On May 1st, 2010, Mark Oppenheimer reviewed “Heaven” in The New York Times: About a year ago, our neighbor’s beloved mutt, Bruno, went to dog heaven, followed six months later by Bear, the sweet brown Newfoundland down the block. I am not speaking metaphorically but repeating the wisdom of my 3-year-old daughter, who learned her […]
The Vanishing Role of Women in Church Readings
Response to my April 12 article “A Woman’s Place Is in the Church” was overwhelming. Maureen Dowd cited it in her New York Times column. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, critiqued it in an op-ed. But one of the questions most often asked in e-mails […]
The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd on Lisa’s Newsweek Cover Story
On April 10th, 2010, Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd cited Lisa’s cover story in The New York Times: “To circumscribe women, Saudi Arabia took Islam’s moral codes and orthodoxy to extremes not outlined by Muhammad; the Catholic Church took its moral codes and orthodoxy to extremes not outlined by Jesus. In the New Testament, Jesus is […]
Hasan was both a Fundamentalist and a Terrorist
We are giving ourselves shallow and untenable choices. Either Islam is a religion that condones violence. Or Islam is a religion of peace. Either Maj. Nidal Hasan, who opened fire at the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, last week, killing 12 people, is a victim of extreme posttraumatic stress disorder. Or he is a […]
Is NIH Director Francis Collins Disqualified By His Faith
I do not believe that the Christian faith of Dr. Francis Collins, recently nominated to run the National Institutes of Health, disqualifies him from that job. The only questions that need be asked of Collins are these: Is he a good enough scientist? And will he be a passionate and relentless advocate for science and […]
Beliefwatch: Heavenly
It isn’t every day that a Christian book–that is, a book written by a Christian author for a Christian audience and marketed by a Christian publisher–crosses over into the secular market and makes any kind of appearance on best-seller lists or gets noticed by the mainstream press. Rick Warren’s “The Purpose-Driven Life” had been on […]