Opinion
COMMENTARY: Putting the blame where it belongs
By Tom Ehrich — August 18, 2009
(UNDATED) When the original Woodstock sprang up 40 years ago, my own off-the-wall adventure was taking place in Pittsburgh as I attempted to be a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. It was an uphill battle. I was a clueless young man still focused on long hair and a mustache. I was taking a crash […]
Vacation blogging
By Mark Silk — August 18, 2009
As forecast, the weather has been wonderful, and what with dial-up internet access, it’s not been hard to take a blogging break. I look forward to reports of pitchfork-wielding religious progressives turning up at town hall meetings to demand health reform, even as Mike Huckabee sucks up to the John Hagee wing of the Republican […]
COMMENTARY: Be very worried about the religious right
By Tracy Gordon — August 13, 2009
(UNDATED) My 2006 book, “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us,” describes the disturbing goals of a group I call “Christocrats.” They are an overwhelmingly white group of extremists who want to change the basic structure of American society. While the vast majority of evangelicalsare not committed to altering […]
COMMENTARY: Vatican needs to look outside convent walls, too
By Phyllis Zagano — August 12, 2009
(UNDATED) Catholic women are not flocking to convents and monasteries the way they did 60 or so years ago, when Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman showed in “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” what it meant to be a priest or nun. Now, with new studies completed or underway, church leaders are learning why. The short […]
COMMENTARY: Hey, religious partisans, relax
By Tom Ehrich — August 11, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Which is the “real” San Francisco? The city we saw from the sky, or the son who greeted us with a big smile and big hugs? We’re here to see our son, of course, so the rest was real estate. Maybe the “real” San Francisco was the epic downtown that suddenly swung […]
The Family of Sharlet
By Mark Silk — August 7, 2009
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Americans now equally pro-life, pro-choice!
By Mark Silk — August 7, 2009
Three months ago, Gallup created a stir when it found that, for the first time, more Americans described themselves as pro-life than pro-choice (51-42, a reversal from 50-44 the other way). Now, in its latest quarterly taking of the temperature, the numbers have evened out, at 47 percent pro-life and 46 percent choice. Now, with […]
COMMENTARY: With God, there is always more to know
By Tracy Gordon — August 6, 2009
(UNDATED) In a recent column I asked why, if so many people are seeking, so few are finding God. Some readers asked if I could suggest some common characteristics of seekers who DO find God. A windy night on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state last week provided some simple illustrations. It all […]
Ernest Lefever, by rights
By Mark Silk — August 6, 2009
The death of the Rev. Ernest Lefever, onetime pacifist turned hard-edged Christian realist, prompts a question for which I don’t have an answer. Lefever earned his fifteen minutes of fame as Ronald Reagan’s nominee as assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs. He had been (and remained) a loud opponent of the […]
COMMENTARY: Communion with the divine is just a keystroke away
By Cathleen Falsani — August 5, 2009
(UNDATED) God has heard it all before. You can’t afford to take a pilgrimage to one of the world’s sacred spots. It’s too hard to find a church, mosque or temple while you’re on vacation. You just can’t find the time to pray. Thanks to new technological advances, you really have no excuses left for […]
COMMENTARY: Memo to Canterbury: Episcopalians have a life
By Tom Ehrich — August 4, 2009
(UNDATED) Now that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has slapped my church’s wrists for refusing to marginalize homosexuals and has threatened to have us become second-class citizens in the Anglican Communion, I say this to Archbishop Williams: The Episcopal Church has a life. Not a perfect life. In fact, a messy one, a life […]
COMMENTARY: Memo to Canterbury: Episcopalians have a life
By Tracy Gordon — August 4, 2009
Vacation
By Mark Silk — July 31, 2009
I’ll be on vacation for most of the next few weeks. Prediction is sun with intermittent blogging.
Rev. Orsi v. Pope Benedict
By Mark Silk — July 31, 2009
Over the last few days there’s been some chatter (led by Terry Mattingly) about why the Catholic bishops haven’t been weighing in on health reform. This has been a big issue for them, so what’s up? Pretty clearly, they’ve been hamstrung by the abortion issue, having to deal on the right with the likes of […]
Status quo on abortion coverage
By Mark Silk — July 31, 2009
Steve Waldman reports on what happened last night in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health care bill in re: abortion coverage. Both sides claimed to be aiming at preserving the status, but in the end only the amendment of Lois Capps (D-CA) was left standing. Pro-choicers rejoiced, pro-lifers said bah. I predict that Congress […]
