Last week, Rick Warren sent this message to the nearly 500,000 people who follow him on Twitter: “Husbands & wives should satisfy each other’s sexual needs. 1 Cor 7:3.” His Twitter feed lit up with amens and retweets. “Oh gosh,” exclaimed one follower. Evangelical Christians want to talk about sex. And not in the same […]
Christian leaders talk about marriage and sex Read More »
When I spoke to one of the nation’s most prominent antiabortion activists this week, she was in the car, rushing to meet her 10-year-old daughter at the school bus. “It’s not a very neat exercise,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, when I asked how she manages her work-life balance. Dannenfelser is the president of the Susan B. Anthony List,
A feminine face for the antiabortion movement Read More »
That Justice Antonin Scalia believes in execution as a moral form of punishment is a well-known fact. That he is an observant, traditional Roman Catholic is, similarly, well-known. That he appears to believe his church supports the death penalty and that he’s willing to stake his job on that conviction is nothing short of astonishing. But there
Justice Scalia speaks for himself on death penalty, not the Catholic Church Read More »
“What would Jesus think of Occupy Wall Street?” I asked myself this week as I wandered the makeshift, blue-tarp village in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Born with little means into a first-century world, the historical Jesus might feel right at home with the very aspects of the occupation that so many 21st-century observers consider gross: the tents, the damp sleeping
Jesus at Occupy Wall Street: ‘I feel like I’ve been here before’ Read More »
Dear Governor Romney, You haven’t asked, but I’d like to offer you some free, nonpartisan advice about how to talk about your Mormon faith in public. When a Texas megachurch pastor can rob you of a news cycle, as the Rev. Robert Jeffress did last weekend when he called the Church of Jesus Christ of
An open letter to Mitt Romney Read More »
A new study, published last month in the Journal of Experimental Psychology by a group of Harvard psychologists, got me thinking for the zillionth time about how much I have come to detest the “faith vs. reason” debate. In this most recent iteration, scientists set out to discover how people who believe in God think
Faith vs. reason? That’s really dumb. Read More »
If politics are personal, then let me say this. I love almost everything about the Judaism I practice: Born into a Jewish family, but raised without any formal religious education, I have in recent years become a member of a Reform synagogue in Brooklyn. I love singing the ancient prayers. I love our rabbis
Loving Judaism but questioning Israel Read More »
Is there anything wrong with being 53 and pregnant? The first time they had sex, during that initial exploration of unfamiliar flesh, John Ross uttered words to Ann Maloney that would sound to her like prophecy. “You have the body of a young girl. You need a baby.” This compliment, though gallant, could not have
New York Mag Cover Story: Parents of a Certain Age Read More »
Among the Republican candidates running for president in 2012, there’s been a whole lot of praying in public. Months before his Christian revival meeting in Houston, Rick Perry prayed, presumably to Jesus, for rain — though when he established the Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas back in April, the proclamation was nonsectarian. He
In GOP race, public prayers seem more political than personal Read More »
It isn’t exactly a movement — more of a blogosphere hubbub. In solidarity with his gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, one well-known evangelical pastor in Minneapolis is taking a stand. As long as his state won’t confer upon homosexuals the legal right to marry, Tony Jones won’t sign a marriage license. He will officiate at
Separation of church and state in marriage? Read More »