Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Religion and Politics Archive
May 08, 2008
Mine eyes have seen the glory
The Battle Hymn of the Republic as an exemplar of jihadist feeling.
April 20, 2008
What explains the moral probity of the Italian clergy?
Sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the US, and the church's decades of serving the perpetrators parish after parish of unwarned victims, has bankrupted dioceses, driven bishops from office, and devastated thousands of the faithful. Remarkably, there has been almost no such history in Italy. Obviously, the Catholic hierarchy in that country comprises nothing but righteous and upright men, not...
A physicist's casual aside reminds us that we have much to live up to this Passover 2008.
A physicist's casual aside about elaborate calculations performed while in hiding from the Nazis reminds us that we have much to live up to this Passover 2008.
April 07, 2008
Full audio of Jeremiah Wright's Jeremiad ...
... available on line. Magnificent! If you want to know "how Barack Obama could listen to those sermons for 20 years," listen for yourself.
March 23, 2008
Georgian Opposition Hunger Force
Why is hunger striking "un-Christian"?
As a vertebrate, I believe...
Response to Michael O'Hare on Kmiec on identity
March 21, 2008
How fair was that trial?
Jesus' trials were fairer than GITMO ones.
March 20, 2008
Odium anti-theologicum?
Why is anyone who suggests that Democratic politicians get less tone-deaf in dealing with high-religiosity voters treated as if he or she had farted in church?
March 06, 2008
"We are simply selling our souls"
Abe Foxman and his fellow professional Jews are disgracing themselves over the John Hagee affair.
February 29, 2008
Althouse on McCain and Hagee
Ann Althouse wonders why her candidate is embracing bigotry.
February 28, 2008
Why we all can't just get along
Pastor John Hagee is a bigot, and his bigotry against Catholicism ought to force John McCain to disown him. But that in that bigotry he is merely being true to the Reformation roots of Protestantism. Tolerance counsels us to ignore the theological beliefs of our fellow-citizens when they are merely false, bizarre, or silly. But there are limits to the tolerance that ought to be accorded the intolerant: even if their intolerance reflects their religious beliefs.
February 17, 2008
Welcome Kosovo ..
Kosovo's independence, the fruit of Serb victimhood.
February 16, 2008
The dog that doesn't bark in Georgia
Georgia's richest and most controversial man was Jewish. So?
February 10, 2008
Armageddon warmer?
What is it with this meshuggenah James Q. Wilson?
February 09, 2008
A mite bit obscure
Do you understand Huckabeese?
February 04, 2008
Biblical criticism
Do right-wing Catholics and fundamentalists simply have a different Bible than the rest of us?
February 02, 2008
Reacción Católica
A letter to the Spanish press objecting to the partisan intervention of the Spanish Catholic bishops in the March elections.
In comicus veritas
The best commentary on anti-contraception lunacy is in a cartoon.
January 27, 2008
Exegesis Saves
Sometimes a penny is just change.
December 07, 2007
Legitimate inference from faith
It appears Mitt Romney has really stepped in it, with a speech so unctuous and contrived that it felt actually smarmy, not to mention a deeply reprehensible attempt to raise a smug sectarian alliance of one-Godly Babbitts against a subversive legion of more- or fewer-Godlies. Even David Brooks is ready to leave him at the station for that speech. More...
More on Mitt the Bigot
It's not just atheists he wants to exclude: Hindus, Buddhists, pagans, and practitioners of Native American traditions also need not apply.
December 06, 2007
This is scary
... but for once I have to agree with David Brooks. Mitt Romney's speech on religion was pretty slimy.
One more thing Huckabee got wrong
With Mike Huckabee's other troubles, this hasn't gotten as much press. But here is a recent statement regarding gay marriage (h/t Devilstower @ Kos): GQ: Is the strategy shifting because social conservatives are losing on those core issues? Ten years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have gay marriage even in liberal Massachusetts. Now it's there. Huckabee: I don't...
December 02, 2007
Against anti-fundamentalist bigotry
Nonbelievers should leave religious bigotry to those to whom it comes naturally.
September 10, 2007
The good news ...
... is that the Bureau of prisons isn't actually *burning* the religious books not on its "approved" list.
August 12, 2007
Live by the sword ...
If Mitt Romney thinks that atheists are unfit to hold office, then he has no kick coming if someone else says that Mormons are unfit to hold office.
August 08, 2007
Perfect pitch: Obama talks to the religious right
An awe-inspiring performance. I'd like the bigoted atheists to read it carefully.
July 27, 2007
"No religious test" dep't
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus says Mormonism is "a false religion" and that non-Mormon Christians are justified in voting against Romney to keep it from spreading. No, really.
July 19, 2007
Religion, civility, and public discourse
If religious ideas are going to enter political discourse then they can't be immune from criticism. But smart criticism is more helpful than ignorant criticism.
July 16, 2007
Pope Benedict and the Christianist alliance
Does Pope Bingo's anti-ecumenical moves threaten the Christianist alliance?
July 13, 2007
Rudy vs. the Church
A fight I hope both sides lose. But it's nice to see conservative Catholics calling Rudy on his support of torture.
June 18, 2007
Blasphemers
A Pakistan minister blasphemously justifies suicide bombing to defend the Prophet's honour.
June 06, 2007
A half-intelligent design
Should ID be taught as part of the history of science? Yes and no.
June 04, 2007
Low blow
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Rhode Island compares Rudy Giuliani to Pontius Pilate. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, of course. But ... ick!
May 06, 2007
Karl Rove an atheist? Spare me!
It's just another Rovian trick to make atheists look bad.
May 04, 2007
Let's you and him fight
You know a movement is in bad trouble when Derbyshire is its voice of reason. George Gilder accuses those of his fellow-conservatives who believe in natural selection of "toadying to ... storm troopers," because "Nazism and communism were inspired by Darwinism." Isn't it lovely to watch the Red Team self-destructing this way?
April 28, 2007
Abstinence from governing
Well, doesn't this about sum it up. The government is paying ideologues to lie to kids about sex, and they know it, having been repeatedly informed of the facts. Then it lies about lying: "I do want to note that our abstinence programs have been, and will continue to be, medically accurate..." Abstinence-only programs don't affect sexual behavior worth a...
April 15, 2007
April 14, 2007
Religious bigotry at NIH
Who hired a raging anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic bigot as the head chaplain at the NIH Clinical Center? Who fired the witnesses who testified against him at the Merit Systems Protection Board hearing that found he had discriminated against rabbis and priests working for him? Why do any of these people still have jobs?
April 11, 2007
Implementation analysis
Yes, schoolchildren should know about the Bible. But how likely is it that we'll be able to keep Bible class from turning into a little fundamentalist madrassa, especially in the places where "putting God back in the schools" has the greatest political appeal?
April 08, 2007
Concerning the word "Christian"
When the Republican ayatollahs use the word "Christian," they mean strictly their brand of evangelical Protestantism. Reporters should make that clear.
April 07, 2007
Department of "Huh?"
Amitai Etzioni makes a reasonable argument that education that stresses a non-jihadist version of Islam will probably do more good in Islamic countries such as Iraq than purely secular education. But surely Etzioni doesn't really believe that leaving religion out of the curriculum is the same as "providing no values education." That's as silly as believing that all religious education fosters bigotry.
March 20, 2007
God is not mocked
Massachusetts, home of public notorious and habitual blue voting, liberal free-thinking and gay-marriage-and-congressman-enabling, not to mention being a sinkhole of universities full of atheists and godless lefties, has, praise all that's holy, received a completely unambiguous punishment from a just Providence. The citizens of this latter-day Gomorrah have been sentenced to two full years additional residence in their self-made hell....
March 15, 2007
Another liberal MSM coverup
Pete Stark's admission of atheism was well covered in the godless liberal media, but I cannot find a single report that tells us whether he was swallowed up by the earth opening beneath him or (the only other possibility) incinerated by a lightning bolt. Who is covering up? Nothing here either, nor here; it's an enormous conspiracy of the impious...
March 14, 2007
Separation of church and state
The final scene of Animal Farm really has legs. As it's replayed yet again with yet another cast, we see the features of the reactionary self-appointed gatekeepers of Christian doctrine blur into those of the reactionary self-appointed gatekeepers of Islam as they all collapse the idea of morality into suppressing sex by anyone not married to a person of the...
March 13, 2007
The Christian closet
Why are evangelical Christians who teach at top-rank universities "in the closet" about their beliefs?
March 10, 2007
The white evangelical schism
The return of the "social gospel"?
March 04, 2007
February 25, 2007
Romney's great-grandfather's wives: why is this news?
I thought Americans judged one another by their actions, not their ancestors. The AP seemingly disagrees.
February 18, 2007
No Christianist votes for Rudy or Newt?
That's what Southern Baptist bigwig Richard Land says. I hope he's right.
Bigot v. bigot
Mitt Romney has no objection to religious bigotry, as long as he's in the in-group.
February 14, 2007
In defense of the "religious left"
Democrats deserve a bigger slice of the born-again vote, and it's probably available if we learn how to ask nicely.
January 31, 2007
Anti-clericalism in America
Desire for less influence of organized religion up almost 50% during the Bush years, from 22% to 32%. Desire for more influence down from 30% to 27%. Hallelujah!
November 18, 2006
Football and the elections
Despite my general disrespect for big-time college football, I watched a fair amount of The Game, The Game, and Cal-USC today, and a generally miserable experience it was. Shockingly, the outcomes of the first and third of these were determined with absolutely no reference to moral desserts, truth and goodness, or any higher principle. It was simply a matter of...
November 13, 2006
October 11, 2006
Faith-based pork
An expose of the White House Faith-Based Programs office from its former deputy director.
August 27, 2006
What "Christian" means to the Christianists
When Katherine Harris said that electing people who weren't "Christian" would lead to "legislating sin," she wasn't attacking Jews; she was attacking mainstream Protestants and liberal Catholics.
August 17, 2006
Religiosity and morality
Does God benefit from a double standard?
August 02, 2006
Intelligent voters vs. "intelligent design"
Kansans turn out to be smarter than Ann Coulter.
July 06, 2006
Ecumenical bigotry
What can Christians, Muslims, and Jews agree on in the Holy Land? Why, gay-baiting, of course.
May 20, 2006
Maciel and the Pope
If I have the Maciel story right, he was given a rather mild punishment, sort of a quiet retirement with no heavy lifting, at the very end of his life, for unspeakably bad behavior, with no resolution of whether he actually did anything bad. What in the world is going on here? (1) We couldn't figure out whether he did...