Rap Sheet
Links on R&P from around the web
A Terrible Act of Reason: When Did Self-Immolation Become the Paramount Form of Protest?
posted on May 18, 2012“Suddenly, self-immolation is everywhere,” writes James Verini for The New Yorker. “Yesterday, in Oslo, a man set himself on fire outside the Anders Breivik trial,” he notes. Detailing the history of self-immolation, one that spans from “Greco-Roman mythology” to current times from Asia to Morocco, Verini gives an expansive view of what has become “the preeminent act of defiance.”
Chuck Colson’s Memorial Steeped in Prison Themes
posted on May 18, 2012At Sojourners, Adelle Banks, writing for Religion News Service, covers the memorial of Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship. Colson, a former Nixon aide who “served seven months in prison on Watergate-related charges,” was “transformed” by his faith while in prison. An ex-convict turned chaplain, Danny Croce, said, “Though they don’t give you a Bible in school, Chuck made sure you had one in jail.” The service “drew about 1,200 people,” a testament to his influence.
A Constitutional and Wise Way to Protect the Unborn: A Response to Paul Linton
posted on May 18, 2012Reacting to lawyer Paul Linton’s criticism of her stance on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Acts, Teresa Collett defends herself at Public Discourse. Outlining a “pro-life strategy,” Collett sees the court ready to take on the Acts and doesn’t “believe judicial recognition of fetal pain is too small a gain to risk reaffirming the general abortion license created by Roe.” Instead, she argues the proposal “is a powerful part” in a longer legal battle. She states: “I believe a majority of the Court, including Justice Kennedy, is looking for an exit strategy from the cultural combat surrounding abortion.”
Catholic College Drops Health Plan Over Contraception Mandate
posted on May 17, 2012Rather “than comply with a federal mandate that the plan provide free birth control,” the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio has dropped its own healthcare plan, Stephanie Simon reports at Reuters. Even though “fewer than 200 of the 2,500 students … had been buying insurance from the university,” the university “didn’t want to put them in a situation where they would have to violate their conscience.” In an extra effort to fight the mandate, the university will also “no longer require its undergraduates to carry insurance.”
What is a Good Death? Ritual, Whether Religious or Not, Still Counts
posted on May 17, 2012Marking the U.K.’s “Dying Matters Awareness Week,” Matthew Engelke, an anthropologist writing for The Guardian, remarks how “ritual, even in this postmodern age, is flourishing,” even if religion is not. Engelke notes churches have less hold on the ritual of funerals now. He studied the British Humanist Association (BHA) and found that within a year, it had “300 humanist celebrants … conduct more than 8,000 funerals.” He concludes that, “in our rituals of death, we get a particularly good glimpse of the post-religious, post-secular condition.”
Why Inter-Faith Understanding is More Important than Ever in Leadership
posted on May 17, 2012Tony Blair, writing at The Huffington Post, appeals to readers to consider the importance of understanding other faiths. When a variety of religious organizations “do great work and show selfless sacrifice in some of the poorest and most forgotten parts of the world,” Blair argues, “the existence of such respect and mutual understanding becomes essential.” But the task of understanding “can’t be left only to politics.” Those of faith must provide “the platform for interfaith understanding and respect” on which public discourse is held.
If Harvard Business School Were a Religion, It Could Be Mormonism
posted on May 17, 2012Responding to articles exploring “why Mormons make good business leaders,” Clayton Christensen, a Mormon and Harvard Business School (HBS) professor writes, at The Washington Post, how “values that underpin Mormon leadership … are the same ones espoused by Harvard Business School.” Comparing the HBS case method with Mormonism, Christensen draws parallels between being asked “what great question yielded that answer” at Harvard and how the founder of the LDS church organizing the church “around answers to questions that he asked of God.” It is much more about “how we learned at HBS” for Christensen, something he also sees as central to the LDS church.
A Divine Way to Resist Temptation
posted on May 17, 2012A new study by Queen’s University in Ontario found that “people are better able to resist their desire when thinking about God.” Jonah Lehrer, writing at The Wall Street Journal, explores the phenomena, one in which “the effect … does not require religious belief.” The researchers “think that faith-based thoughts may increase ‘self-monitoring’ by evoking the idea of an all-knowing, omnipresent God.” So for those keeping Kosher, Lehrer quips, “we better not misbehave – God knows about the pepperoni.”
Read at The Wall Street Journal
Paul Ryan in the Catholic Weeds
posted on May 17, 2012Writing for Real Clear Religion, Jeffrey Weiss looks at Paul Ryan, “a political official who has straightforwardly explained how his understanding of his faith has informed his governance.” But to Weiss, Ryan “got his theology wrong.” Ryan’s view of his budget plan as guided by his faith is challenged by the fact that the “United States Conference of Catholic Bishops … released a critique of parts of his namesake budget plan.” Weiss claims Ryan has wandered into “the theological weeds,” a place welcoming to challenge from outsiders and even the faith to which he belongs.
A Father’s Example Guides Tebow
posted on May 17, 2012Visiting the orphanage Tim Tebow’s father, Bob Tebow, established, Seth Mydans writes for The New York Times about the impact his father’s missionary work had on the NFL quarterback. Tebow’s father “set a rigorous standard for his son’s evangelical work, ready to go anywhere and meet anyone.” Mydans also notes Tim Tebow’s “difficult birth,” when his family says “his mother rejected a doctor’s suggestion that she terminate the complicated pregnancy.” One of his father’s partners in ministry, remarks, “We never thought Timmy would go that high in sports … God trained him to be a preacher.”