Lord knows where we'd all be if someone -- several someones -- way back when hadn't decided to take risks for their faith, or their personal belief systems, that might result in their deaths. Pledging one's life, fortune and sacred honor for some piece of paper called the Declaration of Independence was pretty wacky ...

BUT ... I still don't much think the Almighty is going to be smiling when them guys paddle they way across the River Styx.

Even though I 'm a way-liberal protestant, I'd love to believe that there's 1.) a hell and 2.) a special corner of it reserved for people who mislead the lonely, the gullible,the misguided and the compulsive conformists into grievous error for the sake of the leader's personal agenda.

And this isn't to say that we (the U.S.A.) are blameless in all our dealings with the rest of the world. Just that history is full of those who create, then manipulate True Believers into devastating wrong.

ww