Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
Romney Pleases Christian Group with Stance on Israel
posted on June 20, 2012At the Faith and Freedom Coalition convention last Saturday, Mitt Romney drew extended applause for his “hawkish” remarks on Israel, reports Paul West and Michael Finnegan for The Los Angeles Times. Criticizing the president’s position towards Israel, Romney declared, “[Obama has] almost sounded like he’s more frightened that Israel might take military action than he’s concerned that Iran might become nuclear.”
Hutterites Blast ‘Exploitative’ Show on National Geographic Channel
posted on June 20, 2012In their first ever press release, bishops of the Hutterite community in Montana have accused the National Geographic Channel of presenting a “distorted and exploitative version” of their little-known Christian faith. At Religion News Service, Chris Lisee writes that the channel’s new reality series, “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites,” depicts some community members “drinking, swearing, and shooting guns, all in violation of the sect’s pacifist and pietist Christian beliefs.” In its own defense, the National Geographic Channel has stated that the reality series portrays “a truthful representation of the struggle between the younger generation and the colony leaders.”
What Should the Vatican Say to the (Last Generation of) Nuns?
posted on June 20, 2012At Religion Dispatches, Peter Manseau reflects on the lives of his mother and her friends, all nuns and former nuns. Manseau explains why some nuns today are challenging the authority of the Vatican. Manseau writes that, as these young religious women left the novitiate, where they were required to ask their superiors’ permission to “rise, wash, dress, [and] use prayer books,” and started their ministry work, these nuns “discovered they no longer needed to ask permission to pick up pins and needles, or to do anything else that obviously needed to be done.”
House GOP to Hold Hearings on Its Hearings on Muslim Radicals in the US
posted on June 20, 2012Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Peter King, has announced a new round of congressional hearings on the “radicalization” of American Muslims. However, Mother Jones’ Adam Serwer reports that King does not plan discussing new radicalization trends. Instead, as the hearing’s title suggests, King intends to discuss “The American Muslim Response to Hearings on Radicalization Within Their Community.”
The Rottweiler’s Rottweiler
posted on June 20, 2012To his own surprise, The New York Times’ Bill Keller agrees with Catholic League president Bill Donohue; Catholics dissatisfied with the current state of the Church should leave. In his new book, Why Catholicism Matters, Donohue writes, “maybe a smaller church would be a better church.” For his own part, Keller directly addresses “the discontented … if you are not getting the spiritual sustenance you need, if you are uneasy being part of an institution out of step with your conscience–then go.”
Clerical Privilege and the Law
posted on June 20, 2012Writing for The Wall Street Journal, David Skeel, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, discusses the “clergy-penitent privilege.” As the New York State provision puts it, “a clergyman, or other minister of any religion or duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, shall not be allowed to disclose a confession or confidence made to him in his professional character as spiritual adviser.” Skeel explains that there are limits to this privilege, notably that “[e]very state requires professionals, often including clergy, to report evidence of child abuse.” However, as highlighted in the case of Pedro Hernandez, who recently confessed to the murder of Etan Patz, “the requirements are aimed at abuse by a parent or guardian; they do not appear to cover the murder of a child by a stranger.”
Read at The Wall Street Journal
Lisa Brown, Silenced on the Michigan House Floor, Helps Read ‘Vagina Monolgues’ on Statehouse Steps
posted on June 20, 2012After being silenced for saying the word “vagina” on the Michigan House floor, Rep. Lisa Brown participated in a protest-performance of Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues, on the steps of the state Capitol in Lansing. At The Washington Post, Susan Thistlethwaite, a professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, uses the Bible to defend Brown’s actions. “In this moment, it is crucial to point out that treating women’s bodies as profane is fundamentally at variance with what the Bible actually teaches,” writes Thistlethwaite.
Morsi Code: Egypt Goes to the Polls
posted on June 19, 2012Tablet’s Adam Chandler recaps the Egyptian presidential election that concluded this past weekend. The Muslim Brotherhood claims that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won the runoff, which was “marked by various boycotts, a low voter turnout [than the first round], and accusations of fraud.” Yet according to Chandler, more important than the outcome of the controversial presidential contest “were the actions of the Egyptian military which dissolved the Egyptian Parliament on Friday and then wrote its very own constitution on Sunday. Aided by Mubarak-appointed judges, the military guaranteed itself powers that would greatly dwarf the role of the new Egyptian president (whoever that might ultimately be).”
Domestic Violence and Anti-Sharia Laws
posted on June 19, 2012At First Things, Matthew Schmitz challenges David Goldman’s views on the negative role Sharia law plays in the domestic life of American Muslims. Goldman, a former editor at First Things, asserts that Muslim households in America experience high rates of physical violence, due to the fact that Sharia law legitimizes spousal abuse. Schmitz refutes this claim, stating that Muslim women have a “notably low rate of domestic abuse” when compared to the population of U.S. women as a whole. “Whatever the merits of Goldman’s readings of the Islamic theory of authority in the household,” Schmitz writes, “the actual situation among American Muslims is not near so dire as he suggests.”
Romney Finds His Inner Santorum before Evangelical Audience
posted on June 19, 2012In a video-conferenced speech to the Faith & Freedom Coalition this past weekend, Mitt Romney’s rhetoric mirrored that of his former rival, Rick Santorum, notes BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller. “Romney referenced many elements of Santorum’s former stump speech,” writes Miller, “including the Brookings Institution study on families that [formed] the cornerstone of Santorum’s social issues campaign.” Santorum, who spoke after Romney at the conference, praised the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee: “Gov. Romney’s speech was right on, and not just because he quoted me.”