After a six-year run bringing you the best faith and politics news every day, Faith in Public Life will be ending the daily news reel email on Friday, August 24th. Thanks for your loyal readership. If you want to stay up to date on all things faith and politics, you can follow our Twitter account @BoldFaithType, where we will be posting stories throughout the day.
From Nunzilla to ‘You Go Girl’: A Tale of Sisters
By Katherine Marshall — Huffington Post, Opinion
With Paul Ryan now in the vice presidential spotlight, LCWR will not take a political stand. However, [Sr. Farrell] made clear that LCWR and its members will maintain their staunch support for the poor and programs that support them, and budgets will be an obvious focus.
The repugnant code behind Todd Akin’s words
By Washington Post, Editorial
Mr. Akin was utterly unconvincing in explaining that he “misspoke.” It is scary that someone so ill-informed could hold elective office or have a chance of becoming a senator.
Crucial Senate Race in Uproar
By Naftali Bendavid and Louise Radnofsky — Wall Street Journal
Republicans urged Rep. Todd Akin to quit the key Missouri Senate race after he said women’s bodies can avert pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape.”
What I built — with government help
By James C. Roumell — Washington Post, Opinion
I did work harder, and perhaps more imaginatively, than many colleagues. But does that mean I built it myself? Does it diminish my success to be grateful for the public investments that so clearly contributed to my success? Every successful person knows, and will admit if he is honest, that luck played a role in his good fortune.
The Promise-Keeper
By David Weigel — Slate
The point of all this: proving that the first “Medi-scare” battle of the election is ending and that Republicans have fought it to a draw. Ryan got his message down to a zinger, and repeated it all week. “We want this debate,” he said. “We need this debate. And we will win this debate.”
Ohio GOP Admits Early Voting Cutbacks Are Racially Motivated
By Ari Berman — The Nation
Why do Ohio Republicans suddenly feel so strongly about limiting early voting hours in Democratic counties? Franklin County (Columbus) GOP Chair Doug Preisse gave a surprisingly blunt answer to the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday: “I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process to accommodate the urban—read African-American—voter-turnout machine.”
GOP prepares tough anti-abortion platform
By Peter Hamby — CNN
The Republican Party is once again set to enshrine into its official platform support for “a human life amendment” to the Constitution that would outlaw abortion without making explicit exemptions for rape or incest, according to draft language of the platform obtained exclusively by CNN late Monday.
Gov. Jan Brewer Tries to Stop the DREAM in Arizona
By Beau Underwood — Sojourners, God’s Politics
The faith community cannot be silent in the face of such despair. Gov. Brewer needs to hear from religious leaders disappointed in her actions in the hopes that such moral outrage might cause her to reverse course.
Farm Bill Blues
By Christian Century, Editorial
The farm bill is enormous in scope. It represents a mess of irrational, unhelpful policy; it’s also responsible for some essential programs. It needs to be reauthorized. Then it’s back to the longer-term work of building a food system that does right by farmers, eaters and the land.
Study: Less religious states give less to charity
By Jay Lindsay — Associated Press
The study released Monday by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that residents in states where religious participation is higher than the rest of the nation, particularly in the South, gave the greatest percentage of their discretionary income to charity.
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In an amazingly honest op-ed last week, evangelical WORLD Magazine editor Marvin Olasky addressed the publication’s handling of the controversy surrounding David Barton’s discredited writings. Barton’s book The Jefferson Lies was recently pulled from the shelves by publisher Thomas Nelson after its rampant historical inaccuracies received widespread attention.
Historians have been calling attention to Barton’s shoddy, misleading work for years but have largely been ignored or dismissed as biased by conservative media. Outlets such as WORLD have only acknowledged these critiques because conservative Christian scholars have finally started echoing Barton’s longtime critics in the scholarly community.
Olasky’s op-ed addresses this inconsistency but does not apologize for it!
Left-wing historians for years have criticized Barton. We haven’t spotlighted those criticisms because we know the biases behind them. It’s different when Christian conservatives point out inaccuracies. The Bible tells us that “iron sharpens iron,” and that’s our goal in reporting this controversy.
To be clear, Olasky is admitting that he summarily dismissed legitimate criticisms of Barton’s work for ideological reasons, yet he defends that decision by maintaining the attack on these scholars as the “biased” ones.
Olasky’s preference for judging scholarly qualifications by ideology instead of accuracy is also evident in his continuing faith in Barton’s credibility.
David Barton should not be, nor does he want to be, defended as if he were inerrant: If his history writing does include some inaccuracies, I trust he’ll make corrections.
What Olasky fails to acknowledge here is that we’re not just dealing with minor blemishes; almost the entirety of Barton’s body of work is based on a sloppy, willfull distortion of history to suit his partisan political ends.
It’s certainly possible for a religious magazine with an ideological point of view to meet standards of journalistic integrity. But Olasky’s oblivious editorial misses the mark.
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After a six-year run bringing you the best faith and politics news every day, Faith in Public Life will be ending the daily news reel email on Friday, August 24th. Thanks for your loyal readership. If you want to stay up to date on all things faith and politics, you can follow our Twitter account@BoldFaithType, where we will be posting stories throughout the day.
Paul Ryan’s Uphill Fight for the Catholic Vote 
By Lauren Fox — US News & World Reports
“Catholics are steeped in a tradition that puts the common good and community before extreme individualism,” Gehring says. “This is going to be a factor with quite a few moderate Catholic voters in key states where Ryan’s appeals to the wonders of the free market are going to ring hollow.”
Nuns Ask Candidates To Spend A Day With The Poor
By Jacki Lyden — NPR
A group of Catholic nuns say they’re worried about the way GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will approach poverty and safety-net programs, if elected. So the nuns have invited him, and his running mate Paul Ryan, to spend a day with them, helping the poor.
An Unserious Man
By Paul Krugman — New York Times, Opinion
Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.
Can Faithful America Vote for Paul Ryan?
By John W. McCarthy — Huffington Post, Opinion
What is clear is that Paul Ryan does an awful lot of talking about faith but seems to only follow Church teachings when it suits him politically. A few weeks ago he was leading the charge against the president’s balanced contraception policy — now he’s ignoring the urging of his Church leaders to restructure his budgetary priorities.
‘Dreamers’ cautious about Obama’s deferred-action program
By Daniel González and Eugene Scott — Arizona Republic
Undocumented immigrants are taking their time filling out the paperwork for President Barack Obama’s deferred-action program that allows them to legally stay in the country because they have only one chance to get the application right.
Spate of attacks near Ramadan trouble U.S. Muslims
By Yasmin Amer and Moni Basu — CNN
At least seven mosques and one cemetery were attacked in America during Ramadan, according to groups that track such incidents.
Shootings here, there, yet action eludes us
By Josh Brodesky — Arizona Daily Star, Opinion
“We are really well-suited to champion this cause,” Patricia Maisch, who grabbed the magazine from Jared Lee Loughner, told me last week. “I don’t see any reason to stop trying. If I do, then I will have lost a lot of respect for myself.”
Claire McCaskill Reacts To Todd Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Remarks
By Sam Stein — Huffington Post
“I have a hard time imagining a woman uttering the phrase ‘legitimate rape,’” McCaskill said. “It is not something that would ever come out of a woman’s mouth, because it is something every woman is fearful of. I think every woman knows someone who has had to deal with sexual assault.”
In Defense of the Southern Poverty Law Center
By Aaron Taylor — Sojourners, God’s Politics
It’s one thing to say the Bible says homosexuality is a sin and I oppose gay marriage. It’s another thing to say these people are out to get your children!…You can’t single out a group of people as a threat to civilization, and then cast yourself in the role of a victim when people suggest that your words are hate speech.
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After a six-year run bringing you the best faith and politics news every day, Faith in Public Life will be ending the daily news reel email on Friday, August 24th. Thanks for your loyal readership. If you want to stay up to date on all things faith and politics, you can follow our Twitter account @BoldFaithType, where we will be posting stories throughout the day.
Memo to Ryan: “Life Issues” Go Beyond Abortion
By Simone Campbell — Religion & Politics, Opinion
Today, we continue to question how a budget that deliberately harms people at the economic margins while further enriching the wealthiest can ever be defined as “pro-life” or in keeping with Catholic social teachings.
Catholic Group Prays for Paul Ryan’s ‘Conversion’
By Alicia Mundy — Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire
The group launched a website, PrayforPaulsChangeofHeart.org, that asks visitors to “Please pray for Paul Ryan, a devout Catholic, to have a change of heart on the federal budget.” It includes a special Rosary prayer to St. Paul, “the great convert,” to bring about a transformation in the anti-deficit Republican.
As the White Protestant Vote Recedes, the GOP Turns to ‘Voter Fraud’
By Allan J. Lichtman — Daily Beast
Republicans are not responding to a newly discovered crisis in voter impersonation at the polls, but to a partisan crisis brought on by their party’s declining base of white Protestant voters.
Analyst says Romney plays religion card
By Terry Goodrich — Associated Baptist Press
A new political ad by presidential candidate Mitt Romney accusing President Obama of “waging war on religion” is an opening salvo in religious rhetoric that likely will escalate as the November election approaches, says a Baylor University political expert and author.
Obama turns back the clock on Guantanamo
By Baher Azmy — Washington Post, Opinion
In other words, far from closing the prison camp as he promised, President Obama is steadily returning Guantanamo to the secretive and hopeless internment camp that he vilified as a candidate.
PHOTOS: Masses yearning to breathe free
By MSNBC, Maddow Blog
Hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants scrambled to get papers in order Wednesday as the U.S. started accepting applications to allow them to avoid deportation and get a work permit under a new government program.
Nuns group: We are not leaving the church
By Kevin Eckstrom — Religion News Service
A leader of the group of Catholic nuns who are facing a crackdown from the Vatican said Thursday (Aug. 16) that her members have no plans or desire to leave the church, or reconstitute their group beyond Vatican control.
Family Research Council accuses Southern Poverty Law Center of sparking shooter’s hatred
By Chris Lisee — Religion News Service
The SPLC’s Mark Potok called Perkins’ accusations “outrageous,” and said his group is committed to offering “legitimate and fact-based criticism.”
What the Right Gets Wrong About the FRC Shooting
By Adam Serwer — Mother Jones
Given his group’s years-long characterization of gays and lesbians as child-molesting sociopaths bent on abusing children, I doubt [Family Research Council President Tony] Perkins wants his silly standard for what constitutes a justification of violence to be applied to himself.
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After a six-year run bringing you the best faith and politics news every day, Faith in Public Life will be ending the daily news reel email on Friday, August 24th. Thanks for your loyal readership. If you want to stay up to date on all things faith and politics, you can follow our Twitter account @BoldFaithType, where we will be posting stories throughout the day. .
Shooting at the Family Research Council Offices
By Tim King — Sojourners, God’s Politics
My heart is with the rest of the FRC staff. Their place of work will not feel safe after this. It will undoubtedly be difficult knowing there are those who would do violence against you because of your convictions.
Poll: Religious Groups Divided on Gun Control, But United Against Guns in Churches
By Lauren Markoe — Religion News Service
“Although the issue of gun control tends to divide Americans by party, gender, region and race, there is broad agreement among the public that there are some places where concealed weapons should be off limits,” said Daniel Cox, PRRI’s research director.
Young immigrants pack Navy Pier to seek protected status
By Antonio Olivo and Ellen Hirst — Chicago Tribune
The hosts of Dream Relief Day at Navy Pier on Wednesday expected a big turnout of people looking to take advantage of a new federal reprieve for students and young adults in the country illegally. But they were overwhelmed by the size of the crowd that showed up.
Executive order from Governor Jan Brewer blocks IDs, benefits for illegal immigrants
By ABC15.com
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday ordered state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration policy.
Students face challenges, fears living without Social Security number
By Rose Ybarra — Catholic News Service
“When you don’t have papers, you live scared,” Aranet told The Valley Catholic, newspaper of the Brownsville Diocese. “You worry that if the police stop you, they’ll send you back. … My greatest fear is that they will stop us on the way to or from school.”
N.Y. Cardinal Timothy Dolan Defends Obama Invitation to Al Smith Dinner
By Chris Lisee — Religion News Service
Dolan said the dinner exemplifies the American value of free religious exercise, and called it an opportunity for civility and dialogue. He responded to critics by portraying Obama’s invitation as the lesser of two evils.
Paul Ryan, Joe Biden: A Tale of Two Catholics
By Daniel Burke — Religion News Service
Biden and Ryan both cite their faith as a formative influence, but neither is known as a standard-bearer for the Catholic hierarchy’s chief political causes: abortion and gay marriage. In fact, the two candidates are — politically at least — nearly polar opposites.
My Take: Christianity and Ayn Rand’s philosophy are 2 distinct religions
By Stephen Prothero — CNN, Belief Blog
Now that one of the Republican Party’s least ideological men (Mitt Romney) has christened one of the GOP’s most ideological men (Paul Ryan) as his running mate, Ayn Rand is back in the news.
Religious Progressives Cannot Sit Out This Election
By Rita Nakashima Brock — Huffington Post
Progressives have nothing like the funds that Citizens United has unleashed from the monied right wing. What we have are people hours, and it’s our willingness to work for candidates that is the best protection against a takeover of the country by the 1 percent at every level of our government.
What Jewish voters want — and what the candidates don’t offer
By Rebecca Vilkomerson — L.A. Times, Opinion
…the same Public Religion Research Institute poll cited above found that 46% of Jewish respondents said a commitment to social equality is the most important element of their Jewish identity. It may not be a significant force in the election of 2012, but it would be a mistake to discount this growing segment of the Jewish community.
Planning for Poverty: The SNAP Challenge
By Christian Piatt — Sojourners, God’s Politics
…families receive $4 a day per family member to cover food costs, so the SNAP challenge is pretty simple (in theory, at least): Live on the same amount with your family for a week. For a family of four like us, this means we’ll have $112 to spend on all groceries for the week.
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