Free Republic

Everyone knows the potent force of the Christian right in American politics. But since the mid-1990s, an increasingly influential religious movement has arisen on the left, mostly escaping the national press's notice. This new religious left does not expend its political energies on the cultural concerns that primarily motivate conservative evangelicals. Instead, working mostly at the state and local level, and often in lockstep with unions, its ministers, priests, rabbis, and laity exert a major, sometimes decisive, influence in campaigns to enforce a "living wage," to help unions organize, and to block the expansion of nonunionized businesses like Wal-Mart. The...

You know the religious right is in trouble when some of its leaders threaten to bolt the Republican Party if it nominates a candidate who supports abortion rights. But the well-publicized warning directed against Rudy Giuliani this month is decidedly not the most important sign that religious conservatives are facing the disintegration of their movement. What matters more is that a new generation of evangelical leaders, tired of the rancid partisanship, is breaking away from the culture wars. The reach of this new evangelical politics will be tested with the release tomorrow of a statement under the very biblical title...

The National Public Radio (NPR) website today (10/2/07) reports a discussion on their daily radio show, “All Things Considered”, about the religious right’s new stand on the possibility of Rudy Giuliani winning the Republican presidential nomination: “This weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, a group of leading social conservatives — all members of an organization called the Council for National Policy, agreed on a resolution: If the Republican Party nominates a “pro-abortion” candidate, the group will consider running a third-party candidate.” From the context of the NPR article, and because of the quotation marks around it, it is difficult to...

Prayer to End Climate ChangeReligious Leaders Join Scientists in Environmental Concerns on Greenland's Melting Glaciers From World News with Charles Gibson By CARRIE MCGOURTY Sept. 7, 2007 Religious leaders from all over the world met at the mouth of a melting glacier in Greenland today to say a silent prayer for the planet, appealing to mankind to address the impact that humanity is having on life on Earth. A group of nearly 200 scientists, theologians and government officials sailed into the ice fields of the Illulissat Icefjord, the largest glacier in Greenland that is bearing the brunt of global warming....

(IsraelNN.com) Half of the IDF's young combat officers are religious Jews, according to statistics published in Ma'ariv Sunday. The report also says that about 40% of the cadets of the most recent Officer Course in BAHAD 1, the IDF's officer training school, were religious (this number refers to all officers, as opposed to just combat officers). "This says something very good about about the sons of the religious Zionist movement," opines the writer of the piece, senior correspondent Ben Caspit. "They are becoming the IDF's backbone. Their presence in the army is several times larger than it is in the...

Click photo to enlargeMitt Romney (The Associated Press)«1»WASHINGTON - Many pundits have said that presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith will be a hindrance to his 2008 bid, but a new poll shows that voters believe he is more religious than any of the other contenders out there. A Time magazine poll hitting newsstands this week asked voters whether each candidate is a "person of strong religious faith." One in four voters say that Romney is, more than Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Previous polls have all shown that a distinct swath of voters...

Schools becoming ethnic and religious ghettos By Nick Britten Last Updated: 4:15am BST 25/04/2007 Cultural diversity in inner-city schools is failing with many becoming so polarised that they are dominated by one racial or religious group, a damning report will claim. Race Equality Sandwell in the West Midlands, claims that schools in the region are becoming "all-white" or "all-Asian" despite drawing from multi-ethnic catchment areas. Derrick Campbell, the chief executive of RES, said he was "extremely concerned" that children will leave school unable to fit into a diverse society. "My biggest worry is that schools and parents are propagating the...

An article in The Wall Street Journal (April 12) breathlessly informs us of the latest fad on the Incredible Shrinking Continent -- "As Religious Strife Grows, Europe's Atheists Seize Pulpit: Islam's Rise Gives Boost To Militant Unbelievers; The Celebrity Hedonist," the headline teases. The "Celebrity Hedonist," isn't geriatric frat-boy Hugh Hefner, but Michel Onfray, a 48-year-old author dubbed "France's high-priest of atheism" in the Journal piece. Reporter Andrew Higgins describes the doyen of disbelief -- commander of the faith-less -- strutting onto the stage of Caen's 500-seat Alexis de Tocqueville auditorium, dressed in black from head to toe, to deliver...

Those who remember how quickly the leftists drove conservative blogger Ben Domenech out of the Washington Post blogging corps after three days (with no conservative replacement) should know that the liberal cast of bloggers remain untouched (and perhaps, in some cases, unread). I've been tipped to one Emil Steiner today, taking off after Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy for supporting a marriage-protection bill in Illinois. This, to Steiner, makes him akin to the religious folks who brought 9/11, not to mention foolish religious advocates of "racial purity, ethnic cleansing, and drinking the Kool Aid." Most importantly, Steiner thought Dungy's position...

A SUICIDE bomber who lured Iraqi pilgrims with cakes, and gunmen firing out of passing cars turned joyful preparations for a religious celebration into a day of carnage. At least 149 Shiite pilgrims were killed and more than 200 wounded in the attacks in Hillah, in southern Iraq, on Tuesday. The US military also announced an unusually high death toll of nine soldiers, including six victims of a huge bomb blast north of Baghdad. The deaths coincided with an optimistic assessment of his new Iraq strategy by the US President, George Bush. He told a veterans' gathering in Washington: "It...

UK: Religious Schools May Not Teach Christian Sexual Morals "As if They Were Objectively True" By Hilary White LONDON, March 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After this April's implementation of the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR's), British religious schools may no longer be allowed to teach school children that the Christian viewpoint on sexual morality is "objectively true," a government report says. The Joint Committee on Human Rights, made up of members from Parliament and the House of Lords, has issued a report on the implementation of the Regulations recommending that religious schools be required to modify their religious instruction to comply...

...This is different from the scientific assault on religion that has been garnering attention recently, in the form of best-selling books from scientific atheists who see religion as a scourge. In “The God Delusion,” published last year and still on best-seller lists, the Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins concludes that religion is nothing more than a useless, and sometimes dangerous, evolutionary accident. “Religious behavior may be a misfiring, an unfortunate byproduct of an underlying psychological propensity which in other circumstances is, or once was, useful,” Dawkins wrote. He is joined by two other best-selling authors — Sam Harris, who wrote...

I commented below on a report that ZDF the German equivalent of the BBC was starting with programming aimed at a Muslim audience (and scroll down a small way). Now the General Secretary of the Bavarian Christian Social Union has criticised the ZDF plans.

The IDF has welcomed hundreds of new men and women to the ranks of combat officers with the completion of the latest combat officers' training course on Thursday. 30% of the soldiers who completed the course consider themselves religious or "traditional." The unit with the highest success rate is the Paratroopers: 97% of the paratroopers who entered the Officers' Course completed it successfully. 60% of the new officers are from the Infantry Corps (which include the paratroopers), 15% from Engineering, 8% from the tanks and another 8% from Artillery. 6% of the new officers are women.

Police and troops on Sulawesi were put on high alert, because military intelligence had picked up information indicating that Islamic radicals from all over Indonesia were moving to Sulawesi in an attempt to launch a spectacular attack on local Christians. Australia has warned its citizens to stay away from Central Sulawesi, where most of the violence tends to take place. To make matters worse, the Christians are ready to strike back if the Islamic terrorists go after them again. Over the last few years, some 2,000 people have died in religious strife on Sulawesi. The Islamic radicals need a spectacular...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Present trends suggest a declining future for many communities of men and women religious, but religious are called to imagine a different future, Sister Doris Gottemoeller said Feb. 3. Sister Gottemoeller, former president of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and Father Canice Connors, a former provincial minister of the Conventual Franciscans and former president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, were the main speakers at Washington Theological Union's annual Religious Life Symposium. The theme of this year's symposium was "Re-Imagining Religious Life in the 21st...

Charitable Nation America, the generous. By Jonah Goldberg Americans are better people than Europeans. Hold on, it gets better. Religious Americans are better than non-religious Americans. And religious Americans tend to be politically conservative. This admittedly tendentious rendering of reality is how some on the right are interpreting Who Really Cares? by Arthur Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University. Brooks doesn’t really deal with what makes one person “better” or “worse” than any other. But it’s fair to say that how much a person gives — of either his money or time — is usually considered an...

Young nuns from the Sisters of Life Convent play volleyball near the water on the SUNY Maritime Campus in the Bronx, September 2006 ...Over the past five years, Roman Catholic communities around the country have experienced a curious phenomenon: more women, most in their 20s and 30s, are trying on that veil. Convents in Nashville, Tenn.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and New York City all admitted at least 15 entrants over the past year and fielded hundreds of inquiries. One convent is hurriedly raising funds for a new building to house the inflow, and at another a rush of new blood...

"Because of the prohibition of the First Amendment against the enactment of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, state officials may not compose an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools of the State at the beginning of each school day - even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room while the prayer is being recited." --Justice Black(?), Engel v. Vitale, 1962 Contrast the 10th A. ignoring...

With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion. [snip] The attorneys' fees statute has worked well for almost 30 years. Lawyers receive attorneys' fees under the law only if their claim...

(CNSNews.com) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Sept. 18 ruled that German restrictions on religious-motivated home-schooling do not violate human rights, a decision that American religious rights groups fear could influence U.S. domestic policy. Some American religious rights groups worry that the decision could influence U.S. policy on religious home schooling by encouraging liberal-minded judges who increasingly rely on international law instead of American law.

Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Richardson Church versus Eugene Shubert Do Seventh-day Adventist pastors ever abuse their authority and silence individual church members they don’t like? Do they ever disfellowship believers without even granting them a semblance of a church trial? (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:1-4). Would an Adventist Christian ever join a conspiracy to silence a true believer with threats of arrest for criminal trespassing just for showing up at church? I believe that most of the pastors of the Seventh-day Adventist church favor using threats and intimidation and a direct appeal to the state for immediate prosecution,...

More than half of the countries highlighted for severe violations of religious freedom by the U.S. Department of State report Friday are located in Asia. Sun, Sep. 17, 2006 Posted: 07:25:59 AM EST WASHINGTON – More than half of the countries highlighted for severe violations of religious freedom by the U.S. Department of State report Friday are located in Asia. The eighth annual U.S. International Religious Freedom Report 2006 saw a large proportion of Asian countries on the list of nations where religious freedom is of “significant interest.” In addition to the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in Asia designated...

BBC did not know of 9/11 film's link to religious right David Leigh Wednesday September 13, 2006 The Guardian (UK) The BBC broadcast a controversial docu-drama, The Path to 9/11, this week without realising that it had been made by a member of the US religious right. The three-hour programme, shown over two nights on BBC2 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attack on the twin towers, was purchased from ABC, a subsidiary of Disney. At the last minute the US television company was forced to re-edit sequences after claims of distortion from former president Bill Clinton and members...

WASHINGTON - David Wilhelm once drew hisses when he suggested that Christians could be Republicans or Democrats. Years later, Wilhelm is spreading that message again, and he's hoping for a better response this time. With a leading poll showing only one in four Americans viewing the Democratic Party as friendly to religion, Wilhelm and a broad-based group of Christian Democratic activists are starting an Internet effort to organize religious voters whose views might be compatible with Democrats. The site, http://www.FaithfulDemocrats.com, will go online Tuesday and showcase theologians, party strategists, political leaders and bloggers in hopes of conducting a national discussion...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, SEPT. 4, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A religious brother of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God was speared to death with a steel rod last week outside this capital city. Brother Augustine Taiwa, who was in his 40s, was attacked near the Xavier Institute at Bomana, where he had been attached as coordinator of pastoral courses for the past three years. The Vatican's missionary dicastery learned of the tragedy Saturday. Brother Augustine was speared while driving a van between the Vanuatu junction and the Bomana Seminary, along the road toward the Correctional Service Institution, said...

What counsel would you offer on stem cells? Embryonic stem cell research incites the passions of people both in favor and opposed to the idea of using those cells for scientific research. The debated stem cells in question are usually "extra" fertilized eggs, frozen by couples trying to conceive.Supporters tout possible scientific breakthroughs such as cures for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease that could result from the research. Opponents say life begins at conception, and, therefore, using fertilized eggs for scientific research destroys human life and crosses serious ethical and moral lines. Although widely publicized and politicized, the issue is, at...

The Washington Post warns of "Pakistan's Awkward Balancing Act on Islamic Militant Groups." But if one looks closely at the actions of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, it is clear that he has made his choice to side with the West, there's no going back, and he is beyond the pale of reconciliation with his country's lunatic Islamists. The scale has tipped to one side. It is time for Musharraf to explicitly say so and do so, as he'll never appease Pakistan's radicals. Here's an excerpt from the Post: The basic problem for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is that he...

16th of June DEFEATING DEPRESSION PART 1 “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” Proverbs 12:25 Depression- from Webster’s New Unabridged Dictionary Low spirits, gloominess, dejection, sadness, a decrease in force, or activity, or amount, a decrease in functional activity. An emotional condition either normal or pathological characterized by discouragement, a feeling of inadequacy, the act of humbling abasement as a depression of pride. Abasement, reduction, sinking, fall, humiliation, dejection, melancholy. Major Depression Facts Major depression is the No.1 psychological disorder in the western world.(1) It is growing in all age groups,...

That sounds a bit ominous... Iran: Khamene'i Message Greets Congress of University Students' SocietyIRNA (Internet Version-WWW)Saturday, August 19, 2006 Shiraz, Fars Prov, Aug 19, IRNA -- The Islamic Society of University Students opened its 8th national congress in this southern city Saturday with an inaugural message from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.In an inaugural ceremony, the Supreme Leader's message to the congress was read for him by the representative of the Vali-ye Faqih (religiousjurisprudent) in universities. "Dear university students! I hereby greet you one by one and pray that God Almighty would grant you a more prosperous and dignified future...

Plan to beatify martyrs of Spanish civil war attackedThe Pope has provoked controversy with plans to beatify 168 Catholic martyrs of the Spanish civil war. Historians believe that about 10,000 priests, brothers, nuns and laity were killed during the civil war from 1936-39, as Leftists fighting to defend Spain's secular republic tried to wipe out what they saw as Catholic resistance. Beatification, a step towards sainthood, will help preserve the memory of those victims. But as Spain wrestles with conflicting versions of its history in the run up to the 70th anniversary of the start of the civil war next...

PIMA — The Church of Cognizance, which has quietly operated here since 1991, has an unusual tenet — its worshippers deify and use marijuana as part of their faith. Until federal authorities charged them with possessing 172 pounds of their leafy green sacrament earlier this year, church founders Dan and Mary Quaintance say they smoked, ate or drank marijuana daily as a way of becoming more spiritually enlightened. But now, with added conspiracy charges, the Quaintances face up to 40 years each in prison in a case they call religious persecution. Federal prosecutors say religious freedom does not exempt the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A key al-Qaida in Iraq leader described as the group's "religious emir" was killed in a U.S. airstrike hours before two American soldiers went missing and in the same area, the military said Tuesday. Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, and two foreign fighters were killed as they tried to flee in a vehicle near the town of Youssifiyah, in the so-called Sunni "Triangle of Death." U.S. coalition forces had been tracking al-Mashhadani for some time, American military spokesman William Caldwell said in announcing his death. He said al-Mashhadani was an Iraqi, 35 to 37...

The California Supreme Court delved into the world of religion Wednesday, agreeing to decide whether doctors can deny treatment to patients who offend their religious beliefs. The justices decided to review the case of two Vista fertility doctors, Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton, who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian woman. The Christian doctors, however, do not object to treating married patients requiring insemination. "These physicians do not believe that it is necessarily appropriate for a woman to have a baby out of wedlock," the doctors' attorney, Robert Tyler said. "Should a Christian be forced to artificially inseminate an unmarried...

How does receiving "the call" feel like? How does one know this is "the call"? As many of you know already, I have been admitted to the diaconate program in my home diocese. I'm not even yet a "candidate," not a "student," perhaps the right term would an "aspirant" or "discerner." Call it what you want, what it is an open door to something Big. How did I get here? The deeper question is this: How do I know that God is calling me to serve him in formal, active ministry? I need to answer this question to myself and...

A county in Virginia has cited a farmer there because he hosts Thursday night worship services in his barn on a 900-acre farm. According to a statement from Liberty Counsel, which is representing the man, Garland Simmons recently received a Notice of Violation from Bedford County stating that his barn cannot be used for religious services. Simmons' 900-acre piece of property apparently isn't zoned for such meetings. "Barns in Bedford County can apparently be used for dancing to the tunes of Toby Keith or Reba, but a church service reciting the Psalms of David or praise and worship with Casting...

Official wants Da Vinci movie bannedWed May 10, 8:51 AM ET MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government should ban the controversial movie "The Da Vinci Code," a senior official in the mainly Catholic country said Wednesday, describing the religious thriller as blasphemous. The film, based on the best-selling fiction novel of the same title, is due to open in Manila's cinemas next week. "I think we should do everything not to allow it to be shown," said Eduardo Ermita, executive secretary to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, expressing his personal opinion as a "devout Catholic." He told journalists the state's censors...

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF BOSTON made the announcement on March 10: It was getting out of the adoption business. "We have encountered a dilemma we cannot resolve. . . . The issue is adoption to same-sex couples." Catholic Charities' problem with the state didn't hinge on its receipt of public money. Ron Madnick, president of the Massachusetts chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed: "Even if Catholic Charities ceased receiving tax support and gave up its role as a state contractor, it still could not refuse to place children with same-sex couples." [snip] To date, not a...

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox break into internet café, claiming place incites haredi community to commit sins Haim Levinson Religious dispute in Jerusalem: Dozens of riled up ultra-orthodox broke into a Jerusalem internet café Monday, broke the doors and shattered the computers, claiming the place incites the haredi community to commit sins. Police called to Shabbat Square were shocked to find dozens of ultra-Orthodox insulting memory of fallen soldiers – rioting, setting dumpsters on fire and blocking traffic; police say they view incident ‘with extreme gravity’ but fail to make any arrests On Monday night, the ultra-Orthodox crowd arrived at the internet...

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 25, 2006) -- Combat stress can consist of many more things than just combat, and when times get tough, while deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, service members turn to the chaplain's office for help. "Our services are critical for those service members who wish to participate," said Navy Cmdr. Craig G. Muehler, chaplain, Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "We offer services for all religions and denominations." By just touching the 'tip of the iceberg,' deployed service members go through problems such as marital difficulties, depression and overall loneliness which can take their...

Visitors to this site need to be warned of the site's attitude -- to wit -- This nation is in danger. Not from mythical "weapons of mass destruction" or from terrorist bogeymen. The danger facing us is far more real and lethal than either of these -- the danger is from the radical reactionaries who have taken control of the Republican Party, who have squelched political debate, who bully and threaten anyone who dares oppose them, and whose political program intends to destroy every bit of progress made in this nation since the Great Depression. When faced with an enemy...

Ahmedabad (AsiaNews/UCAN) – The nationalist Hindu government of Gujarat has decided to stop sisters from working in a hospital for lepers, terminating a contract that has lasted for more than 60 years.But the decision has been opposed by patients. Many of the sick people said they will follow the sisters wherever they go. “They are everything for us,” Babban Sitapur. "Not even our family members take such care of us." The Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate took up the administration of the Leprosy Hospital in 1949. Gujarat then was part of Bombay state, which was later divided into Maharashtra and...

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- In an airy workshop on a top floor of Lima's Museum of the Nation, art restoration experts touch up plump cherubs on a 450-year-old bas-relief altarpiece. The workshop is the next to last stop on an odyssey that has seen the masterpiece smuggled out of a tiny chapel in the southern highlands of Peru and into the United States, where it was seized from an art dealer in Santa Fe, N.M. Once some minor damage is repaired, the 12-foot-high altarpiece will be displayed briefly at the museum before being returned to the chapel in Challapampa, in...

Nigerian religious riots continue About 10,000 are still sheltering in an army barracks in Onitsha Violence is continuing across Nigeria where religious riots have claimed more than 100 lives this week. A number of deaths were reported and churches and shops burned on Friday in the towns of Kontagora and Potiskum in the north and Enugu in the south-east. Some 10,000 people are still sheltering in barracks in the south-east town of Onitsha after violence there killed 80. Nigeria's 120m people are about equally divided between northern Muslims, and Christians and animists in the south. The violence began last weekend...

Russia clamps down on religious insults Katy Duke Wednesday February 15, 2006 After the recent Muslim caricature controversy, Russian media organisations have been ordered not to publish anything that could be construed as offensive to any religion or risk losing their licences. Russia's media and culture watchdog, The Federal Service for the Oversight of Legislation in Mass Communications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage, has pledged to take a tough line against any organisation accused of "insulting religious feelings". A spokesman said: "Measures envisaged in Russian legislation, including the cancellation of registration, will be taken if any Russian media issue...

U.N. rule to bar religious offense sought CAIRO, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The European Union is debating ideas and measures that might be endorsed by the United Nations to bar the slandering of religions. EU foreign policy and security commissioner Javier Solana said after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday the EU and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) "are considering certain ideas to safeguard and protect religious values in general, but the time is not appropriate to disclose the details." Solana issued a joint statement Monday with the chief of the Jeddah-based OIC Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stressing their...

A Florida city has barred three paintings from a city hall display celebrating Black History Month because they contain small references to the Christian faith. Officials at the city of Deltona, Fla., say hanging the colorful photos by artist Lloyd Marcus would be tantamount to the town favoring a specific religion. Marcus' paintings were to be part of an employee-organized display in the lobby of Deltona City Hall, but acting city manager Roland Blossom nixed the art, reported the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

2/9/2006 - WASHINGTON -- The Air Force released a revised version of its religious guidelines Feb. 9, its latest step in a process started after a review at the U.S. Air Force Academy indicated a need for additional guidance. Air Force Directorate of Personnel officials issued a first set of interim guidelines in August. The newly revised version was written after getting diverse feedback and careful consideration of the U.S. Constitution, laws and military necessity. “This interim guidance outlines the basic principles we expect all military and civilian Airmen to follow as we solidify formal policy,” said Lt. Gen. Roger...

Religious Unity: NRP and NU; Degel and Agudah 15:27 Feb 09, '06 / 11 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel With only hours to go before the deadline, the National Religious Party and National Union announced an election merger, as did the two Ashekanazi hareidi parties. At 2 AM, representatives of the two leading religious-Zionist parties signed an agreement to run together as one bloc. The two parties are the National Union, comprising three factions, and the National Religious Party. The first four places will be occupied by the leaders of the four factions, in this order: Benny Elon (Moledet and...

Cracks Between Religious-Zionist Public and Army 11:54 Feb 02, '06 / 4 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel The Military Police arrested a young 2nd Lieutenant last night on suspicion of having leaked Amona operational plans to anti-destruction protestors. He was interrogated, and if the suspicions are substantiated, he stands to be indicted by the Military Prosecution. O.C. Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh - the yarmulke-wearing brother of former Health Minister Danny Naveh of the Likud - made statements irksome to both sides in the current dispute. Yesterday, he said the police "were close to being in danger of their lives"...