Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Akin Asks for ‘Forgiveness’ in New Ad
posted on August 22, 2012Katharine Q. Seelye reports for the New York Times that embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin released a new ad yesterday in which the congressman from Missouri asks voters to forgive him for the comments he recently made regarding rape. Seelye writes, “Mr. Akin, who is in a high-profile race against Senator Claire McCaskill, had said victims of ‘legitimate’ rape rarely got pregnant because ‘the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.'”
Obama, Romney Open Up about Their Faith in A Church Magazine
posted on August 22, 2012CNN’s Eric Marrapodi reports on the interviews both President Obama and Mitt Romney participated in for Cathedral Age, the quarterly magazine of the Washington National Cathedral. “The interviews mark a rare instance of Romney talking about Mormonism,” writes Marrapodi, “while Obama discusses his Christian faith in detail, referencing favorite Christian writers and Bible verses.”
Manic Pixie Dream Dissidents: How the World Misunderstands Pussy Riot
posted on August 22, 2012Sarah Kendzior writes for The Atlantic about how the western media “has reduced these Russian dissidents to more familiar narratives of youthful rebellion or damsels in distress, missing their entire point and adopting Moscow’s own language.” According to many western journalists, “[t]he three members of Pussy Riot are ‘girls, despite the fact that all of them are in their 20s and two are mothers. They are ‘punkettes,’ diminutive variations on a 1990s indie-rock prototype that has little resemblance to Pussy Riot’s own trajectory as independent artists and activists.”
Criminal Charges Filed against German Rabbi for Performing Circumcisions
posted on August 22, 2012Raphael Arhen reports for The Times of Israel that a rabbi in Bavaria is the first person charged under that country’s new laws criminalizing circumcision. “A doctor from Hesse filed a criminal complaint against Rabbi David Goldberg, who serves in the community of Hof, in Upper Franconia,” writes Arhen.
GOP Platform Takes Hard Stance against Imaginary Sharia Threat
posted on August 22, 2012At Talking Points Memo, Ryan J. Reilly reports, “The Republican National Convention adopted an amendment to their platform supporting a ban on foreign law,” but the specific target is “Sharia Law.” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says, “in cases involving either spousal abuse or assault or other crimes against persons, sometimes defenses are raised that are based in Sharia law.”
The Theological Roots of Akin’s “Legitimate Rape” Comment
posted on August 21, 2012At Religion Dispatches, Sarah Posner connects Rep. Todd Akin’s religious beliefs to his remarks about “legitimate rape” and his view that abortion rights should not extend to rape victims. As Posner notes, Akin is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and he holds a Masters in Divinity from PCA’s flagship seminary. “His denomination has not only opposed abortion in all cases, including rape, but has suggested that the number of pregnancies by rape is overstated, and even questioned the veracity of rape claims,” Posner writers. “And Akin, who in a few months could be a United States Senator, wants his religion to dictate our laws.”
Study: Less Religious States Give Less to Charity
posted on August 21, 2012A new study found that the more religious states give more to charity, Jay Lindsay reports for the Associated Press. “The study also found that patterns of charitable giving are colored in political reds and blues,” Lindsay writes, but some attribute the divide to religious participation, not politics. “I don’t know if I could go out and say it’s a complete Republican-Democrat difference as much as it is different religious attitudes and culture in these states,” says Peter Panepento, assistant managing editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which conducted the study.
Sex and the City
posted on August 21, 2012At The Weekly Standard, Eve Tushnet writes about her experience volunteering at the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, an anti-abortion Christian ministry in Washington, D.C. While working with impoverished women, Tushnet was surprised at “how often our clients were not considering abortion” and the importance of connecting them to the right resources. “When I started counseling I saw our work as serving the mother-child dyad. I wanted to help the woman and save her unborn baby,” she writes. “Over time I began to see more and more the frayed communal fabric in which these women and children are wrapped … Now I see my job primarily as helping women find people in their own communities who can give them support, advice, and most of all the hope that married love is possible.”
Exclusive: FBI probed GOP trip with drinking, nudity in Israel
posted on August 21, 2012The FBI launched an investigation into an incident last summer when GOP politicians went for a late night swim in the Sea of Galilee that included “one nude member of Congress,” Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan report for POLITICO. The FBI’s “interviews do not appear to have resulted in any formal allegations of wrongdoing.” However, “Majority Leader Eric Cantor … was so upset about the antics that he rebuked the 30 lawmakers the morning after the Aug. 18, 2011, incident, saying they were distracting from the mission of the trip,” Sherman and Bresnahan write.
Some Catholic Leaders Speaking Out Against Paul Ryan’s Budget-Cutting
posted on August 21, 2012At The Daily Beast, Lauren Ashburn writes on the conflict between some Catholics and Paul Ryan. Ashburn writes that Ryan’s budget proposal “slashes domestic spending and trims $700 billion from Medicare” and has drawn criticism from Catholics, including Georgetown Jesuits “who view him as ignorant of Catholic theology.” According to Ashburn, “The media too often present the church as a culturally conservative monolith, drowning out the voices of those who worry about tending to the less fortunate.”