Journalist Pamela Druckerman didn’t think it would be hard to discuss sex issues with Alain Giami of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. After all, he was one of the top sex researchers in a nation known for its freewheeling, laissez faire attitudes about matters of the heart. However, Giami silenced her when she used a dangerous word. “What do you call ‘infidelity’? I don’t know what ‘infidelity’ is,” he said, in what the former Wall Street... Read more
As Bill Clinton tells the story, it wasn’t your typical Baptist prayer breakfast. The guest of honor at the White House was the Rev. Ed Young, the Southern Baptist Convention’s new president. The two men went jogging near the National Mall and had breakfast on the Truman Balcony with Vice President Al Gore. The three Southern Baptists didn’t agree on everything, but the atmosphere was friendly — in large part because the president admired Young’s preaching so much. But the... Read more
If Mike Huckabee has said it once, he has said it a thousand times during his bid to reach the White House. “I have a great respect for Barack Obama,” noted Huckabee, during a “Tonight Show” visit. “I think he’s a person who is trying to do in many ways what I hope I’m trying to do and that is to say, ‘Let’s quit what I call horizontal politics.’ “Everything in this country is not left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrat,... Read more
Every year or so, a Cinderella movie leaps into the ultimate Hollywood A-list — the Academy Award nominees for best picture. The sleeper this time around was “Juno,” the sweet but edgy story of Juno MacGuff, a geeky teen who gets pregnant after a sort-of-bored sexual encounter with a friend. The movie also drew Oscar nominations for Canadian Ellen Page, 20, as best actress, for director Jason Reitman, 30, and former stripper turned screenwriter Diablo Cody, 29. Now it’s time... Read more
When it comes to religion, modern Americans think religious beliefs are good, but they tend to worry about beliefs that affect other people. As a rule, religious words are safer than religious actions. Consider these numbers from a new Ellison Research study that shows surprising support — on the left and right, among believers and skeptics — for freedom of expression when it comes to words and symbols. An overwhelming 90 percent of adults agreed that faith groups should be... Read more
The historic Trinity Episcopal Church offers clear online guidance to those seeking a Blessing of Holy Union in its sanctuary on Boston’s Copley Square. The services are based on “A Rite for the Celebration of Commitment to a Life Together” which is used in the Diocese of Massachusetts. “A priest may bless a same-sex civil marriage or preside at and bless a same-sex union. … The same liturgical rite is used,” say the guidelines. “In the presence of God and... Read more
One of the big questions during last year’s National Football League playoffs was whether Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears would make it to the final game. It was the stuff of headlines. After all, it would make history if two African-American head coaches reached the Super Bowl. However, both men went out of their way to stress that it was also symbolic that two devout Christians were poised to compete, as friends,... Read more
It was a simple commercial, with Mike Huckabee posed in front of a set of scandalously empty white bookshelves that, when framed just right beside a Christmas tree, formed a glowing cross behind the candidate. And, lo, the former Southern Baptist pastor told the voters: “Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? I don’t blame you. At this time of year, sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all of that... Read more
Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the “prophet, seer and revelator” who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this life, on this world, is just the beginning. Consider this glimpse into eternity, drawn from a funeral eulogy for President Spencer W. Kimball in 1985. “In the Colorado Rockies, I asked President Kimball a searching question,” recalled Barbara B. Smith, the 10th general president of the church’s Relief Society. “‘When you... Read more
There was a time when Christians did not celebrate a season that could be called the 30-something days of Christmas. In the year of our Lord 1939, the National Retail Dry Goods Association asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the next-to-last Thursday in November. This was strategic, since President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed the last Thursday of the month as the official holiday. This meant that Thanksgiving was occasionally delayed until a fifth Thursday — a cruel... Read more
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Terry Mattingly
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