A Christian on Hitchens' Atheism and Lowe's Muslim Problem (Time.com)

David Caton owes me one. I interviewed the head of the Florida Family Association last week during his bigoted but successful crusade to get companies like Lowe's to pull ads from All-American Muslim, the Learning Channel reality show about a community of Muslim Americans. Before Caton hung up on me -- he gets angry when you question his complaint that the show presents Muslims in too positive a light and not as crazed radicals plotting to impose Islamic shari'a law from Maine to Monterey -- I corrected his pronunciation of imam, a Muslim cleric, from Eye-mam to the proper Ee-mawm. Later that day, I heard him say it properly on CNN.

But that's all he got right. I concern myself with Caton -- who also likes to hire small planes to haul banners over Orlando warning people that homosexuals visit Disney World -- only for two reasons. One is that a major corporation like Lowe's actually caved to the Evangelical's ugly Islamophobia. The other is that he got his 15 minutes of fame at about the same time that Christopher Hitchens died, on Dec. 15. Hitchens was best known as one of the "angry atheists" for his 2007 best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and narrow-minded fundamentalists like Caton made his work a lot easier. So of course did extremist Muslims, as well as extremist Roman Catholics, Jews, Hindus and all the fanatics who ruin religion the way drunks ruin driving. Which is why Hitchens' attacks on faith, while brilliantly written, could also feel gratuitous. (See "Christopher Hitchens, RIP.")

So it's fitting, at least for the silent majority of Christians who aren't hatemongering zealots but who derive hope and humane inspiration from our beliefs, that Caton and Hitchens should both be in the news during the Christmas season. The holiday's anticommercialization critics are right to argue that Christians spend too much time on outdoor lights at the expense of the inner light kindled by the story of God's incarnation in a manger. I'm as guilty as anyone in that regard. But Caton and Hitchens at least give us Christians a convenient place to start. They prod us on the one hand to assess what isn't Christian -- like demonizing gays and Muslims -- and on the other hand to reaffirm why Christianity and religion itself are a positive and not always poisonous influence in the world.

The crux of the Florida Family Association's campaign is Caton's preposterous claim, as he told me, that "every Eye-mam in this country wants to put the U.S. under shari'a law." Every imam I know here in Miami rejects the idea. "Muslims are only 6 million out of 300 million in this country," one reminds me. "We rely on U.S. law to protect our rights as a minority." They're also a minority who wish Christians well at Christmas: the Koran reverently mentions Jesus and the Virgin Mary almost 60 times. (See "Do Shari'a Courts Have a Role in British Life?")

One way, then, that Christians can practice Jesus' teachings of love, tolerance and charity this yuletide is by resolving to reassure folks like Muslims that we're not like the Florida Family Association. That we're committed to the code of Christmas -- "Peace on earth to people of goodwill" -- trumpeted by the same angels we place atop the trees in our living rooms.

That's also one of the best ways to answer Hitchens as well as other angry atheists like Richard Dawkins and quite a few members of my own hypersecular profession. It's a fairly widely accepted maxim that atheist fundamentalists, as I call them, can be just as intolerant as religious fundamentalists. And the problem they share is that both take religion way too literally. Just as Christian fundamentalists insist on a literal reading of the Bible, angry atheists tend to insist that belief in God qualifies you as a raving creationist. (See "Why Christopher Hitchens Is Wrong About Billy Graham.")

Here's what they refuse to get: Yes, Christians believe that Jesus' nativity was a virgin birth and that he rose from the dead on Easter. But if you were to show most Christians incontrovertible scientific proof that those miracles didn't occur, they would shrug -- because their faith means more to them than that. Because in the end, what they have faith in is the redemptive power of the story. In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, an agnostic says to his Catholic friend, "You can't seriously believe it all ... I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass."

"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea."

"But you can't believe things simply because they're a lovely idea."

"But I do. That's how I believe."

I'm willing to bet it's how most believers believe. Before Hitchens died at 62 from esophageal cancer, he made a point of declaring he was certain no heaven awaited him. But that swipe at the faithful always misses the point. Most of us don't believe in God because we think it's a ticket to heaven. Rather, our belief in God -- our belief in the living ideal of ourselves, which is something even atheists ponder -- instills in us a faith that in the end, light always defeats darkness (which is how people get through the wars and natural disasters I cover). That does make us open to the possibility of the hereafter -- but more important, it gives us purposeful inspiration to make the here and now better.

With all due respect to the memory of Christopher Hitchens, making the here and now better would be difficult without religion. But it's also hard enough without the un-Christian antics of people like David Caton. As Christmas ought to remind us.

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Report: Russian spy chief joins nuclear missile firm

Russia's military intelligence chief has left his post at the helm of the country's biggest spying agency to join a company that develops nuclear missiles, Kommersant newspaper reported on Saturday.

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Citing sources, Kommersant said General Alexander Shlyakhturov, who was appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev in April 2009, had left his role as head of GRU military intelligence service to head the board of OAO Korporatsiya MIT.

Known by its Russian acronym GRU, the military intelligence service has agents spread across the globe. It is so secretive that it does not have a spokesman or website. The Defense Ministry declined to comment.

Story: 'Russia will be free': Huge rally increases pressure on Vladimir Putin

Kommersant did not give a reason for Shlyakhturov's departure from GRU and it was not immediately clear if he had resigned or was merely being moved to keep a closer eye on the development of Russia's nuclear missiles, the cornerstone of Russia's defense capability.

Quality concerns
The failed launch of a military satellite which crashed into Siberia on Friday and a host of failures with a new generation, submarine-launched Bulava missile, has stoked concerns within the military about the quality of Russia's strategic missiles.

OAO Korporatsiya MIT develops missiles including the Bulava, which Russia test-fired successfully on Friday . Half of previous trials have failed.

Story: Who owns 69 Patriot missiles seized in Finland?

The top brass of GRU has opposed Kremlin-backed military reforms in the past, leading to the dismissal of Shlyakhturov's predecessor, General Valentin Korabelnikov.

However, Shlyakhturov is seen as an ally of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who has cut servicemen and reorganized the command structure of the armed forces.

The spy service, created in 1918 under revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, answers to the chief of the general staff, one of the three people who control Russia's portable nuclear arsenal.

Unlike the Soviet-era KGB secret police, GRU was not split up when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45782762/ns/world_news-europe/

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US Cellular launches the Huawei Ascend II next week, costs you nothing (after rebate)

Coming next week to a US Cellular website near you... we give you the Huawei Ascend II. The carrier's first Huawei device is no stranger on American soil, having spent a good five months on Cricket's lineup. While the handset was available for $180 with no contract on Cricket, US Cellular is offering it for free with a two-year commitment -- after a $100 mail-in rebate. Perhaps it's not as likely to induce salivation as we were hoping, but it may still be a temptation for a few smartphone fans on a budget that don't mind a contract. The Android 2.3 device, complete with a 3.5-inch HVGA display, 5MP camera and 600MHz CPU, is available online next week and will be offered in stores in early January.

US Cellular launches the Huawei Ascend II next week, costs you nothing (after rebate) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vikings' Peterson, Ponder out vs. Redskins (AP)

LANDOVER, Md. ? Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson injured his left knee, and Christian Ponder suffered a concussion on back-to-back plays Saturday against the Washington Redskins.

Peterson took a direct hit to the knee from Redskins safety DeJon Gomes on a 3-yard gain on the first offensive play of the second half.

Peterson lay on the ground for a couple of minutes and did not put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field. He was later taken on a cart to the Vikings locker room.

On the next play, Ponder was sacked by Adam Carriker and London Fletcher. Ponder remained in the game for one more play ? a third-down incomplete pass ? before heading to the locker room.

The Vikings said neither player would return.

Peterson had 12 carries for 38 yards when he left the game. He also had a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Ponder had completed 8 of 13 passes for 68 yards. He was replaced by Joe Webb, who scored on a 9-yard run on the next series to give the Vikings the lead.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vikings_peterson_ponder_injuries

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techwhack: LogMeIn gets a free version for the Apple iOS devices http://t.co/MotnSbMc

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fairydancer35: The @ZAGGdaily iPad-a-day Giveaway is back! Each day is a new chance to win an iPad 2 - http://t.co/WqfIKEX7

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