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Who and what is Hamas?
Political observers were stunned when the Islamic group Hamas won a landslide victory in the Jan. 25 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, putting it at the helm of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and throwing peace prospects into turmoil. So who and what is Hamas?
Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya ("Islamic Resistance Movement"). In Arabic, the word hamas is typically defined as "zeal" or "warlike strength and bravery." Ironically, hamas is also a Hebrew word meaning "violence."
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, established in Gaza in 1946. Hamas officially formed in 1987. It carried out its first suicide bombing in 1993. Due to its attacks against civilian targets including buses, supermarkets, shopping areas, hotels and restaurants, Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by most Western nations, including the United States and the European Union.
Since the current wave of Palestinian violence began in September 2000, Hamas has launched more than 400 attacks against Israelis, killing almost 400 and injuring more than 2,000. Of these attacks, the most deadly were 52 suicide bombings, including two by women.
In 1988 Hamas published its 9,100-word charter. This declaration of the organization's fundamental principles illustrates why peace is unlikely to break out anytime soon in the Middle East. Some excerpts:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement . . . strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders."
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised."
"The Prophet [Muhammad], Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: 'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, "O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."'"
The slogan of Hamas is: "Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Qur'an its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." (Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wikipedia, the Hamas Charter as translated by the Avalon Project at Yale Law School .)
Teen girls pass boys in stupid behavior
Reversing decades-long trends, teen girls are smoking marijuana and cigarettes and drinking alcohol at rates higher than teen boys, according to the White House's director of National Drug Control Policy, John Walters.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health notes that 1.5 million 12- to 17-year-old girls started drinking alcohol in 2004 compared to 1.28 million boys. The 2004 figures, based on a survey of 70,000 families, are the most recent available.
In the same age range, 730,000 girls started smoking cigarettes compared to 565,000 boys. Regarding drug usage, 675,000 girls started using marijuana compared to 577,000 boys and 14.4 percent of girls and 12.5 percent of boys misused prescription drugs.
A well-known ad campaign years ago told women, "You've come a long way, baby!" in encouraging them to smoke a particular cigarette brand. Sure enough, rates from cancers caused by smoking soon rose to rival cancer rates in men. It seems ever-younger girls are getting the message that they can do whatever they want without suffering the consequences. Sadly, real life doesn't work that way. (Source: Associated Press.)
China : An epidemic of "free love"
One female Chinese journalist said: "I express my freedom through sex . . . It's my life and I can do what I want." Human beings get themselves into big trouble by unlawfully doing whatever they wish, regardless of the unrealized horrendous consequences that inevitably follow sooner or later (see Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).
A recent survey by a Shanghai medical researcher showed that rates of sexually transmitted diseases are going through the roof in China , with HIV infections rapidly growing among young people. Such are the unpleasant, unwanted side effects of illicit sexual behavior.
Premarital sex used to be relatively rare even in Beijing as late as 1989 (15 percent), but it has since jumped to 70 percent of the capital's residents, according to a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Scientists. (Source: Time magazine.)
Marriage and money; divorce and debt
Many studies have documented the benefits of marriage. But who would have thought that marriage actually promotes wealth? And who would have thought that divorce brings on poverty?
"Marrying for money, it turns out, works. A study by an Ohio State University researcher shows that a person who marries—and stays married—accumulates nearly twice as much personal wealth as a person who is single or divorced. And for those who divorce, it's a bit more expensive than giving up half of everything they own. They lose, on average, three-fourths of their personal net worth" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 18).
In spite of criticism of marriage as an outmoded institution, and people's growing willingness to divorce (or never marry in the first place), the facts speak for themselves. Perhaps society should take an unbiased look at the Bible. It tells us that God encourages marriage, and for a number of good reasons: procreation, sharing, service, sacrifice and building our children's future, to name a few.
Now we discover that marriage also pays off financially. No wonder Proverbs 18:22 tells us, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." To learn more about the blessings marriage brings, request our free booklet . (Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer.)
Resurrecting a 'dead' EU constitution
Several months ago the French and Dutch peoples decisively rejected the European Union's proposed constitution in referendums. Yet according to an article in The Sunday Telegraph, the European Commission "effectively insists that the provisions
of the Charter [of Fundamental Rights] be enshrined in all new EU legislation."
Said Chris Heaton-Harris, a Conservative MEP (member of the European Parliament) from Britain : "This shows that the Commission has no intention of taking any notice of the voters in France and the Netherlands, who decisively rejected their blueprint for a federal super state." Brussels bureaucrats were further accused of cherry-picking certain parts of the proposed constitution and sending them through the back door.
Liam Fox, Conservative British shadow foreign secretary, firmly stated, "I have repeatedly made clear my fear that the EU is determined to ignore the results of the two referenda and instead press ahead with the implementation of many elements of the constitution treaty."
British journalist William Rees-Mogg recently underscored Conservative Party concerns with a feature article appropriately titled "Wake Up! The EU Is Stealing Our Freedom" (The Mail on Sunday). He firmly stated: "One of the principles of the 'dead' constitution was a serious move towards a federal criminal justice system for Europe . A single European criminal justice system would be a huge victory for Eurofederalism and a huge defeat for British justice."
Most do not even notice decisions giving " Brussels the right to introduce harmonised criminal law across the [European] Union , which all member states are required to adopt." Mr. Rees-Mogg went on to explain that "piece by piece, the Eurofederalists have been taking over powers that the constitution would have given them."
This is not how true democracies are supposed to function. But it is exactly how some bureaucracies tend to further their agendas. (Source: The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday [both London ].)
Does Europe need a superman?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a speech about Europe every six months or so. All of these talks praise the growing value of U.K. membership in the European Union. But the British electorate instinctively resists European influence and would now easily defeat any referendum on joining the euro currency.
Although the "dead" constitution is gradually being implemented through the back door, the general feeling of the electorate in many member states is that the EU is at best treading water rather than moving dynamically forward.
One British journalist, Charles Nevin, seems to have put his finger on the future, writing, "As I believe the Romans used to put it, what's lacking is big unifying ideas and symbols, something to rally around, something uniquely European, something that will send pride surging into our European hearts."
Later in the article Mr. Nevin said something almost prophetic: "It is easy to see the advantages of having an emperor who is also a god possessed of the power to end your life with the downward flick of a thumb." This is what the German nation unwittingly voted for in 1933. Continuing, Nevin mused about the legendary Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Great (A.D. 742-814), usually known as Charlemagne—head of one of the periodic historic revivals of the old Roman Empire.
Although the article was somewhat tongue in cheek, it reminds one of the stark biblical prophecies about the darkening future of Central Europe . Both the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation foretell a cruel dictatorship coming in Europe . The crucial benchmark will be the very last revival of ancient Rome with not one but two principal figures ruling the roost.
The Bible calls the political leader the Beast and the religious leader the False Prophet. They will not be ordinary politicians or bureaucrats who gradually rise to power in the process of time, but two charismatic men who will sway the world to their deadly agenda with their words and actions. Resistance will not be tolerated, and those who persist in opposition will be martyred.
Does that seem impossible? Remember that just over 60 years ago Europe was ruled by an elected dictator, Adolf Hitler. But his 12-year reign (1933-1945) of terror and murder (against minority groups in particular) was only a forerunner of what is foretold to come. To understand more, please request or download our two free booklets and . (Sources: The Independent [ London ], Financial Times.)
Catholic Church weighs in on intelligent design
In January, an article in the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano labeled as "correct" the recent decision by a Pennsylvania judge that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution.
"It is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science," wrote Fiorenzo Facchini, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, in the Jan. 16-17 edition, implying that intelligent design is unscientific. "It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious" (The New York Times, Jan. 19)
Dr. Francisco Ayala, professor of biology of the University of California, Irvine, and a former Dominican priest said: "He is emphasizing that there is no need to see a contradiction between Catholic teachings and evolution. Good for him" (ibid.)
Interesting. Why would the church, any church, give credence to a secular faith that opposes creationism?
Is intelligent design really unscientific? The argument is that it can't be proved through the scientific method. Of course, evolution can't be proved either—as it supposedly happens over eons, thereby preventing observation. Thus evolution is a theory that for many scientists seems to fit the facts.
In reality, however, it does not fit so well. From a mathematical probabilities standpoint, such things as the design and orderliness of the universe, the way our planet is fine-tuned for the existence of life and the astoundingly intricate design of the eye coming about by chance are impossibilities. (To learn more about this debate, request our free booklets and )
There is, in fact, no greater scientist than the God who created and sustains the universe, our planet and its biosphere. Why do some scientists insist on separating hard science from religious faith—especially when such scientists show their faith in evolutionary "science," a hypothesis that, again, has never been proved? (Source: The New York Times.)
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Keywords: Hamas girls and drugs HIV in China marriage and wealth European Union constitution UK and the European Union intelligent design
Marriage, failures: