Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former deputy assistant to President Bush, is puzzled and put off by the criticism of Barack Obama by Focus on the Family’s James Dobson (in photo). Most of the basis for the criticism was Obama’s address at a “Call to Renewal” conference two years ago. But Wehner described key points of the address as “respectful and authentic” and “reasonable,” and said that Dobson’s attacks fell “terribly short” of a fair and honest critique. “If Christian conservatives want to be taken seriously, they need to make serious arguments and speak with intellectual integrity,” Wehner wrote. “In this instance, Dobson didn’t. He has set back his cause and made some of us who are evangelicals and conservatives wince.”
Barack Obama continues to court evangelicals, telling an audience Tuesday that he would not only continue but also expand President Bush’s faith-based initiative, which seeks to enlist churches’ help in solving social problems.
“The challenges we face today, from putting people back to work to improving our schools, from saving our planet to combating HIV/AIDS to ending genocide, are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Obama said in his remarks. “We need all hands on deck.”
He faces one immediate obstacle: the perceived failure of Bush’s faith-based program. How will Obama make the idea work better?
And some Democrats on the left are sure to object to Obama’s support for allowing religious groups that receive federal funds to hire and fire based on applicants’ faith.
The Catholic Church can set whatever policies it wants for its members. So the Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., is free to ask Gov. Kathleen Sebelius not to take Communion because of her support for abortion rights. But the archbishop’s rebuke does raise some questions: What about other pro-choice politicians? What about all the other pro-choice parish members? Should Catholic lawmakers who support the death penalty also be ask to stop taking Communion? What’s the responsibility of politicians to their church and to their secular duty to represent all the people?
It was encouraging that Pope Benedict XVI, writing on the eve of his U.S. visit, said that he was “deeply ashamed” of the church’s clergy sexual abuse scandal, which since 2002 has revealed 5,000 victims and cost the church $2 billion. He vowed to “do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future.” The church, he said, is doing screening to ensure that pedophiles do not become priests.
A large part of the scandal, too, was that some church leaders tried to hide problem priests, moving them from parish to parish instead of removing them from positions of authority.
The pope’s statement is a welcome sign that the church understands the need to openly and directly address the problem.
Setting aside all the viral e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a radical Muslim, some people do have questions about his Christian faith. For those interested, here is a Q&A he did with Christianity Today that discusses his faith, abortion, etc.
Illinois has become the most recent legal battleground on prayer in schools. In October, a state law went into effect mandating a moment of silence in school each day, causing one student to bring suit, saying she attended school to learn, not pray.
On the other hand, there can be even nonreligious benefits to a moment of silence, such as helping students refocus. “My one friend was really angry because he liked having that moment to think about his life. He’s going through a tough time. His parents are getting divorced. His brother’s not very nice to him,†said the student bringing suit. “It’s hard, because I understand he has rights. But so do I.â€
In light of the Senate inquiry into the lavish spending by some ministry leaders, including private jets and Rolls-Royces, it was good to read in last Saturday’s Eagle about two Christian leaders who are trying not to be greedy about their success. Best-selling author Joel Osteen hasn’t taken a salary from his 48,000-member Houston church for two years, has lived in the same house for 13 years and, until recently, drove a 9-year-old car he inherited from his father. Rick Warren (in photo), author of the “The Purpose-Driven Life,†has repaid all his salary from his California megachurch and pledged to give away 90 percent of his book royalties. Warren also accepts no speaking fees and doesn’t mince words about the ministries under investigation: “The opulent lifestyles of televangelists make me sick.â€
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
While many religious groups lead the charge in charity and social work, some ministry leaders are driving luxury cars to their obese facilities. The excessive spending has Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, asking: If Jesus rode a donkey, why do ministers need Rolls-Royces? Also, are these ministries misusing their tax-exempt status?
But Georgia Democratic state Rep. Randal Mangham argues that appearances matter. “It’s important for kids to see you don’t have to sell drugs to drive a nice car,†he told the Los Angeles Times.
Does he have a Bible verse to back that up?
Posted by Kristin Mehler
After Sept. 11, the CIA proposed an in-depth study of world religion. It was dismissed as “mere sociology.†Imagine the difference in the Iraqi conflict had guiding powers possessed a working understanding of the Sunnis’ and Shiites’ faith and interaction.
Religion is something we can no longer afford to be in denial about. Much of the world lives wrapped around religious convictions, which guide everything from society to foreign policy.
John Micklethwait of the Economist predicts that religion will be the defining aspect of the next century globally. Be it jihad or an entrenched caste system, religious conflict abounds around the world and controls the climate of globalization and international relationships.
Leading religious scholar Philip Jenkins projects that religion will be the “prime animating and destructive force in human affairs, guiding attitudes to political liberty and obligation, concepts of nationhood and, of course, conflicts and wars.â€
Posted by Kristin Mehler
America was not founded as a "Christian nation," despite what many conservative Christians claim today, wrote Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, in a New York Times commentary.
"The founders were not anti-religion," he wrote. "Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry."
Meacham cited several early documents and actions by past presidents that supported religious liberty and rejected an exclusive Christian view. For example, the treaty of Tripoli of 1797, which the Senate unanimously approved, stated that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The new Pew survey of Muslim Americans finds that they are generally satisfied with their communities and more moderate in their beliefs than Muslims in Western Europe — both reasons why they have more successfully assimilated here.
But the survey also revealed that 47 percent of respondents identified themselves as Muslims first and Americans second, and only 40 percent believe that groups of Arabs carried out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Moreover, 15 percent of Muslim Americans under age 30 said they believe that suicide bombings often or sometimes can be justified in defense of Islam.
There’s no denying that those numbers are disturbing.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“It’s fine to be a religion man,” a distant relative of two of the defendants in the alleged Fort Dix plot, told the New York Times. “But if you get too much to the religion, you get out of your mind and you do stupid things.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Wiccan pentacle has been added to a list of approved religious symbols for headstones by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This change was part of a settlement of a lawsuit against the VA by plaintiffs represented by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
It usually takes a few months for a petition by a faith group to win the department’s approval, but the Wiccan symbol took 10 years and a lawsuit to gain acceptance. Discrimination was the main factor of the delay, the group believed, and it is apparent that some Americans do hold a bias toward Wicca. For example, when he was Texas governor, George W. Bush opposed allowing Wiccans to worship at Fort Hood, Texas, telling “Good Morning America” in 1999 that “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion.”
But as the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, stated after winning the settlement Monday, the plaintiffs “wanted precisely the same treatment that dozens of other religions already had received from the department, an acknowledgment that their spiritual beliefs were on par with those of everyone else.”
Posted by Ross Stewart
Pope Benedict’s XVI’s trip to Turkey this week offers a rare opportunity to promote, in his words, “dialogue and brotherhood and the commitment for understanding between cultures . . . and for reconciliation.”
Granted, such values were in short supply in September, when many Muslims were insulted when the pope noted a medieval quote about Islam being an “evil and inhuman” religion.
Turkey, the most moderate and pro-Western majority Muslim nation, provides a good venue for the pope to clarify his views about Islam and Christianity and to work for reconciliation.
Benedict has said that he wants a “frank and sincere” dialogue with Islam. The question is: Does the Muslim world want it? Or are moderate Muslims willing to let the radicals set the terms of their relationship with the West?
The pope should continue to press his message about the dangers of fanaticism in religion, as well as the need for reciprocity, the principle that Christian churches should be as protected and welcome in the Muslim world as mosques are in the West.
It’s a risky trip, but the payoffs could be huge if Pope Benedict says the right things. Let’s hope that Muslims, too, see this as an opportunity for real dialogue.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The battle between science and religion is shaping up to be an all-out war. A number of scientists at a forum this month at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies issued a call to arms against religion.
“The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious belief,” warned Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in physics. He added: “Anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done and may in the end be our greatest contribution to civilization.”
The frustration of the scientists is understandable — especially by those of us who live in a state where science standards have been under siege. But their hostile, anti-religious rhetoric gives ammunition to fundamentalists who think science is anti-God.
Most Americans and most Christians are more in the middle, looking to science for the how and to religion for the why.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
"The Amish have buried their little girls, forgiven the man for his actions, and befriended his family. What a wonderful witness to their faith, and what a contrast for others," an Opinion Line contributor noted. It’s a reaction many Americans shared after being shocked by the Amish school shooting, then amazed by the response of that community.
One Amish man from Lancaster County, Pa., explained: "In forgiveness there is healing." And in their actions, there is a lesson for others.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
At the request of prescient author Joel Rosenberg, polling firm McLaughlin and Associates asked 1,000 adults whether recent world events are evidence of the approaching end times: “Yes,” said 42 percent overall, half of women, 75 percent of blacks and 57 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds. Rosenberg is pushing his new book on the Middle East crisis, “Epicenter.” Maybe this is why so few Americans are saving for retirement.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Attorney General Phill Kline’s “church effort” memo came up in a New York Times article primarily about Wichita-based Operation Rescue West’s loss of its tax-exempt status, specifically the question of whether Kline was advocating that churches do anything illegal that could risk their own status with the Internal Revenue Service. Sherriene Jones, Kline’s communications director, suggested to the Times that Kline was referring in the memo to the churches’ pastors, not the churches themselves, and to the need to recruit volunteers for his receptions, not for his campaign. “The attorney general would never ask a church to do anything illegal,” Jones told the Times. But to many, Jones’ explanation will sound a lot like a distinction without a difference.
Meanwhile, a national religious organization responded to Kline’s memo by sending a letter last week to the Republican and Democratic national parties asking candidates to stop using churches for campaign purposes, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. “Congregations look to their religious leaders for guidance — spiritual, moral and otherwise — not manipulation on behalf of political organizations with a partisan agenda,” said C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance and a pastor at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, La.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Pope Benedict XVI has said he is “deeply sorry” for remarks last week that quoted a medieval text calling some of the Prophet Muhammed’s teachings “evil and inhuman.”
Some Muslims still aren’t satisfied, but the pope has apologized enough.
In its spasm of protests and outrage, the Muslim world is missing the pope’s larger point — about the evil of any religion using violence in the name of God — as well as his invitation to engage in honest dialogue.
True, it might have helped if the pope had chosen his words more carefully, as well as acknowledged Christianity’s own checkered past on this point, but Muslims of good faith should accept that the pope’s intent was to respectfully engage them, not condemn them.
Of course, the loud militant minority in the Muslim world doesn’t believe in self-reflection and rational discourse. Its overreaction was predictable: Mobs burned the pope in effigy in several countries, and fanatical groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, vowed to “smash the cross” and “conquer Rome.”
Again — making the pope’s point. Is the Muslim world willing to confront these fanatical elements in its midst?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Archbishop Joseph Naumann (in photo) of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas wrote a commentary criticizing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto last session of a bill that would have imposed more reporting requirements on late-term abortions. His complaint was mostly about Sebelius’ veto message, in which she wrote: “My Catholic faith teaches me that life is sacred. Personally, I believe abortion is wrong.” Naumann said that Sebelius has consistently supported abortion rights, which the Catholic Church opposes.
“In my responsibilities as archbishop, I have an obligation to make certain that Catholics understand clearly the doctrinal and moral teachings of the church,” he wrote. And he urged “all Kansas Catholics to pray for Gov. Sebelius that she might reconsider her long held position supporting legalized abortion.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
An earlier blog item raised the question of whether the Democratic Party can have any success wooing evangelicals. Well, a new poll shows that evangelicals are growing dissatisfied with the GOP, the New York Times reported.
The number of Americans who say the GOP is friendly to religion fell 8 percentage points in the past year, to 47 percent from 55 percent, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The drop was even sharper among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants: down 14 percentage points.
But the Democratic Party isn’t viewed any better, so it is probably not going to pick up many converts. Only 26 percent said that the Democratic Party was friendly to religion, down from 29 percent last year.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former deputy assistant to President Bush, is puzzled and put off by the criticism of Barack Obama by Focus on the Family’s James Dobson (in photo). Most of the basis for the criticism was Obama’s address at a “Call to Renewal” conference two years ago. But Wehner described key points of the address as “respectful and authentic” and “reasonable,” and said that Dobson’s attacks fell “terribly short” of a fair and honest critique. “If Christian conservatives want to be taken seriously, they need to make serious arguments and speak with intellectual integrity,” Wehner wrote. “In this instance, Dobson didn’t. He has set back his cause and made some of us who are evangelicals and conservatives wince.”
