Opinion
Wisconsin for Obama?
By Mark Silk — February 19, 2008
No one has called Wisconsin yet on the Democratic side, but the exit polls look very good for Obama. Of particular note, he came within a few points of splitting the Catholic vote (48 percent to 51 percent for Clinton). That can’t help but bode well for him in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Tennessee Evangelicals
By rvineis — February 19, 2008
Rocketboom, a video blog, has an interesting video of some Teneesee evangelicals weighing in on the race. Note how passionately the subjects react to the efferevescent rumors of Obama’s faith.
Brother’s Keeper
By rvineis — February 19, 2008
Barack Obama has an ad playing in Ohio that begins with religious rhetoric. The ad, “Choices”, begins with a reference from Genesis 4:9. Obama says, “It is that fundamental belief. I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper. That makes this country work.”
Dramatis Personae
By Mark Silk — February 19, 2008
As we head toward the March showdown of the Primary Elimination Tournament, perhaps we should consider the religious roles assumed by each of the Final Four. On the Republican side of the bracket, there’s underdog Mike Huckabee, struggling to evangelize the GOP with a new gospel of progressive conservatism–public works and help for the poor […]
Whence Evangelicals
By Mark Silk — February 18, 2008
A good piece by Dan Gilgoff in today’s USA Today on how evangelicals’ inability to get behind Mitt Romney saddled them with John McCain. Of particular interest are the remarks by Nancy French, founder of the Evangelicals for Mitt website. UPDATE: Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune echoes the frustrations conservatives and Romneyites have with […]
Piling On
By Mark Silk — February 18, 2008
The Rothenberg Political Report’s Nathan Gonzales is unimpressed with the Faith in Public Life/the Center for American Progress Action Fund poll of Democratic-voting evangelicals in Missouri and Tennessee. Jim Wallis takes a pop.
Dems get Religion
By rvineis — February 17, 2008
Amy Sullivan writes for Time this week about the Democrats’ embrace of religion. Sullivan focuses on John Kerry’s blunders with faithful voters in 2004. For an in-depth look at the religious history and current efforts of Edwards, Obama and Clinton check out this Religion in the News article by Mark Silk.
What Makes Huckabee Run?
By Mark Silk — February 17, 2008
The Inevitability Express may not be hitting on all cylinders, but as the likelihood of halting it fades into oblivion, the question of why Mike Huckabee continues to stay in the race becomes ever more insistent. His decamping from the campaign trail to make a motivational speech on Grand Cayman suggests a certain lack of, […]
Preacher Barack
By Mark Silk — February 17, 2008
At the end of Eli Saslow’s fine piece on Democratic voters in Lima, Ohio in today’s Washington Post, there’s this from one woman on Barack Obama: I mean, don’t get me wrong. He’s all right. If he gets the nomination, well, we’re going to have to vote for him and get behind him because we’re […]
Whither the Catholic Swing Vote?
By richardwood — February 17, 2008
Jim Dwyer in the New York Times last week noted: Catholics, who make up about a quarter of the registered voters in the country, have backed the winner of the national popular vote for at least the last nine presidential elections, going back to 1972….No other large group has switched sides so often, or been […]
Sir Charles
By Mark Silk — February 16, 2008
Charles Barkley on “fake Christians” and how he plans to vote this year.
Going Dark on Religion
By Mark Silk — February 16, 2008
Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs has a useful web page that tracks the pronouncements of the various presidential candidates on matters religious–listed by date and subject. The entries consist largely of the candidates’ responses to questions by interviewers. Interestingly, there’s been nothing posted from any candidate since January 22, which […]
Evangelical Democrats Redux
By Mark Silk — February 15, 2008
Spurred by a call from the AP’s Rachel Zoll, I’ve been thinking a little more about how to determine whether white evangelicals are showing any signs of drifting toward the Democrats this year. Unfortunately, in this regard the post-election poll of evangelicals in Missouri and Tennessee sponsored by Faith in Public Life and the Center […]
COMMENTARY: The papal compromise that fell short
By James Rudin — February 15, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Last week on Ash Wednesday, L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, published the revised text of a 1962 prayer used in the Latin Mass on Good Friday. Normally, such an article would attract little attention despite its placement in the Vatican paper. But this is no “ordinary” prayer, and […]
God Gaps
By Mark Silk — February 14, 2008
Over the past few elections, I’ve been involved in focusing a lot of attention on differences in voting behavior based on frequency of worship attendance. The now notorious God Gap has to do with the tendency of frequent attenders regardless of religion to vote Republican, and for less frequent attenders to vote Democratic. In 2000, […]
