Category Archives: Religion

WordsDay: the art of the possible

In case you’ve been off-planet, the dumpster fire that is Election Season 2008 is in full swing. While this can be entertaining if you’re cynical enough, it’s a process that can exert a warping effect on the perspectives of even the best among us. In times like these, it’s often helpful to turn to the wisdom of the ages. Today,

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Don’t mourn Jesse’s death – mourn that his legacy lives

On his outstanding Prodigal Son CD, North Carolina folk and blugrass legend Mike Cross presents us with a high-stepping little ditty called “Bill is in His Grave.” Bill, it turns out, was a scoundrel of the first order, and he’d been recently deceased. The narrator is asked to say a few words at the funeral, a task that proves daunting

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Let’s kill a child … for Jesus!

In our most recent S&R poll, readers were asked the following: Two children of a family belonging to the Followers of Christ Church have now died after “faith-healing” was chosen over medical treatment. What do you believe authorities should do? The results looked like this: Pursue appropriate criminal sanctions. Religion is no defense for child endangerment. (75%, 101 Votes) Nothing.

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Jesus, McCain and the GOP: a former Republican ponders the future of the party

Most folks don’t realize it – even people who know me fairly well – but I used to be a Republican. Back when I was younger and, one supposes, more naïve about the relevance of certain kinds of economic theory, I was a pretty mouthy GOPper. I voted for Reagan twice and Bush the Elder once, and while I can

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The “McCain standard” and the rise of the Calphalon Candidate

If you’re following America’s electoral theater at all, you know that we have a candidate with a preacher problem. And that the candidate in question has been put in the uncomfortable position of having to repudiate some of said preacher’s remarks (while not alienating those voters in the flock who actually, you know, agree with what the Reverend was saying).

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Buchanan, Kristol, Hannity and those ungrateful negroes: a banner month in race relations

I guess there’s probably nothing Earth-shattering about revelations that FOX News “journalist” Sean Hannity was BFFs with a white supremacist. I mean, even if you don’t expect it, it’s not the sort of information that’s going to turn your whole worldview upside-down, you know? But the latest screed from Pat Buchanan almost buckles the knees. We don’t exactly look to

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Obama: perfecting our union

Sen. Barack Obama today delivered what will hopefully be remembered as an important speech in the history of American race relations. It is proper, as he notes, that race (and class) should be dominant topics in our political campaigns because they are so central to who we are (and to why we fail). However, it is unacceptable, at this moment

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Can enviro groups find shared language and values?

A few months back I did some work for a client interested in building a broadly based community around sustainability. A stated concern was the desire to build a coalition that spanned all political groups in the US. The general goal of saving our environment shouldn’t be a concern only for progressives; however, there was a strong suspicion that non-progressive

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Every sperm is sacred: open thread

Well, duh. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday endorsed a proposed Colorado Human Life Amendment that would define personhood as a fertilized egg. Of course, Preacher Huck hasn’t stopped to ponder all the practical and logistical nightmares this kind of silliness would engender. For instance: If my wife is pregnant, can I claim Unborn, Jr. as a tax exemption?

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Why do people keep making Huckabee talk about Jesus when he doesn’t want to?

Mike Huckabee laments: “I always get asked the God questions,” he said, adding that “it’s really been frustrating” that people don’t want to know more about his work as Arkansas governor. Truly, this is baffling. I mean, the Rev. Huck has a track record as a political leader, and it’s hard to understand why people keep asking him about the

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