The ever-insightful and inspirational Michael Yon reports this good news about the re-opening of St. John’s church in Baghdad. If anybody strongly refuses to believe that God and human decency can triumph even in originally hostile places — and that American military personnel can successfully secure the peace (“win”) in Iraq — their belief can only be explained by willful, deliberate negativity, not by the evidence on the ground there. Now, of course, this is not to say that the outcome is certain, or that hope will be borne out. But it is to say that there is a difference between a healthy skepticism (reasonable, although the ratio of reasonable skepticism to hope is, happily, diminishing) and willful negativity (or, what’s worse, actually rooting in one’s heart for the American mission to fail).

Anyway, look at this photo of Muslims and Christians together putting the cross back up, and allow yourself to be inspired.