Executing three Christians

Almost none of you were there when Pastor David taught the T&T groups last Wed. But in his teaching, he mentioned this situation. Be prepared to do something about this on Wed.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 Executing three Christians The Indonesian government is preparing to execute three Christian farmers tomorrow for their supposed role in Muslim-Christian fighting that resulted in the deaths of scores of Muslims. There has been much concern voiced internationally over the fairness of the trial, which appears to have been a kangaroo-court situation rigged by the government to appease the Islamic majority. It's interesting to note that the protesters don't claim that the three Christian men are innocent, only that they did not receive a fair trial, and that they were the only ones charged when Muslims had a key role in the strife as well. The bloody Muslim persecution of Christians in Indonesia is nota new story, but it's not one you hear much about in the West, not from our media. This from a National Review piece I wrote four years ago, about the indifference of the West to the intense persecution of Christians in the Muslim world: An Indonesian man with a lined, anxious face hands me a photograph from a magazine report on events in his homeland. I am looking at a photograph of the burned and decapitated corpse of a Christian man who was murdered in a Christmas Eve pogrom in his village. His killers were members of Laskar Jihad, a heavily armed Islamist terror group. "They cut off his genitals too," the Indonesian man explains. "He died at his church." My informant, a Christian human-rights activist who refused to be identified, in order to protect his family, has photographs of Christian villages burned to the ground by Laskar Jihad. Numerous sources say the group has killed as many as 10,000 Indonesian Christians, forcibly converted thousands more, and demolished hundreds of churches. Activists say the Jakarta regime has only sporadically shown an interest in protecting the nation's Christian minority, and some accuse elements of the government and military of sympathy with the jihadists. "I was in Indonesia when 9/11 happened, and I followed the statements of Muslim political leaders," says my informant. "They were encouraging Muslims to help Osama bin Laden. I was crying in my heart for New York, but I'm telling you, 9/11 happened once in New York, but it's happening every day to Christian villages in Indonesia." [snip] You try going over there and facing these Christians, like I did recently in Indonesia, and answering them when they ask, 'You're supposed to be our brother Christians, why aren't you doing anything? Why are you letting them kill us?'" says [Ann]Buwalda[ director of the DC-based human rights group Jubilee Campaign USA]. "You can see how angry and upset they are, and they're right to be. They say they just hope September 11 wakes us up to what they have to live with every day." Three Christian farmers are going to be murdered by the government of Indonesia tomorrow to pacify Islamists. If you can, take time out of your preparation for Friday's planned "Day of Rage" across the Muslim world, set to protest the Pope's mentioning of a Byzantine emperor's judgment of Islam's peacefulness, to give these poor souls, and all those persecuted by Islamic rule, a thought.

Will this become a staple of our meetings?..

Source: Association for Psychological Science Date: September 27, 2006

How 'Manic' Thinking Makes Us Happy, Energized And Self-confident

When people are made to think quickly, they report feeling happier as a result. They also say they are more energetic, more creative, more powerful, and more self-assured. In short, they reported a whole set of experiences associated with being "manic."

Fast thinking, or "racing thoughts," is most commonly known as a symptom of the clinical psychiatric disorder of mania (and of the manic part of bipolar disorder or "manic-depression"). But, according to Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin, most healthy people also have experienced racing thoughts at some point in time--perhaps when they are excited about a new idea they have just learned, or when they are brainstorming with a group of people, or even when they lie in bed unable to fall asleep. Pronin and her Harvard colleague Daniel Wegner decided to explore whether inducing people to think fast might lead them to feel some of the other experiences also associated with the manic experience.

To examine this question, they experimentally manipulated the pace at which participants read a series of statements. Half of participants read the statements at a fast pace (about twice as fast as normal reading speed) and the other half read the statements at a slow pace (about twice as slow as normal reading speed). They then completed a questionnaire assessing their mood, energy level, self-esteem, etc., using standard psychological measures. As an added twist, some of the participants read statements that were very depressing in content (e.g., I want to go to sleep and never wake up) while others read statements that were very elating in content (e.g., Wow! I feel great!).

The researchers found that regardless of the content of the statements, people felt happier, more energetic, more creative, more powerful, and more grandiose when they read the statements at a fast rather than a slow pace. In fact, the effect of thought speed was just as powerful as the effect of the content of the thoughts. In other words, the speed of people's cognitive processing was just as important as what they processed in determining their mood. Even thinking sad thoughts at a fast pace made people relatively happy.

The article, titled "Manic Thinking: Independent Effects of Thought Speed and Thought Content on Mood" appears in the September issue of Psychological Science, and was co-authored by Emily Pronin of Princeton University and Daniel Wegner of Harvard University.

The reported effect of fast thinking on mood could have important applications in both clinical (psychiatric) and normal populations. The authors note that simple manipulations of thought speed could perhaps be used to improve individuals' mood, self-esteem, feelings of creativity, feelings of power, and energy level. Such manipulations could be useful in everyday situations, where people would like a quick mood, energy, or self-esteem boost on a day they are feeling tired or downcast. Manipulations of thought speed might also prove useful as part of treating depression, which is characterized by slow thinking, and also by the absence of things like positive mood, energy, feelings of power, and self-esteem.

The authors note that: "The results of our experiment suggest the intriguing possibility that even during moments when people feel stuck having depressed thoughts, interventions that accelerate the speed of such thoughts may serve to boost feelings of positive affect and energy."

As a follow up to our discussion about the Pope's comments.. I found this excellent article. Thought you might enjoy it if you are still thinking about that..

Welcome to the first official post of the LIT Discussion Blog.

I hope you guys take advantage of this location and read up on more things going on in our world, than just what is happening on the Simpsons..