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.
After Colorado shooting, Democrats reluctant to talk gun control
By Paul Kane — Washington Post
“The silence is deafening,” Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) told reporters Tuesday, outraged at the lack of a gun-control debate.
Battle lines drawn on Bush-era tax cuts
By Brian Montopoli — CBS News
Here’s one thing most Republicans and Democrats can agree on: Congress should act to keep taxes from going up for the average American when the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of the year.
Health care law now cheaper, won’t cover as many people
By Jonathan Allen and Matt Dobias — Politico
…the Supreme Court’s June ruling on the law allowed states to opt out of a costly Medicaid expansion, and in a new report released Tuesday, CBO anticipates that some of them will do just that. As a result, about 3 million more people will remain uninsured, Capitol Hill’s official bean counters said.
Baltimore puts out welcome mat for immigrants, hoping to stop population decline
By Carol Morello and Luz Lazo — Washington Post
After decades of seeing the city’s population slide with every census count, Baltimore officials are trying to turn things around. One key strategy is embracing immigrants, in the hope they will encourage friends and family to join them.
Arpaio’s words used against him at racial-profiling case
By JJ Hensley — Arizona Republic
…as testimony Tuesday in U.S. District Court revealed, there are two Joe Arpaios — the politician and the policy maker — and there are questions as to which Arpaio is responsible for setting priorities for illegal-immigration enforcement.
California Faith Group Helps Move $750,000 In Customer Funds From Wall Street Banks
By Travis Waldron — Think Progress
Faith In Community, an interdenominational group, joined with Occupy Fresno and other groups to protest predatory actions at five big banks, and thus far, their efforts have led to the removal of $750,000 from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
Jimmy Carter: Prison reform issue of race
By Bob Allen — Associated Baptist Press
“When the black Baptist leaders speak out and say what do Baptists need to do, the main issue they have brought out is we need to do something about the abuse of people in prison who happen to be African-American or other minorities or mentally ill,” Carter said in an article published July 24 on the website EthicsDaily.com.
Republicans Make Big Push for Jewish Voters
By Alicia Mundy — Wall Street Journal
The RJC campaign comes down to four numbers: 11, 16, 19, and 24. That is the percentage of Jewish voters who went Republican in presidential elections between 1992 and 2004, Mr. Fleischer said, noting the upward trend. The backward slide to roughly 21 % in 2008 can be attributed to factors such as the popularity of Mr. Obama.
Catholic Relief Services becomes latest victim of attacks from within the church
By Scott Alessi — US Catholic
On the heels of the lengthy attack from Catholics against the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and its anti-poverty grants, church watchdogs have now turned their attention to another organization aimed at helping the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Stephen Colbert to star in Catholic comedy slam
By David Gibson — Religion News Service
It’s a tough call for anyone who has followed either man’s impressive record of rim shots, but we may finally get an answer to that urgent question when the cardinal and the comedian team up for a panel on faith and humor this September at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y.
Greenland Ice Melt, Measured By NASA Satellites, Reaches Unprecedented Level
By Joanna Zelman — Huffington Post
According to a NASA press release, about half of Greenland’s surface ice sheet naturally melts during an average summer. But the data from three independent satellites this July…showed that in less than a week, the amount of thawed ice sheet surface skyrocketed from 40 percent to 97 percent.
Young Evangelicals Stepping Up on Climate Action
By Ben Lowe — Sojourners, God’s Politics
After months of careful preparation, a new national advocacy initiative called Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (Y.E.C.A.) has just gone live.
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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.
Is gun control a religious issue?
By David Gibson — Religion News Service
Complicating matters politically is that conservative Christians who form the bulk of the anti-abortion movement are less enthused than almost everyone else about gun control.
Time to ban assault weapons
By Miguel De La Torre — Associated Baptist Press, Opinion
What we the public — especially those of us who claim to follow the God of life — must do is to put an end to the instruments that bring death. We can begin by holding politicians responsible.
The Divine Miss M
By Frank Bruni — New York Times, Opinion
Bachmann’s on to something: dangerous fundamentalists have indeed set up camp deep inside the capital. She can find one in her office. She need only look in the mirror.
Working poor stand at center of Medicaid debate
By Christopher Sherman and Juan Carlos Llorca — Associated Press
Families like the Gallegos stand at the center of a debate over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which could have expanded Medicaid coverage to 1.3 million uninsured Texans.
Low-Income Older Women Will Be Worst Hit if States Don’t Expand Medicaid
By Bryce Covert — The Nation
There’s that pesky gender wage gap: it compounds by age, but also trickles into other areas, since Social Security benefits and pensions are often calculated or laid away based on wages earned over a lifetime. Women, who on average make less, will get lower payments. That means women have far less income to cover medical expenses while uninsured, even as they need care more than ever.
Delay on Domestic Violence
By New York Times, Editorial
With Congress just days away from its August break, House Republicans have to decide which is more important: protecting victims of domestic violence or advancing the harsh antigay and anti-immigrant sentiments of some on their party’s far right. At the moment, harshness is winning.
Republican Jobs Bills Won’t Actually Create Jobs, Say Economists
By Erin Mershon — Huffington Post
In interviews conducted by The Huffington Post with five economists, most said the GOP jobs package would have no meaningful impact on job creation in the near term. Some said it was not likely to do much in the long term, either.
How does Mormonism shape Romney’s foreign policy?
By Joanna Brooks — Religion Dispatches, Opinion
I believe Romney’s neoconservativism is more a relationship of convenience than an article of faith.
How Do You Call the Cops on the Cops? Sobering Accounts of Abuse by Border Patrol
By Maryada Vallet — Sojourners, God’s Politics
The political climate around immigration and border enforcement is trying to convince us that through cruelty we attain our security. This culture of impunity occurs in the name of Homeland Security, and in my name and your name, too. But border security that is built by degrading life and dignity is not real security.
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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.
Why Gun Control is a Religious Issue
By Fr. James Martin S.J. — America Magazine
These shootings would not have happened if the shooter did not have such easy access to firearms and ammunition. So religious people need to be invited to meditate on the connection between the more traditional “life issues” and the overdue need for stricter gun control.
Religious leaders call for prayer and tighter gun control after Colorado shooting
By Daniel Burke — Religion News Service
Kathryn Mary Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches, called on elected officials to “seek policies that will foster greater peace in our communities and throughout this country.”
Can We Please Have an Honest Debate About Guns Now?
By Amy Sullivan — New Republic, Opinion
It’s easy to feel helpless when a tragedy like this shooting that claimed at least a dozen lives occurs. But that doesn’t mean that our nation’s leaders shouldn’t even try to talk about ways that we might make such incidents less likely or at least less deadly.
Colorado churches remember, reflect on Aurora theater shooting
By Elana Ashanti Jefferson, Kurtis Lee and Kristen Browning-Blas — Denver Post
All the victims had moms and dads, brothers and sisters. We need to lift them all up, Gelinas told the more than 600 who attended the service. The attendees were young and old, black, white and Latino. Some wore suits, others jeans.
Evangelical Leaders Blame Liberals, Media For Aurora Shootings, Say Only Christian Victims Will Go To Heaven
By Aviva Shen — Think Progress
On the conservative Christian radio show AFA Today, evangelical spokesperson Jerry Newcombe blamed the tragedy of the Aurora shooting on the nation’s loss of fear of God and hell.
HIV Stigma Lingers as Churches Battle Epidemic
By Jason Kane — PBS NewsHour
In two very different places — Zimbabwe and Washington, D.C. — Christian pastors have taken a leading role in the fight against HIV. But in both, some are wondering whether they should be doing more to help reduce the stigma.
Where Their Hearts Are
By Ed Kilgore — Washington Monthly
These governors aren’t victims of hard times or impossible choices: they choose to value regressive tax policies more than providing health insurance for their neediest citizens.
Conservative Congressman Blasts Bachmann’s Anti-Muslim Allegations, Stands Up For Religious Liberty
By Scott Keyes — Think Progress
That Sensenbrenner, a dyed-in-the-cloth conservative, would stand up to Islamophobic attacks from constituents and colleagues, is both laudable and heartening. Too often in the past, these voices of reason about Islam and religious freedom are only voiced on the left.
Islamo-fearmongering 2012
By Mark Silk — Religion News Service
The question is to what extent will 2012 be repeat of 2010, when Republican candidates around the country succeeded in using anti-mosque protests and anti-”sharia law” legislation as wedge issues against their Democratic opponents.
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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.
LCWR president says Vatican inquiry raises questions of conscience
By Catholic News Service
Conflict between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith over the reform of LCWR boils down to whether one can “be a Catholic and have a questioning mind,” the conference’s president said in an interview…
We’re a country that lets kids go homeless
By Tana Ganeva — AlterNet
Nationally, kids and families made up less than 1 percent of the homeless population in the early 1980s, according to advocate and researcher Dr. Ellen Bassuk. HUD estimates put the number at 35 percent of people sleeping in shelters in 2010.
Large, Profitable Companies Employ Most Minimum-Wage Earners
By George Zornick — The Nation
Corporations with plenty of money to spare could afford to pay workers more—they just won’t.
Valley physician treats victims of Arizona’s health-care politics
By E.J. Montini — Arizona Republic, Opinion
Politicians get to condemn sick people to death without ever looking them in the eye. Dr. Randy Oppenheimer doesn’t have that luxury.
Solitary confinement is inhumane, has no redeeming purpose
By Rev. Steven D. Martin — Tennessean, Opinion
The experience of interviewing these people was ultimately transformative. I could no longer ignore the practice of placing human beings in a prolonged state of solitary confinement, which destroys the minds of prisoners for no reason that I could fathom.
Tennessee Mosque Will Not Open In Time For Ramadan
By Reuters
A newly constructed Muslim mosque in Tennessee, the subject of a long-running fight in the community, did not receive building inspectors’ clearance to open in time for the start of Ramadan on Thursday.
Angry Resolutions and Legal Warfare: Islamophobia in Tennessee
By Abby Rapoport — American Prospect
This is hardly the first incident of anti-Muslim sentiment in the state. Over the last two years, Muslim Tennesseans have seen a dramatic rise in Islamophobia both in the capital and in smaller communities like Murfreesboro.
Plot Thickens in Alabama Public TV Controversy Involving David Barton’s Pseudo-History
By Brian Tashman — Right Wing Watch
According to the lawsuit, “certain members of the Commission wanted to impose their own personal, political and religious views” on the commission and staff to guide the station’s programming.
ACLU: Pearce e-mails prove SB 1070 was racially motivated
By Alia Beard Rau — Arizona Republic
The e-mails from Pearce in the court documents include statements like, “Can we maintain our social fabric as a nation with Spanish fighting English for dominance … It’s like importing leper colonies and hope we don’t catch leprosy. It’s like importing thousands of Islamic jihadists and hope they adapt to the American Dream.”
Cruelty on the border
By John Carlos Frey — Salon
Border Patrol protocol requires agents to provide detainees with food, drinking water and emergency medical services, to hold them under humane conditions, and to refrain from making degrading remarks, but this is rarely honored in practice, say human rights advocates.
Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths
By Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Not only do Asian Americans, as a whole, present a mosaic of many faiths, but each of the six largest subgroups of this largely immigrant population also displays a different religious complexion.
Church expelled after affirming gays
By Bob Allen — Associated Baptist Press
An American Baptist church in Ohio has been excommunicated from its association and state region after going on record as welcoming and affirming gays.
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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.
What Obama Needs to Know Before Meeting Rick Warren Again
By Amy Sullivan — The New Republic
Finally, Obama should consider that Warren either lied about his plans for the 2008 forum or bowed to pressure from other conservatives regarding the topics up for discussion.
Philosophic Clash Over Government’s Role Highlights Parties’ Divide
By Peter Baker — New York Times
More perhaps than any presidential contest in years, the choice between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney presents voters with starkly different philosophies about the role of government in American society.
The Beltway’s Destructive Obsession with the Deficit
By Jamelle Bouie — American Prospect, Opinion
Indeed, listening to the panelists, you wouldn’t know that 12.7 million Americans are unemployed, and that millions more have dropped out of the workforce altogether.
Catholic Bishops Promote ‘Natural’ Family Planning Amid Battle Over Contraception Mandate
By Lauren Markoe — Religion News Service
When Catholics go to their church for premarital counseling, and it’s time for the natural family planning discussion, “most people just look at their shoes, pass the time and hope that the hour goes very quickly,” said O’Brien.
House Republicans Revive The Contraception Wars
By Sahil Kapur — Talking Points Memo
House Republicans renewed their effort Wednesday by advancing a measure through the Labor-HHS appropriations subcommittee with a rider to roll back President Obama’s contraception mandate.
McCain says conservative attacks on Clinton aide ‘need to stop now’
By McClatchy Newspapers
The attacks have been led by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., chairwoman of the Tea Party Caucus in the House, and four other conservative lawmakers including Trent Franks of Arizona, who have asked federal officials to investigate whether Abedin, a Muslim American who is deputy chief of staff at the State Department, is using her influence on U.S. policy toward the Islamic group.
Bachmann’s former campaign chief — shame on you, Michele
By Ed Rollins — Fox News, Opinion
You should stand on the floor of the House and apologize to Huma Abedin and to Secretary Clinton and to the millions of hard working, loyal, Muslim Americans for your wild and unsubstantiated charges.
Federal judge clears way for new Tennessee mosque to open for Ramadan
By CNN
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell is the latest development in a two-year battle over the opening of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, near Nashville, that has been marked by legal challenges and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Faith leaders support Tenn. mosque
By Bob Allen — Associated Baptist Press
More than 100 religious leaders signed an open letter July 18 voicing support for a Tennessee mosque asking a federal judge to permit use of its newly built building to celebrate Ramadan, which begins July 19.
Family Research Council Hires Controversial Former Army Officer, Jerry Boykin
By David Gibson — Religion News Service
Since his retirement from the military, Boykin has toured churches around the country. He is now an ordained minister and preaches from a different pulpit almost every Sunday – and he has ramped up his rhetoric against Islam and its perceived influence in the U.S.
Big Brain. Big Heart?
By Bill McKibben — Sojourners
Climate change—the biggest thing ever to happen on our planet—strikes me as a test not just of whether the big brain was a good adaptation, but also whether it’s attached to a big enough heart to matter. At this point the scientists have done all they can to speak for the brain; our religious leaders have done precious little to make the case for the heart.
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