The Terrifying Truth: We Are Normal

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen writes about the film Downfall, which examines the last days and hours of Adolf Hitler.

Reflecting on the humanity and the madness of Hitler, Cohen runs into the terrifying truth that a people with the graces and skills of the Germans could, almost without missing a step, follow the barbarity of Hitler, and then becomes good citizens once again.

This reminded me of a chapter in Chuck Colson’s 1985 book Who Speaks for God?, which explores the same horror that if we look deeply into ourselves we can see glimpses of the very worst among us.

Colson writes in the chapter titled, The Terrifying Truth, We Are Normal:

Introducing a recent story about Nazi Adolf Eichmann, a principal architect of the Holocaust, Wallace posed a central question at the program's outset: "How is it possible . . . for a man to act as Eichmann acted? . . . Was he a monster? A madman? Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying: was he normal?"

Normal? The executioner of millions of Jews normal? Most self-respecting viewers would be outraged at the very thought.

The most startling answer to Wallace's shocking question came in an interview with Yehiel Dinur, a concentration camp survivor who testified against Eichmann at the Nuremburg trials. A film clip from Eichmann's 1961 trial showed Dinur walking into the courtroom, stopping short, seeing Eichmann for the first time since the Nazi had sent him to Auschwitz eighteen years earlier. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, then fainted, collapsing in a heap on the floor as the presiding judicial officer pounded his gavel for order in the crowded courtroom.

Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Fear? Horrid memories?

No; it was none of these. Rather, as Dinur explained to Wallace, all at once he realized Eichmann was not the godlike army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. "I was afraid about myself," said Dinur. ". . . I saw that I am capable to do this. I am . . . exactly like he."

Wallace's subsequent summation of Dinur's terrible discovery–"Eichmann is in all of us"–is a horrifying statement; but it indeed captures the central truth about man's nature. For as a result of the Fall, sin is in each of us–not just the susceptibility to sin, but sin itself.

--James Jewell

There Goes the Secular Humanist Vote

In what is fashioned as a news release, the Council for Secular Humanism (I’m not making this up) tried to takes its swipe at California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who President Bush has nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Here’s the lead:

Amherst, N.Y. (April 27, 2005) -- The Council for Secular Humanism deplores the intemperate and uncalled-for attacks California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown made on secular humanists at an April 24 church-sponsored service delivered to judges and lawyers in Connecticut. The comments were seized upon this past Monday by evangelical leader Gary Bauer, of the ultra-conservative advocacy group American Values, in an e-mail blast Bauer sent to his supporters, praising Brown and her comments.

The release continues:

She has libeled tens of millions of Americans who do not share her ideological bias. "We particularly object to her claim that Secular Humanism threatens to divorce America from its religious roots," said Paul Kurtz, Chairman of the Council for Secular Humanism.

"We are alarmed at the implications that this first overt attack on secular humanism -- by such a highly placed jurist -- portends for the rights of unbelievers and the separation of religion and state guaranteed in the constitution," said Kurtz. "We are facing a clear and present danger to our liberties in the United States by militant religionists."

I don’t get it. Of course the secular humanists are trying to divorce America from its religious roots. Why wouldn’t they want to, given their commitment to secularism.

I hope this groups speak up more because it helps us all to understand that Secular Humanism itself is a real and present danger to the huge majority of Americans who believe that a nation that ignores the spiritual part of its soul will devolve into a dispirited and unprincipled mess.

--James Jewell

Jews Against Anti-Christian Bias

The Jewish people have suffered so much persecution over the centuries that they can see and understand it with more certainty than many others can.

So it’s not surprising for a Jewish group to help battle anti-Christian bias and discrimination. Politics being what they are, however, it takes conservative Jews to take up for conservative Christians.

Don Feder, a Boston Herald writer and syndicated columnist for 19 years, announced this week that he had established a new group: Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, or JAACD. Source: World Net Daily. Also here. (h/t: Considerettes).

From WND:

Feder said for years he has written about incidents of anti-Christian discrimination in the public square - from the prohibition of crèches on public land to the silencing prayer in the nation's schools.

"What I consider an epidemic of anti-Christian bigotry and persecution is something that has concerned me for a long time noting that in 1996 he wrote a book entitled "Who's Afraid of the Religious Right?" which covers what he sees as the left's attack on traditional Christians.

"Particularly pernicious is the leftist idea that it's legitimate to base your politics on anything except religion," he said. "You can say that my politics are based on the views of Karl Marx or Ayn Rand or Jane Fonda . and that's OK, but as soon as you say your worldview is based on the Bible, that's considered an illegitimate basis for embracing certain political views."

This is reminiscent of some of Michael Horowitz’s statements on the international persecution of Christian. Horowitz is less partisan, but he has spoken and written boldly about Christians as the Jews of the modern era.

--James Jewell

The Right Standard for Death: “No Doubt” of Guilt

This may be a death penalty that meets the high threshold of certainty that the Bible prescribes. Governor Romney continues to be impressive on important issues.

--James Jewell

The Reality of Faith: International Persecution of Christians

The message popular in American evangelism is that faith in Jesus Christ is warm and fuzzy, it can make your life happier, your business more successful, increase your bank account, and fix up your eternal future.

The fact is that Jesus’ message is counter-cultural, revolutionary, personally offensive, exclusionary, and will most likely lead to suffering. It just happens to be true and it will transform your life, your values, and your relationship with your Creator.

Communist and other authoritarian bullies, and radical Muslims around the world recognize that the radical faith of Christians outside of the West is a threat to the status quo, and Christians are being persecuted regularly.

The American evangelical lobby should be focusing the attention of our State Department on the instances of blatant religious persecution and the denial of religious freedoms around the world.
Here are a few that have recently come to light:

Malaysia
Two Americans, Ricky Rupert and Zachary Harris, have been arrested in Malaysia, accused of handing out Christian pamphlets outside a mosque in a country where constitutionally protected religious freedom periodically collides with the prohibition on the conversion of Muslims.

A Royal Malaysian Police spokesman said Thursday the two men had been apprehended while handing out pamphlets outside the mosque in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital south of Kuala Lumpur.

Some 60 percent of Malaysia's population are Malay Muslims, while large ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities practice Christianity and other religions. Despite being multi-cultural, Sunni Islam is the official religion. Muslims are not permitted to convert to another religion.

"The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, it recognizes Islam as the country's official religion and the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam is significantly restricted," the State Department says in its most recent report on global religious freedom. (Source)

China
From Voice of the Martyrs: Pastor Cai Zhuohua from Beijing, was arrested September 11, 2004, by National Security operatives, for printing “illegal religious literature.” Cai’s wife, Xiao Yunfei was also arrested November 27, 2004. According to a recently released fellow inmate, Pastor Cai was repeatedly tortured by electric shocks and was forced to falsely confess, which could lead to a ten to fifteen year prison sentence under the current criminal code. The Chinese government has repeatedly threatened his attorney not to defend him.

Pastor Gong Shengliang was sentenced to life in prison October 10, 2002, by the Court Hubei Province. He is now being held at Section Four, Te Yi Hao, Miaoshan Development Zone, Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. This case involved the arrest and sentencing of many women of Pastor Gong’s church who were tortured into falsely accusing Gong of rape.
According to eyewitness reports, Gong’s mental and physical health has suffered due to the harsh treatment in prison.

Mr. Chen Jingmao, age 74, of Chongqing City, was sentenced October 10, 2002, to four years in prison for sending his granddaughter to a Bible class training school. Chen is now being held in Sanxia Prison, Chongqing City. He is reported to be in very poor health and will die in prison if he is not released soon.

Although China has amended its constitution to protect human rights, these three cases exemplify both the arbitrary nature of what passes for justice in the People’s Republic of China and the sad state of religious freedom there.

Eritrea
According to Compass Direct, in Eritrea, 16 full-time pastors are among nearly 900 Eritrean Christians known to be jailed in local prisons, military confinement camps and shipping containers for daring to meet secretly for prayer and worship outside government-sanctioned churches.

Despite a heavy-handed clampdown by Eritrea’s security police, evangelical sources in the tiny northeast African nation have managed to compile a documented list of 883 Christians now being held without trial or charges because of their faith.

Only a handful of prisoners have been released -- after recently being coerced to sign pledges to stop attending religious services of the unregistered, “illegal” denominations.

In an interview April 5 with Agence France Press (AFP), the director of the Eritrean President’s office, Yemane Gebremeskel, claimed that arrested members of the banned Christian groups “are maybe held for five hours and then let off with a warning.” He also accused human rights groups criticizing Eritrea’s violations of religious freedom of getting their information off the internet and giving “arbitrary figures.”

--James Jewell

Time For Stronger Measures Against Sexual Predators

There was another Amber alert in Florida yesterday. Yet another little girl dragged off. Has this been the year of the sexual predator or are we just hearing about more offenses because of the alert systems and 24/7 news?

A child advocate on the Today show last week said the very minimum a parent should do is go online and print your local registry of sexual offenders. So that’s what we did, to pinpoint the locations of the offenders in our area. If you have children, do it today.

State legislatures and local governments need to stop wringing their hands and begin taking stronger measures to maintain control over those who have been convicted of sexual offenses. How many little girls must be prey to the hardened, repeat offenders in their neighborhoods before this horror is taken seriously and these people are intercepted, so they do not hurt more youngsters.

It is time for universal adoption of at least three measures: electronic monitoring, voice tracking, and chemical castration.

Electronic Monitoring: The offender wears an ankle bracelet, which sends out a radio signal precisely showing the exact location. The offender is only allowed to leave their home for specific reasons and at specific times. A monitoring company tracks their movements 24 hours a day, and immediately reports any deviation from the allowed limits to their Probation Officer.

An Ohio official is suggesting taking this a step further, and implanting GPS chips.

While Fox earlier had suggested the use of electronic ankle or wrist bracelets to allow for passive monitoring of offenders, on Monday he took the proposal a step further, calling for a plan of implanting computer microchips into offenders so that they can be tracked and located immediately.

"People have these GPS chips put in their pets and - in some case - in their children, in the event they are lost or kidnapped," Fox said. "I don't see why the same can't be done with probationees."But Sheriff Richard K. Jones said it would first take an act of the state legislature to give courts the authority to order such implanting. Butler County currently has 296 registered sexual offenders, Jones said.

Jones on Friday launched a new program in which the sheriff's office is now doing random, surprise spot checks on registered sexual offenders to make certain they are living at the addresses they have registered with local authorities.

Voice Tracking: A monitoring company pages offenders periodically during the day and night. A voice recording from the offender has been used to create a computer template which is compared to the caller returning the page, preventing illegitimate callers from responding. Calls are automatically rejected from cellular phones or using call forwarding. The caller must call back within a specified amount of time, and the phone number they called from is automatically recorded.

Chemical Castration: States need to implement and enforce hormone treatment for repeat sexual offenders. This is not a cure all, but it will help reduce or eliminate the sexual drive of individuals who cannot control where that takes them. Officials seem squeamish about this course of action. They need to think about the young girls who are raped and buried alive by hardened sexual offenders.

This Texas document discusses chemical castration:

Myth: "Castration cures a sex offender."
Fact: Castration is not a cure. Castration only reduces testosterone levels and may be helpful in controlling arousal and libido. Physical or chemical castration should only be utilized as an adjunct to treatment and not in lieu of treatment. It should be remembered that deviant arousal is the physical response to a cognitive process (deviant thoughts). Deviant thoughts (impulses) and fantasies are precursors to deviant arousal.

Iowa is one of eight states that has implemented the treatment, but they have been lax in applying it.

The hormone therapy, called "chemical castration" by critics, is required for offenders convicted more than once of serious sex offenses as a condition of their release from custody. However, the requirement is waived when a judge or the Board of Parole determines the treatment would be ineffective.

The treatment is optional for those convicted for the first time of a sexual offense in which the victim was 12 or younger.

"We have done it, but it's very rare," said Gary Sherzan, director of community corrections in the 5th Judicial District.

Rusty Rogerson, superintendent of the state's sex offender treatment facility at Mount Pleasant, said the only time the treatment was needed there, a physician couldn't be found to administer it.

Officials say some physicians question the effectiveness or propriety of the treatment. Others are concerned about medical and legal risks, and about taking part in a procedure that is outside their medical practice.

Others have recommend extremely long prison sentences.

Whatever the cost, lawmakers need to act now to protect our children. What could be more important?

--James Jewell

Is Homeschooling the Best Option?

Is homeschooling good for children? That’s a question being debated here.

I have friends and family who homeschool their children and I have great respect for the sacrifices these parents make for their children.

I’ve seen it work for most children, because parents, usually mothers, are pouring so much of themselves into their children. This is almost always tremendous for kids.

But I’ve also seen situations where parents expect some kind of homeschool magic—the benefit of doing the right thing—to work wonders in the children, without the skills or hard work by the parents. That doesn’t produce the desired results, of course.

It’s interesting that as homeschooling becomes more popular, it is becoming what may be more accurately titled “home-directed schooling,” with students often taking some joint classes in churches, or other arrangements. With online programs such as the Learning by Grace academies, parents can choose to have any level or participation by professional educators.

--James Jewell