a review of religion and media
“Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.” — Alabama governor-elect, Robert Bentley, during a speech before his oath of office (h/t Gawker) Continue Reading →
“Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.” — Alabama governor-elect, Robert Bentley, during a speech before his oath of office (h/t Gawker) Continue Reading →
“Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.” — Alabama governor-elect, Robert Bentley, during a speech before his oath of office (h/t Gawker) Continue Reading →
by Ann Neumann
Reposted from The Nation.
Last week a regulation to provide Medicare coverage for advance care planning counseling—that is, offer reimbursement to doctors for time spent talking to patients about end-of-life care—was abandoned… for the second time.
Section 1233 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) died a first death in the summer of 2009 in the debate over healthcare reform, during which healthcare opponents characterized the provision as a call for government-run “death panels.” Former Lieutenant Governor of New York State Betsy McCaughey, who consulted with Philip Morris while working on the hit piece against the Clinton healthcare plan “No Exit,” coined the “death panel” moniker; Sarah Palin popularized it. Then John Boehner, at the time the House minority leader, claimed that the provision would lead the country down “a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.” Fox & Friends repeated the “death panel” meme dozens of times, and soon, the provision was stripped from the healthcare bill. But last November, the Obama administration quietly inserted it into Medicare’s annual regulations—after the customary public review period. The New York Times‘s Robert Pear broke the news on Christmas Day that end-of-life counseling was to be covered by Medicare. Immediately, right-wing think tanks, some with legal cases against the healthcare bill, leveraged the “death panel” rhetoric to bolster their arguments. Continue Reading →
Ashley Makar writes at Tablet about Sudanese refugees in Israel. A clip:
The Knesset’s information branch reports that there are over 24,000 “infiltrators” and asylum seekers in Israel: almost 19,000 Sudanese and Eritreans, the rest from Central Africa. Up to 7,000 of these are in Eilat, where Mayor Yitzhak Halevi is on a “Save the City” campaign to rid his town of Africans. In a July press conference, Halevi said Israel has become a “heaven for infiltrators.” He added that those who are changing the demographic composition of Eilat are de-valuing properties, committing crimes, spreading diseases, and “getting drunk and frustrated.”
Thomas Nelson Publishers decided to tally up the 100 bestselling Christian books of 2010 (they used proprietary software; don’t try this at home). While Thomas Hyatt, TN’s chairman and CEO, posted the entire list at his website, we’re going to take you up to only number 11 here because we’re a little fascinated with the videos used to promote it (here and here). Continue Reading →
by Elissa Lerner
If you walk into the Gottesman Exhibition Hall at the New York Public Library right now, you can’t help but notice a wave of warm, damp air. In an exhibition that could easily have been expanded to fill the more heavily trafficked halls of museums like the Met, the New York Public Library has dug through its archives and pulled out an awe-inspiring collection of the most awe-inspired books in the world: rare copies of the holy texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But a larger space for Three Faiths (free, now through February 27th) would have ruined the atmosphere; book reading, or book gazing in this context, is a cozy and leisurely activity, far from the crowds of Museum Mile.
Highlights from the exhibit (and there are many) include a Quran from Istanbul dating to 1103 with clearly identifiable human figures and faces, which became increasingly rare in Quranic art. Another gem is a Samaritan Bible from 1232 written in Paleo-Hebrew script, which some trace to descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel. (Judah, the southern kingdom, adopted Aramaic script, creating a visual and literary break with the other tribes.) Yet perhaps the most remarkable text is not text at all, but the art accompanying a small copy of the Gospels from Ge’ez, Ethiopia, dating to the 15th century. The book is open to a portrait of a Madonna and Child that initially resembles a Byzantine style, until you can’t help but notice the bright orange, yellow and green fabrics (European holy colors are red and blue), and the brown skin of the holy family. Continue Reading →
When you want your clothes to say, “I’m in it but not of it, man.” Continue Reading →
Truth Wins Out takes the time to note contact information for senators and representatives as well as Ugandan officials affiliated with The Family and the “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda. A vote, according to TWO’s Wayne Bresen is slated for some time after January 18th.
For more, read Warren Throckmorton here. Continue Reading →
Elissa Lerner writes at The New Yorker Book Bench blog:
When was the last time you read the Bible? According to the Pew Forum, about thirty-seven per cent of Americans say they read the Bible at least once a week. According to the introduction of the “C.S. Lewis Bible,” an edition of the New Revised Standard Version published by HarperCollins, this book is for them, and for all other regular readers of the scriptures. To dispel any confusion, yes, this is the Bible, complete with crinkly, ready-to-tear paper; and no, it does not contain any previously undiscovered works of C.S. Lewis. The edition is generously sprinkled with the writer’s quips, essays, and correspondence offering spiritual insight. But for the heathens, pagans, and general non-Bible-studying set, there is still plenty to glean.
Continue reading here. Continue Reading →