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Mitt Romney Plays the Tin Man at the NAACP Convention

By Anthea Butler

…hat’s really there. And If you can’t fully communicate what you believe is best for African Americans at the NAACP convention, you can’t do it anywhere. So what was this speech about? I believe it was, in part, an obligation Romney knew he had to fulfill, but it also helped to reinforce the Tea Party racial grievances. It also allowed him to show his chutzpah by saying “Obamacare” in a convention hall that was populated predominately by African Am…

#MeToo and the Problem with the “The Billy Graham Rule”

By Sara J. Moslener

…appeal, and the ability to make the cold-war a moral issue. Having done a fair amount of research on Graham’s early career, I’m fairly confident that the origins of his greatness were not an act of the Holy Spirit (as he would certainly claim), but of a savvy media mogul and a looming geo-political threat. Yet Graham did distinguish himself by his own efforts. His earliest sermons as an evangelist with Youth for Christ situated Christianity in a p…

Steve Bannon and the Conservative “Cafeteria Catholics”

By Patricia Miller

…“traditional” family, is the Catholic idea of subsidiarity—that issues are best dealt with at the most local level practicable rather than by a central authority. This offers a convenient justification for Republican attacks on “big government” and reasonable levels of taxation that support federal anti-poverty programs, which the Catholic hierarchy generally supports. As O’Loughlin notes, this is very much in line with Breitbart’s coverage of the…

Into the Darkest Moment of a Dark Year Comes the Saturnalia, a Time for Drinking, Swearing, Gambling, and the Circle of Life

By Farah Abdessamad

…d break from 2020? “December liberty,” as Roman poet Horace called it, the best of days! The Saturnalia used to be a beloved ancient Roman pagan festival, which was held right before the winter solstice, from 17 to 23 December in the old Julian calendar. It was a time of unlicensed celebration referring to a golden age without morality and rules. It praised life, and the mysteries surrounding the sun’s disappearance from our lives. It promoted rol…

Egypt Goes After Gays to Silence Islamist Critics; South Africa’s ‘Open Mosque’ is Closed; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…sets out to restore peace and order in the Middle East, I do wish him the best of successes. And when Putin defends marriage and family at the UN, I also wish him all the best. There is not only black and white in this world. There are also many shades of grey. Scotland: Debate Over ‘Conscience’ Clause for Sex Ed Guidelines Among the policy debates that will be taken up now that the referendum on independence has been held is the ongoing developm…

Christianity Today counsels “patience” on Uganda’s anti-gay law

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…reported on the proposed legislation, they assumed an inordinate amount of American influence. Media outlets tried to “expose” the power of American evangelicals who had spoken about gay issues in Uganda. Such assumptions were racist, said Scott Lively, one of the speakers. If anything, Ugandan legislators did not follow his advice: He had urged them to favor rehabilitation rather than imprisonment in crafting a new law on homosexuality. There is…

Sure, There’s No ‘Religious Left’… If You Ignore Non-White Christians and Non-Christians

By Daniel Schultz

…are many open questions on the left these days, about whether the current American political system is sustainable, how best to address Trumpism, whether racial or economic approaches ought to be prioritized. These aren’t problems with easy solutions. It’s not surprising they spark a certain amount of friction. But it’s only with the most restrictive definition of the religious left that you can say it (or they) hasn’t helped set the course so fa…

The Wounded People of God

By Anthea Butler

…write the same thing today. Since that piece was published in 2002, in the American church, some of those measures were taken, and although there are many cases that still need adjudication or resolution, the path to rectify the sexual abuse has, and continues to be addressed. As Thomas Reese, S. J notes, it took seventeen years for the American church to address the sexual abuse scandal properly. I recommend his article for its judiciousness in e…

Do Not Arrest the Pope: New Atheists’ Call for the Pope’s Arrest Isn’t Likely to Produce Justice

By Eric Reitan

…ens and Dawkins might be able to milk this legal maneuvering for increased book sales and further accolades by their own constituencies, they do so at a very high cost. The bifurcating ideology to which both men cleave—one that places enlightened atheism and benighted religion into two hostile and irreconcilable camps—is dangerously infectious. The more successful Hitchens and Dawkins are in pursuing their current efforts against the Pope, the mor…

Arrest the Pope: New Atheist Effort to Seek Justice in Sexual Abuse Crisis Should Be Applauded

By Frances Kissling

…ents the opposing view here — ed. The Daily Telegraph* is probably not the best source of analysis of a growing body of legal opinion that the Roman Catholic Church, as either state or religion, should be subject to prosecution by the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity.” The paper did, however, give the idea a boost when it published an article claiming that Richard Dawkins wants to arrest the Pope for his role in the cover…