Wed, November 19, 2008, 4:18 pm
If you're looking for a way to mark the anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, you might want to check out this article from the York Daily Record, in which historians draw a connection the emancipator and soon-to-be President Obama. York is a county over from Gettysburg and has just about the best religion reporter in the state (she's also my wife).
Money quote: "Historian Ronald C. White Jr. said he's often asked how Lincoln -- a 19th-century thinker whose most famous public statements are chock-full of biblical language and theology -- can speak to the broad, religiously diverse nation of the 21st century.
Lincoln speaks to us because he used broad, inclusive and humble language, White argues.
"Because of that, he can still be a mentor," White said. "I think that's why Obama has found Lincoln so helpful to himself."
Wed, November 19, 2008, 1:55 pm
Mike Huckabee's got a new book out, and he's a bit bitter about Christian right leaders who failed to support his campaign, according to this Time article.
Money quote: "Many conservative Christian leaders - who never backed Huckabee, despite their holding similar stances on social issues - are spared neither the rod nor the lash. Huckabee writes of Gary Bauer, the conservative Christian leader and former presidential candidate, as having an "ever-changing reason to deny me his support." Of one private meeting with Bauer, Huckabee says, "It was like playing Whac-a-Mole at the arcade - whatever issue I addressed, another one surfaced as a 'problem' that made my candidacy unacceptable." He also accuses Bauer of putting national security before bedrock social issues like the sanctity of life and traditional marriage"
Huck also calls out Pat Robertson, Bob Jones III, and Pastor John Hagee for endorsing other candidates.
Tue, November 18, 2008, 3:22 pm
Everyone's favorite faux small-town philosopher, Garrison Keillor, was at the National Cathedral in Washington recently, doing what he does: wry humor with a liberal sprinkling of sarcasm and Lutheran piety. Anyway, it was pretty funny, as this Religion & Ethics Newsweekly video shows.
Money quote: "They believed in forgiveness in theory, but in practice it was, of course, it was of course more difficult, and living in a small town, they knew much too much about you to be merciful sometimes. But they loved, they loved the King James. They loved Scripture. They loved old hymns. They wouldn't have belonged in the praise churches today, where people gather in big gymnasiums, and they hold their hands up over their heads, and they sing what we call 7-Eleven songs, where you sing seven words 11 times."
Tue, November 18, 2008, 3:06 pm
"Managers who won't give up their bonuses," reads a front-page headline in tomorrow's edition of the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. The article reports that Citigroup is laying off 52,000 employees while still paying their executives year-end bonuses—in contrast to Goldman Sachs and UBS, where top executives have chosen to go without. No prizes for guessing what the paper thinks is the right choice.
Mon, November 17, 2008, 9:14 pm
Claire Hoffman talks to the artist formerly known as an androgenous sybarite about abortion and homosexuality. That's right, Prince has been a Jehovah's Witness for a few years now (yes, he goes door to door) and he's got some opinions.
“God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it
with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’
”
And then, doves cried.
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