Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Obama, Romney Answer Faith Leaders’ Call to Address Poverty in Election
posted on September 14, 2012At Sojourners, President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, answer questions about faith and poverty. “My faith teaches me that poverty is a moral issue. The Bible calls on us to be ‘our brother’s keeper,'” said Obama. “Nearly one in six Americans are in poverty,” said Romney. “When our economy is weak, lives are shattered. Hearts ache.”
Religious Violence Is All Too Real
posted on September 14, 2012At The Washington Post, Brad Hirschfield writes about the place of religious violence in a post-9/11 world. Hirschfield blames religiously-motivated hate for an endless cycle of violence. “The haters thrive on any bad act perpetrated in the name of whatever tradition they hate, conflating what some people do in the name of that tradition, with the totality of the tradition’s followers or what the tradition is all about,” Hirschfield writes. “Not only is that inaccurate, it’s a deeply cynical use of other people’s suffering.”
Picking on Foreign Students
posted on September 14, 2012The Economist argues that the current British government is blaming foreign students for stealing English jobs to score political points. According to The Economist, this is not only bad politics, it’s bad economic policy. “In the wake of the economic crisis, the government is keen to foster industries other than financial services with export potential. Higher education is one.”
Hobby Lobby Sues Government over Contraception Mandate
posted on September 14, 2012The arts and crafts retail chain Hobby Lobby has joined dozens of Catholic organizations in suing the federal government over the HHS mandate, which requires employers to provide contraceptive coverage as part of their health insurance plans, reports Catholic News Agency’s Michelle Bauman. “We have always operated our company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles, including integrity and service to others,” says Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green.
Libya’s Lesson: Extremism Begets Extremism
posted on September 13, 2012At The Huffington Post, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin questions how America’s role in the Middle East, which many in that region understand as more occupation than liberation, will change due to the recent spate of anti-American violence. “I am compelled to promote tolerance, even as we try to understand the reasons we have lost an Ambassador in Libya. After all, as we saw with the unfolding events, extremism begets extremism,” Shihab-Eldin writes.
The Arab Spring Flowers
posted on September 13, 2012At The American Conservative, Michael Brendan Dougherty responds to the killings at the U.S. embassy in Libya, and the storming of the U.S. embassy in Egypt. Dougherty writes that many Americans hoped that the Arab Spring would mark the phasing out of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, and the emergence of stable democracies throughout the region. “So far this Arab Spring has meant the empowerment of Islamists, and regimes that are unwilling or unable to even provide basic security to our diplomatic missions,” writes Dougherty.
Read at The American Conservative
Mitt Romney’s Best-Known Mormon Critic Tells it All. One Last Time.
posted on September 13, 2012At Religion Dispatches, Joanna Brooks interviews Judy Dushku, a former member of Mitt Romney’s Belmont Mormon ward, who has been critical of his leadership there. “[I]t’s certainly not that I hate [Romney],” Dushku explains. “I just love Mormons so much I hate to see us all represented by Mitt Romney. It reflects so badly on a religion that stands for better things.”
SPLC Calls on Ryan, Cantor to Boycott Values Voter Summit
posted on September 13, 2012The Christian Post’s Paul Stanley reports that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and leading gay rights organizations have called on elected officials, including congressional leader, Eric Cantor, and Republican vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, to boycott this weekend’s annual “Values Voters Summit.” In a telephone press conference on Tuesday, SPLC leaders said, “The host of the event, the Family Research Council (FRC), has consistently spread demonizing lies about the LGBT community, and one of its co-sponsors, the American Family Association (AFA), has linked homosexuality to the Holocaust.”
The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims
posted on September 13, 2012At Good, Nathan Lean writes that since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, anti-Muslim rhetoric has steadily increased. Lean associates this intolerant rhetoric with an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes. “We need look no further than this past summer as proof of that,” writes Lean. “The Sikh temple shooting—where worshippers were not targeted for their religion but for their dark skin, turbans, beards, and foreign names—as well as mosque vandalisms, arsons, and assaults on Muslim Americans are evidence of a growing climate of hate.”
Israel-US Spat: A Help to Iran?
posted on September 13, 2012Tom Peter reports for The Christian Science Monitor on the tensions between Israel and the United States regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been critical of the United States’ failure to draw a “clear red line” to indicate at what point it would take military action to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. However, “despite the recent rhetoric, Israel and the US have most of the same beliefs,” writes Peter. “If diplomatic feuds keep them at odds, it may make the situation easier for Iran by weakening the alliance of those who oppose it.”
Read at The Christian Science Monitor