Opinion
Volunteering and religion
By Mark Silk — July 29, 2009
Yesterday’s annual report on volunteering in America was promoted by the White House (press release after jump) to highlight the unsurprising fact that a lot of volunteerism is connected to religious institutions–one-third, to be precise. But the relationship between religion and volunteerism is not simple, as the report’s rankings demonstrate. The high rankings in Utah […]
Catholics heart same-sex marriage
By Mark Silk — July 29, 2009
A new study by Columbia political scientists Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips (h/t Robbie Jones), forthcoming in the American Political Science Review , ranks states according to public support for same-sex marriage and civil unions. Putting the rankings together with the 2008 Trinity ARIS survey reveals that six of the eight states where 50 percent […]
COMMENTARY: Hurts, habits and hang-ups
By Tom Ehrich — July 28, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. — In the multipurpose room where Bon Air Baptist Church holds its contemporary service on Sunday morning, a guitarist played Christian music as people gathered for NorthStar Community’s Saturday evening recovery service. A veteran of the 10-year-old ministry stood at a microphone, gave a brief witness about his own recovery from addiction, and […]
Forget it, Jake. It’s New Jersey
By Mark Silk — July 28, 2009
On first blush, last week’s round-up of New Jersey rabbis and pols looks like good old corruption-as-usual in the state where I grew up. That is, the Garden State cleaves to the ancient (back to the 17th century) Middle Atlantic tradition of community-by-ethno-religious group (see One Nation Divisible, chapter 2)–and, repeatedly, news reports have highlighted […]
ABC to ECUSA: Drop Dead
By Mark Silk — July 28, 2009
Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury (ABC), is not at all happy with the Episcopal Church’s resolutions declaring that partnered gay people can be called to all church offices and preparing the way for the church’s blessing of same-sex unions. In a letter issued from his palace yesterday, Williams charges ECUSA with 1) not having […]
This revolution will not be secularized…
By Mark Silk — July 27, 2009
…completely. Roger Cohen, in his powerful piece on Iran in the current New York Review, tries to capture the mix of anti-clericalism, religiosity, and secularism he witnessed during last month’s post-election protests: In that moment, the crowd seemed irresistible, too large to be harmed, too strong to be cowed, and it was as if the […]
Solving the health reform/abortion conundrum
By Mark Silk — July 27, 2009
To subsidize coverage of abortion services or not to subsidize, that is the question. Pro-life activists and legislators don’t want health insurance reform to provide a back door for federal funding of abortions. However, not only could that make it impossible for some taxpayers to obtain coverage for abortion services that private insurers now offer, […]
Ryan-DeLauro and the culture wars
By Mark Silk — July 25, 2009
For 30 years, abortion has been the keystone of the culture wars. It is the issue that galvanized the religious right as a national political force and brought evangelicals and conservative Catholics together. If gay rights has been a moving target that wise conservative heads see as a losing cause, abortion stands solid, as divisive […]
Don’t let your kid major in English, pastor
By Mark Silk — July 24, 2009
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that while the Humanities are most likely to attract religious youth as majors, they are also most likely to turn them away from religion. The explanation? Postmodernism. The authors suppose that what’s taught in Humanities (and many Social Science) courses is one or another […]
Palin down, Huckabee up
By Mark Silk — July 24, 2009
WaPo’s lede on its new poll is that Sarah Palin’s favorables are down with the American public. That’s news? We’re talking about a decline from 51-46 unfavorable last October to 53-40 now. The actual bad news for Palinites, if not for Sarah herself, is that Mike Huckabee is now the 2012 front-runner among Republican and […]
COMMENTARY: Seek and ye shall (not) find
By Tracy Gordon — July 23, 2009
(UNDATED) Every day, millions of us use search engines to find what we’re looking for on the Internet. We try Google, or Yahoo, or other sites until we find what we need. If a search engine repeatedly yields unsatisfactory results, we try different key words or use a different search engine entirely. Search-engine companies are […]
Insuring abortion
By Mark Silk — July 23, 2009
The religious right is up in arms about the place of abortion in the health insurance reform bills making their way through Congress. Today, an all-star cast of pro-lifers will appear on a webcast headlined as “Stop the Abortion Mandate Now.” Not surprisingly, several separate issue are being conflated to create an abortion healthcare bogeyman. […]
COMMENTARY: Welcome home
By Cathleen Falsani — July 22, 2009
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — Along with about 20 million other Americans who’ll do the same this summer, my family just moved house. It’s the biggest relocation of my life — 2,016 miles to be exact — from a bohemian suburb of Chicago to a groovy beach town in Southern California. It’s been said that moving […]
Our Judeo-Christian Tradition
By Mark Silk — July 22, 2009
Corners of the blogosphere have been atwitter with a remark made yesterday by House minority whip Eric Cantor to the annual conference of John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel; to wit: Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans […]
COMMENTARY: Conventional wisdom
By Tom Ehrich — July 21, 2009
(UNDATED) After reading reports from the Episcopal Church’s recent General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., I was reminded that church conventions aren’t “the church,” any more than Congress is “the nation.” At church conventions, a handful gather to conduct institutional business, tackle two or three hot-button issues, vote on budgets, hold elections, and pass a few […]
