I am implying nothing of the sort, Ireland. I respect Norton's daughter, and wish her well. I hope she comes back safe and sound. Ditto for the other young men and women serving overseas. My criticism was for the USA political leaders, not for the individual soldiers or the general public.

As for "peacenick", I was simply reacting to the word "peacenick" itself, which is usually used as a term of abuse these days. (As if it was somehow wrongful and cowardly for people to ever argue in the direction of peace...) So, you have mistaken the intent of my reaction. It had nothing to do with Steve's daughter.

The differences between the Old Testament and the New are striking indeed, and I am not very well impressed by the Old Testament. I am very well impressed by Jesus and his life and mission. That does not mean I necessarily consider the Bible (either Old or New Testament) to be an infallible source of information. I do not. I think the Bible as it presently exists has been altered, edited by the early Church leaders several times, and was never infallible in the first place anyway! It was written by a whole bunch of different people at different times, all with their particular axe to grind. Like I say, it's Jesus and his conduct that impresses me, not the Bible or the Christian churches. You can find out a good deal of useful things about Jesus from the Bible (and from a number of other less well known sources...), so that's fine with me. I read the Bible with interest, but I don't swallow it whole.

troll - Yeah, we'll be shaking our heads over each other for who knows how long... :-) If we had been born in alternate families, we'd probably each be arguing the other side of the issue now.