Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Archive: Jack Moline
Ignorance is disqualifying
There is no religious test for office and no official testing of religion. And anyone who is a candidate for office that requires an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" ought to know that.
By Jack Moline | February 22, 2011; 03:27 PM ET | Comments (3)
All I'm asking is for a little respect
Christmas belongs to Christians.
By Jack Moline | December 20, 2010; 04:23 PM ET | Comments (18)
What constitutes fairness?
When those in favor of higher taxes for the rich imply that such taxes are a punitive remedy for inequity, they are immoral.
By Jack Moline | December 13, 2010; 05:42 PM ET | Comments (22)
It is time for sacred impatience
. My own deeply ingrained prejudices -- reinforced by culture, upbringing and religious teachings -- were very difficult to overcome. However, particularly in this place at this time, the notion that such prejudices should be institutionalized by our government of equal rights ought to offend.
By Jack Moline | November 15, 2010; 04:10 PM ET | Comments (4)
Cubby-hole thinking
The purpose of any system of belief -- whether it is called religion, philosophy or world-view -- is to make sense of and give meaning to life.
By Jack Moline | October 26, 2010; 09:08 AM ET | Comments (2)
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; 03:02 PM ET | Comments (0)
Healing needs more than time -- and more time
No, we have not healed and we won't heal until such time as reconciliation is pursued from both sides, on terms that are equivalent but certainly not equal.
By Jack Moline | September 8, 2010; 08:59 AM ET | Comments (1)
Obama's religious commitment: the Constitution
The president took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. That's the only religious commitment our Founding Fathers demanded, and until people learn to trust their wisdom on this matter, it's disingenuous to pretend to represent any of their other values.
By Jack Moline | August 30, 2010; 02:10 PM ET | Comments (3)
Difference between good, could and should
Faith is good. Law is could. Wisdom is should.
By Jack Moline | August 16, 2010; 02:45 PM ET | Comments (0)
Oppose intermarriage, but support the intermarried
I oppose intermarriage before the fact. After the fact, I support marriage. One of the reasons intermarriage concerns me -- aside from the sociological and demographic challenges it poses to minority religions like my own -- is the statement it makes about the role of faith in the life of the individual and the new family he or she creates.
By Jack Moline | July 26, 2010; 04:27 PM ET | Comments (3)
The best of intentions
We may be facing the best of intentions, but no one group should symbolically claim the suffering that afflicts first the families and next the nation.
By Jack Moline | July 19, 2010; 04:24 PM ET | Comments (0)
Rhetorical games and ideologically-driven terrorists
I have more faith in the ability of most Americans to distinguish between some people and all people than the President's omission of adjectives presumes.
By Jack Moline | July 12, 2010; 05:44 PM ET | Comments (2)
Only God is universal
So all religions are not the same; they represent the many different ways that the many different people yearn for God. Only God is universal.
By Jack Moline | July 7, 2010; 10:38 AM ET | Comments (3)
Winchell or Murrow?
There is something very wrong with turning capital punishment into public spectacle, but without knowing what the state is actually doing in their name, people cannot make an informed decision on the righteousness of this ultimate sanction.
By Jack Moline | June 21, 2010; 04:55 PM ET | Comments (1)
Gaza solution begins with Hamas
If the goal is comprehensive compassion and fairness, then let's hear Turkey and and other concerned parties begin by speaking truth to Hamas. If Hamas' cooperation and moral conduct are forthcoming, then I will join the chorus of people demanding changes in Israel's policies. Only then I suspect there won't be a need for one.
By Jack Moline | June 7, 2010; 08:26 PM ET | Comments (1)
One manner of law
Never mind the profound differences in faith perspectives among the three Jews and six Roman Catholics in question. If a Supreme Court Justice puts the Constitution's mandates ahead of all other concerns, then she or he is doing the job, and the personal exercise of First Amendment rights should not matter.
By Jack Moline | May 10, 2010; 12:02 PM ET | Comments (0)
Personal (Ir)responsibility
The Bible does not guarantee universal health care any more than it protects an absolute right to private ownership. Arguing from presumptions about the American form of government and economy about the mandates of the Bible is dishonest, specious and irresponsible. It is also irrelevant.
By Jack Moline | April 12, 2010; 02:45 PM ET | Comments (2)
My deepest faith in what I cannot imagine
What we really mean when we ask if there is life after death is this: is there personal consciousness after death. Will I know that I am me, and will others be able to distinguish me when my mortal journey has ended? With confidence and relief, I acknowledge that I don't know and that it does not concern me.
By Jack Moline | March 19, 2010; 05:29 PM ET | Comments (3)
The problem with outsourcing compassion
The withdrawal of Catholic Charities from delivering services to the District of Columbia over specific policy decisions illustrates the problem with outsourcing compassion.
By Jack Moline | March 8, 2010; 01:01 PM ET | Comments (77)
My god's better than your god
Believers and non-believers alike have been blessed abundantly and ought to join in gratitude for those blessings, not in competition to prove that my god's better than your god.
By Jack Moline | March 1, 2010; 01:47 PM ET | Comments (4)
Victory worth winning
It is a good week to consider the question of tactics against an intractable enemy. The holiday of Purim and its attendant Biblical readings ask us to confront the consequences of misplaced compassion toward sworn enemies
By Jack Moline | March 1, 2010; 12:48 PM ET | Comments (0)
There's religion, and then there's religion
Just as we ought to have a bright line between church and state in the United States, we ought rightly to maintain a distinction between the diplomatic relations we have with sovereign governments and the religious hierarchies that exist without regard to the responsibilities and limitations of those sovereign governments.
By Jack Moline | February 23, 2010; 12:39 PM ET | Comments (1)
Two wrongs do not preserve our rights
This advertisement may be part of the future of advocacy, particularly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's recent ruling regarding corporate and union participation in political campaigns. I just hope that people on both sides of any critical human issue will not divert millions of dollars from delivery of services to the coffers of the corporate media.
By Jack Moline | February 1, 2010; 05:09 PM ET | Comments (1)
You can't always get what you want
I am a believer in God, and that God exists independent of the natural world. I do not believe in a petty god who chooses random moments to selectively lash out at individuals or groups who have transgressed.
By Jack Moline | January 19, 2010; 02:41 PM ET | Comments (6)
A journalist is not a pastor
A journalist who promotes one religion over another is like a pastor, rabbi or imam who endorses a political candidate from the pulpit -- by conflating the Bill of Rights with Articles of Faith, damage is done to the integrity of both sets of values..
By Jack Moline | January 11, 2010; 04:45 PM ET | Comments (3)
Fort Hood and the limits of human rights
I hold Major Hasan responsible for his actions and for this fallout from those actions, but there is no satisfaction in that blame. The burden has shifted to all people of good will to struggle with the sacrifices we are willing to make to preserve the American experiment.
By Jack Moline | December 29, 2009; 05:15 PM ET | Comments (1)
Just and holy
The goal of any justifiable war should be to bring it to a swift conclusion, mindful of the corrosive effects of armed conflict on all parties. Exploiting terms like "just" and "holy" will not meet that goal, but reminding the combatants of the importance of justice and holiness is perhaps more important in the context of battle than in peacetime.
By Jack Moline | December 21, 2009; 04:05 PM ET | Comments (1)
The scientific method does not include politics
That's all science can do: describe what is happening and point to likely consequences. So whom shall I believe in evaluating scientific consensus -- trained professionals who can advise me on the integrity of the science, or politicians and activists whose primary agenda is their own?
By Jack Moline | December 19, 2009; 04:08 PM ET | Comments (11)
Roberts loved God and humanity
Though never without a certain wake of controversy behind him, Oral Roberts lived this principle in his Christian context. He offered a generation of faithful followers the opportunity to combine devotional studies with the training to make their way in this world.
By Jack Moline | December 15, 2009; 04:47 PM ET | Comments (3)
It's about the Constitution
I am not a person who believes that my religious freedoms are endangered by the sight of a tree or a devotional tableau. This question is not about "what harm could it do" -- the answer is, "not much." Instead, the question has to do with what is consistent with the principles of the Constitution, and a creche in the East Room of the White House isn't.
By Jack Moline | December 8, 2009; 09:29 AM ET | Comments (2)
