Spiritual Politics
The Evangelical Perplex
By Mark Silk — February 24, 2008
So what’s up with white evangelicals? David Brody quotes what the grizzled (well, henna’d) Richard Land offers by way of advice to John McCain, which boils down to: Talk to me and my kind and embrace the old values voter agenda as tightly as you possibly can. Then you’ve got Jim Wallis and company who […]
GOP Loses Amigos
By rvineis — February 23, 2008
Samuel Rodriguez contributes to tomorrow’s Washington Post with his take on the rift between the GOP and Hispanic evangelicals. Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Evangelical Conference, feels that the immigration debacle of last summer drove a wedge between the traditionally agreeable Republican party and evangelical Latinos. Rodriguez: “In the end, Hispanic evangelicals are married […]
Black Church Mobilized
By Mark Silk — February 23, 2008
The Plain Dealer looks at how the upcoming primary is playing in Cleveland’s black community with Mark Naymik’s article on the challenges faced by congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Clinton supporter, and Margaret Bernstein’s on Obama’s church support. The latter focuses on Olivet Institutional Baptist Church and its pastor, Otis Moss, Jr. (Moss’s son, III, […]
White Democratic Worshippers
By Mark Silk — February 22, 2008
Hillary Clinton does substantially better than Barack Obama with white Democratic voters who say they attend worship weekly or more, according to a new Gallup analysis. The differential among those voters is 57 percent to 29 percent, whereas among the occasional attenders and those who seldom or never darken the door of a place of […]
IAF Mariachi
By Mark Silk — February 22, 2008
“On the streets of Chicago he began working to achieve a vision of protecting working people…”
The Huck Tapes
By Mark Silk — February 22, 2008
Hanna Rosin has a lovely piece up on Slate today on her search for video and audio tapes of Mike Huckabee’s sermons, when he was a Baptist pastor in Pine Bluff and Texarkana in the 1980s. They may not be, as Rosin says (presumably with tongue in cheek) “the 2008 campaign’s version of the Pentagon […]
Can’t We Just…
By Mark Silk — February 21, 2008
David Brody has posted an email being circulated by progressive faith leaders (whatever exactly that means). I challenge you to read to the end without nodding off. Dear friends, fellow clergy and people of faith: We are people of faith from all traditions and backgrounds, all genders and races and all regions across our great […]
Much Ado About Nothing
By rvineis — February 21, 2008
Today’s NYT piece on John McCain’s alleged unethical behavior has caused quite a stir. Conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham have rushed to McCain’s side. Yet, it is unclear how evangelicals will react to the controversy. CBN’s David Brody predicts much of nothing. Brody: “But my hunch is that for the most […]
The IAF Connection
By Mark Silk — February 21, 2008
As the Democratic race moves into the two-ring circus of Texas and Ohio, the poll numbers show a healthy lead for Clinton in the Buckeye State but not much of one in Lone Star country. You’d think she would be doing better there, given that Latinos, who have been among her strongest supporters in the […]
The Vessel
By Mark Silk — February 20, 2008
Sam Stein of Huffington Post noted what he thought was a new line in Barack Obama’s victory speech in Houston last night that seemed to designed to tamp down suspicions that he views himself as some kind of messianic political figure. It went: And I would not be running, as aware as I am of […]
Wisconsin for Obama
By Mark Silk — February 19, 2008
“I want to thank the faith leaders who are here, who gave me a little circle of prayer before I came out here.” Prayers answered for him.
Wisconsin for Obama?
By Mark Silk — February 19, 2008
No one has called Wisconsin yet on the Democratic side, but the exit polls look very good for Obama. Of particular note, he came within a few points of splitting the Catholic vote (48 percent to 51 percent for Clinton). That can’t help but bode well for him in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Tennessee Evangelicals
By rvineis — February 19, 2008
Rocketboom, a video blog, has an interesting video of some Teneesee evangelicals weighing in on the race. Note how passionately the subjects react to the efferevescent rumors of Obama’s faith.
Brother’s Keeper
By rvineis — February 19, 2008
Barack Obama has an ad playing in Ohio that begins with religious rhetoric. The ad, “Choices”, begins with a reference from Genesis 4:9. Obama says, “It is that fundamental belief. I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper. That makes this country work.”
Dramatis Personae
By Mark Silk — February 19, 2008
As we head toward the March showdown of the Primary Elimination Tournament, perhaps we should consider the religious roles assumed by each of the Final Four. On the Republican side of the bracket, there’s underdog Mike Huckabee, struggling to evangelize the GOP with a new gospel of progressive conservatism–public works and help for the poor […]
Mark Silk
Spiritual Politics
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
