a review of religion and media
Howard M. Friedman at Religion Clause notes that Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has announced a letter they presented to the Nebraska-based Todd Becker Foundation, an organization that offers presentations to high schools on the horrors of drunken driving. What’s so bad about telling teens to stay sober or away from the wheel? Here’s the foundation’s description of what they do: Continue Reading →
Despite constitutional separation of church and state, next week’s presidential election is keeping many Filipino church leaders very busy. One prominent TV evangelist, Brother Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord church, is even a candidate, though running a distant fifth place. It is hoped that the closely watched election, which will be recorded by voting machines for the first time, will be the first without controversy in the country. 90% of Filipinos are Christian, 80% are Catholic. The church and other Christian leaders are working to influence political positions by inviting candidates to church-sponsored events and chastising them for not attending or for not adhering to doctrinal positions, particularly on birth control. Continue Reading →
Out & About interviews director Reed Cowan about his new documentary film on the Mormon Church’s efforts to pass Proposition 8 in California, a law which makes same-sex marriage illegal. Cowan says his documentary is more about separation of church and state than it is gay rights and predicts that the church’s blatant political participation will come back to haunt them just as their racial discrimination in the 70’s caused an investigation of their tax-exempt status by the IRS. Continue Reading →
Out & About interviews director Reed Cowan about his new documentary film on the Mormon Church’s efforts to pass Proposition 8 in California, a law which makes same-sex marriage illegal. Cowan says his documentary is more about separation of church and state than it is gay rights and predicts that the church’s blatant political participation will come back to haunt them just as their racial discrimination in the 70’s caused an investigation of their tax-exempt status by the IRS. Continue Reading →
Conservative Australian columnist, Cliff Kincaid, warns that the American people should be paying attention to the Catholic Church’s other offense: facilitating the “foreign invasion” of the U.S. by supporting immigration reform. In a Beckian rant that proves Kincaid needs to spend more time doing his own thinking, he nonetheless cynically crushes any stereotypes about critics of the Catholic Church. Continue Reading →
Conservative Australian columnist, Cliff Kincaid, warns that the American people should be paying attention to the Catholic Church’s other offense: facilitating the “foreign invasion” of the U.S. by supporting immigration reform. In a Beckian rant that proves Kincaid needs to spend more time doing his own thinking, he nonetheless cynically crushes any stereotypes about critics of the Catholic Church. Continue Reading →
Conservative Australian columnist, Cliff Kincaid, warns that the American people should be paying attention to the Catholic Church’s other offense: facilitating the “foreign invasion” of the U.S. by supporting immigration reform. In a Beckian rant that proves Kincaid needs to spend more time doing his own thinking, he nonetheless cynically crushes any stereotypes about critics of the Catholic Church. Continue Reading →
In a 5 to 4 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that a cross erected in the Mojave desert to honor World War I soldiers will stand, proving the Court has neither the will nor the ability to establish precedent on separation of church and state issues. This is the first of such cases to come up since Roberts was made chief justice.
Wrote Kennedy: “Here, one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles, battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten.” Continue Reading →
What does Sarah Palin mean when she says, as she adamantly did last week at a Women of Joy conference in Kentucky, that the U.S. is a Christian nation? Much was written during the presidential campaign about Palin’s religious beliefs, but in this particular instance she was responding to a recent court ruling in Wyoming that determined the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. Palin was contesting the court’s interpretation of the Establishment Clause that, when balanced with the Free Exercise clause, guarantees individuals the right to practice their own faith freely. Continue Reading →
Speaking at an American Studies conference about “Politics and Religion in USA” at an Islamabad university, Deputy Chief of Mission for the United States Embassy Patricia A. Butenis felt compelled Continue Reading →