Columns
The Machpelah Shul
By Mark Silk — October 4, 2010
A couple of months ago, trying to come up with a situation parallel to the “Ground Zero mosque,” I imagined: An irenic Jewish group proposes building a community center devoted to peace and understanding a couple of blocks from the Cave of the Patriarchs, where on February 25, 1994, the Orthodox Jewish zealot Baruch Goldstein […]
Foolish Rally
By Mark Silk — October 1, 2010
Progressive religious folks will be on hand for tomorrow’s One Nation Working Together rally in Washington, putting their faith-based shoulders to the wheel in the Schultzian hope of changing the national script. And here’s hoping it all works out. But what I’d really like to see is a coalition of the Mainstream Religious (MSR) sign […]
LDS apology re: Prop. 8
By Mark Silk — September 30, 2010
Joanna Brooks’ fine essay on Elder Marlin Jensen’s apology for…well, we’ll get to that…at a meeting of 90 members of the Oakland, CA stake (diocese) points to ongoing uncertainty about the role of the LDS Church in public life these days. Jensen’s a lovely guy (I’ve had dinner with him a couple of times), and […]
COMMENTARY: Nature vs. nurture
By Phyllis Zagano — September 29, 2010
(RNS) I was always told that you’re not supposed to discuss religion or politics in polite company. That was before gay marriage became the item du jour. Polls indicate a little more than half of Americans favor legal protections for same-sex couples. Gay marriage is another story; 44 percent of Americans support it, while 53 […]
Chaput sticks it to the religion beat
By Mark Silk — September 28, 2010
At the Religion Newswriters Association meeting in Denver last weekend, the local Catholic ordinary, Archbishop Charles Chaput, delivered himself of a classic culture-war critique of the news media’s coverage of religion: Journalism is composed of knowledge-class professionals who make secularist assumptions about American society that shows they are out of touch with real Americans. Coverage […]
Young evangelicals–not so liberal
By Mark Silk — September 27, 2010
Responding to my wish to separate out the views on same-sex marriage of under-30 “sectarians” (evangelicals), Sherkat has kindly run the numbers. What they show, as he points out on his blog, is that the gap between this cohort and its non-evangelical peers is actually greater than between sectarians and non-sectarians in older age cohorts. […]
Regressing the Culture Wars
By Mark Silk — September 23, 2010
While we’re on the subject of the relationship between religion and social views, I’ve just received a pre-publication copy of a paper written by University of Southern Illinois sociology prof. Darren Sherkat and a couple of colleagues analyzing the connections between religion, partisan politics, and views of same-sex marriage. Yes, it”s a gnarly regression-analysis-laden exercise […]
Vice Versa
By Mark Silk — September 22, 2010
I wish Christine O’Donnell had campaigned against witchcraft and dabbled into masturbation.
Religion doesn’t matter much
By Mark Silk — September 22, 2010
Last week’s Pew survey on the influence of religion on Americans’ policy views is notable for revealing how little influence there is. The only areas where religion appears to play a significant leading role in influencing opinion are same-sex marriage, abortion and the death penalty. Sixty percent of pro-lifers and 45 percent of those opposed […]
Tea Party Prospects
By Mark Silk — September 21, 2010
My take…over at Winters’ “Distinctly Catholic” blog at NCR.
Benedict does Britain
By Mark Silk — September 20, 2010
Pace Douthat, but this wasn’t more than a modest success for the pontiff. After all, JPII never ran into opposition rallies, and 20k in London is a lot more than a handful of disgruntled picketers. Of course, had Benedict rowed his coracle across the Irish Sea, it would have been a lot worse. The business […]
Confession Time
By Mark Silk — September 17, 2010
The Al Chet, the omnibus confessional prayer said repeatedly by worshipers during Yom Kippur, includes atonement for speaking ill of others and otherwise not controlling one’s tongue. In this regard, it’s good to note some prominent members of my tribe acting on their need to repent. There’s the New Republic‘s Martin Peretz, who made an […]
