Is New Pope’s Take on the Poor All That New?
As Francis heads to Brazil, is the new pope signaling a shift away from John Paul-era “conservative restoration” or is this simply a return to JP’s image-conscious conservative populism?
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The Religion of Self Improvement Grinds On Despite Hard Times for Grads
Graduation time—and the living ain’t easy.
Read MoreGOP Lawmaker Botches Bible to Punish Poor
I do not think that verse means what you think it means.
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Marriage Equality: Race, Family Values, and the 99%
According to the US Census, families are becoming less nuclear, headed up by more single parents, childless couples, and LGBT couples with children. Yet family diversity is still only a revelation in the mainstream media, which continues to promote the model of nuclear familyhood, even if it is provisionally represented by elite white gay The Kids Are All Right-style yuppie throwbacks with photogenic children.
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Note to the New Pope: Half of the World’s Poor are Women
Let’s be clear: half of the world’s poor are women, and the church’s effort to deprive the Catholic women among them of contraceptives, of the use of condoms that could protect them from HIV-AIDS, and of the ministry of women priests who would marry, absolve, and anoint them, is no service to them.
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A Report from America’s “Sacrifice Zones”
“I wanted to write a book that looked at what happened when you forced individuals and communities, as well as the environment, to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace. The best way to do this was to go to the nation’s sacrifice zones, those poorest pockets of the country that had been exploited first, to show what happens when you allow the marketplace to rule.”
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Cornel West, Using His Powers for Good
In many ways, The Rich and the Rest of Us is political sustenance for the already converted to liberal and leftist causes. Quoting historian Howard Zinn and looking to the insights of filmmaker Michael Moore probably will not convince many conservatives to rally to the cause—and when Smiley and West rely on Barbara Ehrenreich, they are drawing upon a fellow dissident. Put simply, they are preaching to the choir—but choirs need encouragement too. This is what Smiley and West accomplish: they provide the Occupy generation with a text to rally around.
Read MoreEvangelicals Struggle With the Role of Churches in Society
Some people think that evangelicals only do charity out of a selfish desire to convert non-believers. Others insist that evangelical faith-based organizations are secretly installing a Christian theocracy. Both assumptions are misguided in my view because they are too narrow. Moral Ambition seeks to broaden (and refine) our sense of what everyday evangelicals believe they are doing, or would like to be doing, when they engage the public sphere.
Read MoreBishops Are Out of Touch with the Poor
The latest Bloggingheads.
Read MoreThe War Over Getting the Bishops’ Budget Approval
Letters, and more letters, over Ryan’s budget and Catholic social justice teaching.
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