http://williamlobdell.com Author of "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America -- and Found Unexpected Peace" Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:55:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/219 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/217 Click here and listen. http://williamlobdell.com/archives/216 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/213 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/211 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/208 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 ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/207 If you're Catholic and think the clergy sexual abuse scandal is behind you, think again. Here's a "post"-scandal story of Father Luis Eduardo Ramirez, who was arrested in January in Anaheim for suspicion of child annoyance or molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The city of Anaheim didn't ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/204 As a religion writer, I quickly discovered that David Waters, now a friend of mine, was the best religion writer in America. At the time, he worked at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He's now at the Washington Post, producing some great journalism centered around religion. Waters today offered better questions Saddleback ... http://williamlobdell.com/archives/203 Here is the link to the crazy video from the Focus on the Family guy. I'm still trying to feel around this new website, and haven't figured out how to embed YouTube videos in the post. I fix it on the original post. http://williamlobdell.com/archives/202