Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Muslims from Abroad Are Thriving in Catholic Colleges
posted on September 6, 2012Richard Perez-Pena reports for The New York Times that international Muslim students are flocking to Catholic universities. These students are choosing Catholic institutions over secular ones in large measure because of the emphasis on faith at such schools. “The flow of students from the Muslim world into American colleges and universities has grown sharply in recent years, and women, though still far outnumbered by men, account for a rising share,” writes Perez-Pena.
The Templeton Effect
posted on September 6, 2012At The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nathan Schneider writes that the Templeton Foundation has recently increased its support for scholars studying philosophy, in particular Christian philosophy. Once focused on what Schneider terms as “spiritual information” and “humility theology,” under the leadership of John Templeton’s son, John Templeton Jr., an evangelical Christian and supporter of Tea Party causes, the foundation has moved toward funding “more marketable ‘Big Questions.'”
Read at The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Education We Deserve
posted on September 6, 2012The editors at America Magazine take both President Obama and Mitt Romney to task for not addressing what they call “the precarious state of American higher education.” “To promise higher education to every citizen is an investment in our common future,” the editors write. “While the United States needs an expansion of educational possibilities for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, every young American should have access to affordable higher education.”
Who’s Delivering Prayers at the DNC
posted on September 5, 2012The Democratic National Convention in Charlotte brings together a diverse group of religious speakers who will deliver prayers, reports Dan Gilgoff of CNN’s Belief Blog. At his inauguration, Obama called on evangelical Pastor Rick Warren and the Rev. Joseph Lowry to deliver prayers. An Obama campaign spokesman says this convention will reflect “the important role faith has played in President Obama’s own life and the lives of many Americans.” The DNC will include leaders from the Greek Orthodox Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Conservative Jewish movement, the Latino Evangelical Coalition and the Roman Catholic Church.
Democrats Gather in the Heart of Billy Graham Country
posted on September 5, 2012Religion News Service’s Lauren Markoe gives a tour of Charlotte’s religious landscape, as the city plays host to this year’s Democratic National Convention. Known as the home of evangelist Billy Graham, Charlotte also has prominent Catholic and Jewish populations. “Religion still drives the town, though not as much as it used to,” says Ken Garfield, a former religion editor at The Charlotte Observer and now communications director for the city’s Myers Park United Methodist Church.
Not Another “Rabbi for Obama”
posted on September 5, 2012Tablet’s Yair Rosenberg writes about Rabbi David Wolpe, a leader in Conservative Judaism, who will deliver an invocation Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention. While Wolpe says he is “honored to be chosen to offer a prayer,” he says his appearance isn’t an endorsement. “‘I don’t think that’s a rabbi’s job,’ he explained. ‘My approach is that being a rabbi doesn’t give me special political insight. So, I don’t like to preach to people about exactly the political positions they should take, as though Judaism vests me with this approach as opposed to that approach.’”
Dispatches from the Democratic National Convention
posted on September 5, 2012At the Los Angeles Review of Books, Kelly Candaele contributes interviews from the Democratic National Convention. He talks with Sean Wilentz, professor of American history at Princeton University and a Democratic Party supporter. who tackles a range of subjects, from Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan to the Civil War and Howard Zinn. “To the extent that historians who came of age during the 1960s and ‘70s—and I’m one of them—saw social movements as the engine of political change, I think we have learned to think much more subtly about how politics operates across the board,” Wilentz says. “Some historians think that there is the noble left and then there is everything else. And that’s just not the way American politics works—or how American history works.” Candaele then interviews John Lewis, who also came of age in the 1960s as a Civil Rights leader and is now a congressional representative from Georgia. He too reflects on history in light of this year’s DNC. Noting the influence Martin Luther King and Gandhi had on his life, Lewis says, “[M]y faith told me that there is a better way, and a more humane way … I believe in something called the spirit of history. You have to be in tune with the spirit and let it use you and let it guide you.”
Read at Los Angeles Review of Books
The Other Power in the West Wing
posted on September 5, 2012A front-page article in Sunday’s New York Times reported that Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett helped pushed through the HHS mandate, which requires insurance to provide contraception coverage—a move that angered some religious groups, particularly the Catholic Church. Writer Jo Becker calls Jarrett “the proposal’s chief patron and a tenacious White House operator who would ultimately outmaneuver not only Mr. Daley but also the vice president in her effort to include the broadest possible contraception coverage in the administration’s health care overhaul.”
Cardinal Dolan’s Paul Ryan Problem
posted on September 5, 2012At The New Republic, Amy Sullivan writes on the issues between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Paul Ryan, whose policies have been criticized by progressive Catholics for violating the church’s social teaching. Sullivan writes that Catholic leaders have been quick to criticize Catholic Democrats “if their voting records or public statements or policy proposals come into conflict with church teaching.” She notes, “It is not unreasonable to ask if Catholic bishops are playing favorites if they are content to sit back and let the GOP vice presidential nominee proudly call himself a Catholic and attempt to square his positions with church teaching while taking stands that are at odds with that teaching.”
Rev. Moon, Times founder, dies at 92
posted on September 5, 2012The Washington Times memorializes its founder, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who died Monday at the age of 92. Writes reporter Cheryl Wetzstein, “In addition to leading the worldwide religious movement he founded in South Korea in 1954, Rev. Moon supported anti-communist causes during the Cold War, promoted international and interfaith peace activities, and strongly advocated a pro-marriage, pro-family culture.”