Salem 66: Dispatch #1 – September 7-13, 2015
Don Jolly covers the religion of the 2016 election season. Continue Reading →
Tag: mitt romney
In The News: #LoveWins, #TakeItDown, #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches
A round-up of the week’s religion news. Continue Reading →
Where was Religion at the RNC? In the Foreign Policy. No, Really.
The convention floor was the village of The Scarlet Letter, where the elect and aspirants must name their enemies, expelled into the wilderness, in order to preserve the core of their society. Continue Reading →
Charity's Faith Problem
Amy Levin: What’s wrong with charity? Well, nothing, if you’re Mitt Romney and your definition of charity is giving to anti-gay referendums. Ok, that was harsh, but none of us can deny that whatever we mean by “charity” comes with a loaded moral gun and a wad of political undertones, not to mention an extra ladle of shame along with your soup kitchen stew. I would argue that the mixing of faith and charity has once more come to the fore of American politics, but that would presume that it ever left. Nevertheless, columnist Ross Douthat’s piece in the New York Times on “Religious Giving and Its Critics” caught my eye this week, especially alongside Amy Sullivan’s piece in which she asks, “Is Compassionate Conservatism Dead?”
Douthat, known for his conservative voice on The Times, expressed his disappointment in the The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis’ reaction to conservative applause over Mitt Romney’s charitable giving. MacGillis’ piece takes a snarky stab at the praise for Romney’s 30% contribution of his income to society (argued by Heritage Foundation‘s economist, J.D. Foster). For those of you who struggle with math (like me), that 30% does not exactly amount to federal income tax, but is more of an amalgamation of a 13.9% federal income tax and $7 million in charitable contributions over the past two years, including $4.1 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. Continue Reading →
Charity’s Faith Problem
Amy Levin: What’s wrong with charity? Well, nothing, if you’re Mitt Romney and your definition of charity is giving to anti-gay referendums. Ok, that was harsh, but none of us can deny that whatever we mean by “charity” comes with a loaded moral gun and a wad of political undertones, not to mention an extra ladle of shame along with your soup kitchen stew. I would argue that the mixing of faith and charity has once more come to the fore of American politics, but that would presume that it ever left. Nevertheless, columnist Ross Douthat’s piece in the New York Times on “Religious Giving and Its Critics” caught my eye this week, especially alongside Amy Sullivan’s piece in which she asks, “Is Compassionate Conservatism Dead?”
Douthat, known for his conservative voice on The Times, expressed his disappointment in the The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis’ reaction to conservative applause over Mitt Romney’s charitable giving. MacGillis’ piece takes a snarky stab at the praise for Romney’s 30% contribution of his income to society (argued by Heritage Foundation‘s economist, J.D. Foster). For those of you who struggle with math (like me), that 30% does not exactly amount to federal income tax, but is more of an amalgamation of a 13.9% federal income tax and $7 million in charitable contributions over the past two years, including $4.1 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. Continue Reading →
Mormon, Schmormon
Things we love about the new Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll on “Mormons in America?” So glad you asked:
Substitute your own word in here: “Many _____ feel they are misunderstood, discriminated against and not accepted by other Americans as part of mainstream society.” Continue Reading →
Romney's Mormonism and the "Wierdness Quotient"
Amy Levin: If it wasn’t already, presidential politicking has stooped a little low. Curiously, Barack Obama’s reelection campaign informed Politico of their strategy to re-elect the “hopeful” incumbent: to make Mitt Romney seem. . . weird. Due to his fairly low approval ratings, the Obama’s campaign strategists are betting on a victory at the expense of throwing his most likely opponent under the rug. According to writers Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin,
The onslaught would have two aspects. The first is personal: Obama’s reelection campaign will portray the public Romney as inauthentic, unprincipled and, in a word used repeatedly by Obama’s advisers in about a dozen interviews, “weird.”
Romney’s Mormonism and the “Wierdness Quotient”
Amy Levin: If it wasn’t already, presidential politicking has stooped a little low. Curiously, Barack Obama’s reelection campaign informed Politico of their strategy to re-elect the “hopeful” incumbent: to make Mitt Romney seem. . . weird. Due to his fairly low approval ratings, the Obama’s campaign strategists are betting on a victory at the expense of throwing his most likely opponent under the rug. According to writers Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin,
The onslaught would have two aspects. The first is personal: Obama’s reelection campaign will portray the public Romney as inauthentic, unprincipled and, in a word used repeatedly by Obama’s advisers in about a dozen interviews, “weird.”
Our Daily Links — Oprah Was Raptured?
Everyone’s favorite tween, Justin Bieber is fresh off a visit to Israel and was seen this week sporting a new tattoo that reads “Yeshua,” or Jesus, in Hebrew. Baylor University Press has published a new book, The Evangelical Movement in Ethiopia, that is being called a tool for promoting religious intolerance and a harbinger of greater social and political unrest. Scalia’s called last week’s SCOTUS decision, Brown v. Plata, “the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation’s history.” The ruling grants that prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights must be respected. It would be dangerous to put a Mormon in the White House. There’s been a lot of press about the end of Oprah’s show this month (and her brand of faith) but little answer to the question of why she’s ended it. The Revealer‘s heard from a semi-reliable source that Oprah was raptured. (h/t Genevieve Yue) Continue Reading →
Give Us This Day Our Daily Links
Of course we don’t endorse primary candidates (Mitt Romney 5.0)! But if we could…
Reading, writing and the absolute horrors of being in divinity school.
Old evangelical wine in old evangelical wineskins?
The Archbishop of Canterbury designates a Pakistani martyr.
Alabama Rep on Shari’ah: I don’t know what it is but I’m gonna ban it.
To the victim goes the forgiveness.
And today’s must-read is Tim Nafziger’s fantastic romp through Mennonite “institutions and bureaucracy” at Young Anabaptist Radicals, parts one and two. (Read Tim’s columns at The Mennonite here.) Continue Reading →