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Iran has become emboldened since the recent nuclear deal and is challenging U.S. foreign policy. “Iranian Army Commander Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi… announced that Iran intends to deploy warships and destroyers in Latin America… to expand its military cooperation with countries opposing the US” (Israel National News, April 3, 2016).

Many years ago, when my son was about two years old, I used to carry him around on my shoulders and attempt to teach him important things about life. One night I pointed to the bright, full moon and told him, “God made the Moon.” In his small, new voice he would repeat, “God bade boon?!” I thought that what he said was priceless, and I would prompt him to say it to others by asking him, “Who made the Moon?” “God bade boon!” he would respond with full assurance.

All eyes are on the heart of Europe as the streets of major cities run red with the blood of mass shooting and suicide bombing victims in crowded public places. Islamic extremists bent on bringing down their host countries as they strive to expand the Caliphate, their idea of a world ruling government, have wrought death and terrible injuries. Police and civil authorities swarm the sites of these atrocities looking for clues, while medical facilities are strained to the limit dealing with the horrible injuries caused by shrapnel-loaded bombs.

In a recent article in the EU Observer, Professor Michael Smith commented on  European finger-pointing in the wake of the Brussels bombings: “The inevitable result of this confusion of naming and shaming, wishful thinking, and piecemeal intergovernmental cooperation is the Europe we have today, where all the major recent crises—the eurozone, refugees, and now terrorism—stem from the same problem: profound disagreement among EU member states, particularly the ‘big three,’ about the future of Europe

A recent study led by Professor Jean M. Twenge, author of Generation Me, looked at the changes in religious beliefs and practices of nearly 60,000 people between 1972 and 2014. “The results of the new study are striking, concluding that five times more Americans prayed in the early 1980s than in 2014 while nearly twice as many Americans believed in God in the 1980s than... do now” (Meta Science News, March 21, 2016).