Opinion
Another Clinton Pastor
By Mark Silk — April 2, 2008
Today’s New York Sun features Russell Berman’s interview with Hillary Clinton’s sometime pastor Edward Matthews, who retired 10 years ago from the Methodist church that she attended in Little Rock when she was the gubernatorial spouse there. In a genial way, Matthews more or less speaks up in defense of Jeremiah Wright, as well as […]
Abortion Politics
By Mark Silk — April 2, 2008
Lest you think abortion has disappeared as an issue this campaign season, Hillary Clinton’s visit to Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., has drawn a protest from the local Catholic bishop, Donald W. Trautman, who criticized the college for not “reflecting the pro-life stance of the Catholic Church.” In line with the widespread position of the […]
Pa. Jews for Obama
By Mark Silk — April 1, 2008
A letter making the case for Obama, taking particular pains to defend his handling of the Wright affair. The signatories include some rabbis, politicians, and professors, but Ami Eden of the JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) points out that the biggest shots in Pennsylvania Jewry are backing Clinton–and promises that they will be heard from shortly.
McCain Courts RCs
By Mark Silk — April 1, 2008
As Reid suggested, Wayne Slater’s piece on John McCain’s “quiet” courtship of Catholics in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News is pretty good. The evidence of the courtship is rather slim, however: 10 staffers contacting Catholic voters in Florida. That includes lot of Cuban-Americans–a natural McCain constituency. I’d have liked to see more evidence of some kind […]
An Unlikely Couple
By rvineis — April 1, 2008
Turning away from the presidential race momentarily, Al Gore is playing matchmaker to an unlikely couple: Pat Robertson and Al Sharpton. The two have agreed to appear together in advertisements as part of Gore’s 300 million dollar campaign to raise awareness about climate change. Sharpton didn’t believe the former Vice President was serious, “At first […]
Jewish Supers
By Mark Silk — April 1, 2008
Last week, the Forward played Jew/Not a Jew with the Democratic superdelegates and came up with 74 of them. Nearly half (36) have declared for Hillary Clinton, while only a dozen are in Obama’s camp. (The balance are thus far neutral.) This is pretty much what I would have expected, but it’s nice to see […]
Jesus or Barack?
By Mark Silk — March 31, 2008
Take the RADAR quiz. Hint: It’s harder than you think.
Punished with a Baby
By rvineis — March 31, 2008
Barack Obama spoke to a crowd in Pennsylvania on Saturday about sex education and told them the following: “When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include — which should include abstinence education and teaching the children — teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But […]
McCain Courts Catholics
By rvineis — March 31, 2008
As Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News points out, John McCain is quietly engaged in the delicate courtship of Catholic voters. A key swing demographic, Catholics could crown McCain victorious come November. However, the generally moderate group could also be turned off if McCain lines up too closely with the religious right. Thus, tact […]
Religion Gap
By Mark Silk — March 31, 2008
For those of us (and if we aren’t legion neither are we a tiny few) who have shouldered the burden of tracking religion in the current campaign, the, ah, Godsend that was the Obama/Wright affair has just about run itself into the blogground, leaving in its wake a discernible absence of news. This may be […]
Enough Already
By Mark Silk — March 30, 2008
Jacques Berlinerblau, the Washington Post‘s house church-state separation absolutist, sticks his tongue in his cheek to advocate a constitutional amendment that begins, “The right of presidential aspirants to discuss religion, invoke sacred texts, or mention God on the campaign trail is hereby repealed.” The amendment also proposes that, “Whenever a religious figure endorses any candidate […]
Conversion
By Mark Silk — March 29, 2008
Yesterday, a man I know told me that he had “converted” to Barack Obama as follows. He had been trying to make up his mind between Obama and Clinton, and while Obama’s speech on race impressed him, it was not enough to cause him to get down off the fence. What did, instead, was his […]
Sheik Obama
By Mark Silk — March 28, 2008
You’d think by now that anyone who wasn’t aware of Barack Obama’s religious identity would have to be living under a rock. If so, there are a lot of American voters living under rocks. According to a Pew Research poll, 10 percent of voters think Obama’s a Muslim, up six percent from an AP-Yahoo poll […]
COMMENTARY: Anti-Semitism, all too alive and well
By James Rudin — March 28, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The late Rev. Edward Flannery, appointed in 1967 as the U.S. Bishops’ first director of Catholic-Jewish relations, wrote that anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jews and Judaism, was history’s “oldest pathology.” Anti-Semitism, he said, must be constantly exposed and vigorously opposed lest it become a global peril that threatens not […]
Pennslyvania On My Mind
By rvineis — March 27, 2008
With Pennsylvania’s upcoming contest looming (April 22), attention has turned to winning over one of the state’s crucial religious blocs. No, its not the Quakers, but the Catholics who are being courted by Obama and Clinton. Recent polls have Clinton leading among Catholics, but Obama is not conceding this crucial Keystone constituency. Some are speculating […]
