America's newest public diplomacy tsarina, Karen Hughes, is in dangerous denial. She believes that how we treat prisoners in the "global war on terror" is unlikely to have a serious adverse affect on how people think of the United States.

By William Fisher

MAY 12, 2004--At a press conference on Wed., May 12 at Masjid Dar El-Salam Mosque in San Francisco, six leaders of Bay Area religious and human rights groups gathered to make a public statement. These individuals were: Rayan El-Amine, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee; Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange; Samina Faheem Sundas, American Muslim Voice; Souleiman Ghali, Islamic Society of San Francisco; Rabbi Michael Lerner, Beyt Tikkun Synagogue; and Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

Their joint public statement of the participants reads as follows:

By Johncy Itty

Readings for Easter 7, Year C, May 23, 2004

Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

As we draw closer to the season of Pentecost, we are constantly reminded of the power of God to change human hearts, minds, and attitudes. On the eve of Pentecost, we pray that the presence of the Holy Spirit will help to inform and direct the course of our lives as members of a Christian family.

Our meditations for the seventh Sunday in Easter include a well-known passage from the book of Acts in which Paul and Silas were imprisoned and caused to suffer a great deal because of their faith and their steadfast proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Despite their mistreatment and false arrest, Paul and Silas slowly transformed the minds and hearts of their captors and others who were imprisoned, through their deep sense of faith and, especially, their behavior. Our text notes: "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them."