WindyCityLefty quiz: Which is the ass and which is the hole in the ground?

It's Rep. Mark Souder, and he apparently seems to think that the problem for the war is that we're not beating them over the head with Christianity enough.

(AgapePress) - An Indiana congressman is warning that an Iraqi-style democracy may not make much of a change there. Why? Because the Judeo-Christian ethic is critical to the success of such a venture, he says.

Yeah. The whole thing is going swimmingly. It's like those guys in the powdered wigs who founded our democracy. Everyone remembers how James Madison used to execute people without a trial at point blank range. All that's missing is the "In God We Trust" on the dinar.

"The United States was at its founding, and still is, not only a religious nation but largely a Christian nation," Souder said. "Through Judeo-Christian beliefs that anchor our legal, our economic, our military, and our political system, the balance of powers and constraints upon the state -- and thus upon the majority -- assume the sinful nature of man and one that is not perfectable."

Without a faith grounded in such beliefs, the congressman said, democracy as it is known in the United States cannot work -- and he believes that could well be the case in Iraq.

"John Adams said, 'Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people,'" Souder noted. "Does democracy in Iraq mean the majority Shia, upon winning, can deny rights to women and to religious minorities, not to mention exact revenge upon the Sunni? Why not do these things if the only standard is democracy?"

He offered a recent demonstration of the nation's morality, whose "premises rest at least upon the echoes and remnants of Judeo-Christian teaching," he says.

John Adams...Hey, I know that guy! He's one of the ones in the powdered wigs. And he also signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which contained the following.

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Well, maybe Adams wasn't exactly James Dobson with a quill pen. Back to the congressman gracing Saddam's spider hole in that lovely Cosby sweater and body armor number.

"Over 75 percent of the American people profess to be Christian, and an even higher percentage believe that they were created by God -- not some randomly evolving blob of amoeba," Souder stated.

Which of course led to the following bit o' snark from TBogg.

Did he just call my mom a "randomly evolving blob of amoeba"?

Sounds like he did to me! One final quote from the article:

"So when a tragedy hits Asia, we don't say 'Tough luck. It's social Darwinism. The fittest will survive.'"

Of course not. It's time to market and try to convert everyone!

But the president of the group Gospel for Asia (GFA) takes a very different approach. K.P. Yohannon says the deadly tsunami has made people in the region more receptive to the gospel. "Now when we talk to people about death and eternity and what is to come, I can tell you -- strike while the iron is hot," Yohannon says.

The GFA leader says his group has had missionaries in the area for years, and they are there now to pray and give New Testaments to the tsunami victims, in addition to meeting their physical needs.

Fortunately, not everyone feels this way. Most of the charities at work are focusing on the charity. According to the deputy executive director of Catholic Relief Services

This is not a time for evangelization," Headley says. "It's time of anything for Christian witness that if your faith means something, that you're to serve people, then this is a wonderful opportunity to do this."