Mark Silk
Mark Silk is Professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College and director of the college's Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life. He is a Contributing Editor of the Religion News Service
All Stories by Mark Silk
McCain Marriage Politics
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
Brody has learned that John McCain has decided to put his straight shoulder to the wheel for the California ballot initiative that would disallow same-sex marriage in that state. Yesterday he issued a statement to that effect, saying, “I support the efforts of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution between […]
Oh Joe
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
David Kurtz thinks Joe Lieberman played the Wright card in an audio interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper. Yeah, there was the more-in-sadness-than-in-anger schtick that Lieberman connoisseurs have come to treasure. But Tapper invited it and so the onus fell on him to follow up with a little Hagee. Such as why Joe’s man McCain decided […]
F&M Poll
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
And now, a word of more than passing interest from today’s Franklin and Marshall national survey. Those identified as “born again or fundamentalist” favor McCain over Obama by only 41 percent to 33 percent, with eight percent backing other candidates and 18 percent in the “don’t know” category. That presumably includes African Americans but even […]
Word!
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
Fr. Pfleger sticks by the substance of his remarks from Tinity UCC’s pulpit, as opposed to the manner of delivery. Did Hillary Clinton feel entitled to the Democratic presidential nomination. It’s hard not to think so. Does this express a more general feeling among whites that we’re entitled to be at the front of the […]
Swing States Swinging Obama
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
Quinnipiac’s latest swing state poll shows Obama leading in Colorado (49-44), Michigan (57-36), Minnesota (54-37), and Wisconsin (52-39). On the religion front, white evangelicals show considerable consistency: CO: 65-29; MI: 60-31; MN: 55-38; and WI: 59-32. This is not good news for McCain, because it shows Obama attracting a greater proportion of the white evangelical […]
Caldwell v. Dobson
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
James Dobson seems to have done Obama a big favor by taking after him the way he did. This was not another Wright-centric assault but an attack on the only speech I can recall an American politician giving that at once lays out his own spiritual bona fides and seeks to be precise about how […]
Pew React on Google
By Mark Silk — June 26, 2008
Google News has asked for a comment from me on the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, so for those of you who might be interested, it is here.
Religion according to Times/Bloomberg
By Mark Silk — June 25, 2008
Here’s the summary paragraph on religion from today’s L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll: McCain has had his troubles with the very conservative voters, as well as the very religious. They haven’t trusted him since he ran for president in 2000 against Bush and they are having a hard time this time around as well. Just over half […]
Hoosiers
By Mark Silk — June 24, 2008
Jeepers! SUSA has Obama up by a point in Indiana. Don’t mean to keep harping on this but, it’s the same pattern as elsewhere: regular worship attenders for McCain, occasionals and almost nevers for Obama. But, you say, Indiana’s a big churchgoing state. You’re right, 52 percent of SUSA’s sample are in the regular category. […]
Dobson Ipse Dixit
By Mark Silk — June 24, 2008
OK, you can now listen to James Dobson’s chat with his sidekicks Tim Minnery and Bill Maier about Obama’s views on the proper role of religion in the public square. Here’s the extended direct quote, with elipses to indicate interpolated soundbites from Obama’s 2007 speech to the UCC: He’s trying to make the case that […]
Does Dobson Know Any Better?
By Mark Silk — June 24, 2008
In his radio broadcast today, James Dobson will unload on Barack Obama’s views on religion in the public square, according to a report by AP’s Eric Gorski, who has got hold of a copy. While we await the full text, here’s the most interesting of the reported portions: Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism […]
Uh, oh, Donohue
By Mark Silk — June 23, 2008
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, premiere institution for social science research on the Catholic Church, has some bad news for the Catholic right. Simply put, its new survey of Catholic political identification shows support for the Republican Party dropping like a stone. That’s old Catholics, young Catholics, white Catholics, Hispanic Catholics. (Among […]
Pew-a-thon
By Mark Silk — June 23, 2008
Today, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the second installment of its Landscape Survey, this one on religious beliefs and practices. I haven’t had a chance to pick through it carefully, but here are a couple of items worth noting, derived from today’s conference call with the press. First, as longtime readers […]
Not I
By Mark Silk — June 23, 2008
What should Obama do about the continuing ill-intended rumors that he is a Muslim? Probably just about what he’s doing. This is anything but a problem of his own making. The Wall Street Journal‘s Amy Chozick in on the case. Update: NYT weighs in.
What’s up with Oregon?
By Mark Silk — June 23, 2008
SUSA’s latest Oregon poll shows a narrow three point lead for Obama (48-45). Its Washington State poll, taken almost simultaneously, shows Obama at 55-40 while California is at 53-41. Oregon is a bit more Republican than the other two states, but what really seems to explain the difference is that the poll reckons regular worship […]
