Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Prof. Bernard Lewis on the Islamization of Europe

This may be a familiar theme by now, but respected scholar Bernard Lewis lays it out again:

The Muslims "seem to be about to take over Europe," Lewis said at a special briefing with the editorial staff of The Jerusalem Post. Asked what this meant for the continent's Jews, he responded, "The outlook for the Jewish communities of Europe is dim." Soon, he warned, the only pertinent question regarding Europe's future would be, "Will it be an Islamized Europe or Europeanized Islam?"   (more)

Given the reluctance of most Muslims to condemn radical Islam, my guess is that if current trends continue, the future will see an Islamized Europe.

British Poll: Significant Percentage of Youth Strongly Committed to Islam

I found this shocking:

31 per cent of young Muslims said that they believed that if a Muslim converted to another religion they should be punished by death, compared with 19 per cent of the over-55s.

That quote and the following are from David Frum's extraordinary post today:

The British think tank Policy Exchange commissioned a major study of British Muslim youth. The Times reports  the findings:

The poll of 1,003 Muslims found that more than a third of 16 to 24-year-olds wanted to live under Islamic law, compared with 17 per cent of the over-55s.

The deep divisions between the generations are most starkly illustrated over attitudes to the hijab,

2 Corinthians 13:14 - Church Unity Based on a Dynamic Relationship with God as Trinity

I value the comments Professor Murray Harris makes on 2 Cor. 13:14.  The Apostle Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians with this verse:

May the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Murray Harris, writing in The Expositor's Bible Commentary says,

Paul grounds his pastoral appeal for unity of spirit and for the rejection of discord in the theological doctrine of the Trinity.  The grace of Christ banishes self-assertiveness and self-seeking, the love of God puts jealousy and anger to flight, while the fellowship created by the Spirit leaves no room for quarreling and factions. 

The Truth About Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

The Wall Street Journal has an article on Judge Clarence Thomas subtitled, "He's an independent voice, not a Scalia Lackey."   

Clarence Thomas has borne some of the most vitriolic personal attacks in Supreme Court history. But the persistent stereotypes about his views on the law and subordinate role on the court are equally offensive--and demonstrably false. An extensive documentary record shows that Justice Thomas has been a significant force in shaping the direction and decisions of the court for the past 15 years.

That's not the standard storyline. Immediately upon his arrival at the court, Justice Thomas was savaged by court-watchers as Antonin Scalia's dutiful apprentice, blindly following his mentor's lead. It's a grossly inaccurate

John Kerry: An Embarrassment to America

John Kerry in Davos, Switzerland, refers to the United States as an "international pariah."  Video here.   A blogger posts more of Kerry's comments here.  While Kerry speaks, Mohammad Khatami, the former President of the Iranian terror state, sits just a few feet away.   What's with Democrats like Kerry and Carter who, when outside the country, badmouth the U.S.?   Is anyone else embarrassed that we have leaders like this?  Shame.   (HT: Drudge Report)

Michelle Malkin has more.  Read her post for extensive links especially this video which is more complete and extensive than the one I posted above. 

A Fellow Naval Academy Graduate Analyzes Sen. James Webb

An active duty officer with more than 25 years experience writes of Sen. James Webb (D-Virgina) who delivered the response to President Bush's State of the Union Speech:

I was struck by his demeanor. One announcer called him smooth. Another referred to him as cool. What I saw was a simmering cauldron of arrogance, anger and resentment. His eyes were not the eyes of a serious thinker but those of a man who is clearly very, very angry and his words bear this out.

I agree with this writer.  I saw the arrogance and the anger, and the writer fills out the whys and wherefores.  The writer's essay is worth reading, since I think freshman Senator James Webb (D-Virginia) will be in the spotlight for a long time to come. 

The Most Popular on the Web

Forbes.com has published what it calls the Web Celeb 25. 

The Forbes.com Web Celeb 25 is a list of the biggest, brightest and most influential people on the Internet. From bloggers to podcasters to YouTube stars, these are the people who are creating the digital world from the bottom up.

To generate the ranking, we first defined "Web Celeb" as a person famous primarily for creating or appearing in Internet-based content, and for being highly recognizable to a Web-based audience. . .

This website introduces all 25.  It's interesting and an education in itself.   It's a new world.

A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star. A mom with a blog can attract more readers than a best-selling author. And an opinionated entrepreneur can become a guru to millions.

Mobile Phone Use Linked to Tumor

The studies keep coming in.  Some suggest cell phones are perfectly safe.  Others raise significant questions, especially those studies that cover 10 years or more of cell phone use.   Here's a report published in Britain's Telegraph newspaper 1/25/07. 

Long-term users of mobile phones are significantly more likely to develop a certain type of brain tumour on the side of the head where they hold their handsets, according to new research. 

A large-scale study found that those who had regularly used mobiles for longer than 10 years were almost 40 per cent more likely to develop nervous system tumours called gliomas near to where they hold their phones.  (Read more)   HT: Drudge

Militant Islam in Our Midst

Posted byPhi Beta Cons:

Militant Islam in Our Midst   [Candace de Russy]

Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism has written an exceedingly important book, Jihad Incorporated. He examines the structure of al Qaeda and radical Islamic activity in the U.S. today, including terror-related events and persons at the Universities of Arkansas, Louisville, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Florida, Cairo, Haifa, and Medina.

Here Emerson talks about the book, e.g., how it shows the synergy between “hard-core military jihadists” and “cultural jihadists.”

Students Don't Read Books Anymore

Here's an interesting article bearing the title: "A Librarian's Lament: Books are a hard Sell"

Typically, many people in my line of work no longer have the title of librarian. They are called media and information specialists, or sometimes librarian technologists. The buzzword in the trade is "information literacy," a misnomer, because what it is really about is mastering computer skills, not promoting a love of reading and books.

Why Do Foreign-Born Blacks Tend to Do Better Than American-Born Blacks?

"Blacks from Africa and the Caribbean, and their offspring, often do better in the United States than American-born blacks. Why is that?"  Carol Innone offers thoughtful reflections on that question.  She makes a lot of sense to me.  Anyone disagree?

What is the State of Marriage in America Today?

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews Kay Hymowitz, author of Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age.  This interview offers a clear-eyed look at the state of marriage in America today.

Why We Can't Retreat in Iraq

Liz Cheney offers an excellent article spelling out the situation exactly as I see it, too.

George Will Wrote a Great Article on his 25 year old Son with Down's Syndrome

Click here.

Tony Campolo: A Liberal "Evangelical" Pushing Left-Wing Politics

Tony Campolo has written a new book, Letters to a Young Evangelical.  I learned of it by reading Jordan Hylden's review in the February, 2007 issue of First Things.  Hylden titles his review "A Letter to Tony Campolo."  For those not familiar with Campolo, he is a prolific author, professor of Sociology, popular speaker, and self-attested Evangelical, but also a political liberal who reads the Bible with left-wing spectacles, along with others whom he terms "Red Letter Christians" (as in Bibles that print the words of Jesus in red).  Mark Tooley, whose analysis I have cited in a previous post in connection with Tony Campolo and the Evangelical Left, refers to "Red Letter Christians" as "Red Letter Leftists."  Clearly, this is no exaggeration, nor does it bear false witness.  Campolo is a man of the political left who reads the Bible accordingly.

Jordan Hylden writes in his letter (review) to Campolo:

. . . I'm so disappointed.  You start off by accusing conservative Christians of uncritically baptizing the Republican agenda, and you claim to offer a biblical

N.T. Wright Taken to Task (Rightly) by Professor Gilbert Meilaender for Views on America and Iraq

Bishop N.T. Wright, for whom I have enormous respect as an historian and New Testament scholar, illustrates (sadly!) how true it is that a man speaking authoritatively outside his realm of expertise makes for truly discouraging reading.

Well-known Christian philosopher Gilbert Meilaender (Valparaiso University), takes N.T. Wright to task in the February 2007  First Things journal for showing little depth of understanding or nuance in his pronouncements on geopolitical issues.  It is the more sad because Wright is known for extraordinary thoroughness in Biblical studies.

A link will be forthcoming to Meilaender's article when the February 2007 First Things issue goes online.   [Here it is.] For now, let me just say that Wright faults the United States' Iraq policy in the most strenuous of terms, without benefit of the theological and political seriousness befitting his position.

A few quotes from Meilaender (which in no way does justice to the whole article): 

When one considers the volumes that have been written by political theorists and political scientists on the nature of political institutions, one ought

China and Africa - A Unique Relationship

John Derbyshire reminds us of the unique historical relationship that China and Africa have experienced.  Then he updates matters with the following economic synopsis:

China is resource-poor and Africa resource-rich, that’s why. China’s biggest supplier of oil is now Angola; and China is Angola’s largest export market after the U.S.A. Burkina Faso sends a third of its exports, almost all of which are cotton, to China, compared with virtually nothing in the mid-1990s. China takes over 70 percent of Sudan’s exports, compared with ten percent or so in 1995. Of the 4m cubic meters of undressed timber exported

Radical Muslim Subtlety in Britain: "I Come to Slaughter You"

From CNN news:

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNN) -- At a recent debate over the battle for Islamic ideals in England, a British-born Muslim stood before the crowd and said Prophet Mohammed's message to nonbelievers is: "I come to slaughter all of you."

"We are the Muslims," said Omar Brooks, an extremist also known as Abu Izzadeen. "We drink the blood of the enemy, and we can face them anywhere. That is Islam and that is jihad."

Anjem Choudary, the public face of Islamist extremism in Britain, added that Muslims have no choice but to take the fight to the West. . .

Europe's Intense Dislike (Dare We Say Hatred?) of America

Writing in the The Chronicle of Higher Education, Andrei S. Marokvits offers an insightful article titled "Western Europe's America Problem."   It offers historical and cultural perspective on Europe's antipathy towards America.  Markovits writes,

The aversion to America is becoming greater, louder, more determined. It is unifying Western Europeans more than any other political emotion — with the exception of a common hostility toward Israel. Indeed, the virulence in Western Europe's antipathy

Is the Iraq War Just?

Chuck Colson says that's the wrong question.  He writes:

It’s a question a lot of people continue to argue about. And it was a great question to ask in 2002. Now, in 2007, it’s not the right question. . .

But however the war started, the just war criteria are not in question now. In fact, in all the debate about pulling out our troops, no one is really asking the right question. For better or for worse, the United States made promises and commitments to the Iraqi people. So the question now is this: Is it morally acceptable for U.S. forces to leave Iraq in the midst of the bloodshed? (My emphasis)

Read the whole article.

On the breathtaking consequences of pulling out of Iraq in defeat, read Victor Davis Hanson's brilliant analysis here.   Most have no idea how serious it will be.   Krauthammer looks for a tactical strategy to salvage what we can if Maliki proves as unreliable in the future as he has been in the past.   Clifford D. May takes up the issue of Amnesty International and Guantanamo.  Guantanamo is getting a bum rap.

GLOBAL SHIFT IN CHRISTIANITY TAKING PLACE

Associated Press writer Richard N. Ostling wrote an article this week on Christianity's enormous growth in what is often called the "Two-Thirds World" or "Global South," in contrast to the secular West.

Gordon-Conwell seminary's Center for the Study of Global Christianity says 62 percent of the world's 2 billion Christians live in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a percentage that's destined to rise.

Africa's Christian boom since 1900 "may well be the largest shift in religious affiliation that has ever occurred, anywhere," said Penn State historian Philip Jenkins.

Christianity's extraordinary rise in the Global South is chronicled extensively in Philip Jenkins' widely regarded The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (2002 - and now in process of being updated).  Jenkins has most recently published The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South, which focuses primarily on Africa and Asia.  Late 2007 will see the publication of yet another Jenkins' book, this one on Christianity in Europe.  Columnist Ostling writes:

Compared with Westerners, Jenkins observes, younger churches demonstrate "much greater respect for the authority of Scripture, especially in matters of morality; ... a special interest in supernatural elements of Scripture, such as miracles, visions and healings; a belief in the continuing power of prophecy; and a veneration of the Old Testament."

He calls their strict adherence to biblical teachings traditionalism, not fundamentalism, and says it underlies both spiritual deliverance and political liberation, which in the Global South are fused.

Exorcisms, belief in the devil and "spiritual warfare" against demonic powers thrive in situations where paganism, witchcraft, omens and even allegations of human sacrifice persist. And Christian alternatives help overcome people's fearfulness.

. . . While Westerners face pressure to interpret the Bible in terms of secular trends, in the Global South secular ideologies "appear false and destructive," representing corruption, sin and death. Churches' moral conservatism is also influenced by Islam and other non-Christian faiths.

Read the whole article.

Coach Lou Holtz: A Funny, Wise, Energetic Man

I watched the Hour of Power TV program this morning.  It seems to be getting better and better.  One of the highlights of each program is the interview.  Today Robert A. Schuller (the younger Schuller) interviewed the great football coach, Lou Holtz.  He has written yet another book, Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography.  Off hand I can't think of a more vigorously entertaining few moments of television than this interview [click on the 1/14/07 date and the Lou Holtz interview].  A transcript is also available, but you've got to watch the interview to appreciate the liveliness and wit of Holtz.  (Be sure to read his account of the Orange Bowl of 1977!)    Holtz talks fast, so I'm glad for the transcript.  Here are a couple of items illustrating his philosophy: 

I’m a very simple individual. But everybody needs something to do, someone to love, something to hope for, and something to believe in. And if you’re lacking any one of those four things, there’s going to be a void in your life.

. . . My life is simple but I think there’s only three things, reverend, that you have to have in life. You have to have people trust you, you have to always be committed to

New Discovery: Andrew Peterson's Excellent Music

Today I read some blogs of friends and came across the pleasure and inspiration they find in the music and lyrics of Andrew Peterson.  I searched for a sample of his music and found Behold the Lamb, a collection of his songs available here.   Excellent!  I like the Biblical basis of the songs I have listened to so far.

Letter to My Congressman on Embryonic Stem Cells and Bush's Plan to Send More Troops to Iraq

Today I mailed the following hard copy letter to my Democratic Congressman.  He voted to deny federal funds for embryonic stem cell research (I applaud him for that), but has expressed opposition to President Bush's plan to augment U.S. troops in Iraq.  I think this new initiative should be supported.  Here's my letter:

Best greetings! I called your office yesterday to express appreciation for your stem cell vote. I am enclosing an article by Charles Krauthammer which supports your vote. Though Krauthammer has long supported legal abortion

Norway and Abortion: More than half of ethnic Norwegian women under age 25 choose abortion

From the January 12, 2007 Aftenposten:

A woman's right to choose abortion is deeply engrained in Norwegian society, but it's only most common among young women and women with little education, says Professor Anne Eskild of Akershus University Hospital.

Eskild's study marked the first time that researchers tracked the incidence of abortions and births among

Pakistani Government Bans Robert Spencer's "The Truth About Muhammad"

When it comes to things Islamic, one can get in trouble for quoting too much material from primary Islamic sources.  Your book will get banned.  Such is the case with Robert Spencer's The Truth About Muhammad. He writes:

1. "The Truth About Muhammad" details the triple choice that Muhammad directed his followers to offer to non-Muslims: conversion to Islam, subjugation without equality of rights with Muslims under the rule of Islamic law, or war. Did I fabricate this? No, it can be found in, among many other places, "Sahih Muslim", a collection of hadith – traditions of Muhammad and the early Muslims – that Muslims generally

Peter Berkovitz Reflects on the Modern University Today

This long article  by Peter Berkowitz surveys the chaotic state of the university curriculum  today.  The piece begins with these paragraphs: 

An auto repair shop in which mechanics and owners could not distinguish a wreck from a finely tuned car would soon go out of business. A hospital where doctors, nurses, and administrators were unable to recognize a healthy human being would present a grave menace to the public health. A ship whose captain and crew

Sharia in Action: The Case of Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi

** Update 2/15/07  - Stephen Brown explains how Nazanin Afshin-Jam, an Iranian-Canadian and a 2003 Miss World Canada and runner-up at the Miss World competition, organized support for her namesake, Nazanin Fatehi, which helped secure her release from a death sentence in Iran.   Brown concludes his account:

"But the struggle to free Nazanin Fateh proves that if women take matters into their own hands, even misogynistic mullahs and cruel Sharia law will yield."

** Update 1/31/07 -Kathryn Jean Lopez posts the latest:

Nazanin Fatehi has been released by the Iranian government. (More on the case of this poor girl terrorized by the Iranian government for defending herself here.)

** Update 1/19/07  Kathryn Jean Lopez posts another important article on Nazanin Fatehi

Nazanin is an Iranian girl who, in March 2005, when she was 17, was walking in a park with her 15-year-old niece. Two men assaulted them, trying to rape them. In fending off the attackers, the older girl stabbed one of the men. He later died. For nearly two years she has been sitting in an Iranian jail facing execution. Last week — at last — she was exonerated of the murder charge. Thank heavens for outside pressure, which gave Nazanin a second chance.

Human-rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam, in a compelling new documentary online at Bodog.com, points out that Nazanin Fatehi would have been in trouble even if she hadn’t resisted the rapists: “Had [she] allowed the rape to take place, she could have still been charged with acts incompatible with chastity and given 100 lashes. . . . If she [had been] married she could have been sentenced to death by stoning.” In this gripping documentary we hear the poor girl crying out over a telephone from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, “I want to go home to be with my mother.” And we hear her mother say, “I want people to help me get my daughter’s freedom.”

** Update 1/15/07 - Iran is not going to kill Nazanin Fatehi.  Nazanin could be freed on bail immediately.   (HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez at the Corner)

---

Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi is an Iranian teenager who was sentenced to be hanged for murder by an Iranian court.

Michael Ledeen of NRO's "Corner" wrote today:

An Iranian woman sentenced to death for defending herself against rapists.  An American blogger calls on America's first Muslim Congressman to rise to the occasion and defend her.  A reminder of the nature of our enemies. All in a few elegant paragraphs.  Read it, please.

Kathryn Jean Lopez  followed up saying the new Congress can save Nazanin: 

That is a great pressure post from Powerline. There's a new documentary online about Nazanin's plight here.

For more background see my interview with her greatest defender, Iranian-born Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a former Miss World Canada.  And an earlier challenge to the U.N. here.

Al Sharpton for President?

The AP reported today that Al Sharpton is thinking of running for President.  It referred to him as a "civil rights activist."   To which Tim Graham responded:

It may be an antique complaint, but in what year are the AP and the New York Times and other supposed paragons of objectivity going to stop describing Al “Pin Their Yarmulkes Back” Sharpton favorably as a “civil rights activist”? (Or is this just their knee-jerk terminology for “black activist”?) Sharpton had no respect for the civil rights of the victims of “civil rights activism” from Tawana Brawley forward. Remember here.

Recommended Reading contra the Religious Left

I wish I had internet access to the Claremont Review of Books.  John Derbyshire of NRO's blog, the  "Corner,"  says this:

"Jimmy Carter is a former president whose humanitarian efforts since leaving office have been highly regarded, not least by himself."—-Christopher Levenick, reviewing five books from the Religious Left, including Carter's, in the new (Winter 2006/2007) "Claremont Review of Books."   The piece is very good—a crisp demolition of some key Religious Left positions.

Mother Skylark Has No Use for Television

Homeschooling mom, Mother Skylark declares: " We are a no-TV family. We have a TV set which we use to watch films and videos but we have chosen not to have a constant barrage of unfilterable junk consistently streamed into our home."   She says a lot more worthy of noting.   She also provides a link to a mom who describes the unfair, manipulative practices of Dr. Phil's TV show.   Hint:  In her experience, he's not  the fair-minded, wise fellow he appears to be. 

WHY ONE PASTOR IS READING AND RECOMMENDING THE ESV BIBLE OVER OTHER TRANSLATIONS

Philosophies of Bible translation are highly debated.  Here is one pastor's useful introduction to the debate.    Mark Driscoll explains why the Mars Hill Church has decided to use the English Standard Version of the Bible as the church's pulpit translation.     (HT: SmartChristian)

Quote of the Day

If America abandons its Judeo-Christian values basis and the central role of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, its founders' guiding text, we are all in big trouble, including, most especially, America's non-Christians. Just ask the Jews of secular Europe.   - Dennis Prager

THE RADICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF THE FAMILY

Stanley Kurtz updates developments as follows:

Last week, Canada took an important new step toward a radical deconstruction of the family: a court ruled that a child could have three, simultaneous legal parents. (“Boy can have two mothers and a father, Ontario appeal court rules”) I first wrote about this case almost four years ago, in “Heather Has 3 Parents.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that

HOW TO GO TO M.I.T. FOR FREE

The above is the heading of a Christian Science Monitor article that is truly fascinating.  The article begins this way:

By the end of this year, the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at one of the world's most prestigious universities will be available online to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world. Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted.

The cost? It's all free of charge.

The OpenCourseWare movement, begun at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002 and now spread to some 120 other universities worldwide, aims to disperse knowledge far beyond the ivy-clad walls of elite campuses to anyone who has an Internet connection and a desire to learn.

THE NEW ATHEISTS: ARROGANT, RIGID AND CHARMLESS

I borrowed the above heading from Verum Serum's reference to a Sam Schulman article in the Opinion Journal.  Schulman writes:

What is new about the new atheists? It's not their arguments. Spend as much time as you like with a pile of the recent anti-religion books, but you won't encounter a single point you didn't hear in your freshman dormitory. It's their tone that is novel. Belief, in their eyes, is not just misguided but contemptible, the product of provincial minds, the mark of people who need to be told how to think and how to vote--both of which, the new atheists assure us, they do in lockstep with the pope and Jerry Falwell.

For them, belief in God is beyond childish, it is unsuitable for children. Today's atheists are particularly disgusted

THE FAITHS OF THE U.S. CONGRESS

CNN reports the following breakdown of the 535 members of the 110th Congress being sworn in today …

Roman Catholic 155
Baptist 67
Methodist 61
Presbyterian 44
Jewish 43
Episcopal 37
Protestant nondenominational 26
Christian nondenominational 18
Lutheran 17
Mormon 15
United Church of Christ 7
Eastern Orthodox 5
Christian Science 5
Assemblies of God 4
Unitarian Universalist 2
African Methodist Episcopal 2
Buddhists 2
Evangelical 2
Seventh Day Adventists 2
Christian Reformed 2
Disciples of Christ 2
Church of Christ 2
Congregational Baptist 1
Anglican 1
Reorganized Mormon 1
Quaker 1
Church of God 1
Muslim 1
Evangelical Lutheran 1
Church of the Nazarene 1
Evangelical Methodist 1
No affiliation 6       (HT: Smart Christian)

IS "ANGER" NOW THE "IN-THING" IN AMERICAN CULTURE?

Stanley Kurtz provides a humdinger of a review of Peter Wood's new book A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America today.  Kurtz, following Wood, distinguishes between the "new anger" and the "old anger."

Wood says we’re living in an era of “New Anger,” and regardless of who becomes our next president, New Anger isn’t going away anytime soon.

What exactly is New Anger? Let’s find out by first having a look at Old Anger. Before we lionized all those angry anti-heroes — from Jack Nicholson in the movies, to John McEnroe on the tennis court — Americans admired the strong silent type: slow to boil, reluctant to fight unless sorely provoked, and disinclined to show anger even then. Gary Cooper in Sargent York comes to mind. Old Anger was held in check by ideals of self-mastery and reserve. As Wood puts it, “Dignity, manliness, and wisdom called for self-control and coolness of temper.” The angry man, Wood reminds us,

BLACK ON BLACK KILLINGS

What follows is a sad posting from today's Corner.  Roger Clegg refers to a "good column" by Dewayne Wickham in USA Today saying:  "The title is 'Where’s the Outrage over Black-on-Black Killings?' (here’s the link).  And here are some thought-provoking statistics from the column:    

Of the country's 14,860 homicide victims in 2005, 7,125 were black, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. And of the 3,289 cases that year in which a single black was killed by a single assailant, the FBI says, 91% of the killers were black.

Let me put this another way: The number of blacks killed in 2005 in this one homicide category alone approaches the total of all the blacks lynched in this country from 1882 to 1968, according to records maintained by Tuskegee University.

SURPRISING STATISTICS ON STATE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF IN RUSSIA

John Derbyshire over at the Corner posts the following:

An interesting email from Prof. Alexander Lebedeff  on the state of religion in Russia:

I would like to share the latest information on religion in Russia,  based on a poll by the newspaper Izvestia and the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (ACSPO).  The text of the article [unfortunately in Russian—JD]  is here.

Briefly, it states that at the end of 2006, 15 years after the fall of the atheistic Soviet Union, 86% of the population believes in God, and only 16% consider themselves atheists.

Fully 63% of the (adult) population consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians.  This is 75% of  those who believe in God.