Friends,
Jim Wallace worldview is not based upon the ideals, where children are procreated, protected and nurtured as a primary goal. How does he operate in the Beslan massacre or Zimbabwe? His most powerful weapons are just words!

John McKinnon assumes the NSW Christian Democratic Party aligns itself with the Liberal Party. In NSW it has voted on more Bills in support of the Labor Party than the Liberal Party.

It is easy to make a statement the “War in Iraq was wrong”, but does not give reasons.

The claim that the World Christian community were totally against the war in Iraq is a generalisation not based in researched fact. The Iraq Christian community fully supported the removal of the regime. It is just that those in the Wallace talkfest had nothing they could do except wring their hands with anxiety.

Is John McKinnon claiming George Bush had anything to do with the increase in abortion? Abortion is a social issue indicating the attitudes of the society, and I am sure the religious right would not support the abortion of children, so it must have been those in the left without moral values who increased abortion based in some level of fear.

The poverty in Iraq has more to do with despotism than the war on terror. The Coalition were acting to free people from despotism, so they could choose their own destiny. Saddam Hussein had warehouses full of food and medicine but only fed and medicated his Sunni supporters (Verified by my close friends in the elite force). This was a war against injustice and poverty, it meant some would get hurt and it is obvious the Sunni who had dominated for many years were the one’s hurt the most by their removal from power. Hence they’re continuing bombing of Iraqi civilians.

John McKinnon’s claim is a false and naïve as real peace happens within the mind: “peace comes by personal freedom and right to choose”. His claim that America believes Peace comes by domination is a brained washed partisan view from left wing anti-American politics.
Philo J

Since the invasion of the coalition of the willing, 24324 civilians have died. So far, in the "war on terror" initiated since 9-11, the USA and its allies have been responsible for over 13,000 civilian deaths, not only the 10,000+ in Iraq, but also 3,000+ civilian deaths in Afghanistan. But hey, this was all because of depotism and I should watch that I'm not falling for Leftist conspiracy theories.
See: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

Philo, nice to see your view. Well said.
Wandii, you make a couple of good points also, but u did fall into the unfortunate hole dug by most of those who take the same line, they seem to assume that a) There was no 'body count' under the regimes which were removed by force b) They do not differentiate between those civilians killed by Allied forces and those who die in the fighting and are just as likely to have been killed by the supporters of the regime. In fact are u keeping a tally of those slaughtered by the insurgents with the car bombs ? are u adding it up each day and are you adding that TO the 'Civilians' killed 'by' the allies, and claiming that they were in fact killed 'by' the allies ? and are you suggesting that it would have been better to allow the premeditated, cruel, callous and on-going slaughter of perceived enemies of the State by the likes of Sadaam etc ?
The causes of civilian deaths in places like Iraq and Afghanistan would be quite difficult to trace and verify I think, but at least your numbers are more believable than the "100,000" that is regularly trotted out by the left.

Back to Fiona.
Your assessment of the scriptures, is lacking in credibility. What you claim does not accord with the evidence. Back to "New Testament Introduction-101" please :)
The claim about 'obsessing' is in error. Reacting to a determined politicized attack on our culture is not 'obsessing'. Our focus on particular issues is no more than the focus of those driving those agendas.
You say 'war' is a major world problem, but I would say "unregenerate hearts" are the source of 'that' problem, You treat the symptom, I treat the disease.

Romans 12.1ff
"Therefore I urge you by the mercies of God, to give your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Do not conform yourself to this age, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewal of your minds".....

From my count the civilians [and military from both sides] in Iraq who have died needlessly far out number those killed in 9/11.
Its simply ridiculous to argue that this is justified no matter which side of the political fence you bat for.

That no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 is forgotten and gets swept aside as a non-aguement?

Paleeeese!

Wandii – You didn’t answer the question. Does your total include all the civilians killed by insurgents? Your website doesn’t make this clear. But I suspect it does include the Iraqi’s killed by other Iraqi’s using the specious reasoning that if the Americans hadn’t invaded these deaths wouldn’t have occurred.

If the allies pulled out of Iraq now there would be a civil war that would make your death toll seem puny. I wonder where Mr Wallis was when Saddam Hussein was gassing Kurds and killing Shiites and Christians? I have yet to hear one single reasonable answer as to why the removal of Saddam Hussein was wrong.

By the way, here’s a quote from Wandii’s recommended website about how they worked out the figures for civilians killed in Falluja: “Civilian totals have been derived by assuming a conservative ratio of one civilian adult male killed for every woman killed prior to April 12th, and by using the minimum-maximum range to account for differing possible numbers of women and children remaining in the targeted areas after the exodus had begun.”

In other words, they don’t have a clue.

Part One

I can’t begin to describe how impressed I am with John McKinnon’s book review and how he has related it to the Australian experience. As a non-religious person I am frequently mystified by the lack of charity expressed by many who claim to believe in God. Finally, a voice from one Christian who appears to have his spirit and beliefs firmly linked with the reality of the human experience.

So-called ‘christian values’ are actually very similar to values desired by many people of all political/social/religious persuasions who have a humane approach to our world.

There are those who claim that a humane approach to society’s ills is ‘naïve’ - a convenient word to trot out and use to attempt to dismiss a reasonable approach as opposed to the dogmatic “do as I say” world view of neo conservatives.

A hardline ‘tough love’ (an oxymoron if ever there was one) approach is no more than a temporary fix which inevitably creates division between people, Interesting how we find that those who prescribe ‘tough love’ are invariably in positions of power and those on the receiving end are not.