Articles

2005 | 2003/2004 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000

Posted 3/17/2005

> Cut-Rate Religion Coverage
(By Andrew Walsh, Religion in the News, Winter 2005, Vol. 7, No. 3)
During the 1990s, good religion coverage was viewed as part of the solution to the problem of falling audiences, and some employment and news holes grew. But after more than a decade of unsolved problems, religion coverage is increasingly seen as part of the discredited, stodgy old paradigm that is failing to attract a new generation of readers and viewers.

> The Need for a Critical Left
(By Eli Zaretsky, Tikkun, November-October 2004)
The really great presidents in American history—those who were able to give the country its sense of connection to enduring moral and spiritual values—were, of course, party leaders and party builders. However, what gave these presidents their moral force and coherence was not their parties but rather the existence of a critical Left, one that kept the presidency "honest," so to speak, by constantly forcing it to reorient itself from its immediate and particularistic concerns to the larger issues that are always at stake.

Posted 2/21/2005

> Our New Religious Politics
(By Mark Silk, Religion in the News, Winter 2005)
But over the past quarter century the American civil religion has been invaded by what the Italian scholar Emilio Gentile calls political religion – religion as an instrument of domestic political combat. It was Falwell and company who began the now completed process of turning white evangelicals into a solid Republican voting bloc. In 2004 the GOP fully embraced the idea that churches and synagogues of all sorts were where to go for votes.

> Why America Needs a Spiritual Left
(By Michael Lerner, Tikkun, January/February 2005)
We are not advocating that people on the Left should all become religious or spiritual. What we are advocating for is a Left that is friendly not only to secularists and militant atheists, but also to people of faith who share a commitment to peace, social justice, and ecological sanity. We advocate for a Left which believes that the most po werful critique of this society must be rooted in challenging the way this society's capitalist marketplace fosters an ethos of selfishness and materialism.

> Interfaith Alliance Applauds President’s Expanded Moral Vision
(Press Release , The Interfaith Alliance, Feb. 3, 2005)
The Interfaith Alliance applauds the president for expanding his moral values agenda in his State of the Union address. The Interfaith Alliance has repeatedly stated that the moral values debate must reflect a wide array of religious and ethical concerns, beyond gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research…. We call on the president to remember his own words of compassion for the weak and the vulnerable when he expands tax giveaways for the wealthiest Americans. Too often, such tax cuts require reductions in funding for social programs.

> Response to 2005 Inaugural Address
(Rabbi Jack Moline, The Interfaith Alliance, Feb. 16, 2005)
But I would also be remiss if I did not note with great disappointment that the President's choice to offer God's blessing at the end of his inauguration ceremony disenfranchised millions of non-Christian Americans with his choice of signature language. All the promises of equality and equal consideration are empty if a person's faith is relegated to second class because it is called by a different sacred name.

> Budget Cuts on Main Street
(By Ron Scherer, Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 9, 2005)
More than at any time in the four years of the Bush administration, Main Street will be feeling the impact of the federal budget if the president's spending plan is adopted.
From Altoona, Pa., where Amtrak stops, to the nation's congested airports, Americans could be looking at changes that will affect their everyday lives – everything from after-school programs to cotton harvests – as a result of bigger-than-normal cutbacks.

Posted 12/14/2004

> Democrats’ Dilemma and The Nation’s
(By James W. Fowler, Ethics News & Views, December 1, 2004)
The Democratic Party needs to reclaim an authentic relationship to religion and faith. Not the fundamentalist version of Christians, Jews or Muslims. And not the version of smug Christian or Jewish economic conservatism that serves only the politics of possessive individualism.

> American Values: The Triumph of the Religious Right
(The Economist, Nov. 11, 2004)
Secular Europeans wondered whether they and the Americans were now on different planets. The week before the [ U.S.] election, Rocco Buttiglione had been forced to withdraw his nomination as a European Union commissioner because he had said that homosexuality was a sin, and that marriage exists for children and the protection of women. In America, he would probably have won Ohio.

> United Church of Christ Files Petition with FCC Over Networks' Refusal of Church Advertisement (United Church of Christ, News Release, Dec. 9, 2004)
The United Church of Christ is filing two petitions with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that two network [CBS and NBC] owned-and-operated television stations in Miami be denied license renewals for failing to provide viewers "suitable access" to a full array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences." The action stems from a much-publicized decision by both networks to deny an advertisement that makes clear the church's welcome of diverse, even marginalized, segments of the population. CBS and NBC have said the all-inclusive ads are "controversial" and, therefore, amount to "issue advocacy," something the networks have said they do not allow.

Posted 12/5/2004

> Editorial: Let Us Now Read the Riot Act . . .
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 3, 2004)
Thomas Craft, the principal of Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, shouldn't be so dispirited about the quality of education that his students are receiving. Cedar Shoals students were smart enough to recognize that Craft crossed a legal line when he read them a hackneyed poem bemoaning the banishment of God from the classroom and decrying the sorry state of American teens.

Posted 12/5/2004

> Editorial: Bible Verses used as 'Bible Versus'
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 5, 2004) Constitutional amendments to ban same-sex unions appeared on the ballot in 11 states and passed easily ‹ from Michigan, Ohio and Oregon to Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas. It was a triumph for bigotry based on the Bible.
From conservative pulpits around the country, pastors had implored their flocks to go to the polls and vote against the "abomination" of homosexuality.

Posted 10/13/2004

> Religion and the 2004 Election
(Religion in the News, Fall 2003)
Religion is often a critical factor in American elections, but its salience varies from place to place and election to election. For 2004, it’s already clear that on issues ranging from abortion and faith-based social services to the Middle East and the war on terrorism, candidates and interest groups will be attempting to appeal to voters on the basis of their religious commitments.

Posted 1/22/2004

> Senate OKs Faith-Based Amendment
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 16, 2004)
After a three-hour debate Thursday, the state Senate approved and sent to the House a proposed constitutional amendment that would clarify that it is legal for faith-based organizations to spend taxpayer money on social services.


Posted 11/19/2003

> Is It Ever Right to Fight?
Rethinking the "Just War" Tradition
By Mark Douglas
(Presbyterians Today, November 2003)

Events since September 11--especially Operation Iraqi Freedom--have led many Christians to think more about war and peace. Churches and individual Christians across the political spectrum have been struggling to make sense of and respond to these events. For Presbyterians this has most often led to consideration of the "just war" tradition.


Posted 9/18/2003

> Interview with Professor Susan Pace Hamill
(Religion & Ethics News weekly, September 12, 2003)
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Professor Susan Pace Hamill, University of Alabama School of Law: If 93 percent of our population has said these [biblical] values are their moral compass, then why in the world are we abusing the poor on both moral principles, given that we don't have to? Why are we tolerating this? My argument is we can't tolerate it anymore. There's a gap between what we say we are and what the mirror says we really are. The Bible is full of examples where this gap has existed. That's why we have prophets. So what is the response? The response is, we've got to close the gap. The response is, we have gone off course, we are in the wrong, [and] we've got to get it right.

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