FPL News Reel: February 2, 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, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel
Mitt Romney Not Concerned About People Living In Poverty — But He Should Be
By Rev. Chuck Currie — Huffington Post, Opinion
But talk to social service providers and faith-based groups…and you’ll hear story after story about people being turned away from aid because it doesn’t exist.
Obama uses prayer breakfast to call for assistance to poor
By Amie Parnes — The Hill
President Obama used his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday to discuss the need for the country to take care of the poor and needy in society.
National Prayer Breakfast Gets A Rival: The People’s Prayer Breakfast
By Jaweed Kaleem — Huffington Post
The National Prayer Breakfast is about to get “occupied” — sort of. Just half a mile from the hotel, dozens or perhaps hundreds of a network of clergy and their supporters, part of “Occupy Faith” within the Occupy Wall Street movement, plan to converge for their own “People’s Prayer Breakfast.”
Ruling on Contraception Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges
By Denise Grady — New York Times
Many Catholic colleges decline to prescribe or cover birth control, citing religious reasons. Now they are under pressure to change.
Right still reads Falwell’s playbook
By Michael Sean Winters — National Catholic Reporter
Religion in America has long been prominent in the public square, but it is only recently that the primary face of religion in political discourse has been the face of conservative evangelical Christianity.
Barack Obama announces plan to help homeowners
By Jennifer Epstein — Politico
President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a plan to resuscitate the struggling housing market and help millions of homeowners refinance their mortgages, urging Congress to address a problem that is “massive in size and scope.”
Immigrant Worker Firings Unsettle a College Campus
By Jennifer Medina — New York Times
Seventeen workers could not produce documents showing that they were legally able to work in the United States. So on Dec. 2, they lost their jobs…The renewed discussion over immigration and low-wage workers has animated class discussions, late-night dorm conversations and furious back and forth on alumni e-mail lists.
Paul: Immigration not solved by barbed wire, guns
By Beth Fouhy — Associated Press
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul outlined his views on immigration Wednesday, saying he favors a compassionate policy that doesn’t rely on “barbed-wire fences and guns on our border.”
Warren Buffett’s ‘nuclear bomb’
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite — Washington Post, On Faith
Great wealth is not, in itself, immoral. What is immoral is when some of the wealthy their means to lobby for an unfair advantage that tilts the economic playing field so grossly in their favor. All Americans have a moral obligation to level the playing field again.
Good Returns
By Thomas Healey — America
The latest version of socially responsible investing is known as “positive investing,” taking a financial stake in companies or institutions committed to making a meaningful societal impact.
