Prometheus 6

“It’s not hard to understand why faith-based organizations need to discriminate on the basis of religion to maintain their essentially religious character,” Mr. Rosen wrote. “A Jewish organization forced to hire Baptists soon ceases to be Jewish at all.”

The problem is, government funded tasks are not essentially religious. There's also the nonsense that a single Baptist in the midst of a Jewish owned organization causes the organization to no longer be Jewish. Unless they're asserting the equally absurd argument that one Baptist would cause an influx of Baptists that must be hired.

When you're talking about leadership positions in a religious organization, faith and knowledge of doctrine is a legitimate job requirement. There's no need to legally validate discrimination to protect them. And the government isn't paying for leadership positions in churches.

Mr. Rosen also noted that “without the ability to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring and firing staff, religious organizations lose the right to define their organizational mission enjoyed by secular organizations that receive public funds.” If Planned Parenthood could refuse to hire people disagreeing with its views about abortion, why should churches, mosques and synagogues not have the same right?

Is Planned Parenthood federally funded? Besides, anti-abortion types cannot properly council folks who have decided to have an abortion. Again, we're talking job requirements here.

Add to that the fact that Planned Parenthood is neither church nor state and so the separation of church and state doesn't apply to them any more than anti-discrimination law applies to family businesses with like 20-30 employees.

Obama Sets Off a Debate on Ties Between Religion and Government
By PETER STEINFELS

On Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama did his best to reclaim for Democrats the idea of partnerships between government and grass-roots religious groups — and except for six little words he did a very smooth job.

While the aftermath has been generally chaotic, the most inconvenienced deity appeared to be the God of Abraham, who is worshipped by billions of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

"Ideally, I'd just take all of them in one pile, but there are about a thousand little sects and denominations and all that nonsense that I have to act like I care about," God/Yahweh/Allah said. "Did you know there was a guy who practiced Santeria on that bus? Christ, what a nightmare."

Various Deities Still Sorting Through Victims Of Tragic Queens Bus Accident
August 3, 2007 | Issue 43•31

NEW YORK—An emergency coalition of deities from several major world religions is still sorting through the wreckage of a tragic bus accident that claimed 67 lives Friday in the culturally diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens.

According to authorities, at approximately 6:45  p.m. the Q45 bus crashed into a power generator at a busy street corner after swerving to avoid a slow-moving group of elderly Chinese pedestrians. Police say that a Korean laundry, an Irish pub, a Senegalese restaurant, and a churro stand were also severely damaged in the resultant smoke and flames.

More than half a dozen gods reportedly responded to the scene within moments of the crash.

This person is actually beyond the reach of reason because his understanding of cause-and-effect is flawed.

Dr. James Dobson’s June 24 radio show critiqued Obama’s use of Scripture in justifying his political policies and positions. The next day Obama responded to the evangelical leader’s critique by saying that Dobson was “making stuff up,” which McCullough said was “an indirect way of calling Dobson a liar.”

Obama-Dobson argument a “political blunder” for Obama

Washington DC, Jun 29, 2008 / 06:04 pm (CNA).- Gary McCullough, director of Christian Newswire, has called Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s attack on Focus on the Family president James Dobson a “political blunder” that could have a significant impact on Evangelical swing voters who were otherwise lukewarm towards Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain.

I don't talk politics with my daughter but so often, but it came up kind of organically a week or so ago. She's an Obama supporter (of course...) and she has her rational reasons for it, but she recognizes the charisma thing has had its impact. She says the case is more of the same with the potential for getting worse vs. getting rid of the Bushisms with the "potential for something awesome" to happen.

Me, I don't do charisma so I've been able to assess things as good and the bad, as strategic master strokes and rank, amateurish errors in his campaign. It's not easy for a politician to actually impress me.

Drawing forth this reaction impresses me.

Dobson's judgment was based on Obama's keynote address at a "Call to Renewal" conference on June 28, 2006. In fact, this speech was impressive in many respects. As an evangelical and conservative who has deep concerns about Obama's policies and political philosophy, I nonetheless welcome such a statement by a leading Democrat. 

The Reverend McCain
By Francis Wilkinson

In an essay on The Times Op-Ed page in March, the writer Neal Gabler suggested that the reason John McCain has enjoyed excellent relations with the press is that they are birds of a feather. According to Mr. Gabler, Mr. McCain is “an ironist wooing a group of individuals who regard ironic detachment more highly than sincerity or seriousness.”

The flip side of this shared reverence for irreverence, however, is the discomfort it induces in those for whom sincerity is serious. Though Mr. McCain belongs to a Southern Baptist congregation in Phoenix and made headlines last year calling America a “Christian nation,” he still oozes a fighter pilot’s four-letter regard for piety. Many Christian conservatives, who’ve been battling purveyors of ironic detachment ever since Clarence Darrow showed up at the Scopes trial, don’t get the joke — and don’t want to.

Religion in America: Non-Dogmatic, Diverse and Politically Relevant
Religious Beliefs & Practices / Social & Political Views: Report 2
June 23, 2008

Key Findings

A major survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that most Americans have a non-dogmatic approach to faith. A majority of those who are affiliated with a religion, for instance, do not believe their religion is the only way to salvation. And almost the same number believes that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion. This openness to a range of religious viewpoints is in line with the great diversity of religious affiliation, belief and practice that exists in the United States, as documented in a survey of more than 35,000 Americans that comprehensively examines the country's religious landscape.

Black churches show people that "you may not have money, you may not have houses or land, but you have value," says Murray. 

Believers in the Pews--and the Polling Booth
A new study on the intersection of politics, religion and race.
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 11:45 AM ET Jun 23, 2008

The more religiously active an American is, the more likely he is to vote Republican--unless he's black. That fact emerged in the second part of a Pew Forum study on the landscape of religious life in the United States, released this June.

For an 'Obamacon,' Communion Denied
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008; A15

Word spread like wildfire in Catholic circles: Douglas Kmiec, a staunch Republican, firm foe of abortion and veteran of the Reagan Justice Department, had been denied Communion.

His sin? Kmiec, a Catholic who can cite papal pronouncements with the facility of a theological scholar, shocked old friends and adversaries alike earlier this year by endorsing Barack Obama for president. For at least one priest, Kmiec's support for a pro-choice politician made him a willing participant in a grave moral evil.

Kmiec was denied Communion in April at a Mass for a group of Catholic business people he later addressed at dinner. The episode has not received wide attention outside the Catholic world, but it is the opening shot in an argument that could have a large impact on this year's presidential campaign: Is it legitimate for bishops and priests to deny Communion to those supporting candidates who favor abortion rights?

Obama Quits His Church
By Jeff Zeleny

WASHINGTON – Senator Barack Obama is ending his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a congregation he has belonged to for about two decades and one that had become a lightning rod in his Democratic presidential bid.

Mr. Obama informed his campaign advisers of his decision today, according to people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the candidate. Mr. Obama is scheduled to explain his decision tonight in South Dakota.

For Mr. Obama, this is the latest effort to distance himself from a church that had repeatedly drawn negative attention to his candidacy. And, in turn, Mr. Obama drew negative attention to the church on Chicago’s South Side, where he was married and his two daughters were baptized.

It is true that Jesus was not a political activist; he joined no party and issued no Contract With the Roman Empire. But it is a stretch to interpret his personal challenge to the rich young ruler as a biblical foundation for libertarianism.

The Jewish tradition in which Jesus lived and taught demanded that just rulers make a minimal provision for the poor, including no-interest loans and the distribution of agricultural commodities. (Look it up: Exodus 22:25-27 and Deuteronomy 24:19-21.) The apostle Paul held a high view of government's role in promoting justice and urged the willing payment of taxes -- a biblical demand more severe, for some of us, than all those sexual prohibitions. And Jesus's followers, fanning out along Roman roads, eventually expressed strong views on slavery, infanticide and the debasement of women -- political views that followed naturally from their belief in a radical equality before God.

The Libertarian Jesus
By Michael Gerson
Friday, May 30, 2008; A13

Compassionate conservatism began with some questions: Is it possible to apply conservative and free-market ideas -- school vouchers, the promotion of community and faith-based institutions, the encouragement of wealth-building and social mobility -- to the task of helping marginalized Americans? In the wake of liberal failures, do conservatives offer any hope to addicts and the homeless, to disadvantaged children in need of mentors and adequate education, to people living among the broken glass of durable poverty?  [P6: No, but keep reading anyway]

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah
Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: May 29, 2008 07:07:49 AM

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

That whole death and rebirth thing wasn't enough for Donohue, I guess. 

In his book “Jerusalem Countdown,” Mr. Hagee accused the Vatican of collaborating with Hitler in the Holocaust. In addition, some critics have interpreted Mr. Hagee’s references to “the great whore” prophesied in the Book of Revelation as a slur on the Roman Catholic Church....

Mr. McCain said two weeks ago that he was “glad to have his endorsement,”

I think it's pretty significant that it took weeks of negotiation to get this little concession.

McCain Backer Regrets Comments on Catholics
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

The Rev. John C. Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a controversy when Senator John McCain received his endorsement for the Republican presidential nomination with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for “any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”

The letter was issued after weeks of conversations between Mr. Hagee and Roman Catholic Republicans about repairing the damage to Mr. McCain’s campaign and the alliance built over many years between conservative Catholics and evangelicals.

No, it's not about politics ...your conception of the universe is safe.

First, the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships. Second, underneath the patina of different religions, people around the world have common moral intuitions. Third, people are equipped to experience the sacred, to have moments of elevated experience when they transcend boundaries and overflow with love. Fourth, God can best be conceived as the nature one experiences at those moments, the unknowable total of all there is.

In their arguments with Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the faithful have been defending the existence of God. That was the easy debate. The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits. It’s going to come from scientists whose beliefs overlap a bit with Buddhism.

He still needs to explain his spiritual advisor, Rod Parsley. And why he sought out the endorsement of the anti-Catholic John Hagee (and for that matter, why Sam Brownback defends Hagee). Besides...

Leading figures on the conservative "Religious Right" such as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, did not sign the document, and his office said he had not been asked to sign it.

...it looks like the Mammonite sect of Christianity was excluded from this purification ritual.

Evangelicals urge pullback from politics
Christians become 'useful idiots' when faith is politicized, group says
Reuters
updated 3:35 p.m. ET, Wed., May. 7, 2008

DALLAS - A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not become "useful idiots" exploited for partisan gain.

One in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical Protestants, giving them serious clout in a country where religion and politics often mix. Conservative evangelicals have become a key support base for the Republican Party.

But the movement has had growing pains and the statement issued on Wednesday, called an "Evangelical Manifesto," is the latest sign of emerging fractures as some activists seek to broaden its agenda beyond hot-button social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights.

Via the field negro. There's video of the comment on the other side of the lin, but this little heifer walks in on the lower left corner of your screen, talking with no obvious way to shut her up. You have to hover your mouse pointer over her for the "shut the hell up" controls to appear.

Fumo: Slavery would be "almost unanimous"
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | 10:23 PM
by Sarah Bloomquist & AP

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - April 30, 2008 (WPVI) -- A state senator told a black pastor testifying at a committee hearing that, given the chance to cast secret ballots, his fellow legislators would vote to legalize slavery.

 

That's what she says watching Bill Moyers' interview with Rev. Wright did to her. In my experience, that suggests she didn't listen to the interview so much as she searched for key indicators in the discussion.

What are the indicators she was looking for? Let's look at her own words.

My goal in this post is to try not to treat Wright the way Wright seems to treat the idea of America; to not utterly damn Wright because some of (a lot of? I'm not sure) what Wright has said is disturbing and wrong.

Understand: she's not sure how much of what Rev. Wright said is true, but she knows some of it is...and she finds it "disturbing and wrong" of him to speak the truth.

But "God damn America" - that's sweeping. It sounds like it's the idea of America, its fundamental principles, that he's rejecting.

It doesn't sound like he's rejecting the behavior that runs counter to "the idea of America," oh, no.

Why can't Obama say this?

Yeah, I know. But it's a pity.

Jeremiah Wright to be interviewed by Bill Moyers
Written by J. Bennett Guess
April 19, 2008

In what will be his first interview since snippets of his preaching became a central issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. will speak publicly to veteran journalist and fellow UCC member Bill Moyers.

The interview will be broadcast on Friday evening, April 25, on Bill Moyers Journal, a PBS news series that airs nationally. Check local listings at www.pbs.org/moyers.

A spokeswoman answers questions by referring to a statement Mr. McCain made the day after the endorsement, when it was greeted with a barrage of criticism: “In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee’s views, which I obviously do not.”

Mr. Hagee also declines to discuss the endorsement, and in interviews and during a conference call with reporters on Monday, he would not even say how it had come about. “For the present time for many reasons,” Mr. Hagee said in an interview late last month, “it is better that I don’t comment on the campaign in any way.”

That's FAR less forthcoming than Obama and Wright have been...and also supports my own statement that Obama should not have backed away from Wright at all.

For McCain, Little Talk of a Controversial Endorsement
By NEELA BANERJEE

When Senator John McCain won the endorsement of the Rev. John C. Hagee in February, his campaign hoped it would shore up his conservative credentials among evangelicals and build enthusiasm among a voting bloc that would be critical for him in November.

But since then, Mr. Hagee has been on the defensive over some of his views about Catholics and Jews, and he and Mr. McCain’s campaign have been silent about his endorsement.

Darrell Azar, communications manager for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said late Saturday that in addition to the 52 girls ages 6 months to 17 years who were removed from the ranch on Friday, another 85 children, including 40 boys, were taken Saturday to a civic center in Eldorado for questioning. An unknown number of children remained at the ranch, he said.

Additional Children Removed at Polygamist Ranch in Texas
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON — Authorities removed an additional 85 children from a polygamist compound on Saturday, bringing the total to 137, officials said, as a confrontation appeared to be developing over law enforcement access to parts of the facility in Eldorado, in West Texas.

A discussion between two theologians, an academic and a conservative hack.

Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press was on, giving the results of their polling on the economy and Sen. Obama's recent "ordeal". I got it on video but the transcript and audio links are up now.

On the economy: people are worried about the exact items that were removed from the inflation figures to create the "core inflation rate"...a statistic specifically created to allow policy makers to ignore the inflation that is most painful to the working class.

ANDREW KOHUT: It's pretty lopsided, as that chart shows. It's prices. It's inflation, 49 percent rising prices, and 20 percent jobs. Relatively few are talking about the financial markets.

Unless you talk to people who earn more than $100,000 a year, you don't get a registration very much on anything other than rising prices, fuel, food, that sort of thing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So it's inflation that remains what people -- the things that they buy.

ANDREW KOHUT: It's inflation. Sure, absolutely.

But that's not what you're interested in, is it?

Obama And The Jews
25 Mar 2008 05:57 pm

The Clinton campaign is distributing an article in the American Spectator (!) about Obama foreign policy adviser Merrill McPeak and his penchant for.. well, the article accuses him of being an anti-Semite and a drunk. Principally, the author takes McPeak to task for supporting a Middle East map that would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 border. It also makes the case that McPeak supports the Walt-Mearsheimer view of the influence of the Israeli lobby on foreign policy.

...there seems to be confusion as to exactly what church Clinton now attends. Her campaign did not return requests for comment.

Pastor Of Clinton's Former Church: Don't Use Wright To Polarize
March 25, 2008 10:24 PM

On Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton re-stoked the flames of the controversy surrounding Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, saying she would have long ago distanced herself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright if she had attended his church.

"He would not have been my pastor," Clinton told a gathering of the campaign press corps, repeating a line she used earlier in the day on a Pittsburgh radio program. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."

Why Obama Stands With His Church
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, March 22, 2008; A13

All they wanted to do was pray with the rest of the congregation. But that was asking too much.

To be sure, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two leaders in Philadelphia's black community, enjoyed great success in bringing African Americans into the Christian fold.

But the steady growth in black membership at St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church distressed the white congregation that owned the church.

At first, black Christians were moved to seats along the wall.

That still allowed for too much mingling.

So one Sunday morning as Allen, Jones and the other black worshipers knelt to pray, white church elders tapped Jones and Allen on the shoulders and told them to take their praying upstairs to a recently built balcony.

Rather than submit to such humiliation, Jones, Allen and the rest of the black worshipers walked out.

The two men formed their own congregations. Jones gained permission from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania to establish America's first black parish, St. Thomas African Episcopal Church. He eventually became the Episcopal Church's first African American priest.

Allen formed a Methodist congregation that eventually became today's multimillion-member African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

The walkout in the City of Brotherly Love occurred in 1787 -- a year that marks the beginning of America's independent black church, a theological movement born out of racism.