Sen. John F. Kennedy, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Sept. 12, 1960 (via Talk Left) I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office... Read more
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Part 6 Morning dawns at New Hope Village Church and the establishing shot reminds us of the wanton chaos of a world unleavened by the civilizing presence of real, true Christians. Trash, furniture and yet more bicycles are strewn across the lawn of the church. (What is it with abandoned bicycles lying all over everywhere in this movie? I’m the sort of liberal Christian that this story insists will be among those left behind, but... Read more
Who speaks for Catholics? Catholic polity says the hierarchy speaks for the church. Mostly. But it also allows that the overwhelming consensus of the laity cannot be ignored. So when the consensus of the Catholic laity is in conflict with the assertions of the bishops, it may be legitimate to heed the laity as the true voice of the church. And right now the U.S. Catholic bishops are in conflict with the U.S. Catholic laity on (at least) two significant... Read more
The Christian Century spent much of last week eagerly reminding us that its very name is a relic of the past. Like the Religion News Service, it spent the week playing ring around the collar — rallying to support the Catholic bishops in defense of the proposition that clergy unable to command arbitrary obedience from their flocks should be able to conscript civil law to compel such obedience. The Century and RNS produced a series of hand-wringing articles by men.... Read more
1 Corinthians 13 And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I... Read more
Whitney Houston died Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 48. And she had an amazing voice. Read more
Chaplain Mike of Internet Monk offers a meditation on divine grace, beginning with this passage from Deuteronomy 7: It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you — for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed... Read more
This is from W. Scott Poole’s 2009 book Satan in America: The Devil We Know: Left Behind also sought to make an evangelical case for some of the contemporary cultural and political struggles of the 1990s. Its emergence as a publishing phenomenon coincided with a public movement for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. … Conservatives, many of them affiliated with the Christian Right, warned darkly of the “homosexual agenda” and began the so-called pro-marriage movement that would eventually result... Read more
It’s snowing here in Chester County, and happily, since I’m not a delusional conspiracy theorist inventing elaborate tales of a diabolical plot by scientists, journalists and wildlife, I’m not compelled to embarrass myself with stale, defiantly ignorant jokes about global warming. We’re just a little more than half-way through winter, so let me share some seasonal music that we almost never listen to in the winter months of January, February or March. These are winter songs, not Christmas songs —... Read more
Well, I didn’t expect this. The U.S. Catholic bishops have spent the week denying that they’re simply trying to prohibit health insurance from covering contraception. It’s not about that, they insisted, but about religious liberty. Today, President Barack Obama called their bluff, carving out an “accomodation” that removes any grounds for a complaint about “freedom conscience” or “religious liberty,” while firmly insisting that the law is still the law, and that the law rightly prohibits discrimination against women in preventive... Read more
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