Opinion
The Bishops Buttonholed
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2008
Anyone interested in following the Catholics bishops’ viewpoints on abortion and politics should check into Daniel Burke’s postings on the Religion News Service blog. To me, by far the most interesting quote thus far comes from Washington, D.C. archbishop Donald Wuerl, who is what passes for a liberal on the subject these days. Here’s his […]
Prepare ye the way
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2008
From the Jewish Week‘s election wrap-up: “Neo-cons will be under a huge amount of pressure in the Republican party now,” said law professor and GOP activist [Marshall] Breger, who predicted a major battle between GOP factions over the future of the party. With their focus on a muscular and interventionist U.S. foreign policy and hawkish […]
The Future of the Blog
By Mark Silk — November 10, 2008
When I started up this blog a year ago, the idea was to do a time-limited experiment. A few academics, students of religion and politics chosen for expertise in different areas, would comment more or less regularly on religion and the campaign, for the campaign’s duration. It didn’t quite work out that way. I did […]
Party Faithful
By Mark Silk — November 9, 2008
In the Middle Ages, it became conventional to speak of the three “orders” of society: those who fought, those who prayed, and those who worked the land. That was to say: the nobility, the religious (monks and secular clergy), and the peasants. The first two had the power and the pelf, but they couldn’t do […]
Big Losers
By Mark Silk — November 8, 2008
Peter Steinfels takes the gloves off this morning in his portrait of the Catholic bishops and the election. What he points to is a deep divide between the increasingly large numbers of bishops (more than 60) who more or less told their flocks to cast their vote based on the candidate’s position on abortion and […]
Southside Virginia is Not So Goode
By Mark Silk — November 7, 2008
Amazingly enough, Tom (“Common Good Catholic”) Perriello seems to have knocked off Virgil (Good ol’ Boy) Goode in Virginia’s fifth CD. Goode, you’ll recall, is the guy who sent around a letter to his constituents two years ago tying the election of Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim member of Congress (who used a Koran […]
He’s Back!
By Mark Silk — November 7, 2008
Jeremiah Wright is back, and plastered all over the front page of today’s Hartford Courant. He appeared at Kingdom Life Christian Church in Milford under the auspices of Hartford’s Theological Education Institute, a rather rather conservative Protestant outfit, to give an address on “The Bible, Race and American History.” So far as can be told […]
COMMENTARY: Time to tighten the belt
By James Rudin — November 7, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service(UNDATED) During the current economic crisis, the public has focused on a lengthy litany of woes: stomach-churning stock market declines, housing foreclosures, shrinking retirement pensions, frozen credit lines, growing unemployment … need I go on?Because this economic meltdown is so pervasive, every aspect of our personal and national life is impacted, […]
Results! Catholics
By Mark Silk — November 6, 2008
Once upon a time, Catholics were a solid Democratic constituency, but nowadays it makes the most sense to see them simply as that religious agglomeration which most closely approximates the American voting public at large. On Tuesday, they went for Obama 54-45, very close to the 52-47 margin in the electorate as a whole. Four […]
True Story
By Mark Silk — November 6, 2008
From a friend’s daughter: so last night i was at a comedy show and sarah silverman made a guest appearance. and i thought to myself “now’s my chance to be that totally weird girl that talks to a celebrity about my weird family.” i didn’t even hesitate… me: oh, hi sarah. i’m sara too. sarah: […]
COMMENTARY: How about a little pro-life talk for Aisha Dhuhulow?
By Phyllis Zagano — November 6, 2008
It’s hard to believe, but Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow is dead. She was stoned to death in Somalia on Oct. 27 after she was gang raped and found guilty of adultery. Thousands watched the killing. She was 13 years old. Where is the outrage? (Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of […]
COMMENTARY: How about a little pro-life talk for Aisha Duhulow?
By Phyllis Zagano — November 6, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It’s hard to believe, but Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow is dead. She was stoned to death in Somalia on Oct. 27. According to media reports, Aisha told the controlling al-Shabaab militia in the port town of Kismayo that three men raped her. Islamist authorities found her guilty of adultery. They […]
Results! Evangelicals
By Mark Silk — November 5, 2008
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been pushing the hypothesis that evangelicals in the Midwest were going to be shifting to Obama in ways that their co-religionists in other parts of the country, especially the South, were not. And lo and behold, yesterday’s vote (see this great interactive map) more or less bears that […]
The Torch Is Passed
By Mark Silk — November 5, 2008
From Kevin Sack’s fine report from Albany, GA: Many, like the Rev. Horace C. Boyd, who was then and is now pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, viewed the moment through the prism of biblical prophecy. If Dr. King was the movement’s Moses, doomed to die without crossing the Jordan, it would fall to Mr. Obama […]
Results! The Gap
By Mark Silk — November 5, 2008
It will be widely noted that the God Gap, as measured by the partisan preference of frequent (weekly or more often) worship attenders, shrank from 20 points in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections to 12 points this time around. And some may be inclined to credit this year’s focus on religious outreach by Obama […]
