Evangelicals, Not Invited to the 9/11 Party

The best and most prominent reminder of the diversity of American Christian thought arrived on the New York City mayor’s desk this week, in the form of a petition with 62,000 signatures.  It was written by that epicenter of hate speech, The Family Research Council (and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, a Bronx pastor).  FRC’s beef?  That the ceremony at the World Trade Center tomorrow will not include pastors or priests.  Each year, in a ceremony format now a decade old, moments of silence break up the hours-long reading of names of those who died.  Representatives from across the religious spectrum attend. But the petitioners want explicit prayers and they want them from their own leaders. Continue Reading →

Timothy Dolan Reader

A lot of commentary is stacking up about this week’s upset appointment of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan to the presidency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, over the sitting Vice President, Tuscon’s Gerald Kicanis.  Still shaking your head at why and how the USCCB skipped their usual appointment of the VP? Wondering what it means for U.S. social policy? Continue Reading →