A new religion book and the mosque. While researching their forthcoming book about American religion, the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam and his colleagues polled on this hypothetical question: Say a group of Buddhists wanted to build a large temple in your community. How would you feel? Putnam & Co. asked about Buddhists because, they […]
Our State of Disgrace Read More »
Pope Benedict is hitting all the wrong notes in his trip to the United Kingdom. Ireland, where the Roman Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal has been the most appalling—hundreds of children molested over decades—is a short plane ride from England. And in Ireland, where since the days of St. Patrick, the Catholic Church has been the
Fiddling While Christianity Burns Read More »
A Greek Orthodox congregation has been waiting longer—and working harder—than Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to restore the church that was destroyed on September 11, 2001. Father Mark Arey won’t put it quite this way, but he doesn’t see why Muslims are getting all the attention for their religious building near Ground Zero. Especially when the
The Other Religion at Ground Zero Read More »
What ‘stealth jihad’ doesn’t mean. Here is the latest semantic assault from the party that brought you “Islamo-facism” (circa 2005) and “Axis of Evil” (2002). The term “stealth jihad” is suddenly voguish among politically ambitious right wingers who see President Obama’s approach to terrorism as insufficient. If it sounds like a phrase from a military-fantasy
If President Obama wants to convince Americans to support the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ he needs to tie it to our personal tolerance for other faiths. With his remarks last week in support of “the mosque at Ground Zero” and his rather lame parsing (“not commenting on the wisdom” of the project) the next day, President Barack Obama
Religious Pluralism at Ground Zero? Read More »
A proposed mosque tests the limits of American tolerance. They have almost everything in common, including the tragedy that defines their lives. Both women were born in the Bronx and educated in Catholic schools. They married and raised kids of their own in the boroughs that circle Manhattan; as parents, they—like most of us—fought too
War Over Ground Zero Read More »
And other myths of the recession. Every day, the economist Daniel Hungerman looks at the graph that hangs above his desk at the University of Notre Dame. One jagged line goes down and up. This is America’s gross domestic product since 1972. Another jagged line goes up and down. This is the religiosity of Americans
No Atheists in Foxholes Read More »
How the recession affects religion. It sounds like a Catskills-era joke with a Jewish lawyer in the punchline, but among Jewish leaders it’s deadly serious. Why does it cost so much to be Jewish? At a time when American families are tightening household budgets, does it really make sense to continue to charge thousands of
The Cost of Being Jewish Read More »
The Vatican has clearly stated that when investigating cases of sex abuse, “civil law concerning the reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed.” History shows, however, that such cooperation is not always the norm. For more than a thousand years in Europe, church and state were rarely separate. The Vatican has
Belgium Bucks the Vatican Read More »
On Sunday, June 20, 2010, in Washington, D.C., Dean of the National Cathedral, the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III interviewed Lisa for the “Critical Issues in the Light of Faith” forum series. Video and audio (MP3) can be found on the National Cathedral website audio video We will try to post a local mirror
The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III Interviews Lisa at the National Cathedral Read More »