Jul 15 2008
Word has just come down that Susan Atkins, one of the women convicted in the Tate-LaBianca murders along with Charles Manson, has been denied compassionate release by the California Board of Parole. Atkins is dying of cancer, cannot sit up in bed, has had a leg amputated, is paralyzed on one side and cannot even [...]
Jun 24 2008
James Dobson of Focus on the Family is today attacking Barack Obama for a 2006 speech in which Obama addresses the various interpretations of Christianity in the United States. “Even if we did have only Christians in our midst,” Obama stated, “If we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would [...]
Jun 17 2008
It’s now been more than twenty-four hours since California started granting same sex marriages, and, guess what? The state hasn’t fallen into the ocean. The Big One earthquake didn’t crumble every building. Lightning bolts didn’t strike anyone dead. Even in Kern County (where, by the way, I am headed tomorrow to visit family), life went [...]
Jun 04 2008
It seems that at least one area within Indonesia is now requiring couples to plant trees as a condition of receiving a marriage license. Couples in Gorontalo, a rugged mountainous province on Sulawesi island, are being required to plant 10 seedlings supplied by the local government, according to the religious affairs office.
The program, which critics say [...]
May 23 2008
Just when he thought he had solved his “God Problem” with his repudiation of John Hagee, John McCain has had to repudiate another one: Pastor Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio. As ABC News put it, “Despite his call for the U.S. to win the ‘hearts and minds of the Islamic [...]
May 14 2008
There are media reports that televangelist John Hagee has apologized for his comments on the Catholic Church. After meeting with a number of prominent religious activists — almost all of them Catholic — Hagee wrote a letter to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, stating in part:
“In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism [...]
May 10 2008
There is an interesting article in the latest issue of MovieMaker magazine (Spring 2008) by faith-based media consultant Tom Allen about the status of the faith-based film movement in Hollywood. “Mass Media: The Faith-Based Film Movement Takes on Hollywood,” argues that independent moviemakers are starting to get in on the action that had previously been the [...]
May 07 2008
Glen Greenwald has a powerful post today concerning the presidential election and the Catholic vote. Prompted by some on the right who, commenting on the Indiana precinct where a group of 80- and 90-yearold nuns were not able to vote for lack of sufficient identification, asked what the nuns were doing voting for Obama or Clinton in [...]
May 03 2008
This coming week a group of influential American evangelical leaders will be releasing An Evangelical Manifesto that is critical of some current attempts to blend evangelical faith with politics. Notably, James Dobson and some other prominent evangelical leaders are not signatories, and this reflects a debate within the movement as to how far and for [...]
Jan 18 2007
Last Sunday, my pastor Russ Peterman gave an excellent sermon that demonstrated how we as Americans have the power and financial means to eradicate hunger in the world and do a host of other good deeds, like provide a basic education or clean water to all. Yesterday, The New York Times ran a similar article [...]
