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Links on R&P from around the web
How Evangelicals Could Grow to Love Muslims
posted on August 20, 2012At CNN, Eboo Patel argues that just as American evangelicals came to embrace the once feared and despised American Catholic population, American evangelicals can grow to accept Muslim Americans, even Muslim politicians. A half century ago, evangelicals worried that Catholic politicians, like then presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy, would be beholden to the dictates of Rome. Today Catholic politicians like Paul Ryan and Rick Santorum are often more popular among evangelicals than their fellow Catholics. “Maybe in 50 years, there will be no surprise when the loudest cheerleaders for Muslim presidential candidates and Supreme Court justices are evangelical Christians,” concludes Patel.
The Liberal Who Worked with Paul Ryan
posted on August 17, 2012The Jewish Daily Forward’s Nathan Guttman profiles Ron Wydan, a Jewish Senator from Oregon, and “the only Democrat to partner last year with Ryan in an attempt to reform Medicare.” Recently, “Wyden explained that he still thought the ideas raised in his joint proposal with Ryan on Medicare would help save that program,” Guttman writes. Hadar Susskind, director of Bend the Arc, a liberal Jewish advocacy organization, criticizes the plan, saying that Wyden’s “position on this issue was out of sync with the community and with the majority of community organizations.”
Read at The Jewish Daily Forward
Can You Be a Catholic and Have a Questioning Mind?
posted on August 17, 2012At The American Interest, Peter Berger takes on the “the issue of religious freedom within the Catholic Church.” Berger cites the ongoing debate between the Vatican and U.S. nuns over the nuns’ “radical feminist themes,” as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith described them. Berger writes, “If the Roman Catholic Church compromised on [their official teaching], it would give up the very core of its identity—it would cease to be itself.”
GOP’s Non-Protestant Ticket Changes Meaning of ‘Values’
posted on August 17, 2012Writing for CNN, Stephen Prothero notes the decline of Protestant domination of American politics. In the past, to “speak of ‘values’ during a presidential campaign or a congressional debate was to speak of Protestant ‘values.’” Prothero writes, “As our population becomes more religiously diverse, and our public square with it, we will increasingly be asking, ‘which God?’ and ‘whose values?’”
Under Rowan Williams, The Church Has Failed Gay People
posted on August 17, 2012At The Guardian, Church of England priest Jeffrey John criticizes Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams for refusing to approve gay marriage. England currently allows “civil covenant which gives [same-sex couples] the same legal protection and framework as heterosexual marriage,” but not civil marriage. “As with the equality of women, as with the emancipation of slaves, the thing which at first was supposed to be incompatible with scripture and tradition will finally be seen to be demanded by the heart of the Christian gospel itself,” predicts John.
N.Y. Cardinal Timothy Dolan Defends Obama Invitation to Al Smith Dinner
posted on August 17, 2012New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan defends his controversial invitation to President Obama to attend the annual Al Smith Dinner, Chris Lisee reports for Religion News Service. The invitation comes at a time when Catholic bishops are suing the president over the HHS mandate, “which they say abridge the religious freedom and conscience rights of faith-based employers,” Lisee writes. However, Dolan states that the dinner “is an occasion of conversation; it is personal, not partisan.”
Fort Hood Shooting Trial Delayed Pending Ruling on Beard
posted on August 17, 2012Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was granted a stay in his murder trial to allow for the court “time to rule on whether the judge in his case can order him to be forcibly shaved,” Manny Fernandez reports for The New York Times. While being tried for allegedly “killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army base in Killeen, Tex,” Hasan grew a beard as “an expression … of his Muslim faith,” Fernandez writes. Geoffrey Corn, a former Army lawyer, says, “Soldiers don’t get to make individual decisions on uniform standards based on their religious beliefs.”
Should Parents’ Belief in Miracles Trump Medical Expertise in End-of-Life Decisions?
posted on August 17, 2012At CBS, Michelle Castillo writes about parents who “insist on continuing treatment” for terminally ill children because of their belief in divine intervention. Recently, British doctors “asked for lawmakers to change the current British legal system to allow physicians to have greater influence in cases with terminally ill patients.” “You have to take beliefs into account but you can’t let any parent for any reason hijack what you as a doctor believe is in the child’s best interest,” says Dr. Arthur Caplan, the director of the division of medical ethics for NYU-Langone Medical Center in New York City.
Why the Amish Population Is Exploding
posted on August 17, 2012New census data has found that “the Amish are growing faster than ever,” writes The Atlantic’s Nate Berg. High fertility rates and children staying in the faith contribute to the growth, Berg notes. “As the older communities get bigger because of this population boom, there’s been a greater and greater emphasis on finding new places to start new settlements,” says Joseph Donnermeyer, a professor of rural sociology at Ohio State University.
Security Guard Shot at Family Research Council in Downtown D.C.
posted on August 16, 2012A security guard for the Family Research Council was shot on Wednesday morning, Paul Duggan and Mihir Zaveri report for The Washington Post. The guard, on duty at the headquarters of the conservative Christian lobbying organization, “was then taken to the hospital and is in stable condition,” Zaveri and Duggan write. James McJunkin, the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, says, “We don’t know enough about [the shooter] or his circumstances to determine what his connection is to this group.”