Opinion
Family Values
By Mark Silk — July 13, 2009
The re-emergence of the Ensign sex saga last week put the C Street Gang (aka The Fellowship, The Family, The National Prayer Breakfast, etc.) back in the crosshairs of the liberal media. We knew that they had tried with indifferent success to get Mark Sanford and wife back together. Now it turns out that they […]
Episcopalians not of one mind!
By Mark Silk — July 12, 2009
Three years ago, the triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church passed B033, a resolution that effectively declared a moratorium on ordaining gays and lesbians in same-sex relationships. The resolution did not stop the conservative schismatics from going ahead and establishing their own denomination, but neither did it intensify conflict over homosexuality with the worldwide […]
Who ya gonna believe?
By Mark Silk — July 10, 2009
Gilgoff? The most important Roman Catholic figure in preparing the president for his first meeting today with Pope Benedict XVI–and in reaching out to the American Catholic community in advance of the visit–is someone whom few Catholics would recognize. His name is Mark Linton, and though his official title is director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood […]
Obama 1, Benedict 1, American Catholic Right 0
By Mark Silk — July 10, 2009
That’s my score sheet from the meeting at the Vatican today. Obama got his audience with pics and gifts and thanks “for all your work.” Benedict got a chance to lay his thoughts (including on Life) on the prez and chits with him for not sticking in the needle. The American Catholic Right (including its […]
A gift from the pope
By Mark Silk — July 10, 2009
According to the press pool report, Pope Benedict gave President Obama a mosaic rendering of St. Peter’s square; an autographed, leather-bound copy of Caritas in Veritate; and “a pontifical medal.” Would the last of these be considered “an honor”–comparable, say, to an honorary doctorate from, say, Notre Dame?
Happy 500th, M. Calvin!
By Mark Silk — July 10, 2009
T is for Total Depravity U is for Unconditional Election L is for Limited Atonement I is for Irresistible Grace P is for the Perseverance of Believers.
COMMENTARY: All in the family
By Tracy Gordon — July 9, 2009
(UNDATED) Any postmortem of Michael Jackson’s celebrity and his sad, bizarre life will include the devastating impact of an overbearing, emotionally abusive father. The day after I learned of Jackson’s death, I met another father of a famous artist — and the contrast could not have been more profound. It started with a simple introduction, […]
Talking about hiring
By Mark Silk — July 9, 2009
The OFANP Advisory Council has been meeting in D.C. the past couple of days, hearing reports from its various task forces. In his account over on WaPo’s GinG, William Wan notes that although the contentious hiring issue has been formally taken off the Board’s plate and assigned to the lawyers, questions about it were nonetheless […]
Thou shalt not horse-trade the Judeo-Christian Tradition
By Mark Silk — July 9, 2009
Rep. Steve King (Eccentric R-Iowa), cast the lone vote against putting a plaque in the new Capitol Visitors Center noting the use of slave labor in Capitol’s construction. Why? Because, it seems, Democrats obtained otherwise unanimous Republican support for the plaque in exchange for agreeing to depict “In God We Trust” in the Visitors Center […]
COMMENTARY: I was a stranger, and you welcomed me
By Cathleen Falsani — July 8, 2009
CHICAGO — The ancient Greeks believed that hospitality was sacred. They called it “xenia,” the word from which we get “genial” in English. Showing hospitality to strangers and those far from home was a form of worship to the god Zeus, who was the Greek god of, among other things, travelers. In the religiosity of […]
Queen Sarah
By Mark Silk — July 8, 2009
Andrew Sullivan calls attention to the Biblical allusion in Sarah Palin’s comment, “Politically speaking, if I die, I die.” It’s a quote from Queen Esther (Esther 4:16), a figure that we know Palin identifies with. So how good is the analogy? Here’s the context. Mordecai has just read Esther the riot act, telling her that […]
Unremarkable numbers
By Mark Silk — July 8, 2009
Palin only helped McCain with white evangelicals. Meanwhile, Obama enjoys the approval of 25 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of conservatives, 50 percent of weekly churchgoers, 53 percent of whites, and 95 percent of blacks.
Enjoying the action
By Mark Silk — July 8, 2009
Roma locuta est, but now the discussion of Caritas in Veritate commences in earnest. Nowhere in the American religious world are there smarter, more sophisticated, and, indeed, more connected intellectuals able to talk knowledgeably about their faith than in American Catholicism, and they cover the waterfront from hierarch to laywoman, from the nearly sedevacantist right […]
COMMENTARY: Lonely at the top
By Tom Ehrich — July 7, 2009
(UNDATED) A Facebook group to which I belong held a discussion of loneliness among senior pastors. People commented that pastors tend to have few friends with whom they can relax and be themselves. Clergy said they need to be guarded about what they say and wary of being judged on superficials, such as their attire. […]
