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Speaking from Prague on Sunday, President Barack Obama declared his intention to start ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The President is not alone in his belief that nuclear stockpiles have outlived their usefulness; former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz have argued that it is high time for nuclear disarmament. It certainly sounds like a great idea – free the nations of Earth from the nuclear threat. Whether absolute disarmament is actually possible is another matter. Some argue that it isn't even a good idea to try.

"We will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same," Obama told a cheering crowd at Hradcanske Square outside Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. "To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year."

"This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime," he said. "[We] must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, 'Yes, we can.'"

Ronald Reagan pushed for nuclear disarmament during his presidency, and every president since has worked to reduce the number of warheads in Russian and American stockpiles. Obama wants to go beyond reduction; he envisions a world completely free of nuclear weapons and has made it a centerpiece of his foreign policy.

There are many reasons for pushing for a nuclear-free world. Nine countries have successfully detonated nuclear weapons, and a number of others are seriously interested. Disarming now would discourage other countries from jumping on the bandwagon. Fewer weapons in existence also mean a lower chance those weapons and weapons materials will fall into the wrong hands. If America leads the way in disarmament, advocates argue, that will encourage others to do the same. As an added incentive, Obama said, all countries that renounce nuclear weapons would have access to peaceful nuclear power through an international nuclear fuel bank (eliminating the need to enrich uranium themselves.)

Former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn spoke at the American Academy in Berlin in June 2008, urging for disarmament, saying, "[W]e believe [that, with a U.S. commitment to disarmament,] it would become more likely that many more nations will join us in a firm approach to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials and prevent catastrophic terrorism.... We cannot take these steps without the cooperation of other nations. We cannot get the cooperation of other nations without the vision and hope of a world that will someday end these weapons as a threat to mankind."

In the short-term, Obama plans to:

• Reduce nuclear stockpiles along with Russia; 
• Detect radioactive materials as they are smuggled through borders. For instance, the US and New Zealand signed an agreement Tuesday in which New Zealand would donate US$600,000 to set up radiation detection equipment on the borders of Kazakhstan.
• End production of weapons-grade nuclear materials;
• Add teeth to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including consequences for nations that break their agreements under the treaty;
• Host a global summit on nuclear security;
• Press the US Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (the US has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1993, but has not ratified the treaty);
• Secure nuclear material to keep it from being acquired by dangerous groups.

While most of humanity would like nuclear weapons to disappear off the face of the earth, not everybody is excited about the idea of America's giving them up, or of even leading such an idealistic charge. Carrying the big nuclear stick has been a central part of US security policy for a good reason. Giving that up seems a bit naive. What's more, US disarmament may not encourage all countries to remain nuke-free. Countries like North Korea and Iran won't stop coveting the power and respect and security that nuclear weapon possession offers - not any time soon. Nations that have depended on the "nuclear umbrella" of protection by the United States might decide they now need to develop nuclear weapons in order to protect themselves from rogue states.

The International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) to the State Department claims, "There is clear evidence in diplomatic channels that U.S. assurances to include the nuclear umbrella have been, and continue to be, the single most important reason many allies have forsworn nuclear weapons."

Obama still wants to build a missile shield based in the Czech Republic and Poland, to the consternation of Russia. The world will not be nuke-free tomorrow, after all. Obama said, "Make no mistake: as long as these weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies."

Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton acknowledges that most people want a nuclear-free world. But, Bolton said, "I don't think it's realistic to think nuclear weapons will disappear for a long, long time, not until the lion lays down with the lamb."

Same-sex marriage is in the news again. Vermont officially joined the same-sex marriage clique when both houses of its state legislature voted to override the governor's veto on Tuesday. This follows a court decision in Iowa that declared the state ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Iowa and Vermont now make four states, after Massachusetts and Connecticut, to have given their blessings to same-sex nuptials.

Vermont, one of America's most liberal states, was the first state to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples in 2000. It has now become the first to legalize same-sex marriage by legislative vote rather than by a state court ruling. Republican Gov. Jim Douglas vetoed the bill on Monday, but was quickly overruled by 67% in the state House and 82% in the state Senate.

According to a Town Meeting Day survey done in March, 55 percent of 13,000 people in 120 Vermont towns and cities supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed said they opposed same-sex marriage, and seven percent remained undecided.

In the meanwhile, conservative Iowans are fighting to undo the April 3rd decision made by their state Supreme Court. Polls show that 62 percent of Iowans are against same-sex marriage, and conservatives are pushing for a state constitutional amendment to renew the ban that the court overturned. Iowa Family Policy Council spokesman Bryan English does not think there is much hope the state legislature will pick up the bill, though, unless there is a strong public push for an amendment.

"It's only a matter of time now before those of us who are still willing to speak the truth and say that homosexuality is wrong are the ones that they are calling criminals," English told OneNewsNow. "We have to rise up now. We have to protect marriage. We must pass the Iowa marriage amendment. People need to get active."

In New Hampshire, the House has officially passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage on March 26. The bill will now go on to the Senate. Democratic Gov. John Lynch has said he opposes same-sex marriages, but he has not said whether he would veto the bill if it passes in the Senate. He signed the civil unions bill in 2007, outlawing discrimination against same-sex couples.

New Jersey and New Hampshire have both enacted civil union laws, while Maine, California Washington, Oregon, and Washington DC have domestic partnership laws that are almost equal to civil unions.

A majority of Americans still oppose same-sex marriage by 53-44%, according to a CNN poll taken in June 2008. Thirty states have adopted constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, and 17 of those states have also banned civil unions. The federal government passed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" and a spouse as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife."

"I claim to be an historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history ..."
E. M. Blaiklock - Professor of Classics, Auckland University

The Resurrection of Christ is the most powerful event in history.  It has affected the last 2000 years of history and politics, from peasants to kings to nations.  Christianity has spread across the entire world, into every country and into a vast number of ethnic groups and languages. Billions of people have experienced the life-giving, healing, forgiveness and freedom offered by God because Jesus Christ conquered death and rose again from the grave.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:12-22 that without the resurrection of Christ, the Christian faith is useless. "And if Christ be not raised," Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."

There are many skeptics who disregard the resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as a fable.  However, the evidence for Jesus' resurrection is extremely strong, even to the point of converting some who sought to disprove it:

The Empty Tomb: Though well-trained Roman soldiers guarded the tomb of Jesus Christ, it was empty 3 days after Jesus' death as Jesus had repeatedly foretold (Matt 12:40, Mark 8:31).  The guards had fled (a death penalty offense). The massive stone had been rolled away, and the body was gone – and was never produced by the enemies of the Christians.  The linen grave clothes in which the Jews bury their dead were still in the tomb, undisturbed. From the Jewish historian Josephus to a compilation of 5th-century Jewish writings called the "Toledoth Jeshu", even Jewish sources and traditions admit that the tomb was empty.  The body was never found.

Living Witnesses:  There were a multitude of witnesses who saw Jesus Christ alive after his death.  The disciples, the travelers on the road to Emmaus and a number of women all spoke to Jesus alive. Thomas doubted until he was able to put his fingers into Jesus' wounds (John 20:26-27).  He later spread the Gospel all the way to India.  The apostle Paul tells of 500 people to whom Jesus appeared at one time, most of whom were still alive and available for questioning when Paul wrote his letter  (1 Cor 15:6).  When several people testify in a courtroom that they witnessed an event, and their accounts are found consistent with each other, their testimony is considered factual information.  Jesus Christ was seen alive many times by hundreds of different people over the course of forty days after his death (John 20-21, Acts 1:3).

The Disciples:  Christ's followers, who had been fearful and who had run away when Jesus was arrested, were completely changed after the Resurrection and became courageous witnesses.  Peter, who had denied knowing Christ when recognized by a simple servant girl, became the powerfully bold leader of those who had seen Christ alive, speaking to the thousands gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot – Pentecost.   A person may die for a lie if they do not know it is a lie.  But people do not give their lives up and face severe persecution to spread a lie they themselves invented.   The fact that the disciples willingly suffered beatings and persecution and death is strong evidence that they had actually witnessed the resurrection they refused to stop telling people about.

Saul of Tarsus:  A devoutly religious Pharisee, who persecuted the Church and had Christ's followers thrown in prison, Paul had his life absolutely changed by his encounter with Christ.  He became a devoted follower of Christ himself, spreading the Gospel throughout Turkey and Greece in the face of beatings and shipwrecks and imprisonment and, finally, execution.

"If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt." - F. F. Bruce, Manchester University

Skeptics' Arguments Against the Resurrection:

The Hallucination Theory claims that the witnesses who met the resurrected Jesus were all "seeing things" - they were hallucinating.  However, this goes against common sense as well as psychological principles. Five hundred people do not all hallucinate the same thing.  Jesus appeared to many people at many different times.  Also, the body was never produced.

The Swoon Theory argues that Jesus did not die – that he simply fainted from loss of blood and exhaustion.  However, this also goes against common sense.  The Romans were professionals who severely whipped Jesus, hung him on a cross, and then stabbed him in the side with a spear to make sure he was dead. He was in the grave for three days, wrapped head to foot in a burial cloth, without food or water or medical treatment.  When he appeared to his disciples he was completely whole and healthy and his appearance inspired awe and worship that lasted throughout the rest of the disciples' lives.

The Disciples Faked the Resurrection:  Discouraged, fearful fishermen and former tax collectors, whose teacher had been viciously murdered, were in little position to take on a detachment of trained Roman soldiers guarding the tomb.  They would have had to create a fantastic plan in order to fight off or bribe the professional soldiers, raid the tomb, unbind the grave clothes from Christ's body, take the body away, and hide it where nobody would ever find it. The Roman soldiers faced death if they failed in their guard duty, and the disciples had little money for bribing anybody.  Many people would have had to be involved in the conspiracy, and all those involved would not only have known the truth, but would know that they were risking meeting the same fate as their recently crucified leader. And what purpose could it possibly serve, if Jesus were dead?  They would have had nothing to gain.  Their leader was gone and they would have only faced persecution and death for their invented resurrection story.

And again, the disciples' attitudes completely changed after the Resurrection and especially after Pentecost. They became bold and courageous in spreading their message, fearless of beatings or imprisonment. They never sought to fight Rome or to establish any position or kingdom or authority for themselves.  They had nothing to gain, physically speaking.  They simply went about the known world, telling their story in spite of persecution and suffering, poverty and ridicule. Their message quickly spread across the Middle East and Europe and even into Asia without any military conquest or political support involved - and in spite of strong opposition. Only belief and hope based in the reality of their experiences would have produced such dedication in the lives of Christ's followers.

Perhaps the greatest evidence today of Christ's resurrection is the work that he is still doing in the lives of every day people.  In the name of Jesus, people are still being healed emotionally and physically and spiritually by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  Sinners are being freed from the burden and pain and shame of sin – sometimes immediately, sometimes after long years of steady work by the Holy Spirit in their lives.  Hearts are being mended and lives are being turned around.   The best evidence today is the faithful follower of Christ who can say, "He saved me, and I am not the person I used to be" just as the apostles testified 2000 years ago.

[For more in-depth coverage of the above arguments, as well as many further evidences and related information, please see the links below.]