John Farmer
John Farmer is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by John Farmer
ISIS versus the West: A clash of civilizations? (COMMENTARY)
By John Farmer — February 23, 2015
(RNS) To a layman it sure as hell looks like a collision of civilizations -- specifically between the advocates of a malignant interpretation of Islam and a Christian West which, a millennium ago, produced the Crusades.
COMMENTARY/NEWS ANALYSIS: Pope confronted by a cultural crisis in American Catholicism
By John Farmer — April 12, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to America comes at a critical time in the history of Roman Catholicism in America. Rocked by the clergy abuse scandal, and unsettled by the death of the beloved Pope John Paul II, the Catholic Church in America has been troubled, to say the least. […]
COMMENTARY: Let Roe and Scott Each Stand on Their Own
By John Farmer — March 13, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) One hundred fifty years ago last week, the United States Supreme Court handed down what virtually all legal scholars agree was its worst decision in history: Dred Scott vs. Sandford. The reason for such widespread condemnation is easy to see; the court held that Scott, a slave, had no […]
COMMENTARY: Evangelical `Nuts’ Shouldn’t Be Surprised by White House Treatment
By John Farmer — October 17, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) “Never give a sucker an even break,” W.C. Fields, the comical con man of so many old films, was famous for saying. He’d be right at home in the Bush White House. For we now have it on fairly good authority that the Bush team, led by Karl Rove, […]
COMMENTARY: Religions Share the Blame for Middle East Strife
By John Farmer — August 1, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In the search for root causes of the Middle East’s misery, one shouldn’t overlook the role of religious fundamentalism _ Christian, Jewish and Muslim. It’s not a popular line of inquiry. Anyone who points the finger of blame at organized religion is sure to catch hell from its more […]
COMMENTARY: Fundamental and Nonnegotiable Beliefs
By John Farmer — February 11, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Muslim rioting against Danish cartoonists’ satirical renderings of the Prophet Muhammad illustrates why the cultural gulf between fundamentalist Islam and the West is probably unbridgeable _ and perhaps dooms President Bush’s goal of democratizing the Middle East. Western-style democracy in its modern form rests in large part on […]
COMMENTARY: Israelis Warned Bush About Potential for Hamas Victory
By John Farmer — January 31, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The Hamas victory in the Palestinian election entitles Israeli leaders to one loud, long “I told you so.” Even as President Bush was pushing for early elections as part of his drive to democratize the Muslim Middle East _ and pouring some $2 million in cash into the campaign […]
COMMENTARY: Ignore Supreme Court Nominee’s Catholicism When Judging His Fitness
By John Farmer — August 10, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) How, in a country born partly in rebellion against state-imposed religious tests, could religion loom today as a measure of fitness for high office? Didn’t we put that all behind us with John Kennedy’s election in 1960 and, in particular, his declaration before a Houston ministers’ meeting that he […]
COMMENTARY: Shrill Dean Isn’t Doing Dems Much Good by Bad-Mouthing Christians
By John Farmer — June 14, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It’s time for Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean to heed that biblical adage “Physician, heal thyself.” Of late, the good doctor has been more concerned with attempting to restore the health of the Democratic Party by bad-mouthing Republicans as crooks and, worse yet, Christians. “A lot of them have […]
COMMENTARY: Pope’s Influence on World Stage Was Unprecedented
By John Farmer — April 6, 2005
c. 2005 Newhouse News Service (UNDATED) It is no exaggeration to say of Pope John Paul II that he was the most significant Catholic pontiff since Peter 2,000 years ago. His impact on Catholicism, for good or ill, will be debated in the days to come by religious conservatives who revered his commitment to the […]
COMMENTARY: To Defeat Islamist Jihad, Promote the American Ideal of Individual Freedom
By John Farmer — March 30, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Recently I answered a series of written questions from a high schooler about the Sept. 11 attacks, the Sept. 11 commission and terrorism in general. The questions were remarkable for the research that produced them and for their sheer volume; the kid had a lot of questions. Most striking, […]
COMMENTARY: Oil-Rich Nations Fail to Deliver for Muslims
By John Farmer — January 6, 2005
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The tsunami that struck southern Asia has cast an unflattering light on the Muslim world and its mindless hatred for the West. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation on the globe, was hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami that convulsed the Indian Ocean basin, suffering at least 90,000 […]
NEWS STORY: Bush’s Religiosity Turns Off Some Voters in All-Important Pennyslvania
By John Farmer — October 27, 2004
c. 2004 Religion News Service MACUNGIE, Pa. _ President Bush’s public profession of his faith as a born-again Christian plays well with his conservative base, but it troubles some voters here in the Lehigh Valley, a critical section of this critical state. With a heavy Democratic vote likely to come out of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and […]
NEWS FEATURE: Unlikely candidate’s goal is to strengthen GOP platform
By John Farmer — January 1, 1999
c. 1999 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Of all the improbable candidates in an improbable field of 10 announced or aspiring contenders for the Republican presidential nomination next year, none is more improbable than Gary Bauer. You could ask him. “I don’t look like a president,” Bauer says. “It’s possible for me to walk into […]
Page 1 of 1
