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Archive: September 7, 2008 - September 13, 2008
Palin, Evangelical Religion and Enlightened Religion
I share with Sarah Palin what I assume is both anxiety and pride over a son serving in Iraq. Unlike Governor Palin, I do not believe that our nation's leaders have sent our sons on "a task that is from God."
By James Anderson | September 12, 2008; 5:04 PM ET | Comments (16)
Many Questions on the Candidates' Beliefs
I have questions about all the candidates' religious views. But I also note that they're not running for pope; they're running for public office.
By Charles "Chuck" Colson | September 12, 2008; 4:52 PM ET | Comments (25)
Divine Impulses: Lorne Michaels
When it comes to tragedy, what's comedy got to do with it? "It [experiencing death] leads to a seriousness that is very helpful in comedy," Lorne Michaels said in an interview at his home with Sally Quinn. "I think of...
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 12, 2008; 4:47 PM ET | Comments (11)
My Rock
I'm looking for not for God in my politicians. I'm looking for intelligence, decency, level-headedness, and the inspiration needed to get our country out of the mess we're in.
By Andy Bachman | September 12, 2008; 2:45 PM ET | Comments (9)
The Nomination Of Sarah Palin: Religious Extremism Triumphant
Palin wants to force her values on women who do not agree with her, and that is the definition of religious extremism
By Susan Jacoby | September 12, 2008; 12:03 PM ET | Comments (338)
Sarah Palin, Pentecostals, Keith Olbermann and God's Will
Palin's comments on "God's Will" should be viewed with trepidation and caution only if Obama's comment on not having any clue regarding when life begins speaks to a theological underpinning of moral relativism.
By Samuel Rodriguez | September 11, 2008; 2:47 PM ET | Comments (131)
God On Our Side
Sarah Palin's God may want her to build the pipeline, but I've had personal communication from Thundering Herds of Reindeer Gods that say, "No way!"
By Starhawk | September 11, 2008; 1:13 PM ET | Comments (110)
Understanding the Palin Prayers
Palin was expressing her convictions about the pipeline, that it was the right thing to do, and asking for prayerful support. In the context of the religious dialect of her church, it is a gross misunderstanding to think she meant more than that.
By John Mark Reynolds | September 11, 2008; 12:35 PM ET | Comments (37)
On 9/11, Bowing and Clearing Our Heads
Eboo Patel | We are not at war with a religion. We are at war with extremists.
This is not a Muslim vs. Christian world, it is a Pluralism vs. Extremism world.
» Tim Shriver:
The Post-9/11 Task for All Faiths
By Eboo Patel | September 11, 2008; 11:57 AM ET | Comments (99)
Palin's God is Not My God
As a person who strives every day to discern the voice of God and live my life in accordance with God's will, I certainly hope that all of our candidates understand that this great country, established in part to honor and protect religious freedom, thrives precisely on the diversity of its inhabitants.
By Sharon Brous | September 11, 2008; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (113)
W.D. Mohammed: A Witness for True Islam
On September 11, as Americans commemorate the attacks and tragedy of 9/11, Warith Deen Mohammed will be buried. His passing and the memory of his accomplishments are a witness and fittingly a reminder of the heart of Islam and the vast majority of its followers.
By John Esposito | September 10, 2008; 4:21 PM ET | Comments (41)
Sarah Palin: Prophet or Politician?
There is no room in a democracy for elected officials who believe that they are prophets. Prophets draw their authority from a direct relationship with God. Our elected officials draw their power from the electorate - at least they are supposed to!
By Brad Hirschfield | September 10, 2008; 4:06 PM ET | Comments (23)
Palin Must Shift from Parochial Religion to Universal Politics
I worry that Palin's conjoining of her particular religious faith convictions with universal policy-making could generate potentially disastrous consequences for our country and world. We have already witnessed similar effects for the past eight years.
By Daisy Khan | September 10, 2008; 3:48 PM ET | Comments (24)
What's Good for GM Is Good for God
Religion-as-politics has infused the American system, for better or worse, as a familiar way to polarize people.
By Deepak Chopra | September 10, 2008; 12:17 PM ET | Comments (11)
Women, Can We Hold Up a Minute?
Just because someone looks like us does not mean that she is good for us.
By Susan K. Smith | September 10, 2008; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (3)
The Election: Dancing in God's Earthquake
Not since William Jennings Bryan ("You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" and William McKinley ("I knelt to pray for guidance on what to do about the Philippines, and heard a voice: Annex them, educate them, Christianize them!") have we had such a choice.
By Arthur Waskow | September 10, 2008; 10:36 AM ET | Comments (6)
Palin: A Narrow Evangelical President?
Every religion is attractive (or it couldn't continue to exist) and repulsive (or it wouldn't be human). When a religion comes to public notice in the person of a prominent politician, its friends note the politician's embodiment of its attractiveness and its enemies remark any evidence of its repulsiveness.
By Willis E. Elliott | September 9, 2008; 5:48 PM ET | Comments (18)
Beware Anyone's Sure Knowledge of God's Will
When politicians of any party or persuasion claim to know the will of God in any detail and to be following it in such detail, "better duck!" would be the best advice. Trouble ahead. Obsession, self-righteousness, and fanaticism follow.
By Martin Marty | September 9, 2008; 4:13 PM ET | Comments (58)
God's Agenda is Not Ours
All politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, love to use God to baptize their political agendas. They shouldn't. The work of God is the salvation of souls, not the backing of humanity's agendas.
By Cal Thomas | September 9, 2008; 3:44 PM ET | Comments (46)
God Is Not A Political Trump Card
The issue of concern for me is not what a candidate believes about God but whether a candidate believes in the separation of church and state.
By Irwin Kula | September 9, 2008; 1:09 PM ET | Comments (16)
All Beliefs Welcome, Unless They are Forced on Others
I am on record as not objecting to any candidate's religious views. But I object strongly when anyone (and especially anyone with political power) tries to take their theology out in public, to inflict those private religious (or sexual) views on other people.
By Wendy Doniger | September 9, 2008; 7:24 AM ET | Comments (979)
Palin's God
People who think they are being directed by God to do something are scary; their commitment and conviction is admirable, but what they do, or what they endorse, in the name of God is ... scary.
By Susan K. Smith | September 9, 2008; 6:46 AM ET | Comments (43)
Presidential Aptitude Test
A Presidential Aptitude Test.
By Arthur Waskow | September 8, 2008; 5:14 PM ET | Comments (1)
Country Last
Putting country first is, according to Reinhold Niebuhr, "a high form of altruism"; the Palin pick is the antithesis of this kind of altruism. It is selfish in the extreme.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 8, 2008; 11:34 AM ET | Comments (2)
Secularism Good for the Soul
Those of us trying to bridge the faith divide would do well to welcome the nonreligious.
By Eboo Patel | September 8, 2008; 8:57 AM ET | Comments (21)
Will Conservatives Tell Palin to Practice What They Preach?
Governor Palin clearly proved she can be the attack dog for the Republican Party. Will conservative Christians hew to their scriptural guidelines reminding her and the world that the Bible says "suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
By James Anderson | September 8, 2008; 8:31 AM ET | Comments (16)
Religious Hypocrisy and Women as Leaders
The relationship between men and women, especially with regard to the dynamics of power, is very complex and while liberals have addressed this relationship in profoundly positive ways it is not as if our public culture with its promiscuity, pornography, and objectification of women, is so evolved.
By Irwin Kula | September 8, 2008; 7:22 AM ET | Comments (4)
Nations are Easy, Congregations are Hard
While I wish that all church bodies (and, by analogy, synagogue and such communities) did ordain women, it is not hypocritical to say that women can "do" ministry but not nation, or nation but not ministry.
By Martin Marty | September 8, 2008; 6:44 AM ET | Comments (6)
Peculiar and Inconsistent
It has always seemed extraordinary that anyone finds it seriously difficult to think of women leading congregations.
By Julia Neuberger | September 8, 2008; 3:14 AM ET | Comments (7)
