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"If what we do now is to make no difference in the end," argued the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, "then all the seriousness of life is done away with." Ultimately, we become what we love. Hell is not a not place, but a community of those who remain outside the circle of Divine Embrace. All are called to enter heaven, but it is hubris to suppose that any one of us is worthy of a free ticket.

Emphasizing hell's essential feature as separation from God? Noting that none of us deserve heaven? Seriously, Newsweek: get Woodward out of sidebar city and assign him another cover.

Missions & ministry:

• Bad luck foiled Christmas rescue of Burnhams | Philippine commandos were within minutes of pulling off a Christmas Day rescue of a U.S. couple held hostage by Abu Sayyaf rebels when a woman stepped on a hiding soldier's head, sending the operation into chaos. (The Philippine Star)
  
  
• Bush authorizes payment of missionaries' settlement | U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra said President Bush's signing of the supplemental spending bill includes instructions to the U.S. Department of State to pay the family of slain Muskegon missionary Veronica "Roni" Bowers and her infant daughter (The Muskegon [Mich.] Chronicle)
  
  
• Florida missionary killed in Romania | Pastor found body a day after 21-year-old Timothy "Luke" Snow was stabbed to death in his apartment (The Daytona Beach News-Journal)
  
  
• Enter faith conventions, his and hers | Single-gender Christian events have different messages but loyal fans (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• China frees South Korean missionary | Chun Ki-won said he had helped 170 North Koreans escape to South Korea since 1999 (Associated Press)
  
  
• Churches are on a mission | Volunteers do their part to prepare for Billy Graham's visit (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Refugees connect at church | Sudanese Community Fellowship launches in Greensboro (The News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.)
  
  
• Opening a citadel of prayer | Their order facing extinction, 11 Carmelite nuns end decades of solitude and go dot-com. 'The life we lead, it has to go on,' one says (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Try it, you'll like it | Should Jews proselytize? (Moment)

Rowan Williams, the next Archbishop of Canterbury:

• The view from above | The reaction to Rowan Williams' appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury demonstrates a widespread hunger for moral leadership well beyond the Church itself. But can anybody live up to the conflicting demands we make of our leaders today? (Tom Bentley, The Observer, London)
  
  
• Pagan druid claims anger archbishop | Claim that group "is even remotely associated with paganism is deeply offensive," says man who will lead Church of England (BBC)
  
  
• Also: Incoming Archbishop of Canterbury becomes a druid (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Also: Archbishop-designate in Welsh group (Associated Press)
  
  
• Also: Archbishop becomes white druid | As part of a centuries-old Celtic tradition, the Archbishop of Wales is attending a ceremony in Pembrokeshire (Ananova)

War protests:

• Clergy protest against war on Iraq | Future archbishop of Canterbury among signers of protest document (BBC)
  
  
• Also: Church protest on war role strongest since Suez | In contrast to the splits that appeared within the Church over the Falklands conflict, the first Gulf War and last year's Allied invasion of Afghanistan, there is a strengthening consensus against any attempt to depose President Saddam Hussein by force (The Times, London)
  
  
• The morality of war | The threat of military intervention against Iraq has brought about a resurgence of the Church of England's moral authority (Editorial, The Guardian, London)
  
  

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August (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46