Thomas claims that Hillary Clinton's Methodist faith is a form of "works salvation." Apparently, there's something wrong with people who connect faith and social responsibility. (more…) Read more

When conservatives talk about a “religion penalty in America,” developments like this are what they mean.  It’s a new blog covering what proprietor Jacque Berlinerblau derisively calls the “faith industry” — a “complex,” he says, that is dedicated to “making sense of the role that religion will play in the run for the White House.”    According to Berlinerblau — whose blog operates under the roof of the Washington Post’s On Faith Web forum — this “vast and decentralized” industry... Read more

The words vs. deeds debate continues, this time on health care.   Today, the New York Times’s Robin Toner purports to show the differences between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on the issue.  He frames the topic in the familiar way: Republicans want to “empower consumers to buy it themselves, from private insurers,” while Democrats, in seeking to “strengthen the private-employer based system,” envision “a strong role for government…with substantial new government spending to subsidize coverage for people who cannot... Read more

Happy Independence Day everyone!  We are lucky, lucky, lucky to live under the freedom that the United States provides.   Sojourners sent an email today with a Scripture passage from Paul reminding us of the point of freedom:   For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall... Read more

All was good in Tony Blair’s world. Then, out of nowhere, something strange happened on “the way to the Forum.”  He got Bushwhacked. (more…) Read more

This is blood-boiling stuff.   A World Health Organization (WHO) study says that 77,000 people are already dying every year in Asia and the Pacific as a direct or indirect result of climate change.  That’s not a hypothetical number; that’s the current state of affairs. Why so many deaths?  The WHO cites the “increasing frequency of summer heat waves in temperate zones, and typhoons, hurricanes and floods throughout the world.”   Down the line, the death toll is bound to... Read more