Riding the bus the other day, I was struck by how different worldviews play out in the smallest, as well as largest ways (you decide which is which). In the U.S., you enter the bus from the front, bringing you face to face with the driver and your obligation to pay the fare - maybe there's a machine you drop your coins into; maybe the driver takes your money himself; maybe there's a ticket you've already bought . . . but however it works, the very first thing you do is pay your money. No money, no entrance.

Now don't misunderstand - in Iraq, you must pay as well. But how the transaction takes place is instructive:

A group of college students from the PCUSA’s College of Wooster need financial help to attend the national November Vigil to Close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) in Georgia. Two PCUSA General Assemblies have called for the closing of the school because of its sad history of training officers who have led military coups, death squads, assassination of religious leaders and other human rights abuses. The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) has established a fund to assist these college students’ travel and lodging expenses to participate in this peacemaking action.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has created the following resource on torture for the Advent season:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dm4a6FwLs%2FXfsiU...