AES/newspost wrote:

In terms of "clearly staking out the sides" however, let me just ask if
you'd care to identify the following quote:

"Show him NO pity . . . no, you must STONE HIM TO DEATH . . .
since he has tried to divert you from your god"
[only "tried" -- not "forced" or "compelled"]

So, where does this come from?

The old testament.

[Hint: John Ashcroft believes the above to be the literal and
incontrovertible truth. So does a large portion of Bush's base.

Are you really comfortable having these people in charge of
_your_ civil liberties? Or deciding for you how separation
of church and state is to be interpreted in the US?

Are these people -- who are not just here in the US, but
are currently dominating the Republican Party -- themselves
6th Century, or 21st Century???]

Since you obviously don't know about the religion of the President, I
guess you'll have to be schooled here. Y'see, to Christians, the New
Testament replaced the Mosaic law you're quoting from above, so no,
the President and John Ashcroft would have no reason to follow the
directive you quote unless they were finatically old-school Jews (I'm
not aware of any sect who'd fit that description, but I suppose it's
possible). I'd go into the details but it would sound preachy and
this is an aviation newsgroup.

Mark Hickey