Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
History Hits the Campaign Trail
posted on July 9, 2012For The New York Times, Adam Goodheart and Peter Manseau explain that “history is often the lingua franca of our national politics.” This is certainly the case, Goodheart and Manseau note, during this presidential election year. “In the months between now and the presidential election, Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama will no doubt focus on efforts to propose contrasting programs for the years ahead. But they will sometimes offer conflicting interpretations of history, too.”
Our Least Christian President
posted on July 6, 2012At USA Today, Stephen Prothero argues that, contrary to the views expressed by many Christian conservatives, Thomas Jefferson was far from an “orthodox Christian.” “Jefferson called the biblical book of Revelation the ‘ravings of a maniac,'” writes Prothero. “He rejected the divinity of Jesus and the virgin birth. He characterized the Trinity as ‘hocus-pocus phantasm.'”
Wait—Freedom of Religion Is for ALL Religions?
posted on July 6, 2012At The New Republic, Amy Sullivan writes about how a Louisiana state representative, who had backed Gov. Bobby Jindal’s newly enacted voucher program for private schools, has withdrawn her support. Rep. Valarie Hodges had previously believed that the new law, which in part provides vouchers for parents wishing to send their children to “religious” schools, was limited to providing funds to attend “Christian” schools. “We need to insure that …[the new law] does not open the door to fund radical Islam schools,” Hodges says.
Pondering a Blessing for Same-sex Couples
posted on July 6, 2012Leaders of the Episcopal Church meeting in Indianapolis for the church’s annual general conference appear “poised to adopt a blessing rite for same-sex couples wishing to wed,” reports David O’Reilly for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Currently Episcopal Church law defines “marriage” as limited to unions between a man and a woman. And “[a]dvocates of the blessing,” writes O’Reilly, “stress that it is not a sacrament and would not confer ‘marriage’ on the couple … But the 2009 convention had encouraged bishops in states allowing same-sex marriage–currently six, and the District of Columbia–to ‘provide generous pastoral response’ to gay and lesbian members.”
Read at The Philadelphia Inquirer
Mormons, Soldiers, Socialists, and Me
posted on July 6, 2012At Patheos, Heidi Harris writes about her experience growing up in what she describes as two “socialist” institutions: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Armed Forces. “I’ve experienced this unique contradiction,” Harris writes, “of living in socialized systems that (in the majority) fiercely, ardently, even religiously counter-identify themselves with the bootstrap-pulling morality of Ayn Rand-style American individualism.”
Is Michelle Obama a ‘Missional’ Christian?
posted on July 6, 2012At Sojourners, Tim King suggests that Michelle Obama’s theology, which the First Lady recently articulated during her address to the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s (AME) general conference, matches that of “missional” churches. The term “missional,” writes King, is meant to critique “existing church models that focus on creating programs, services, and marketing campaigns intended to draw people to the church instead of encouraging members to go out and serve–to be on ‘mission.'”
Fortnight for Freedom Based on Outdated Theology
posted on July 6, 2012At The National Catholic Reporter, Edward J. Ruetz argues that the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ (USCCB) recently concluded “Fortnight for Freedom” reflects a Catholic approach to government that predates the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. “The bishops’ present militant campaign,” writes Ruetz, a retired Catholic priest, “is a misguided and arrogant attempt to bludgeon our government into submitting to their interpretation of the right of private conscience of Catholics and to discriminating against the private conscience of non-Catholic women employees in Catholic institutions.”
Read at National Catholic Reporter
AME Church Rips Vote on Eric Holder
posted on July 6, 2012The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) compared the House vote, which held Attorney General, Eric Holder, in contempt of Congress, to the “evil strategies employed following the Reconstruction era.” Politico’s MJ Lee reports that the AME Church, one of the largest and oldest black denominations in the United States, “suggested that Holder had been unfairly targeted for his effort to curtail voter suppression laws.”
Why Obama Should Read Trilling
posted on July 6, 2012At Tablet, Yoav Fromer argues that the disconnect between the Obama administration’s rhetoric on Syria and its failure to respond to that country’s humanitarian crisis reflects the “Morality of Inertia,” first described by the Jewish literary critic, Lionel Trilling. In April, speaking at the National Holocaust Museum, President Obama stated that “preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States.” “And yet,” writes Fromer, “there remains a distressing discrepancy between the moral vocabulary the administration has been invoking and its willingness to uphold it through concrete actions.”
Mitt Romney Plans Summer Trip to Israel, Meeting with Netanyahu and Other Leaders
posted on July 4, 2012Mitt Romney plans to visit Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this summer, Philip Rucker reports for The Washington Post. “Romney has made Israel a centerpiece of his assault on President Obama’s record on foreign affairs,” Rucker writes. The trip is intended to “consolidate [Romney’s] support among pro-Israel evangelical Christians as well as Jewish voters and donors.” Rucker notes that Jews “overwhelmingly supported Obama in the 2008 campaign.”