David of Derby

Why does what appears to be a fairly reasonable law mean this abortion clinic has closed? If it's legal to have an abortion in South Dakota providing the provisions of this law are met, why is the clinic shut? Why won't the physicians perform the perfectly legal operation? Can anyone explain this to me?

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How can the shelter be worse? He'd have a roof over his head and food to eat, surely? Things he's going without now, right? I can't speak for your lot but over here we have the RSPCA to take care of neglected and abused animals. Surely there's something similar over there?

Perhaps that's what it was. Perhaps he just acted to save his comrades with no regard for his own safety. How does the passage go? "No greater a love hath a man than this, to lay down his life for that of his brother." Something like that, anyway.

This goes to show the quality and dedication of the British Armed Forces. How many people in civilian life would even consider doing something that was almost certain suicide to save someone else? That this man survived is little short of a miracle.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080723/tuk...ne-fa6b408.html

Buck, can you explain just what you have against a national ID database and/or ID card? I can't speak for your country, but here in the UK all this information is held by the government anyway and most of it is sold to third parties for the purpose of spamming us with junk mail and cold calls. I don't see anything that would change with the introduction of an ID card except that we'd stop needing to prat about with passports and driving licenses to prove who we are. We need nationally-recognised ID to open a bank account, apply for state benefits, get a job, apply for a firearms certificate, et cetera, et cetera. so what's the problem with an ID card that wraps all that information up into one place?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20080710/tuk-...ma-dba1618.html

It wasn't your first civil war. It was our second.

Pardon my angry response to the previous poster's flippant remark. I'm no saint, I fear.

If we outlaw Moslem missionaries we become everything we're fighting against. The UK stands for freedom - of religious expression and belief, among other freedoms. When you take that away, we become just like the Islamic extremists. They don't want people to be free to express their beliefs, they want everyone to be forced to believe what they do. Our favourite philosopher, Nietzche (spelling optional) once said, "He that fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

Every time we take up arms and fight against these people, they get stronger. We kicked over their little sandcastle in Afghanistan and what did it get us? They hate us even more. We tipped Saddam out of Iraq, and instead of harming Al-Qa'ida's cause, we strengthened it. Iraq went from a largely-secular country to a land torn apart by civil war at the hands of Islamic extrements - extremists that had no power in Saddam's Iraq. Theirs is an idealogy of hate, and the more violence you use, the more Moslems you kill, the more they hate us. Not just you lot who are doing most of the fighting, but all of us in the west. The only real counter to their idealogy is for every right-thinking person, regardless of faith, to turn to them and tell them they're not wanted. Their brand of hatred does not represent Islam, it represents only lust for power and dominance, clothed in the trappings of Islam. When the real Moslems cast them out, then we can round them up and throw them into a camp somewhere to rot, but until every Moslem decides, for themselves, that Islamo-fascism isn't the way they want their faith thought of, all the military action, all the overblown patriotism and all the angry online posts won't change a thing.

As well as it's working for anyone. How's bombing every Arab nation on God's clean earth, enraging the entire planet and engendering hate wherever you go working out for you in the good ole US of A?

Unfortunately, I'm forced to agree with this. We're not very many steps away from becoming the Islamic Republic of Britain. Hopefully King Arthur will return to lead us out of our darkest hour...

We can't defeat their idealogy with weapons and troops. We can only beat it with our own. We have to show that we, as westerners, regardless of being Christian, aren't afraid of them and that we don't hate Islam - only those who use terror and violence to achieve their ends. As Christians, we have to show Islam that we're not a threat, we're not here to wipe them off the planet, and that we love them as we love ourselves. Just like our Lord commanded us to do.

The peace of the Lord be always with you, Brother Joe.

We should, indeed have concrete beliefs - but how do we get them without asking questions? If we don't doubt, we won't look for answers, in the Scriptures or anywhere else. No one can believe something without any evidence at all - and Thomas' example shows us that in an extreme way. He wanted to see Christ before his own eyes before he'd believe, and Christ tells him that those who believe without seeing are blessed, but we all want to see in some way, don't we? Many of us here have written testimonies to things God has done in our lives, and why do we share those experiences? So that others will see the greatness of God and believe. Because everyone needs to see something. It may not be Christ Himself standing before us, but we all want something to prove that we're not deluded fools believing in fairy tales. St. Thomas' doubt in itself wasn't a good thing, but his example allows us to learn from him and grow in faith. That's a very good thing.

Brothers and sisters, today the Church of England celebrates the Feast of St. Thomas the Doubter - the feast is actually tomorrow but because there's no Eucharist on a Thursday in England we celebrate it today. St. Thomas was, as I'm sure you all know, an Apostle. He was not present when Christ appeared to the others at their room in Jerusalem, and he doubted what they said when he returned and was told what happened. The next time Christ appeared He invited Thomas to touch His wounds and have proof that He was alive, and then told him, "Do you believe because you have seen? Blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe." St. Thomas teaches us that in an age of fundamentalism, our faith is based on questions, and at the heart of our faith is a mystery. We should all continually question what we believe, to grow in faith and not rest on smug assurance that we know God. I'm sure you'll all join with me in a short prayer of thanks for the example of St. Thomas and for God's great goodness. Heavenly Father, thank You for the example of St. Thomas the Doubter. May he inspire us to always question what we believe and grow in faith, that we may continually strive to know You and Your precious Son. Thank You for the many blessings You have given us despite our sinful nature. Please be with us all, Lord God, now and always, and guide us in our search for greater understanding and faith. For the sake of Your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, please hear our prayer. Amen.

Thanks. I knew the place was well pacified most of the time but I appreciate your reassurance. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Holy Land.

Thanks Afal. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks everyone.

Why exactly?

In all fairness, I don't want to leave the UK very much, so a partner in another country won't help me a lot. Thanks anyway.

I pray every day about my love life. I thought Stacey was the one God had brought me in answer to my prayers, but it seems not. I don't meet many girls in my day to day life and the internet is a fine way to reach out to people. Sometimes, anyway. Anyone have any ideas for sites that might be useful?

Hi everyone, I'm single again, and likely to stay that way for a while, but does anyone know any good Christian-specific dating sites? Ideally sites based in the UK or with a significant amount of users in the UK. I don't really want to find someone special and find that she lives on the other side of the world. Anyone have any ideas?