FPL News Reel: February 1, 2012
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel
Romney sweeps most groups in Florida vote
By Tom Curry — NBC News
Mitt Romney swept to victory in the Florida primary Tuesday night by winning nearly every income, age, religious, ideological, and ethnic group…
Turning the ‘Buffett Rule’ Into Law
By New York Times, Editorial
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats are expected to create legislation that would require million-dollar earners to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. Even if the bill faces a brick wall of Republican opposition, which it will, a vote on this proposal cannot come soon enough.
Obama’s breach of faith over contraceptive ruling
By E.J. Dionne Jr. — Washington Post, Opinion
One of Barack Obama’s great attractions as a presidential candidate was his sensitivity to the feelings and intellectual concerns of religious believers. That is why it is so remarkable that he utterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services should be treated under the new health care law.
Government, Religion and Contraception
By Martin E. Marty — Sightings
Such issues are easily exploited by political factions and interests on all sides, but they cannot easily be wished away. Did the government in the current case act brutally, as its opponents claim? Or is the government simply seeking to help assure justice to citizens of all religious and non-religious sorts?
Corrections, religious groups ask lawmakers to oppose prison privatization
By Kathleen Haughney — South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A coalition of 17 groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Private Corrections Institute and several human rights and religious organizations sent a four-page public letter to Senate President Mike Haridopolos today stating its opposition to a controversial prison privatization proposal.
Study Says U.S. Muslims Don’t Want Shariah Either
By Omar Sacirbey — Religion News Service
North American Muslims are more than satisfied with the secular legal system and do not want a set of parallel courts for Islamic law, according to a new study of U.S. and Canadian Muslims by a Washington-based think tank.
At West Point’s prayer breakfast, no room for hate
By Sally Quinn — Washington Post, On Faith
Where is that zero-tolerance policy against bigotry now? Who invited Boykin to speak at West Point? When the superintendent, Lt. General David H. Huntoon, found out about it, why didn’t he cancel the address immediately instead of waiting until there was a media firestorm?
Local groups start fight against trafficking
By Joseph Dits — South Bend Tribune
Eleven orders of Catholic nuns in Indiana and Michigan, including the local Sisters of the Holy Cross and Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, contacted the managers at 220 hotels within a 50-mile radius of Indianapolis. They knew that this weekend’s Super Bowl could be ripe ground for the use of sex slaves in prostitution.
Young lawyer fights for social justice on her way to becoming a nun
By Sheila Stroup — New Orleans Times-Picayune
McCrary tries to strike a balance between prayer and ministry. The young lawyer, who will be 30 in February, has a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship and spends her days as an advocate and organizer, working with Safe Streets/Strong Communities, a grassroots group that operates out of an office on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.
