfare of the nation, about what has been on your mind. And throw in some health reports. I WANT to know. For years, Ann Landers put out her annual fall column lambasting holiday family newsletters, woefully trying to make a case that they are brag sheets, that they can read like a medical chart, that parents dwell totally on their precocious, sterling kids or that most people dont care THAT much about their friends and relatives to spend 10 minutes reading about their vacations to Hawaii and Idaho or the colors of the bridesmaids dresses.Baloney. Last years we received a record 59 Christmas newsletters — some chocked full of delicious stories and events, others cryptic and slapped together. One family that has had a number of divorces and remarriages and stepchildren doesnt bother to explain who Amy or Craig or Tom are. Unless you are there with them, its impossible to understand relationships. Some families think they are doing us a favor by writing a tight single paragraph about everyone. Yet, all too often it is vague puff: Mary is enjoying her work. She has a new job and has found it rewarding. She traveled some this year and keep busy in her community work. How about some specifics? Is she in a witness protection program and cant tell more?I started producing a Christmas newsletter in December 1968, at age 22, while I was in Peace Corps training in Toluca, Mexico. I had graduated from college that May and wanted to get a lot of information in one swoop to college friends, relatives and others. Last weekend, I completed our 39th annual Griffiths Christmas Newsletter, capturing the milestones and trivia of our year. It takes up all four sides of a folded 11 by 17-inch sheet (about 4,000 words) with an 8 by 11-inch sheet in the middle with photocopied family photos (front and back). A disclaimer always notes that it is partly written as a one-year chapter of our familys history and deliberately includes things that track our lives. And there are no apologies to those recipients who cannot sit through it all. Last spring, we gave both of our grown children and spouses complete sets of all those newsletters that literally trace their lives from when their mom was pregnant to now when they have their own children. Often, when I need to know what year something happened to us, I can go back to those newsletters in plastic sheeting. We take the time to include a holiday card, along with personal comments directly to each recipient.. Obviously, we dont have to repeat a lot of information because of the newsletter, so it allows us time to focus on our relationship with the recipient through personal thoughts. We send out about 150 cards/newsletters annually, checking the previous years list. As we get older, we see a growing number of recipients who have died from the previous year. But new people come into our lives to replace them. (Oddly, I file away each year’s cards and newsletter with the notion that I will one day pull together the complete set of friends/relatives’ newsletters in kind of their unfolding adventure with life.)The captain of my U.S. Army unit in Lousiaina in 1970, now living in California, sends a card each year. In the early years, there were tidbits of information, but for the last 30 years only Ede and Ron. Ugh!Some people say nothing individual beyond their prepared newsletter. We can live with that. Some opt for greeting cards with one or more family photos no information. Thats not so good. I appeal to folks to take some time to care. Share yourself in words.