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The high priests in the Wall Street Church of Corporatism have issued forth another op-ed fatwa against the majority of Americans who connect their faith to our environment.
In today's Wall Street Journal piece, "Global Warming as Mass Neurosis," editorial board member Bret Stephens nails the faithful:
Last week, scrubbing away under the political pressure, Bill Donohue, of the Catholic League, followed the need of McCain and absolved anti-Catholic John Hagee for his whore of Babylon language.
Now, with Talk to Action's release of new audio evidence that Hagee also thinks that God led Hitler to kill Jews for the good of apocalyptic theology, McCain has denounced his Hagee man, but Donohue seems stuck between his flip and his flop. Does he stick with his new pal who was anti-Catholic last week, or stand up for serious Catholic theology which finds no room for arguments that God had six million Jews killed in order "to hunt" the rest to Israel to set the Rapture stage?
On air and in print, they worry about Trinity's (United Church of Christ) "Afrocentric" commitments to the black community and black work ethic. Hitchens called the church racist. And over and over Hannity and O'Reilly parrot the old light-weight racist rhetorical question: how come they can have black theology (or a month) but we can't have a "white theology" without being called racist?
Crossposted at Faith in Public Life
Since it is a mere two weeks from THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY in Mike and Mitt's life, I thought we'd take a look beyond the MSM debate over their religious support and get right to the base. In this case, advocacy websites that craft a candidate's image to a specific constituency.
Since Mike and Mitt are battling it out in Iowa, close to the margin of error -- Mike in the lead, Mitt with momentum -- swaying loyal turnout votes is crucial. In examining the rhetoric of these two sites, it's interesting to see how their inside-the-base propagandists craft their candidate and attack the other side as each one vies to paint their man as most authentic.
Posted at Faith in Public Life
The polluting industry is losing is exploitative grip on the American religious landscape.
Now it's almost impossible to fail to find an article each week on the greening of God. In fact, the dog bites man story is becoming "evangelicals care for creation."
For example, from the Associated Press:
Let's probe a real All Hallows Eve fissure in the popular "crackup" narrative developing on the religious right. Noting the effect of the Giuiliani campaign on this "death," "reconfiguration," or "reformation," of social conservatives, the American Spectator's W. James Antle III prognosticates in The Politico, on the effect a Giuliani win in November would have on the role of abortion in his own party.
Antle writes:
Crossposted at The Beatitudes Society.
I checked out Paul Krugman's new blog, The Conscience of a Liberal.
He's got a very telling graph up on the "share of the richest 10 percent of the American population in total income – an indicator that closely tracks many other measures of economic inequality."
What's especially interesting lies in the strong evidence that the progressive New Deal reforms created the great American middle class and the last thirty years of supply side economics in action have -- on the whole -- not trickled down. Period.
Crossposted from Faith in Public Life.
Here's another brick in the wall separating the Christian right from the rest of the country. The Values Voters debate not only didn't attract the top four Republican candidates, but their failure to show antagonized -- and further marginalized -- the likes of Phyllis Schlafly, Paul Weyrich, Rick Scarborough, self-proclaimed representatives from "America's Largest Voting Block."
(If you don't know who these folks are, I recommend a visit to Talk to Action.)
Apparently they conducted a straw poll and Huckabee won overwhelmingly.
Greetings good folks of faith:
Interfaith Power and Light has a clergy/religious leader-only letter asking Toyota Motor North America to withdraw its lawsuit opposing AB 1493, California's landmark law to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.
They need 22 more signatures in the next two days. . .
Before the Forum, the Times suggested:
The event is a relatively rare opportunity for the Democratic candidates to talk about the role faith plays in their political lives, and their appearances signals that the votes of at least some politically active Christians may be up for grabs in 2008.
After watching it, I thought that the Sojourners' show on faith, values and poverty turned out quick and dirty.
Lou Dobbs says churches shouldn't be taking a stand on illegal immigration. He writes:
The nation's religious leaders seem hell-bent on ignoring the separation of church and state when it comes to the politically charged issue of illegal immigration. A new coalition called Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform Wednesday will begin lobbying lawmakers with a new advertising and direct mail campaign on behalf of amnesty for illegal aliens.
But in calling it "political adventurism," Dobbs conflates how church or state actually keep themselves separate. . .
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