Regular readers of theTrumpet.com are aware of the ongoing excavation of King David’s palace in Jerusalem. Recently, we told you about the discovery of Nehemiah’s wall, uncovered on the eastern side of the palace. Last week, the Jerusalem Postreported on a discovery of an ancient mansion on the western side of David’s palace. The monumental structure most likely belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene, “a wealthy Babylonian aristocrat who converted to Judaism and moved to Jerusalem with her sons.” She is mentioned in the works of first-century historian Josephus. According to the excavation director, the discovery “indicates that the ancient City of David was much larger than previously thought.” The Associated Press reports, “The building, which includes storerooms, living quarters and ritual baths, is by far the largest and most elaborate structure discovered by archaeologists in the City of David area.”

Can Jack Fend Off Mohammed?

Britain is awaiting figures due later this month to see if Mohammed overtakes Jack as the most popular name for baby boys. Last year, Mohammed surpassed Thomas to secure second place on the baby names list.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the UK’s fertility rate reached a low of 1.63 five years ago, which is lower than necessary to sustain a nation’s population without assistance from immigration. Since then, however, Britain’s “replacement rate” has risen to 1.87, thanks, in large part, to higher fertility rates among migrants. Of the total 669,531 births in Britain last year, 22 percent were to mothers who were born outside of Britain.

These figures confirm what Mark Steyn wrote in America Alone about the European Muslim population “expanding like mosquitoes.” One critic who pointed to that comment as being “blatantly racist” overlooked the fact that Steyn was simply quoting a Muslim cleric.

“Religion of Peace”: Kill the Apostates

The Daily Telegraphsheds light on the often underreported incidents of religious persecution against Muslims who convert to Christianity. It’s difficult to estimate the size and scope of the problem, the Telegraph notes, because few “people who leave Islam are willing to complain to the police about the way they are treated.” The Telegraph writes,

Given the acceptance by some that Muslim religious law does indeed require that apostates be killed, it is hardly surprising that many ordinary Muslims think that it is their religious duty to carry out that punishment—or at least to threaten it.

Confidence in the Peace Process

We’ve written a lot recently about America’s fractured relationship with Israel. The New York Times, on the other hand, sees the U.S.-Israeli alliance much differently. When Israel decided last week to build an additional 300 homes in an East Jerusalem Jewish community, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “We are in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence with the parties and this doesn’t help to build confidence.” The Times identified this statement as a “rare” U.S. criticism of Israel.

Whatever the impact 300 homes might have on the peace process, this little item might not help to build confidence either:

Members of the Hamas faction in the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza and the West Bank have approved the first reading of a bill banning the relinquishing of Jerusalem and considering the act of doing so to be against the law.Former Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar said that Jerusalem will be the capital of the state of the Islamic Caliphate in Palestine.PLC member Fathi Hamad called for the death penalty for anyone giving up one inch of Jerusalem or Palestine.

Pope Picking Sides in Kosovo

Pope Benedict is projecting his influence into negotiations over Kosovo. Yesterday, he met with Albanian President Bamir Topi, who acknowledged the pope’s increased role in aiding his people. According to a press release,

The president wished to show gratitude to the Catholic Church for its contributions offered to the Albanian population, above all through educational and assistance institutions, and that he is also pleased by the recently reached agreements [with the Holy See] in the field of health and economy, and desires that this cooperation can continue from the cultural and spiritual points of view.

Partly to blame for the break-up of Yugoslavia during the 1990s, the Vatican’s hatred for Serbs can now be viewed openly by their alliance with Albania. For more on Kosovo, you can read what we wrote here.

In other Vatican-related news, yesterday’s Toledo Blade has a story about the pope flexing his “theological muscles.” The article quotes one priest who says, “Pope Benedict is the best-trained theologian we’ve ever had as pope.” It quotes a university professor as saying the pope is “seeking to reinvigorate Catholic identity.”

Legitimizing Africa’s Big Men

Yesterday, the Economist featured this article on the EU-Africa summit that occurred this weekend. The event represented Europe’s counterpunch to the strong incursion into Africa occurring from Asia, particularly China, and presages a more intense battle for African resources in the time ahead.

“Now Africa’s leaders can pick their friends,” the article said. It quoted Nigeria’s minister of finance as saying, “Nigeria is becoming a beautiful bride. What is happening is the Chinese, the Koreans, everyone is coming around, and if European companies do not wake up, they will see that most of the best businesses are taken.”

One point about this slouching toward colonialism is especially noteworthy: how the competition is cementing the legitimacy of Africa’s most rapacious leaders. As Europe tries to “woo the bride” back from China, “The main concession is to be less critical of regimes that are a bit light-fingered, or disdainful of human-rights,” the article stated, noting that leaders such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir attended the EU-sponsored summit.

What this means in practical terms is that the influx of foreign cash is far more certain to sweeten the already lavish life of the governing elite than to improve the lot of the average African. But what do China and Europe care?

America’s Smallest School: the Family

The teacher-pupil ratio is not nearly as critical as the parent-pupil ratio, according to a new study by Educational Testing Service. The ets examined four variables within the home that are adversely affecting standardized test scores: single parent households, parental reading to small children, school absences and television viewing. Not at all surprising is that students who come from single-parent homes and who miss school, watch lots of television and rarely read are the ones who score lowly on tests.

Parents, as we have written before, are responsible most for preparing their children for education. As their most important educators, we—not public or private schools, not higher education, not government programs or community organizations, and certainly not music or television programs—are responsible for teaching them how to learn.

Proverbs 22:6 gives parents this strong admonition: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Today’s New York Times has a story about the ets study.

“No Fault” Divorce Means “No Sanctity”

When columnist George Jonas first arrived in Canada in 1956 getting a divorce was not easy. Since then, Canadian divorce law has degenerated rapidly, taking the institution of marriage and family along with it. Jonas writes,

No-fault divorce turned marriage into one of the most inconsequential arrangements into which two humans could enter, something midway between going to a high school dance and setting up a partnership to market designer jeans.What next? For marriage to retain any vestige of being a solemn, sacramental union of two beings for better or worse, divorce would have to retain some residue of being a painful, wrenching, potentially deadly experience, somewhat like the separation of Siamese twins. The choice, as always, is between civilized marriage and civilized divorce.Models? For civilized unions, research the lives of Victorians. For civilized divorces, observe a troop of baboons.

Isn’t This a Free Market?

Mark Steyn’s column about the Bush administration’s new proposal to put a freeze on interest rates is well worth reading in its entirety. Here are a few excerpts.

So now the government has stepped in and said that, if you fall into a particular category of adjustable-rate mortgage (arms, in the biz) and you’re worried that it’s getting way too adjustable, don’t worry: The Nanny State is about to readjust it well inside your comfort zone. By fiat of the Treasury secretary, your adjustable-rate mortgage is henceforth an unadjustable adjustable-rate mortgage. These new unarms will spread their healing balm across the land until it’s safe enough for the housing “market” to once again be exposed to market forces.The government has, in effect, nullified the terms of legal contracts mutually agreed by both parties ….One shouldn’t overstate the administration’s actions: in Zimbabwe, the government seizes your property; in the United States, the government seizes your property contract and then hands it back to you all fluffy and painless.

Elsewhere on the Web

The same report Ahmadinejad viewed as a “victory” last week now convicts the United States of espionage, Iran says.

At OpinionJournal.com this morning, Max Boot says that the U.S. and Israel aren’t the only nations worried about Iran’s spreading regional influence and its plans to develop nuclear weapons.

Friday’s Der Spiegelreports, “Wall Street bigwigs and top corporate chieftains are scurrying to the Mideast petro states to curry favor and pitch megadeals.”

This week’s print edition of the Economist features this article documenting the reasons for the recent alarming trend of “agflation”—rising food costs. As bad as they are getting, an autopsy on why the trend is happening strongly indicates that we’ve seen “the end of cheap food prices.” It also shows how the people hardest hit are the world’s poorest.

The Guardian says UK authorities are warning that Northern Rock may not be the only British “casualty” from the U.S. subprime mortgage fallout. At the Times, read how the housing crisis is impacting consumer spending.

Yesterday’s National Post has an excellent opinion piece on the “plight of divorced dads.”

And Finally …

The U.S.’s National Intelligence Estimate, released last Monday, is still a hot topic. Bill Kristol makes an obvious but important point in this week’sWeekly Standard: If Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 because of “international pressure” as the nie asserts, a look back at what happened at the time points to only one event that would really qualify: the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He quotes Claudia Rosett as noting that 2003 “was the year in which Saddam Hussein became Exhibit A of the post-Sept.-11 era for what could happen to terror-linked tyrants who ignored America’s demands that they abjure weapons of mass murder.” Victor Davis Hanson made a similar point in his private papers earlier in the week. It is interesting, then, how so many have interpreted the nie as being a slam-dunk argument for the virtues of diplomacy in dealing with Iran.