Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Free-Speech Hypocrisy in Europe
posted on August 15, 2012Tablet’s James Kirchick examines German artist Thomas Kilpper’s recent exhibition, Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech. Kilpper criticized Kurt Westergaard’s 2005 cartoon, which depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, arguing that freedom of speech does not equal “the right to insult.” Kirchick writes that Klipper’s exhibition “encapsulates the divergent American and European attitudes to free speech, with the former tending to view it as an absolute and the latter as a relative value that must be weighed against the ‘right’ not to be offended.”
Is the President America’s Pastor in Chief?
posted on August 15, 2012Writing for Christianity Today, Judd Birdsall argues, “[T]he President acts, for better or worse, as the nation’s senior religious figure.” In the absence of an “official hierarchy in the American civil religion,” Cambridge University professor, Andrew Preston, calls the president the “de facto pope.” Birdsall writes, “American presidents have routinely invoked God in ways that more or less reflect mainstream religious opinion.”
Ryan’s Faith-Based Economics
posted on August 15, 2012Writing for Foreign Policy, Clyde Prestowitz notes that Paul Ryan’s budget plan could be seen as a matter of “faith” in his economic ideology. Ryan claims “that cutting ‘big government’ will automatically result in the revitalization of the U.S. economy,” but without explaining “exactly how this is supposed to happen,” asserts Prestowitz. Republicans “can’t do more than speak of renewed ‘confidence’ and reduced ‘fear’ of inflation,” Prestowitz writes.
Poll Shows Atheism on the Rise in the U.S.
posted on August 15, 2012“Religiosity is on the decline in the U.S. and atheism is on the rise, according to a new worldwide poll,” Kimberly Winston reports for Religion News Service. The WIN-Gallup survey found that in America the number of “convinced atheists” rose from one to five percent between 2005 and 2012. Ryan Cragun, a University of Tampa sociologist of religion, argues that this change has less to do with more people becoming atheists than an increased willingness on the part of Americans to speak openly about their atheism. “What this suggests is that … people are feeling less inclined to identify as religious to comply with what it means to be a good person in the U.S,” says Cragun.
More Jesus, Less Therapy: Changing Frames and Alliances at Exodus International
posted on August 15, 2012At Social (In)Queery, Lynne Gerber comments on Exodus International’s recent announcement that it is “no longer aiming to cure homosexuals of their sexual orientation.” Gerber notes that the change “is embedded in a larger shift away from therapeutic language and a re-emphasis on religious language in framing of homosexuality.” “Re-focusing on the theological allows Exodus to retrain its members on the one identity they think really matters: Christian,” Gerber concludes.
Realistic and Conservative
posted on August 14, 2012The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson argues that Paul Ryan is not a “tea party favorite” because he “seeks to modernize the federal government instead of abolishing it.” Gerson, an advisory board member of the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, writes that Ryan “represents not the inchoate frustration and nostalgia of the tea party but a developed, thoroughly modern conservative approach to governing.”
How (George) Romney Championed Civil Rights and Challenged His Church
posted on August 14, 2012At The Atlantic, Paul Harvey and Edward J. Blum document the Civil Rights record of Mitt Romney’s father George who, as governor of Michigan, supported racial equality, even though his stance went against the LDS church’s official teachings at the time. “In order to stand alongside leaders like Martin Luther King, George Romney had to weave his way through the intricate mazes of race, religion, civil rights, and church leadership issues,” they write. “Should he choose to follow his father’s lead, Mitt Romney’s path would seem to be much smoother … Historic barriers have been lifted, but with such sharp divides within politics itself, common ground seems more elusive than ever.”
Atheist Group Targets Presidential Candidates’ Faith with Billboards
posted on August 14, 2012American Atheists is sponsoring ads in Charlotte to coincide with September’s Democratic National Convention, Dan Merica reports for CNN. One billboard “features an image of Jesus Christ on toast and this description of the faith: ‘Sadistic God; Useless Savior, 30,000+ Versions of ‘Truth,’ Promotes Hates, Calls it ‘Love.’” Merica interviews David Silverman, president of American Atheists, who says, “Our political system is rife with religion and it depends too much on religion and not enough on substance.”
Anti-Obama Black Pastors Group has Deep Conservative Ties, Records Show
posted on August 14, 2012The Rev. William Owens and his group, the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), “are drawing criticism from black leaders and the political left who note Owens’ long-standing ties with GOP politicians,” Aamer Madhani reports for Religion News Service. The CAAP calls itself a “nonpartisan group of truthfully mostly Democrats.” Rev. Amos Brown, a Baptist pastor in San Francisco and a student of Martin Luther King Jr., says Owens is “trying to use this as an emotional wedge issue to divide the black community.”
Paul Ryan Taking on (Holy) Water
posted on August 14, 2012Real Clear Religion’s Jeffrey Weiss speculates how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will react to Paul Ryan’s vice presidential candidacy. Since the bishops say Ryan’s budget proposal is not aligned with Catholic teachings, Weiss notes that “if Romney wants to describe Ryan on the campaign trail as a ‘faithful Catholic,’ the bishops might feel theologically obligated to disagree.”