Opinion
Aligned?
By Mark Silk — November 17, 2008
It’s hard to imagine that Mainline Protestantism, however exactly conceived, won’t have more of a talking presence in and around the Obama administration than it has had during the Bush dispensation. Barack Obama’s own religious beliefs and values seem to me to be as mainline as they come. In this regard, the Christian Century uses […]
Just Asking
By Mark Silk — November 17, 2008
In her many post-election interviews, has anyone engaged Sarah Palin in a discussion of her religious identity and beliefs?
The Marriage Trap
By Mark Silk — November 16, 2008
It is no small irony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should now be the object of nationwide ire for exercising its ecclesiastical power on behalf of “traditional” marriage. Once upon a time, the church looked to the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm the right of its members to practice marriage according […]
COMMENTARY: Now being served …
By Cathleen Falsani — November 15, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Recently, a judge in Nebraska threw out a lawsuit filed against God by state Sen. Ernie Chambers, who had sought a permanent injunction against the Almighty for bringing “acts of terrorism” against the Cornhusker State. Chambers’ suit, which he claims he filed to protest the filing of other “frivolous” […]
COMMENTARY: Learning thankfulness the hard way
By Dick Staub — November 15, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Every year around Thanksgiving I recall a weekend in 1967 when I learned about thanklessness the hard way. I was involved in a musical performance that included a song about gratefulness. The leader asked me to share something about being thankful. It was the weekend before finals, I was […]
A New Faith Coalition?
By Mark Silk — November 14, 2008
On the strength of a post-election Faith in Public Life survey, Jim Wallis makes so bold as to claim (in a conference call today) that a new faith coalition is in the offing. It will be led by blacks and Latinos, and will include young and moderate evangelicals, progressive Catholics, mainline Protestants, and miscellaneous others. […]
RLC, Anyone?
By Mark Silk — November 14, 2008
Christie Todd Whitman, who spent a couple of unhappy years as head of George W. Bush’s EPA, makes the case for the GOP moving away from what she calls “social fundamentalism” in today’s WaPo. As she points out, she was hooted down by the party faithful when she made the case in a book, It’s […]
COMMENTARY: Learning thankfulness the hard way
By Tracy Gordon — November 14, 2008
Every year around Thanksgiving I recall a weekend in 1967 when I learned about thanklessness the hard way. I was involved in a musical performance that included a song about gratefulness. The leader asked me to share something about being thankful. “I’ve got nothing to be thankful for,” I said. The next day, I was […]
Mitre v. Mitre
By Mark Silk — November 13, 2008
On dotCommonweal, David Gibson has a pithy summation of where the Catholics bishops came down and where they didn’t. I’m feeling in need of a good history of the bishops’ public positioning on abortion since Roe v. Wade was handed down. It’s been 35 years; the Church’s position has not changed; the position of the […]
Obama in Evangelicaland
By Mark Silk — November 13, 2008
Amy Sullivan’s got a good account of Obama and the evangelical vote that gives the campaign a smack or two for not getting its outreach act together sooner. Pastordan is not persuaded that more or better outreach was in order, and given the outcome, it’s hard to argue too much with that. My sense is […]
Over the Cliff
By Mark Silk — November 13, 2008
Glumly meeting in the now blue state of Florida, the GOP governors are long on distress but, on WaPo’s account, short on solutions, with nary a peep about dialing back on the social conservatism. Meanwhile, over at the liberal blog MyDD, desmoinesdem calls attention to this Des Moines Register op-ed, wherein former Republican gubernatorial hopeful, […]
COMMENTARY: Now being served …
By Cathleen Falsani — November 13, 2008
Recently, a judge in Nebraska threw out a lawsuit filed against God by state Sen. Ernie Chambers, who had sought a permanent injunction against the Almighty for bringing “acts of terrorism” against the Cornhusker State. The intersection of theodicy-the theological conundrum of “If God is good why is there evil in the world?”-and our human […]
The Falsani Interview
By Mark Silk — November 12, 2008
Waldman’s got the entire transcript of the Cathleen Falsani’s 2004 interview with Barack Obama on his faith. I can’t think of another future American president who spoke to a reporter at such length about his religious views. Perhaps the closest would be Robert Scheer’s September 1976 interview of Jimmy Carter in Playboy. Here’s the notorious […]
COMMENTARY: The Great Depression
By Tom Ehrich — November 12, 2008
We have tried to live without God. We have tried not to see our skills, blessings-indeed, our very existence-as God-given assets entrusted to our care. We were living as we chose, and if we turned to God at all, it was only as a last resort. That is the “great depression,” or what I’d call […]
COMMENTARY: The Great Depression
By Tom Ehrich — November 12, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Our worsening recession will be long and deep. Many lives will be scarred through homes lost, jobs lost, careers derailed, college delayed, small businesses shuttered, large employers driven to bankruptcy, and dreams abandoned. This will be a human drama unlike anything most of us have known. Some stark new […]