Obama administration under fire from civil liberties advocates for failing to reverse Bush-era policies.
In the post-Underwear Bomber debate will our civil liberties be further mortgaged to satisfy demands for increased national security?
While some of us believe that "it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained," we're still waiting for equality in the military.
Harry Reid claimed that Obama was electable because he had no African-American dialect... is that even true?
Oppose Afghanistan But Not a Pacifist? Tough.
While Obama used his Nobel Peace Prize speech to legitimize Afghanistan using just war principles, soldiers are currently unable to invoke these principles in refusing to serve. When we punish soldiers who heed their moral compasses, we deny them religious freedom, and our democracy is threatened. It’s time to allow those who oppose the war on ethical grounds the option of ‘Selective Conscientious Objection.’
The religious right claims that Obama misled Americans about his piety. But being in church doesn’t make you any more a Christian than being in a garage makes you a car.
A New Year’s Health Care Sobriety Test for Religious Progressives: It’s Not Obama
Responsible religious leaders need to stay sober and stop cheerleading for the Democrats and for the Obama White House just because they’re not total Visigoths.
Changing the Jewish State and the State of Jews: J Street and the Future of Israel
The Israeli ambassador to the US recently joined the American right charging that pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian J Street put the very “survival of the Jewish state” into question. Indeed, recognizing the full humanity of Palestinians would require a radical transformation of Israeli, Zionist, and even Jewish-American identity.
Morality is Not Necessarily Good
Ten questions for philosopher Hans-Georg Moeller whose new book explains how the language of morality, or of ethical purity, distorts our ability to tackle the toughest social and political problems.
Obama in Copenhagen: From an Embarrassment of Riches to a New Earth Ethic
Obama’s appearance at the climate change meeting is unlikely to change our “cheap-energy mind,” but alert faith leaders could begin the necessary Great Turning by showing their followers that conservation isn’t a sacrifice but a blessing.
Turns out it doesn’t take much to spook Democratic party leadership.
I would hope that as thousands of my fellow GLBTQ citizens celebrate this day for which they have so long worked, and so hard, that they not lose sight of the cost which has come with it.
Here’s hoping the president will do the right thing in the wake of this week’s promises to LGBT Americans.
In this video Rachel Maddow suggests a way to honor the prize while holding the president accountable.
Burying the Future: Youth Violence in Chicago
The problem of children slain in urban America is usually considered an inner-city crisis, isolated from the larger social sphere. But once you know about it, or see it up close, you see it everywhere.
The Olympics don’t always leave their host cities better off than before. So why does Chicago want the games?
The fact is that we are already committed to war in Afghanistan; we are already in. And while many of us may want to get out, the question is how?
“I Want My Country Back!”: The Demography of Discontent
It’s more than white republican conservative Christians who are losing confidence in Obama. A survey taken back in April reveals the roots of this season’s protests—the results are surprising.
It's not as if churchgoing has been a reliable indicator of a president's goodness, but still, it might be politically useful for Obama to sit in a pew from time to time.
Fear of a Black President
The president reminds Glenn Beck, and those who identify with his neo-white nationalism, of the lie of their own professed superiority. The pride with which this segment of society has rallied the troops around its shared sense of whiteness reveals that their skin color is the one true object of pledged allegiance and determinant of professed patriotism.
Over at Salon.com, Frances Kissling has fighting words for self-proclaimed “religious progressives” who are pressing to bypass compromises and including even greater restrictions on abortion.
And for that matter, why is an influential blogger writing straight from dubious press releases?
Does Rep. Wilson’s outburst before the president signal something deeper about the state of our national rituals?
Presidential Pep Talks and the Religion of Fear: How did an Uncontroversial Speech Become a National Controversy?
The conservatives who were frightened by Obama’s speech to schoolchildren weren’t afraid he’d say something radical—quite the contrary—they were afraid that the president would sound moderate and human. The real question, why did they buy the fear? is impossible to answer without considering religion.
Is Obama pulling a Dukakis, allowing all that anger and anxiety that could’ve been used for good to just slip away?