Afternoon News Bytes: March 9, 2012
THE DAILY BEAST: Nobel Winner Gbowee: Where Are the Angry American Women?
In a rollicking talk with Tina Brown, the Liberian peace activist says it's time to stop being polite: “We have to be our own Gandhis, our own kings, our own Mandelas."
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Mortgage Crisis Inspires Lenten Season Message To Banks
During the recent weeks of Lent, the Rev. Ryan Bell has led his Southern California congregation into the penitential spirit of the season. He has preached about the prophet Isaiah’s admonition “to loose the bonds of injustice.” He has replaced his church’s ebullient praise songs with somber, reflective music. He has sent his members a list of ordinary comforts to give up until Easter, with suggestions from caffeine to Facebook.
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THE CHRISTIAN POST: Matt Redman, LZ7's 'Twenty Seven Million' To Awaken Church On Human Trafficking
When Beth Redman learned that an estimated 27 million people were currently trapped as modern-day slaves, with less than 2 percent actually rescued, she wept to the point where she was almost sick. She knew something had to be done.
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THINK PROGRESS: Catholic Bishops To Congress: Don’t Cut Aid To Poor Or Put Defense Behind A Firewall
At a time when conservatives are positioning themselves as defenders of the Catholic Church on religious liberties and contraception, they seem to be far off from the Church’s teachings on other public policy issues.
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THE NATION: This Week In Poverty: Welfare Reform—From Bad To Worse
A stunning report released by the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center reveals that the number of US households living on less than $2 per person per day—a standard used by the World Bank to measure poverty in developing nations—rose by 130 percent between 1996 and 2011, from 636,000 to 1.46 million. The number of children living in these extreme conditions also doubled, from 1.4 million to 2.8 million.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: What War On Religion? (OPINION)
The fierce backlash from some evangelical Christian leaders to President Obama's sensible decision to cover contraception services under the health care reform law brings to mind Groucho Marx's definition of politics: "The art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies."
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THE WASHINGTON POST: Pat Robertson Says Legalize Marijuana: Do Other Evangelicals Agree?
TV evangelist Pat Robertson’s latest comments in favor of marijuana legalization don’t seem likely to be met with a huge rush of support from other evangelicals.
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THE NEW YORK TIMES: What Do I Know About Poverty? (OPINION)
What’s real-world experience worth? Does it matter? I always thought so, but with regard to a subject I know better than many — poverty — I’m starting to have my doubts.
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