At first, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seemed to be an inspired vice presidential choice by Sen. John McCain, the soon-to-be Republican nominee for president. Reformer, female, bright, outdoors woman, young, winning personality and Washington D.C. outsider. A gamble, but a good one.
But then news emerges that Palin wants creationism taught in public schools. Here’s what [...]
Entries from August 2008
Palin and creationism
August 31st, 2008 · 15 Comments
Tags: Faith and Doubt
W: The Rick Warren magazine?
August 29th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Sources say Rick Warren is in talks with Reader’s Digest to publish a magazine based on his Purpose-Driven LIfe book.
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Tags: Faith and Doubt
The death of the religion beat
August 29th, 2008 · 4 Comments
When I first was put on the religion beat for the Los Angeles TImes, I was the fourth full-time reporter covering faith for the newspaper. Today, there is one reporter — who months past — has often been pulled to cover other types of stories.
Terry Mattingly of GetReligion.org has an interesting blog post headlined: RIP: [...]
Tags: Faith and Doubt
Biden and cafeteria Catholicism
August 28th, 2008 · 5 Comments
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden is a “pro-choice Catholic.” This highlights a problem in the Catholic Church that won’t go away: the disconnect between the attitudes and behaviors of the people in the pews and official church doctrine.
What happens when the majority of Catholic decide to ignore Vatican doctrine? Let’s leave aside the [...]
Tags: Faith and Doubt
Hamlet Lives!
August 25th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Just got back from seeing Hamlet 2. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the movie — it’s a wilder version of Waiting for Guffman set in high school. Ultimately, it’s a sweet (if crude) film.
There’s been buzz in the Christian community that this film — with its “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus” number [...]
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Tags: Faith and Doubt
Why there still might be a God
August 23rd, 2008 · 1 Comment
Click here and listen.
Tags: Faith and Doubt
Blind faith in the pews
August 22nd, 2008 · 5 Comments
One of the contributing factors to my loss of faith was the unwavering devotion of Catholics to their molesting priests.
For example, in 1986, Father Andrew Christian Andersen faced up to 56 years in state prison after being convicted of 26 felony counts of child molestation.
Letters from parishioners and brother priests flooded into the courthouse, [...]
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Tags: Faith and Doubt
Dangers of a godly presidency
August 22nd, 2008 · 15 Comments
Mega-Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest told the world Monday on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that the President of the United States should believe in God.
Polls show that Americans would rather vote for a Catholic, Jew, Mormon or Muslim than an atheist. But how wise it that?
I wouldn’t feel comfortable with a [...]
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Tags: Faith and Doubt
Dumb religion traditions
August 21st, 2008 · 24 Comments
Watching the Olympics, I’ve seen two crazy religious traditions on display.
First, New Zealand women’s basketball players Charmian Purcell and Nonila Wharemate decided that playing on Sundays is against the principles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which mandates that Sunday is a day of rest (but feel free to attend endless services). [...]
Tags: Faith and Doubt
Thank God for Shawn McEvoy
August 21st, 2008 · 1 Comment
Shawn McEvoy of the Christian website crosswalk.com gives me hope for evangelical Christians. Read his comments on the California court decision mandating that doctors not discriminate against homosexual patients. Here’s his key paragraph about the ruling:
“Thank God,” I said to myself. Goodness, a lesbian is still a woman, and still has reproductive capabilities, does she [...]
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Tags: Faith and Doubt