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We are searching for ways to exercise enough power to defeat the insurgents while still behaving in accordance with our national conscience. We are seeking a sweet spot that satisfies both the demands of power and of principle. But it could be that given the circumstances we have allowed the insurgents to create, that sweet spot no longer exists.

The Americans lose when insurgents who flaunt moral constraints are allowed to operate. Americans also lose when they stoop to the immoral behavior their enemies. It's one of the paradoxes of this war, Brooks says. He blames that paradox on the guerrilla nature of the Iraq war. But Brooks doesn't consider two things: "War is hell," as Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman said. And humans are sinful.

"The terrorists no doubt look at our qualms not as a sign of virtue but of weakness," says Brooks "and as evidence that savagery will lead to victory again and again." It's depressing, yes. And it's a reminder that even with the technology of the American military to guide precision bombs and limit collateral deaths, war has moral implications on those who fight it and those who send soldiers. Maintaining virtue in war is far more difficult than winning it. If winning the war depends on our virtue … well, we all will need a lot of prayer.

3. Same-sex marriage wins one, loses one

The amendment to ban same-sex marriage failed in the Senate yesterday, though the measure gained one vote more than it did in 2004. But in Alabama, voters, many of whom rejected Roy Moore for the Republican candidate for governor, passed a ban on same-sex marriage with 81 percent approval.

In Washington state, conservatives failed to even get enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot that, if passed, would overturn a state law that bans discrimination against gays. The state does have a Defense of Marriage Act, which some worry could be overturned because of the non-discrimination bill.

4. Prisons, prisoners in awful shape

There are so many things wrong with our prison system, it's hard to know where to begin. That's weblog's summary of a recent report by the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons. The commission includes evangelicals working in prison ministry. Violence, overcrowding, disease, and lack of family support are some of the many reasons why 60 percent of the country's prisoners commit another crime after their release.

But, according to Judge Robert W. Pratt, chief judge of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, religious efforts to improve prison life and reduce recidivism are unconstitutional. He declared Prison Fellowship's InnerChange program unconstitutional. The program accepts inmates who voluntarily chose to apply. It also separates ministry-funded activities like communal worship, from state-funded activities like meals or security. In throwing out the InnerChange program run by Prison Fellowship, Pratt said:

The program requires attendance at worship services, religious community meetings, and weekly revivals, and orders its participants to engage in daily religious devotional practice. Furthermore, participants are required to lead prayers and share, publicly, a personal devotional at the weekly community meeting. InnerChange instructors and employees must sign the Prison Fellowship Statement of Faith. The curriculum is restricted and does not stray from the religious beliefs stated in the Statement of Faith. InnerChange teachers and counselors are allowed to teach only a pre-set, imposed religious curriculum authorized by InnerChange and Prison Fellowship. Though an inmate could, theoretically, graduate from InnerChange without converting to Christianity, the coercive nature of the program demands obedience to its dogmas and doctrines.

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June (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50