Christian Fundamentalists coming out of closet over Iraq War

While Tony Blair was in office, he avoided bringing up the subject of religion but nearly every pundit knew that he was a staunch fundamentalist christian. Before the Iraq war, Bush and Blair prayed together and Tony Blair has never denied it. I wonder if they were praying that their power does not gewt taken away regardless of them embarking on a war that will kill hundreds of thousands and makes millions homeless.

If two Muslim leaders prayed together before starting a war, how would the world react?

In the winter of 2003, when George Bush and Tony Blair were frantically gathering support for their planned invasion, Professor Thomas Römer, an Old Testament expert at the university of Lausanne, was rung up by the Protestant Federation of France. They asked him to supply them with a summary of the legends surrounding Gog and Magog and as the conversation progressed, he realised that this had originally come, from the highest reaches of the French government.

President Jacques Chirac wanted to know what the hell President Bush had been on about in their last conversation. Bush had then said that when he looked at the Middle East, he saw "Gog and Magog at work" and the biblical prophecies unfolding. But who the hell were Gog and Magog? Neither Chirac nor his office had any idea. But they knew Bush was an evangelical Christian, so they asked the French Federation of Protestants, who in turn asked Professor Römer.

he best opinion is that like all Bible prophecy, it is a mixture of wish-fulfilment and contemporary (iron age) politics. Some of it at least seems to refer to the turmoil brought about by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC (unlike Bush, Alexander actually conquered Afghanistan). But they have been for the last two hundred years the subject of increasingly excited evangelical fanfic, especially in America; in the 70s and 80s, Gog was meant to be Russia. Ronald Reagan seems to have believed that.

But with Reagan, the prophecy appreciation part of his brain functioned quite independently of the part that started wars (there's nothing in the Old Testament about Nicaragua or even Grenada). Bush seems to have taken the threat of Gog and Magog to Israel quite literally, and, if this story can be believed, to have launched a war to stop them.

Mr Blair has previously admitted that he was influenced by his Christian faith, but Mr Burton reveals for the first time the strength of his religious zeal.

"While he was at Number 10, Tony was virtually gagged on the whole question of religion," says Mr Burton.

"Alastair [Campbell] was convinced it would get him into trouble with the voters.

"But Tony's Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Iraq too – was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better."

Mr Burton, who was often described as Mr Blair's mentor, says that his religion gave him a "total belief in what's right and what's wrong", leading him to see the so-called War on Terror as "a moral cause".

"I truly believe that his Christianity affected his policy-making on just about everything from aid to Africa, education, poverty, world debt and intervening in other countries when he thought it was right to do it.

"The fervour was part of him and it comes back to it being Christian fervour that spurred him into action for better or worse."

Mr Burton says that inherent in Mr Blair's faith was the belief that people should be treated fairly: "He applied that same principle in everything he did – from establishing the Social Exclusion Unit to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and ridding Iraq of the evils of Saddam Hussein's rule."

It is very funny that these Christian Missionaries that come to our doors always trying to portray that Islam is a terrorist religion and Christianity is a peaceful religion. I always ask them who started the World Wars and how many people were killed. They quickly jump to 9/11 where say roughly 3000 people were killed by Terrorists. How many people has this war on Terror killed? In Afghanistan? In Iraq? In Pakistan? How many people have Israel Killed in Lebanon and Palestine? How many people did the Christian fundamentalists killed in Kosovo?

It is a well known fact that Mr Blair's Cabinet included several deeply committed Christians, such as Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, who is a Roman Catholic, and the Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong - but they rarely break the injunction not to mix religion and politics publicly.

Now, I read the most interesting stuff which I didnt expect.

Alastair Campbell said today he was inspired by the Bible when he gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

The former spin chief, who famously told Tony Blair: "We don't do God", said that on the eve of his appearance a supporter emailed him Psalm 56.

The psalm, which attacks those who "twist" the words of others, gave him comfort on a day when he was again in the media spotlight.

Mr Campbell quoted it on his blog, adding: "I never detected a death plot among the British media, but the rest of it sums up the Westminster lobby to a tee."

He revealed he was "amazed how many people, though they thought they know I don't do God, sent me passages from the Bible."

Its good to see all these liars and fundamentalists coming out of the closet and revealing their true face. I am sure that most common people do not see the Iraq war as the war between Islam and Christianity but day by day it looks to me thats what it is.

More Illicit relationships news rocks Catholic world

A former nun's tell-all story which details illicit relationships, sexual harassment and bullying in the convent where she spent three decades is causing ructions in the Catholic Church in the south Indian state of Kerala.

In Amen – an autobiography of a nun, Sister Jesme says when she became a nun she discovered priests were forcing novices to have sex with them. There were also secret homosexual relationships among the nuns and at one point she was forced into such a relationship by another nun who told her she preferred this kind of arrangement as it ruled out the possibility of pregnancy.

Sister Jesme, who quit last year as the principal of a Catholic college in Thrissur, alleges senior nuns tried to have her committed to a mental institution after she spoke out against them.

In her book, she says that while travelling through Bangalore, she was once directed to stay with a purportedly pious priest who took her to a garden "and showed me several pairs cuddling behind trees. He also gave me a sermon on the necessity of physical love and described the illicit affairs that certain bishops and priests had". The priest took her to his home, stripped off his clothes and ordered her to do the same.

She also alleges that while senior staff turned a blind eye to the actions of more experienced nuns, novices were strongly punished, even for minor transgressions. She was not allowed to go home after she learnt her father had died. "I was able to see [the body of] my father barely 15 minutes before the funeral," she writes. "The [response] of the superiors was that the then senior sisters were not even lucky enough to see the bodies of their parents."

When she resigned as a college principal, she claimed convents had become "houses of torture", saying: "The mental torture was unbearable. When I questioned the church's stand on self-financing colleges and certain other issues, they accused me of having mental problems. They have even sent me to a psychiatrist. There are many nuns undergoing ill-treatment from the order, but they are afraid of challenging it. The church is a formidable fortress."

The allegations are not the only controversy to rock the Catholic Church in Kerala. Last summer, a 23-year-old novice committed suicide and left a note saying she had been harassed by her Mother Superior. Reports suggest there have been a number of similar suicides. And in November, police in Kerala arrested two priests and a nun in connection with the killing of Sister Abhaya in a notorious 1992 murder.

Even though shocking, this might not be big news in the Catholic world. Over the last few years there have been many shocking revelations about the abuse of children by catholic priests and clergy. Just in Ireland by 2006 there were more than 100 priests that were involved in abuse of over 350 children. This is considering the fact that similar things were reported in the past with regards to Ireland. What is more shocking is that the pope has been said to be involved in cover-up of these abuses.

To avoid these kinds of problems, in Islam Marriage is said to be fard or compulsary. A hadith mentions that when a Muslim marries, he completes half of his religion. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is also reported to have said: "Four things bring one joy: a righteous wife, a spacious house, a pious neighbor and a comfortable riding animal." The Glorious Qur’an highlights this universal law in the following two verses: (And all things We have created by pairs, that haply ye may reflect.) (Adh-Dhariyat 51: 49) (Glory be to Him Who created all the sexual pairs, of that which the earth groweth, and of themselves, and of that which they know not.) (Ya-Sin 36: 36)

You can read more about the concept of Marriage in Islam here.