Religion Dispatches
…Catholic, and they favored Romney 55-44%. Romney is only doing marginally better among white Catholics only (21% of the electorate), 56-42%. Obama is winning among everyone other than white born-again Christians, 60-38%. Virginia: Virginia voters weren’t asked if they were white born again Christian or evangelical. The exit poll has Romney winning among white Protestants, who make up 41% of voters, 75-25%, among white Catholics (11%), 64-33%, bu…
Read More…vation that Palin is “running as kind of like the other partner, somewhere between a VP and a First Lady.” Here was McCain, the angry old warrior, deploying sex as a central political weapon to recharge his potency, his party’s fortunes and the cultural oomph of the right. Not gender. The Republicans didn’t need just any woman to compete with Obama for the Wow factor, the Mmm factor, the stable, loving family factor. It is a calculated bonus that…
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…hing Christians would generally encourage. So where does one draw the line between “fun” and “evil?” Angie Schuller Wyatt, a third-generation pastor and granddaughter of Robert Schuller, said: I was raised by a pastor, and my parents focused on dressing up, goodies, and family time. We weren’t allowed to be witches, warlocks, or the devil as these are not fictional characters. They are real characters who represent a religion contrary to Christian…
Read More…astiness. The module on homosexuality (contained in the Insights, Options, Bonus section of Known 13) reads like something that could have been produced by the Family Research Council or Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. That is to say, it’s completely hateful. I am horrified by this development. But also oddly heartened… I am horrified because teenagers coming to terms with their sexuality will be told that homosexuality is “vile and shame…
Read More…ire thing; Pierce eviscerates the burgeoning conventional wisdom that Catholics are uniformly as outraged as the Bishops, and that this trumped-up claim of infringement of religious freedom will cost Obama his reelection campaign. And he delves into Catholic theology while he’s at it. Bonus observation: in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted February 1-4, respondents were asked, “How much does it matter to you that a candidate…
Read More…h journalist Sarah Wildman about the role of myth vs. reality in Republican presidential candidates’ rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Middle East policy. Plus: just how influential is Sheldon Adelson on Israeli public opinion and bonus trivia about Newt Gingrich. In this clip, we discuss how young Israelis who have little or no memory of Israel pre-Second Intifada, view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the negative consequences for…
Read More…sive position” on gay marriage that would “precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions; He found President Obama’s support for marriage equality “deeply saddening;” He said the White House is “strangling” the church with the contraception coverage requirement; He wrote that the contraception coverage is “un-American;” He worried that by inviting HHS Secretary Kathleen S…
Read More…stin Holcomb says Halloween’s pagan origins have basically been subsumed into harmless fun and can be an opportunity for good family fellowship. But don’t take things too far: “There is a big difference between kids dressing up in cute costumes for candy and Mardi-Gras-like Halloween parties, offensive costumes, and uninhibited excess.” Bonus fun: Driscoll on zombies in the Bible….
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…yer. Just as no one can tell an employee how to invest a salary or spend a bonus, neither can anyone prevent the use of money for birth control that is mandated by law. At the heart of the matter, as I read it, are two fundamental issues. The first is that the concept of religious freedom takes on new meaning in an increasingly secular society. This is the bishops’ nightmare, but it is simply a fact that more people are religiously undecided—wheth…
Read More…et the new book or books are still just whispering at the back of my head. Bonus: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about your book? If you’re considering teaching all or part of the book, you might be interested to know that the Sisters have houses (non-residential chapters) in many large cities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. They are often happy to visit classrooms, and they will come in habit to discuss their ow…
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