Iran and its youth: just a note to encourage you

This is a quick note to the youth of Iran who are rebelling against the illegitimate regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini and Ahmadinejad.

Keep up the good work and please, please remember this:

If Ahmadinejad goads Israel into defending itself and bombing one of his real or fake nuclear processing plants, please know that Israel is NOT attacking you or your nation. Please don't allow Ahmadinejad to use both you and your love of your nation and Israel as pawns to keep his illegitimate, ruthless regime that hangs innocent young women in power.

Iran was behind the "war" between Israel and Lebanon Islamists. Don't let Ahmadinejad use you or Israel again to keep his shaky power structure in place.

Please remember too that when what is now the United States of America fought against King George III for independence, it was the young men who fought along side the older men. Alexander Hamilton was 19 or 20ish when he fought and General George Washington was only 43 when he took command of the Continental Army such as it was.

Keep your faith in the goal of attaining a democratic republic where even I as a Christian can worship without fear just as the followers of Islam can worship freely here in the United States with no "political religious" police harassing us.

I'll write more about this later but know that you and I are not natural "enemies" and you will win your democratic republic in the long run. Evil can last only so long in the face of earnest youth who want freedom and democracy.

Neda and the protests in Iran

To the men and women protesting the recent elections or mock elections in Iran, we in America are watching you and praying for your bravery.  Here in our nation, our freedoms are being grabbed from us in ways we hardly notice under bills and legislation designed to make more and more of us dependent upon our government and yet we remain the symbol of "freedom."

To the family and friends of Neda, we know of the low regard in which women are held under Sharia Law and we pray for all women who live under such tyranny.

But when I see the few videos that have gotten out of Tehran, I am compelled to applaud you who protest the injustices for your bravery; you set an example to the rest of the world that when a government is a theocracy and a tyranny, the only human response is protest.

You who shout to each other in the darkness from the rooftops are showing the rest of the world that you only want freedom and fairness in this election.  You are brave and bold to stand before the forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - all aligned against you.  Yet, I believe that some in that guard hold the beliefs that you hold.

I do not understand a culture that hangs an innocent woman while the man who committed the murder gets 10 years in prison, or sentences women to prison or to death for defending themselves against rapists.  I can only hope that if you obtain your freedom, you will not turn against me and my family or against my country to kill or injure us under the false name of "religion."

For your bravery, you are a model for all who live under the heavy hand of tyranny.  God bless you and keep you safe in your struggle.