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The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has recently taken offense to the cross and motto on the emblem of an Army hospital in Colorado, claiming that it violates the separation of church and state, AP reports.

The group has asked the Army to change the emblem of the Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, which has the motto “Pro deo et humanitate” which means “For God and humanity” written on it.  The symbol had been around since 1969.

Fort Carson’s Lt. Col. Steven Wollman said the idea of doctors serving God and humanity predates Christianity to the time of the Greek physician Hippocrates.  Also the cross, which has a pointed base, is the symbol of mercy and has been used since the Middle Ages, when pilgrims used a cross with a spiked base to mark the site of a camp.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said the sign is a reference to the Crusades and fears that it may encourage U.S. enemies to see the war on terror as a Christian war on Islam.

Just last week, the organization persuaded the Army to disinvited Franklin Graham to a prayer event for his previous comments on Islam.

Congress is staying busy. Top Democrats introduced bills yesterday in the House and Senate to counter the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling which allowed corporations to spend money on campaigns. The lawmakers said they hope the legislation will pass by July 4 so it can curb what they expect to be a flow of corporate money leading up to the November elections.

The legislation would limit certain firms from advertising for campaigns, like foreign corporations or those who have received government bailouts. It would require ads to clearly show the names of sponsors.

Backers are all Democrats on the Senate side so far: Chuck Schumer (the senator who leaned over the Supreme Court justices and clapped when President Obama blasted the decision in his State of the Union address), Evan Bayh, Russ Feingold, and Ron Wyden. Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen  (incidentally the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) introduced the bill on the House side, but was joined by two Republicans, Mike Castle and Walter Jones. More Republicans are expected to jump on board – the high court’s decision wasn’t popular.

I’ll have to learn more about this legislation, but the high court’s ruling already upheld the ban on foreign corporations’ spending and also maintained disclosure requirements. Perhaps this legislation simply serves to underline those requirements.

Reading about the tragedy of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals is difficult, to say the least. I don’t think it is possible for me to grasp the suffering of those children or, for that matter, of anyone who has experienced sexual abuse in his or her life. It’s also almost impossible to imagine ever healing from it.

Theresa Burke is the author of Forbidden Grief and the founder of the Rachel’s Vineyard retreats for people experiencing pain following an abortion. I have spoken with a number of women who have gone through these retreats and heard their painful personal stories. But more importantly, I’ve heard how their stories end—with healing attributed to Christ. The retreats are in such demand that they’re now held in 48 states and in 29 other countries, and are conducted in seven different languages.

Burke and her husband, Kevin, have recently started a program specifically for victims of sexual abuse called Grief to Grace. The model is similar to Rachel’s Vineyard: Weekend retreats feature Scripture readings and therapeutic techniques with the goal, according to Grief to Grace’s website, of spiritual healing “fully centered upon the person and presence of Jesus Christ.” This healing ministry is “for anyone who has suffered degradation or violation through sexual abuse, rape, incest, or other forms of traumatic violation in childhood, adolescence, or as an adult.”

The testimonials included on the website are deeply moving. There are recurring themes of forgiveness of self and of others, an end to the self-loathing so many sex abuse victims experience, and feelings of peace finally achieved.

Impossible as it seems, people are healed. Or maybe not so impossible, considering that Grief to Grace’s program is designed around God doing the healing. The website describes it this way: “Grief to Grace helps participants to experience how the works of God might be manifest through the painful events in their own lives. The process will help them recognize in their own stories of death and destruction that Jesus has truly come to bring us new life.”

Virginia’s Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is catching flak from the ACLU because it does not like the fact that he has lifted the ban on police chaplains praying in Jesus’ name. Virginia’s former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine had issued the ruling in 2008, and the ACLU gang charges that McDonnell is giving in to conservatives and Christians in revoking the Jesus ban.

Well, maybe another former Virginia governor influenced McDonnell—Thomas Jefferson. The author of Virginia’s famed Statute for Religious Freedom, Jefferson never tried to suppress Virginians’ or Americans’ free exercise of religion. In fact, as president in 1802, Jefferson invited Elder John Leland to preach a sermon in the U.S. House of Representatives. Leland, a Baptist lay preacher, surely mentioned Jesus. In that assembly sat Secretary of State James Madison, Jefferson’s close friend and collaborator and the author of the First Amendment. I suspect Jefferson and Madison knew more about the Constitution than the ACLU does.

Of course, the ACLU thinks child pornography is constitutionally protected. We’d rather see children constitutionally protected—from people like the ACLU.

The ACLU is in reality an “Anti-Christian Litigation Unit.” Its Virginia leader, Kent Willis, said the governor’s job is to protect “religious freedom for all.” Indeed, it is. But to deny Christians the right to pray in the name of Jesus is to disfavor them over others. No one says that a Jewish chaplain cannot mention the Torah. Muslim chaplains certainly cite the Koran.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Word made Flesh. To deny them the right to mention His name uniquely disfavors Christians. That invidious discrimination is what McDonnell rightly revoked.

McDonnell’s lifting of the ban on Jesus comes at the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to go along with atheizers who wanted to tear down the cross in the Mojave Desert, which was erected to memorialize World War I soldiers.

U.S. soldiers who fought in World War II are remembered at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. That beautiful memorial park was seen on television worldwide when Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Obama went there to observe various D-Day anniversaries. What strikes the visitor to this cemetery is the acres and acres of quiet, dignified white crosses. Every few yards you see a white Star of David as well. No one protested. No one complained. Americans felt humbled and honored to have such a moving tribute to the young men who gave up their lives so that we might live in freedom.

The American Cemetery is, after all, U.S. sovereign territory. It was deeded to our country in perpetuity by a grateful French people. President Reagan often said the only territory the United States gained from World War II was the verdant acres in which we buried our dead.

McDonnell’s bold actions follow in the footsteps of another great Virginian—George Washington. As president, Washington told the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, R.I.:

“[H]appily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. . . . May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Where did President Washington get that wonderful phrase—”the stock of Abraham”—and that beautiful sentiment about the vine and fig tree? They come from the Bible, of course, the same Bible the ACLU regularly attacks whenever it is publicly quoted.

The ACLU’s attacks on Christianity would bulldoze all those Normandy crosses, all those Stars of David. Too often this radical outfit—whose court costs for their anti-Christian intifada are often reimbursed by the federal government—relies on intimidation and bluster to get its way. That’s why we should applaud Gov. Bob McDonnell for defending Virginia values, for upholding the religious and civil rights of all, and especially for standing up to these courtroom bullies.

Indiana has not enjoyed such a vigorous debate among conservatives in many years.

In the lead-up to the Republican primary on Tuesday, Dan Coats, Marlin Stutzman, Don Bates Jr., John Hostettler, and Richard Behney have given Indiana voters a healthy civics lesson with their arguments over who should be the GOP contender in November for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Evan Bayh.

Because of Bayh’s last-minute decision in February not to run for re-election, state Democratic Party officials had to scramble to find a candidate for next fall’s ballot and officially will select U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth in May.

The actual differences of opinion among the five Republican candidates are pretty slight. All are pro-life. They all want less government and more free market, in opposition to the liberal thrust of Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress.

The GOP candidates all favor a strong military, although Hostettler has staked out an interesting semi-isolationist position that brings back memories of the 1950s Republican presidential debate between Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, the World War II hero, thought America had to police the world against communism. Taft favored a more isolationist approach.

In this Senate race, Coats has the strongest and longest record of public service. He was a founding father of compassionate conservatism while serving in the U.S. Senate during the 1990s. He also knows how to talk to Democrats and shift a consensus toward conservative principles.

Coats’ endorsements reflect his social and fiscal conservatism. Radio talk show host James Dobson endorsed Coats for his pro-life record and personal integrity, and Dobson’s approval can carry a lot of weight with family life conservatives. For some parents, Dobson’s best-selling book Dare to Discipline was their first guide to
childrearing. U.S. Rep. Mike Pence’s endorsement carries weight because of the Republican congressman’s unusual capacity to unite conservatives instead of dividing them.

State Sen. Marlin Stutzman hurt his own cause by attacking Coats with Democratic Party talking points earlier in the campaign.

Former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler’s introverted personality has hurt him this time around, as it did in his 2006 loss to Brad Ellsworth for Congress.

Businessman Don Bates is the most intriguing fresh face in the field because he articulates free-market principles so well.

Sometimes Bates goes lightweight, perhaps because it is his first run for office. “If we keep sending the same politicians back year after year, we can expect the same results,” he said in a debate at Franklin College. All that suggests is that he chose the sidelines when others were in the game.

Yet he could bring a good perspective to a future race for office, based on his practical experience in business.

Usually in Indiana, Republicans have found ways to avoid these primary battles. Mitch Daniels did it in his first race for governor in 2004, when several other competitors got out of the race once he started running. But for a national office, this kind of internal battle has not been so pronounced in the state since the 1976 Gerald Ford-Ronald Reagan vied for dominance of the Republican Party. The more moderate Ford was an incumbent president, and Reagan was challenging him in what became a practice run leading to his successful 1980 bid for the presidency.

Farther back in 1952, when Eisenhower contested with Taft, Eisenhower won the GOP nomination for president, united the party, and led the Republicans to a historic comeback. Despite the Eisenhower-Taft division, Republicans swept into office in a voter reaction to the New Deal and five-straight Democratic presidential victories.

This time the Republicans in Indiana are not split over big philosophical differences. The Democrats already have their candidate in Ellsworth, a southern Indiana Blue Dog former sheriff. He will carry the stigma of voting for the party’s healthcare plan.

Maybe the conservative movement in Indiana is big enough now to accommodate minor differences of opinion and still win a fall election.

God is personal. That’s not just a catechism answer anymore. I first got excited that God was personal when my brother handed me a book at the airport in Paris in the early 1970s with the title The God Who Is There. Of course, even a cosmic force of a god can be “there,” but I knew what Francis Schaeffer meant right away. It was what I had been looking for all my life, though I didn’t know it.

Last week, just before a retreat, I was in a hotel in Minneapolis and had a very bad night. Every insecurity I ever knew reported for duty—I had no right to speak to women who were better than I, who had raised their children well, and loved their husbands well, and who knew more books. Satan even threw in insecurities about my body, for good measure (though that seems superfluous, since varicose veins have nothing to do with public speaking).

I spent most of the night awake, during which I alternated between praying and being paralyzed with fear. Did I mention that the retreat theme was “Fear not, for I am with you”?

When dawn broke I decided to take a walk. You must picture that my hotel was situated among a string of warehouses, a zone in which trees were deemed unhelpful protrusions slated for destruction. You must also understand, for the purposes of this post, that when I am back here in Pennsylvania, the Lord sends me cardinals when I need them; it is our secret wink.

I made my way across the parking lot and heard a familiar sound crack the 8 a.m. quiet: “Suueet! Suueet! Suueet! Suueet! Suueet!” I looked up in the direction of the sound, and there was a mating-red cardinal high in a tree. I knew what God was singing through it: “It’s OK. I still love you.”

Do you know that the table centerpieces at the retreat luncheon were glass vases into which lovely smooth stones had been laid, with nesting birds resting on the mouths of the vases? And then I looked at the programs each woman carried into the assembly, and their covers featured a drawing of a bluebird set to escape the mouth of a cave. The bluebird perched on the words “You Are Mine. Do You Believe It?”

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.

FRIDAY!!!

Random question of the day: Have you ever seen your prayers answered?

My answer to yesterday’s question: I once slept for 14 hours after participating in a 30-hour Dance Marathon.

Remember: This is our daily (except for Sundays) open thread, where you can 1) answer my question, 2) talk about something else, or 3) say something truly encouraging to the commenter before you.

A senior UN official called the Democratic Republic of Congo “the rape capital of the world” due to the large number of women who have become victims of rape in the country.

In 2009, more than 8,000 women were raped during the fighting in eastern DR Congo. Rape continues to be a prominent issue in the conflict because perpetrators are going unpunished, says to Margot Wallstrom, the UN’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

“If women continue to suffer sexual violence, it is not because the law is inadequate to protect them, but because it is inadequately enforced,” she said.

Wallstrom urged the Security Council to punish the perpetrators.  So far the UN mission in DR Congo is dealing with the problem by escorting women on their way to the market, developing early warning systems and working with local officials, a UN statement says.

A report by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative released in April revealed that “60 percent of rape victims in South Kivu were gang raped by armed men, more than half of the assaults took place in the victims’ homes and an increasing number of attacks were being carried out by civilians,” BBC reports.

Although the Second Congo War ended in 2003, the country is still filled militia and army violence.

Christian moms know the drill: Keep your girls pure until marriage at all costs. We read the books on modesty, on courtship, on saving ourselves for the marriage bed, and we share the facts of life at the right time, maybe even have a special day set aside to talk about becoming a woman and how babies are made.

Yet in and around this talk is another thread, perhaps not verbalized, but definitely present: abject terror.

Although there is certainly valid reason for feeling this way during “the talk,” what ends up actually being communicated to your girls is the fear part. Despite what mom verbalizes, the signal she sends out is that sex is B-A-D. Somehow what girls end up learning is that sex is dirty and wrong and scary. Which serves the mother’s purpose perfectly because if a daughter is scared of sex or thinks it’s disgusting, she is less likely to do it until she is married.

But fast-forward these girls a decade. They are now married, perhaps even with children. They want to enjoy sex but can’t because of the childhood associations that oftentimes and quite innocently their mothers put in their heads. So sex is tolerated. Sex is obligatory. Sex is just for the man.

All of which leads to sexual trouble for the woman. She either doesn’t like it or doesn’t understand it, or both. If she’s been pure, she might wonder, even years into marriage, if she’s doing it “right” or how exactly it’s supposed to go. Her innocence seems to backfire and she’s insecure and/or riddled with vestiges of guilt, despite the fact she has a God-given license to imbibe freely and with full enjoyment.

Maybe I didn’t get the memo and there’s a book out there that talks about this; I don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t plan on raising my daughters this way. Girls eventually need to know what to expect and when. They need to feel comfortable in their own skin and not made to feel that the flesh is inherently evil. They need to know that, in the right context, sex is natural and good and pleasurable. They need to know that a man’s needs do not make him a monster. And when the time is right, they may need facts, frank discussion, and book suggestions.

But what they don’t need is a mother riddled with fear, passing on to her daughter the suggestion that sex is something to be merely endured, that it’s just for making babies, or that it’s dirty. It’s a balancing act for sure, but if we can instill in our girls a healthy view of sex, my guess is that both they and our future sons-in-law will fall down and call us blessed.