The Latest: June 2007 Archive

 

6/29, 4:13p CT: Religious conservatives applaud the Supreme Court’s just-ended session because of rulings on faith-based initiatives and issue advertising in election season.  Unmentioned are the numerous rulings in favor of the big guy against the little guy — on labor discrimination, on school desegregation, on anti-trust, and more.

 

6/29, 2:09p CT: Pastor Dan tears apart a Michael Gerson OP-ED pooh-poohing Barack Obama’s great speech to the UCC.

 

6/29, 1:20a CT: A new study says climate change already is killing 77,000 people a year in Asia and the Pacific — and Jesse Lava says the blood is on the Bush administration’s hands.

 

6/28, 1:31p CT: The Evangelical Covenant Church passes a resolution promoting creation care. 

 

6/28, 1:26p CT: Sean Hannity lies again about Barack Obama’s pastor, falsely calling him a black separatist. 

 

6/28, 12:11p CT: More good stuff from religious leaders: they’re telling a Peruvian businessman to stop giving kids lead poisoning. 

 

6/27, 7:06p CT: Religious leaders demand an end to torture. 

 

6/27, 9:33a CT: Darfur talks go nowhere; the administration’s lethargic at best and China supports the genocide because it gets oil from Sudan.

 

6/26, 6:19p CT: Elizabeth Edwards calls into Hardball to confront Ann Coulter on her history or debasing the public dialogue with repugnant personal attacks.  And here’s the Coulter comment precipitating the call; she says she hopes Edwards dies in a terrorist attack.

 

6/26, 3:24p CT: The Baptist Center for Ethics has a DVD coming out called “Golden Rule Politics.  Here’s a preview. 

 

6/26, 8:23a CT: The Obama campaign is inviting people to “faith forums” in New Hampshire to discuss the proper role of faith and politics.  Sounds pretty cool.

 

6/25, 4:47p CT: Baptists are launching new services immigrants, and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution OP-ED gives a Christian basis for pro-immigrant public policy. 

 

6/25, 4:42p CT: Faith leaders push affordable housing.

 

6/25, 10:35a CT: Check out this amazing resource developed by Faith in Public Life.  It’s a new online database that maps the thousands of progressive faith groups in America.

 

6/25, 8:07a CT: Democrats step it up on Catholic outreach, says US News & World Report. 

 

6/24, 11:48p CT: Here at FD, Elizabeth Austin is irked at an Episcopal priest who converts to Islam and still wants to be a priest.

 

6/23, 4:10p CT: Barack Obama gives the keynote to the United Church of Christ general synod.  More soon. 

 

6/22, 10:17a CT: FD’s Stan Moody is visiting the Holocaust Museum in Israel.

 

6/22, 9:23a CT: Shane Claiborne, one of the country’s best models for living a Christian life, just lost all his possessions in a fire.  His “Simple Way” community lost the building where they had an after-school program and micro-business, as well.  There’s an emergency relief fund, if you’d like to help.

 

6/21, 6:04p CT: Obama’s congregation is scrutinized yet again.  Does any other candidate, besides perhaps Mitt Romney, face a constant barrage of questions about his church?

 

6/21, 1:14p CT: Most New Orleans workers are victims of labor abuse, says Interfaith Worker Justice.

 

6/21, 12:13p CT: President Bush yesterday: “Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical, and it is not the only option before us.”   Is he expressing regret for a needless invasion of Iraq that has left hundreds of thousands of civilians dead?  Nah: he’s opposed to stem cell research.

 

6/20, 5:34p CT: We have an interesting debate on Scripture and abortion in this thread here at FD; feel free to contribute!

 

6/20, 5:33p CT: Marcus Borg’s compelling defense of Christian just war doctrine — suggesting, of course, an end to the Iraq war. 

 

6/20, 5:24p CT: Sam Brownback keeps talking the “pro-the whole life” talk — which is a good start, but such a philosophy ultimately demands more than the trivial tinkering he proposes.

 

6/19, 6:41p CT: Pew finds more support among religious Democrats for Hillary Clinton than for anyone else, but strangely fails to account for African-Americans, which doubtless hurts Obama.  There’s also no indication that Hillary’s strength among the faithful is proportionately stronger than among the rest of the primary electorate.

 

6/19, 11:20a CT: Faith leaders press automakers on pollution. 

 

6/18, 12:15p CT: Tucker Carlson: “I have never met anybody less sincere than the religious left.”  Liberal media, indeed.

 

6/18, 12:44a CT: Jesse Lava takes Gary Bauer to task for attacking a straw-man version of the “religious left.”

 

6/16, 3:13a CT: Obama, who grew up without a father present, calls on dads to be “men,” not “boys.”

 

6/15, 2:40p CT: 61% of Americans say they want a president who’s religious; 28% say a candidate’s specific religious affiliation affects their vote. 

 

6/15, 11:50a CT: Northwest churches are creating a “Genesis Covenant” to care for God’s creation.

 

6/15, 10:49a CT: Tell Burger King that farmers deserve fair wages. 

 

6/15, 9:22a CT: Look at the book cover on this page; if that’s not idolatry, I don’t know what is. 

 

6/14, 10:53p CT: McCain smacks Romney for having said he wouldn’t seek to overturn Massachusetts abortion protections.  But McCain himself once said he wouldn’t seek to overturn federal abortion protections.  Apparently they’re both flip-flopping opportunists.

 

6/14, 10:47p CT: Schiavo II , with a twist. 

 

6/13, 3:19p CT: Howard Dean urges Democrats to keep reaching out to evangelicals. 

 

6/13, 3:14p CT: Republican Mike Huckabee talks the moral populist talk, though his policies are scarcely different than any other Republican’s.

 

6/12, 5:02p CT: Is the Vice President trying to lie us into another unjust war?

 

6/12, 1:58p CT: 30% of Republicans and 57% of Democrats believe in evolution. 

 

6/12, 1:42p CT: Joel Hunter: “There is a really significant emerging constituency of evangelicals who are not going to be pro-choice, but we are going to be broader about the issues we consider when we go to the polls.”  Speaking of which, Bread for the World organized 700 Christians this weekend to talk about ending poverty. 

 

6/11, 11:30p CT: The U.S. may be going easy on Sudan because the current regime is marginally useful in gathering intelligence on potential terrorism.  It’s the Cold War all over again. 

 

6/11, 11:20p CT: A “gay bomb” to turn opposing soldiers into homosexuals? 

 

6/11, 11:55a CT: The Democrats are talking faith, while the Republicans have a religion problem.

 

6/10, 2:46p CT: Stan Moody on one of the wackier sermons to come along in a while.

 

6/9, 10:36a CT: Jesse Lava isn’t hearing back from a religious righty who called the Sojourners’ presidential forum “a sham, a fraud, and a travesty” — so Jesse posted his questions here. 

 

6/9, 10:32a CT: Stan Moody on America’s moral compass.

 

6/8, 8:34p CT: Erstwhile Bushie David Kuo says the partisan lines are blurring on faith. 

 

6/8, 8:20p CT: James Dobson endorses sermon blaming lesbians for God’s supposed abandonment of America — recalling Jerry Falwell’s classic moment attributing 9/11 to gays and the ACLU, among other fiends. 

 

6/7, 6:32p CT: Catholic groups call on Bush to heed the Pope’s anti-war message. 

 

6/7, 4:46p CT: The Senate has rejected family values in the immigration bill; hear faith leaders respond. 

 

6/6, 11:04a CT: Gallup polls “morality” — asking numerous questions on sexuality and exactly zero questions on materialism, greed, poverty, and degrading the earth.

 

6/6, 9:56a CT: The religious right attacks Sojourners’ faith forum as “a sham, a fraud, and a travesty” because it didn’t use abortion and gay rights as litmus test issues.  An old story, from the old guard.

 

6/5, 10:57p CT: Jesse Lava defends the growing discussion of faith in the public square.

 

6/5, 3:17p CT: Faith in Public Life has video clips from last night’s faith debate, and Faithfully Liberal recaps the segments of John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.  

 

6/5, 3:05p CT: Stan Moody asks whether it’s time to strip the word “marriage” from the civil code. 

 

6/5, 2:29a CT: Jesse Lava breaks down the groundbreaking faith forum that Obama, Edwards, and Clinton engaged in this evening.

 

6/4, 8:01p CT: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama looked great tonight, though in different ways, at the Sojourners forum on faith and politics.  A post soon. 

 

6/4, 3:56p CT: Be sure to tune into CNN tonight at 7p ET (6p CT) for a faith-centered forum with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards.  This is groundbreaking stuff; watch it!

 

6/4, 9:45a CT: Jesse Lava pegs the moral moments in last night’s Democratic presidential debate.

 

6/3, 9:08p CT: John Edwards launches a “moral leadership” website of his own.  It’s not faith-based, though there’s some good stuff there on poverty, Darfur, and more. 

 

6/2, 1:10a CT: Barack Obama launches a website for people of faith.  Some great people will be blogging there — Obery Hendricks, Sean Casey, Chuck Currie, and others.  Check it out.

 

6/1, 7:49p CT: Barack Obama’s campaign is going to do something very cool on faith tomorrow.  More then. 

 

6/1, 11:37a CT: AP covers the study showing that the news media overplays religious conservatives.  Focus on the Family, quoting Tony Perkins, predictably disputes the findings, though without offering any counter-evidence.