Their mission is to bring together passionate Jesus followers from diverse backgrounds to dream and work together so that more people would experience the transforming love of God. Dave Gibbons, lead pastor at Newsong Church in Irvine, Calif., describes the group as "a community of friends" who are figuring out together what God is doing.

Those involved, including Gibbons, say the relatively-new network has grown organically. Many, such as Mosaic Church's Erwin McManus, Vintage Faith's Dan Kimball and National Community Church's Mark Batterson, were already friends and they decided to make their exchanges a bit more formal yet still dynamic.

"I think it's a group of people coming together who are saying 'we don't have all the answers. We really need each other," Batterson said this past weekend in Washington, D.C.

"I need Dave [Gibbons]. I need the way he thinks. I need the way that they are expressing the Gospel through missions," the NCC pastor noted. "Together the synergy that happens when we come as believers and put some of our assumptions on the table and begin to dream about what the Kingdom could look like, some amazing things begin to happen.

"It's just about challenging all of us to rethink what it means, in biblical terms, Jesus, humanity, [and] innovation," Batterson added. Gibbons explained that they're not seeking to reinvent anything. They're simply going back to the roots of church and maybe reinterpreting it.

"We're actually here to serve and maybe be catalytic for you because you're the movement of God," Gibbons of Newsong church told ministry leaders and Christians from various churches during the Washington stop. "We're actually here to also listen because as we listen ... we're trying to gather information on how to formulate a support structure so that the freedom of the Holy Spirit can be let loose."

Others who are part of the Origins Project Creative Team include, among others, Scot McKnight, religious studies professor at North Park University in Chicago and a New Testament scholar; Amena Brown, poet and spoken word performer; Rick McKinley of Imago Dei Community Church; and Eric Bryant of Mosaic Church and author of Peppermint-Filled Pinatas.

In Mozambique Reverend Herminio describes the interfaith training around Malaria that begins with a Muslim prayer and ends with a Christian blessing but most importantly equips faith leaders to teach their congregations about malaria control, "The trainers are the same Imams and Pastors that people trust, we are not imported from outside, we cannot keep quiet about this, when our communities are dying. If we have the knowledge we have to share it." It is stories and statistics like these that are encouraging the development community to look more and more at the potential of faith communities.

"Faith communities" (faith based organisations, faith communities and religious leaders) are seen as development's missing link reaching those that governments and NGOs can't. But what is the role of these faith communities? Do they have a justifiable role at the 'development table'? And how effective can they be? This series is designed to answer some of these tough questions.

At first, Moscow denied a visit ever took place, but after Netanyahu's office was forced to admit to the PM's Military Secretary Meir Kalifi's lie, a senior Kremlin source also confirmed to Kommersant that the Israeli prime minister did indeed visit the city. 

The paper then quoted what it called an "informed" Israeli source, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying, "Such a visit could be related to new information and could threaten the Iranian nuclear program. It should not be ruled out that Israel may be ready to move on to decisive actions with regards to Iran, and Netanyahu has decided to inform the Kremlin of this." 

Russian Foreign Minister Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko published an announcement saying, "We have no knowledge of a Netanyahu's 'secret' visit to Moscow. We saw reports in various media. They are inconsistent. Other than that, I cannot tell you anything. I have no detailed information in the matter, or any information in the matter. We have seen the reports." 

Wednesday night the Prime Minister's Office published yet another announcement in an attempt to rectify the damage, said, "The prime minister was busy with secret, classified activity. The military secretary took his own initiative to defend this activity."

While the majority of both groups say religion is important in their lives, for example, they have strikingly different beliefs about scripture. Nearly half of conservatives (48 percent) believe scripture to be the literal word of God, while only three percent of progressives shared the same view, according to the 2009 Religious Activist Surveys conducted by the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in partnership with Public Religion Research.

While the vast majority of conservatives identify abortion (83 percent) and same-sex marriage (65 percent) as the most important priorities among eight issues listed in the surveys, less than 10 percent of progressive religious activists called abortion and same-sex marriage the "most important" issues. Instead, progressive activists identify poverty (74 percent), health care (67 percent), environment (56 percent), jobs/economy (48 percent), and the Iraq war (45 percent) as the highest priorities.

On abortion, nearly all conservative religious activists opposed legalization of the practice (95 percent). In sharp contrast, the overwhelming majority of progressive religious activists support some form of legal abortions (80 percent). Twenty-six percent of progressives say abortion should be legal in all cases and 54 percent say it should be legal in most cases.

Regarding same-sex marriage, conservatives overwhelmingly (82 percent) oppose both same-sex marriage and civil unions. By contrast, 59 percent of progressives support same-sex marriage, and a third say the law should recognize legal agreements between same-sex couples but define marriage as a union between a man and woman.

The surveys also found a significantly different makeup of conservative and progressive religious activists. Conservatives are mostly composed of evangelical Protestants (54 percent), Roman Catholics (35 percent), and mainline Protestants (9 percent).  Meanwhile, progressive activists are made up of mainline Protestants (44 percent), Roman Catholics (17 percent), evangelical Protestants (10 percent), and interfaith bodies and groups (12 percent).

"If scientists will be using and cloning embryos only at a very early stage when they are just a handful of cells (say, before they are four days old), there is no good reason for a ban (on cloning)," wrote Sunstein, who was confirmed by the Senate last week as administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

"Moral repugnance might well be a response to vaguely remembered science fiction stories or horror movies, or to perceptions based on ignorance and confusion (as in the idea that a clone is a complete "copy" of the original, or a "copy" that is going to be evil)," he wrote.

Several other works by Sunstein, including his books, quote approvingly of Bentham's statements comparing adult dogs and horses to human infants.

In the Harvard paper, Sunstein even suggests animals could be granted the right to sue humans in court. "We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are in some general sense 'persons,' or that they are not property," he wrote.

The Senate last week confirmed Sunstein as Obama's administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs overcoming months of delay due to Republican concerns that he would push a radical animal-rights agenda.

Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if Western powers do not impose serious sanctions against Teheran by the end of 2009, former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday.

"We cannot live under the shadow of an Iran with nuclear weapons," he was quoted as telling Reuters in an interview on a visit to the UK. "By the end of the year, if there is no agreement on crippling sanctions aimed at this regime, we will have no choice."

Sneh reportedly stressed that a military strike would be "the very, very last resort. But ironically it is our best friends and allies who are pushing us into a corner where we would have no option but to do it."

"I wonder if they will [put a tougher sanctions regime in place] quickly enough. If not, we are compelled to take action."

Sneh reportedly explained that Jerusalem could not accept a nuclear-armed Iran because government processes would be "substantially distorted," as the cabinet's decision making would be hostage to the fear of Teheran's nuclear retaliation.

If the Islamic republic completes its military nuclear program, immigration to Israel would stop, young men and women would emigrate to pursue their future in places seen as more secure and investment in Israel would be reduced, he reportedly said. The former deputy minister also warned that Iran would pressure moderate Arab states to toughen their positions vis-a-vis Israel, and that a nuclear Iran would prompt Saudi Arabia and Egypt to obtain nuclear weapons themselves, bringing about a Middle East "fully loaded with nuclear weapons."

"We heard from the U.S. that no matter what Israel is building in the West Bank, it will not affect a final status agreement to create a Palestinian state," said the PA official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld.

"The Americans told us (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu might construct in the West Bank for now but we (Palestinians) can enjoy these houses later. The evacuated homes will not be destroyed like some were when Israel pulled out of Gaza," the official said.

The official said Obama has adopted the position of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who presented a plan to create a Palestinian state within two years based largely on the 1967 borders, meaning Israel would retreat from the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

The official, however, said the U.S. does not support Israel retaining the E1 area in Jerusalem, referring to Maale Adumim, a Jewish community in eastern Jerusalem.

The issue of Jewish construction is contentious. Obama has demanded Israel halt all settlement activity, or Jewish building projects in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, is in the region attempting to negotiate a settlement freeze. Talks between Netanyahu and Mitchell, which continued today, failed to reach an agreement. A deal could allow for a tripartite meeting between Obama, Netanyahu, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next week.