Opinion
COMMENTARY: Now thank we all our God …
By Cathleen Falsani — November 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It probably wasn’t the last Thursday in November, and there was no pumpkin pie. The Thanksgiving turkey was more likely a Thanksgiving goose, duck or even a crane. And there were no potatoes _ sweet, mashed, candied or otherwise _ on the menu for the first Thanksgiving feast in […]
More Mormon Prop. 8 Blowback
By Mark Silk — November 26, 2008
Rick Hertzberg gives the LDS Church a pop in the current New Yorker, but the big news is that the state of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating the church for allegedly neglecting to report “a battery of nonmonetary contributions — including phone banks, a Web site and commercials” in its effort to drum […]
The GOP Civil War
By Mark Silk — November 26, 2008
What to make of the Recipe for Republican Recovery advanced today on Politico by Michael Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor who wants to be RNC chair? Here’s the nut: Ronald Reagan spoke to our deepest longing as a people. He gave a voice to principles that are true for all people in all times. […]
COMMENTARY: Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?
By Tom Ehrich — November 26, 2008
I doubt that much sleep was lost, in heaven or an earth, when the tiny Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, Ill., voted to secede from the national Episcopal Church for being too liberal. Even so, Quincy’s debate over leaving the national denomination was illuminating. The debate’s final speaker is quoted as saying, “We need to make […]
COMMENTARY: Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?
By Tom Ehrich — November 26, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) I doubt that much sleep was lost, in heaven or on earth, when the tiny Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, Ill., recently voted to secede from the national Episcopal Church for being too liberal. With 1,800 members scattered over a large area bordering the Mississippi River, the diocese has long […]
Tantrum
By Mark Silk — November 25, 2008
Various people have been trying to figure out why various conservative Catholic bishops and associated lay eminences seem to have gone off their meds since the election. Writing in Slate, Melinda Henneberger puts it down to anxieties over the Freedom of Choice Act, a piece of legislation beloved of the pro-choice left that would (presumably) […]
That Woman
By Mark Silk — November 25, 2008
This, from Lauren Collins’ interview with Mike Huckabee in the current New Yorker, is worth pondering: While some of Huckabee’s gripes come off as rinky-dink—in the book, he admonishes Romney for hogging golf-cart parking spaces during the Iowa straw poll—others are more stinging. Asked about Sarah Palin, he responded, “She, uh, was an appropriate choice, […]
Mormon-Evangelical Entente?
By Mark Silk — November 24, 2008
Peggy Stack has, as usual, the best take on matters Mormon, this time (notwithstanding comments from me) concerning the fallout from Prop. 8. A possible silver lining for the LDS Church is enhanced street cred with evangelicals, as in the following quote from the Rev. Jim Garlow, one of its pro-Prop. 8 partners in California: […]
Piety at 1600 Pennsylvania
By Mark Silk — November 24, 2008
Uh-oh. Politico’s Martin and Lee have been tracking President-elect Obama’s post-election church attendance record and found it wanting. It seems that since the election, BO has been more attentive to his body than his soul Sunday mornings. Could it be that, like the majority of the people who voted for him, he is a bit, […]
Evangelical, Mormon, Evangelical…
By Mark Silk — November 21, 2008
Pax Obama
By Mark Silk — November 21, 2008
I’m betting a nickel that the Obama administration is going to jump into the Israeli-Palestinian situation soon after taking office. The new president has more street cred with the Muslim/Islamic world than any president in history. He’s coming off a huge Jewish vote in the election and has got Rahm Emanuel, Joe Biden, and maybe […]
COMMENTARY: Coming clean about my criminal record
By Tracy Gordon — November 21, 2008
Recently my daughter uttered words on the phone that melt every grandparent’s heart: “Your grandchild is eager to speak with you.” When Emma came on the line, she said her third grade class is studying the civil rights struggle. In a worried voice she asked, “Grandpa Jim, Mommy says you were once arrested. Is that […]
COMMENTARY: Coming clean about my criminal record
By James Rudin — November 21, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Recently my daughter uttered words on the phone that melt every grandparent’s heart: “Your grandchild is eager to speak with you.”When Emma came on the line, she said her third grade class is studying the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights struggle. In a worried voice […]
