Columns
Rodriguez hearts Hagee
By Mark Silk — November 13, 2009
Yesterday, JTA reported that Samuel Rodriguez’s National Hispanic Christian Leadership NHCL) Conference is joining forces with John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel to express their common love for, well, Israel. Over at Talk to Action, the ever-vigilant Bruce Wilson rings the theo-political changes on the alliance, but misses the key link–which Hagee himself provides in […]
Rhode Island Smackdown
By Mark Silk — November 13, 2009
In one of those classic New England Irish Catholic manos-a-mano, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy have been going at each other, with the congressman (son of the late Sen. Ted) criticizing the bishop for opposing health care reform that doesn’t deny abortion coverage, and the bishop criticizing the congressman for […]
Common Good Catholics
By Mark Silk — November 12, 2009
By way of a footnote to the last post, consider the following items. First, there’s today’s column by E.J. Dionne, foremost example of a Common Good Catholic in the pundit biz. Dionne makes the case for embracing pro-life Dems, contends that the Stupak Amendment is no biggie, and challenges his bishops to step up to […]
Gibson’s take on Stupak
By Mark Silk — November 11, 2009
For a very different take from my own on this, see David Gibson’s piece over on Politics Daily. David thinks that the pro-life folks did compromise by not standing in the way of contraceptive coverage and sex educution–which strikes me as de minimis. The key question, though, is whether the idea of segregating the funds […]
The abortion barricades
By Mark Silk — November 11, 2009
It was clever of Bart Stupak and his friends to claim that they were merely applying the Hyde Amendment to the health reform bill, as if all they wanted was to maintain the status quo with respect to federal abortion restrictions. In fact, they went a good deal further. With respect to Medicaid, what Hyde […]
Better believe it, South Carolina
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2009
Federal district judge Cameron McGowan Currie has administered a two-by-four to South Carolina’s “I BELIEVE” state license plate law, declaring it to be just incredibly unconstitutional. The judge’s central point is that, unlike the state’s “In Reason We Trust” plate, which was created at the behest of the Secular Humanists of the Low Country, “I […]
Civil Religion at Fort Hood
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2009
From the president’s remarks: It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know – no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will […]
Who Nidal Malik Hasan is
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2009
Amazing stuff out today. NYT reports on his emails with a bona fide radical Muslim cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico of Yemeni parents, now in England praising Hasan as “a hero.” And Wapo has scored a Powerpoint presentation that Hasan gave at Walter Reed two years ago, the final slide of which is […]
AAR Report
By Mark Silk — November 9, 2009
Usually, the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting has all the repose of a bee hive, with way too many professors and graduate students swarming in and out of elevators and generally clogging all available floor space. This year, the recession and the extra-U.S. locale kept the numbers down, and Montreal’s mammoth Palais des congrès […]
Stupak gets his vote
By Mark Silk — November 7, 2009
The decision of the House leadership to allow a vote on Rep. Bart Stupak’s robust pro-life amendment is, of course, bad news for pro-choicers, and a big win for the Catholic bishops, who played hardball and are now on top. But it confronts House Republicans with an interesting dilemma. They can vote en masse for […]
On the lam
By Mark Silk — November 6, 2009
I’m going to Montreal tomorrow morning for a few days among the religionists at the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting. No computer (don’t ask), so posts will be few if any. Back Tuesday. A good weekend to all.
Traditionalist Anglicans go to Rome
By Mark Silk — November 6, 2009
They have 20 parishes in the UK, and claim 400,000 members worldwide. Maybe this is all there is to it. Much ado about precious little.
Gordon Robertson’s Birthright
By Mark Silk — November 6, 2009
Taglit-Birthright is the operation the sends young Jews on free trips to Israel in order to firm up their Jewish identity and assure the “continuity” of the tribe. To that end, it mounts programs for alumni of the trips–via Birthright NEXT. And next up on a Birthright NEXT-sponsored program in New York is Gordon Robertson, […]
Religion in the News!
By Mark Silk — November 5, 2009
As you can see, the new issue of Religion in the News leads with the notorious C Street house, which figures in both the editor’s column on The Family and Marie Griffith’s examination of L’Affaire Sanford. Andrew Walsh reviews the Tiller murder blame game, not without tough words for the (who us?) pro-life community. On […]
That Pesky God Gap
By Mark Silk — November 5, 2009
Over on the Religion Dispatches blog, where religious progressives go to shake hands with each other, there’s a little excitement about some research purporting to show that all that fuss about the God Gap was overdone. As Candace Chellew-Hodge enthuses: A new study from the University of Florida may just be the amplification of our […]
