On Faith Panelists Blog: Archives by Date - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Wrestling with disaster, suicide and God

More than two weeks have passed since the horrible earthquake struck and demolished impoverished Haiti. But my mind has been on another tragedy closer to home: A vibrant, intelligent, beautiful 24-year-old graduate student who was a member of my congregation committed suicide.

By Susan K. Smith | January 29, 2010; 12:08 PM ET | Comments (6)

Tebow/Super Bowl ad is pro, not anti

There's nothing political or divisive about Focus on the Family's Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mom. It's just a brief and inspiring story about celebrating family and life. What's wrong with that?

By Jim Daly | January 29, 2010; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (183)

Why evangelicals want immigration reform this year

We treat the biblical injunctions to welcome the stranger not merely as good advice but as divine instruction for our good.

By Galen Carey | January 28, 2010; 3:15 PM ET | Comments (5)

Howard Zinn's last advice to America - and to me

Tuesday morning - just two days ago - I wrote half a dozen leaders of progressive thought and action in America, each separately, the letter that follows. It proposes creating a grand coalition calling for independence from the corporate &...

By Arthur Waskow | January 28, 2010; 12:33 PM ET | Comments (3)

Tu' B'shvat: Caring for Creation

A custodian of nature is not a passive watchman. It is not enough to recycle. We are actively engaged with the world around us. We cannot learn from that which we destroy. Do not uproot anything that grows.

By Erica Brown | January 28, 2010; 12:04 PM ET | Comments (0)

Obama as messiah

We need to stop looking for elected or appointed messiahs to solve our problems and instead try to work individually and collectively to do it ourselves, and in the process make the world more peaceful, just, and compassionate in everything we do.

By Ramdas Lamb | January 28, 2010; 2:59 AM ET | Comments (1)

Presidents, deities and superheroes

It must be in our DNA that we continually long for leaders with unique powers to save the day. We are continually searching for another Moses, another Mohammed or another Messiah. We want a value added human who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Someone who can "save the day" like Underdog, or at least show up just in the nick of time like the Lone Ranger.

By Vashti Murphy McKenzie | January 27, 2010; 3:57 PM ET | Comments (4)

Obama, Christ and Muhammad

In Obama, Americans like me were looking for a savior -- not a religious savior to save our souls, but a political one to save our country. The American president has no business worrying about the souls of the American people, that is not his job.

By Pamela K. Taylor | January 27, 2010; 6:07 AM ET | Comments (15)

Presidents are children of God, too

The truth is we all are children of God and, therefore, members of a divine family. Presidents are expected to be spiritual leaders as we all are expected to be, being the children of God.

By Gardner Calvin Taylor | January 26, 2010; 9:29 PM ET | Comments (3)

Spiritual leadership in politics: An indispensible ideal

Americans expect the president to be a spiritual leader as well as a political leader. There is a spiritual aspect to the American enterprise that has roots in the "city upon a hill" image of the Puritans on their ships, as well as later immigrants who set off for the unknown fueled by a hope for a better life.

By Janet Edwards | January 26, 2010; 7:38 PM ET | Comments (7)

Obama mixes old-birth culture, new-birth religion

Obama is not a "spiritual leader." He is a political leader with spiritual convictions which, rightly, he neither conceals nor obtrudes.

By Willis E. Elliott | January 26, 2010; 5:56 PM ET | Comments (2)

Made in Haiti, bound for Haiti

Surplus T-shirts we were packing to send to Haiti provided quick and lasting perspective.

By Leo Brunnick | January 26, 2010; 4:53 PM ET | Comments (0)

Atheistic construct doesn't shed any light

The president is elected to serve as a political leader, not a religious one. The president is the leader of the whole nation, not one segment of the religious community. His speeches and pronouncements should reflect the understanding that he is president of all people in this religiously diverse, religious freedom-loving nation.

By J. Brent Walker | January 26, 2010; 3:10 PM ET | Comments (3)

Democrats and theocrats

Americans do seem to expect their presidents to be spiritual leaders, but given a choice, they'd rather the president make sure they have a job. If the unemployment rate were now at 6%, even 7%, would we even be having this conversation? No, of course not.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | January 25, 2010; 10:55 PM ET | Comments (4)

Just a politician

Certainly every president should be concerned about what's good for America. But sometimes what's good for other countries is also good for America. And sometimes we can learn from other countries who do things better.

By Herb Silverman | January 25, 2010; 6:38 PM ET | Comments (10)

Doing what we can for Haiti

This past weekend I had the opportunity to spend some volunteer time working at a warehouse packing clothing for the Haiti relief effort

By Leo Brunnick | January 25, 2010; 6:19 PM ET | Comments (0)

Neither nationalist nor socialist

Many of the Christian voices in government have not talked about the Kingdom of God. They've used the Kingdom of God to propagate a massive industrialized form of democratic nationalism, which is now being replaced by a form of democratic nationalistic socialism. So is it any different?

By Matt Maher | January 25, 2010; 3:34 PM ET | Comments (2)

Posts By Category

Posts By Date

Archive: January 24, 2010 - January 30, 2010