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Archive: October 3, 2010 - October 9, 2010
The Duke 'thesis': Karen Owen's discovery
Maybe Karen Owen's real research discovery is how cyberspace has paradoxically revealed the combustible sacrality of sexuality precisely by making it all seem so casual.
By Mathew N. Schmalz | October 9, 2010; 3:45 PM ET | Comments (3)
Nobel Prize controversy: in vitro fertilization turns procreation into a business
In this particular business, the "goods" that are bought, sold, produced en masse, picked through for imperfections, experimented upon, and more often than not discarded on a whim are human beings.
By Danielle Bean | October 8, 2010; 9:52 AM ET | Comments (18)
The beauty and the inconsistency of O'Donnell's faith
Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell invoked God and God's will in explaining her political aspirations. Some find her remarks beautiful and others, including the majority of On Faith panelists; find it quite disturbing - some going so far as to suggest that O'Donnell is mentally ill. I find her comments foolishly inconsistent and a little bit beautiful.
By Brad Hirschfield | October 7, 2010; 2:48 PM ET | Comments (11)
Outrage at humanity's use of technology
We need to be people who have nothing shameful to hide.
By Erica Brown | October 7, 2010; 10:13 AM ET | Comments (0)
The plan is a kaleidoscopic mystery
If we believe that God is sovereign, that God is a God of history, that all of history is moving toward a return to paradise, to a righteous realm of justice and peace on earth, then it makes sense to believe that the campaign of a particular politician may be part of God's plan.
By Valerie Elverton Dixon | October 7, 2010; 9:57 AM ET | Comments (344)
Do the people of the United States own God?
I have travelled around the world and have not come across any country where God is invoked for mundane situations as in the United States. One might well ask: Do the people of the United States own God?
By Arun Gandhi | October 7, 2010; 9:45 AM ET | Comments (10)
God's plan for the O'Donnell campaign?
When I speak to God, it is called prayer. When God speaks tro me, it is called paranoia. Mental illness is not absent when it is covered with religious words.
By John Shelby Spong | October 6, 2010; 10:24 AM ET | Comments (9)
Does God need a plan?
Who wins a particular political contest, who happens to earn the most money, or who becomes king, queen, or president are all ultimately irrelevant. To the divine, these are all probably as equally significant as leaves blowing in the wind.
By Ramdas Lamb | October 6, 2010; 12:16 AM ET | Comments (2)
With a grain of salt (and light)
I don't believe it's outside the realm of possibility that God would call somebody to run for office; in fact, a friend of mine came to that conclusion through an extensive process of prayer and discernment with other people he trusted and respected. He lost in the primary.
By Jason Poling | October 5, 2010; 11:10 PM ET | Comments (2)
Answering the call: by their fruits you will recognize them
A candidate may be following their call by running unsuccessfully for public office. We can follow God's plan, answer our calling, and lose. This idea is not always easy to comprehend - sometimes God's plan does not include success in every endeavor.
By Jordan Sekulow | October 5, 2010; 5:56 PM ET | Comments (89)
Choosing the right operating system for your plans
O'Donnell believes in God, limited government, and the vision of the Founders for this great nation. Her thinking is sound, though early in her life she had difficulty integrating that sound view with the world.
By John Mark Reynolds | October 5, 2010; 5:34 PM ET | Comments (25)
The delusion that God has a specific plan for every action
The number of failed politicians who have sought office with the claim that God has called them to run suggest that if God does indeed call politicians to run for office, God must have a sadistic sense of humor.
By Gene Davenport | October 5, 2010; 5:21 PM ET | Comments (5)
God has a plan and we do not know what it is
The problem with politicians taking on the mantle of God's plan is that politics is about the distribution of power. The moment that a candidate reaches to invoke God's power as their own, they have reached too far.
By Janet Edwards | October 5, 2010; 3:18 PM ET | Comments (3)
God, politics and Ms. O'Donnell
I am afraid that we humans create gods of our choosing, gods that validate our whims and wishes, gods that too often favor the "haves" at the expense of the "have-nots."
By Susan K. Smith | October 5, 2010; 12:51 PM ET | Comments (11)
"Through a glass, darkly," and that goes double for politicians
I hear Christine O'Donnell 's claim that she believes it is God's plan for her to 'campaign and ultimately, to win' with a great deal of dread. To me this demonstrates a lack of humility in the face of the great challenges of not only running for political office, but also ultimately of governing. I believe it is the same combination of childishness and blind arrogance that has been so harmful to our country the past. When I hear any politician talk like this these days, I run the other way.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | October 5, 2010; 9:00 AM ET | Comments (29)
An atheist presents God's plan to win an election
Unfortunately, we live in a society where too many people vote based on which fictional deity a candidate believes in and not the positions that candidate takes. Candidates who exploit their faith in an attempt to get votes are not the type of people we ought to elect to public office.
By Hemant Mehta | October 4, 2010; 11:11 PM ET | Comments (17)
A prayer for a social revolution
While we're on the subject of politics and prayer, allow me to state the obvious: It works both ways. Prayer hasn't always been the province of the political oppressor. It hasn't always been used to protect the interests of the wealthier-than-thou.
By Clark Strand | October 4, 2010; 8:02 PM ET | Comments (1)
My plan is God's plan
Any candidate who believes God is responsible for her election is deluded, and deluded people can't be counted on to make rational decisions.
By Herb Silverman | October 4, 2010; 7:56 PM ET | Comments (11)
God's eclectic electoral tastes
If God is in the election business, then God has eclectic tastes. Not only does God aid democrats, republicans and independents, seemingly the Creator of the Universe is friendly to communists, tyrants and corrupt officials - all of whom have periodically claimed victory at the ballot box.
By David Wolpe | October 4, 2010; 6:41 PM ET | Comments (3)
A spiritual platform to support
My own understanding of G-d does not include room for a Grand Karl Rove in the sky directing the minutiae of a politician's bid for office.
By Max Carter | October 4, 2010; 4:47 PM ET | Comments (1)
Blasphemy picks up where chutzpah leaves off
When a human being claims to have private access to God's will, that's chutzpah.
By Jack Moline | October 4, 2010; 3:02 PM ET | Comments (0)
An open letter to religious leaders on gay youth suicides: it's time to act out loud
What if next weekend all of us told them from our pulpits how heartbroken we are by Tyler Clementi's suicide and that we want to make sure that no young person in our community would ever feel such despair?
By Debra W. Haffner | October 4, 2010; 12:11 PM ET | Comments (139)
"Justice Still Denied" -- My mini-sermon at Lincoln Memorial "One Nation" Service
I was asked by the organizers of yesterday's "One America Working Together," rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to give one of three 5-minute mini-sermons at the interfaith service that kicked off the rally. I was asked to speak on ...
By Arthur Waskow | October 3, 2010; 3:58 PM ET | Comments (0)
Knowing God vs. knowing about God
The Pew poll of religious knowledge, in which atheists/agnostics scored ever-so-slightly higher than Jews and Mormons demonstrates at least four significant facts about what we know and why we know it. Appreciating these facts would go a long way toward ending the ugly fighting between theists and atheists.
By Brad Hirschfield | October 3, 2010; 3:39 PM ET | Comments (10)
