The Common Good

Results for Faith and Politics

In Wake of Aurora Shootings, Mayor Bloomberg Challenges Candidates on Gun Control
Originally Posted: 07/23/2012 - 12:36pm | Type: Blog

ThinkProgress reports on Mayor Bloomberg's comments on the subject of gun control. ThinkProgress reports on Mayor Bloomberg's comments on the subject of gun cont ...

Politics and Purchases
Originally Posted: 07/23/2012 - 11:41am | Type: Blog

Underlying the question of funding is a fundamental distinction that too few Americans fail to recognize. Our society must begin to recognize that being "anti-gay marriage" is not the same as being & ...

Wheaton College Joins Lawsuit Against Obama's Contraception Mandate
Originally Posted: 07/19/2012 - 1:06pm | Type: Blog

Wheaton College, Billy Graham’s alma mater and a top evangelical school, joined Catholic groups in a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s contraception mandate even as a federal judge’s ruling clouded pr ...

Bachmann's Muslim Brotherhood Claims Draw Fierce Fire
Originally Posted: 07/19/2012 - 1:00pm | Type: Blog

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Accusations by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., that an Islamist group has infiltrated the U.S. government are drawing fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups. ...

End in sight for Tennessee mosque fight
Originally Posted: 07/19/2012 - 10:45am | Type: Blog

From CNN : A federal judge ordered a Tennessee county to conduct a final inspection of a new mosque, clearing the way for worshippers to possibly begin using the building in time for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Thursday. ...

Christians Need To Love their Muslim Neighbors
Originally Posted: 07/19/2012 - 11:29am | Type: Blog

By protecting the rights of American Muslims to worship in the United States, we provide a powerful witness to those countries where Christian minorities face attack and persecution. ...

Family Research Council Hires Controversial Former Army Officer, Jerry Boykin
Originally Posted: 07/18/2012 - 3:42pm | Type: Blog

The conservative Family Research Council has named a former top Delta Force commando and outspoken culture warrior, retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, to run its day-to-day operations. Boykin’s appointment as executive vice pr ...

Making an AIDS-free world a reality
Originally Posted: 07/18/2012 - 12:00pm | Type: Blog

Salon reports on what could be a turning point in the fight against AIDS. Salon reports on what could be a turning point in the fight against AIDS: "Just one dec ...

Happy Mandela Day: Madiba, Ubuntu and Vertigo
Originally Posted: 07/18/2012 - 3:06pm | Type: Blog

Ubuntu. It was the secret of how Mandela reconciled his people to the violent criminals of their cruel white oppressors in post-apartheid South Africa. Co-existence was vital, not only to the peace of the nati ...

Cruel and Unusual: Georgia Set to Execute Mentally Disabled Man
Originally Posted: 07/18/2012 - 9:11am | Type: Blog

Despite protests not only from jurors who conivicted him but also from his victim’s family, Warren Hill, a 52-year-old mentally disabled man convicted of murder, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection ...

Evangelical Author Sees 'Mormonizing' of America
Originally Posted: 07/18/2012 - 7:43am | Type: Blog

Stephen Mansfield, an evangelical author who has written widely about the faith of politicians, turns his attention to Mormons in his latest book, The Mormonizing of America. He talked with Religion News Servi ...

Faith in the Heavens, and Beyond
Originally Posted: 07/17/2012 - 10:34am | Type: Blog

A fascinating piece from The Atlantic looks at faith and spirituality amongst those who have travelled across our universe. A fascinating piece from The Atlantic looks at ...

Race and Religion Remain Key Issues in Presidential Campaign
Originally Posted: 07/17/2012 - 10:33am | Type: Blog

Christian Post reports on race and religion. The Christian Post reports:  "A new ABC/Washington Post poll released Monday highlights the differences between Amer ...

Debate Reignites Over Religion at Air Force Academy
Originally Posted: 07/17/2012 - 9:16am | Type: Blog

The long-smoldering debate at the U.S. Air Force Academy over the role of religion in cadets' lives has reignited, just as a new class arrives on campus for basic training. T ...

Church of England 'Doesn't Practice What It Preaches' on LGBT
Originally Posted: 07/16/2012 - 12:46pm | Type: Blog

In a column Sunday in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper, Giles Fraser, the former canon chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral, set a discussion about the Church of England and its stance toward gay marriage ...

Mormon Church Lashes Out at Bloomberg Businessweek for Satirical Prophet Cover
Originally Posted: 07/14/2012 - 4:48pm | Type: Blog

The Mormon church is lashing back at a business magazine that parodied their prophet’s mission and portrayed the church as lucratively rich but miserly with charitable donations. ...

This Week in Religion: Friday July 13, 2012 (VIDEO)
Originally Posted: 07/14/2012 - 4:04pm | Type: Blog

Do Not Display (black women, Episcopal Church, Melinda Gates, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Racial and Social Justice, Scientology, Tom Cruise, Faith and P ...

In Praise of Episcopalians
Originally Posted: 08/15/2012 - 11:13am | Type: Blog

I'm proud of The Episcopal Church. I'm proud of how they conducted themselves. I'm proud that they disagreed, deliberated, explored, preached, and prayed their way through this. We Baptists aren ...

Will the Real Ms. Middle Class Please Stand Up?
Originally Posted: 07/12/2012 - 1:55pm | Type: SojoMail

July 12, 2012   GUEST COMMENTARY by Lisa Sharon Harper Will ...

Is Solitary Confinement a Moral Punishment? (VIDEO)
Originally Posted: 07/12/2012 - 12:18pm | Type: Blog

Last month, the U.S. Senate held its first hearing ever on the issue of solitary confinement in prisons. To draw attention to the issue, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture urged Americans to fast ...

Public Jesus: How Churches Can Talk about Politics in an Election Year (Without Killing Each Other)
Originally Posted: 07/12/2012 - 10:40am | Type: Blog

How can churches have a healthy conversation about politics in the middle of a national election without demonizing the opposition and causing disunity? Learning to speak as a Chr ...

College Student on Millennial Values
Originally Posted: 07/11/2012 - 1:39pm | Type: Blog

Zeenia Framroze, a student at Harvard University, spoke in April at Georgetown University Berkeley Center's Millennial Values Symposium. Zeenia Framroze, a student at Harvar ...

Christians Do Not Have Freedom of Speech
Originally Posted: 07/11/2012 - 10:55am | Type: Blog

While I find great joy in the liberty found within the Freedom of Speech, I’ve come to realize that while it’s an American right it’s also much bigger than that … it’s a human right. However, it’s not a Christ ...

A Backward Step for Democracy in Britain
Originally Posted: 07/11/2012 - 10:42am | Type: Blog

House of Lords reform runs into trouble. Nicholas Watt writes for The Guardian :  "Nick Clegg's hopes of reforming the House of Lords, completing a journ ...

Capital in the Capitol
Originally Posted: 07/10/2012 - 2:22pm | Type: Blog

We love a good infographic--and here's one more. Capital in the Capitol: What's the Cost of Getting into Congress? A few key numbers to look at-- in the 2 years prior to taking office, the after Representative raises $1700 a day. If yo ...

Charlotte, Tampa Mayors Talk Hosting Conventions
Originally Posted: 07/10/2012 - 11:16am | Type: Blog

Mayors Bob Buckhorn of Tampa, Fla., and Anthony Foxx of Charleston, N.C., will play host to the Republican and Democratic national conventions, respectively. They have the two of ...

Atheist Files Complaint Over Pennsylvania Restaurant’s Discount for Churchgoers
Originally Posted: 07/09/2012 - 4:27pm | Type: Blog

said he became an atheist about 15 years ago when he became dismayed at the religious right. He said ...

New Trial Date for Iranian Pastor
Originally Posted: 07/06/2012 - 2:44pm | Type: Blog

Youcef Nadarkhani, the 35-year-old Christian pastor has been imprisoned in Iran since October 2009 after protesting a law that all children read the Quaran and being charged with evangelizing to Muslims. The trial date has been set for Sept. 8.  From ...

FBI Investigating Second Fire at Missouri Mosque
Originally Posted: 07/06/2012 - 1:27pm | Type: Blog

From the Associated Press via STLToday.com: JOPLIN, Mo. — The FBI has joined an investigation into the second fire at a Joplin mosque in four years. The blaze early Wednesday burned a 4-by-6-foot section of shingles atop the Islamic Socie ...

This Week in Religion: Friday July 6, 2012 (VIDEO)
Originally Posted: 07/06/2012 - 11:22am | Type: Blog

Do Not Display (Church, Higgs-Boson, LGBT, Mormonism, Racial and Social Justice, religion news, Faith and Politics, Quick Read) Church,Higgs-B ...

The Women of Post-Gaddafi Libya
Originally Posted: 07/05/2012 - 1:09pm | Type: Blog

For most ordinary Libyan women, there’s domestic drudgery and subordination to their men. For the more educated, drawn from higher ranks and involved in newly minted nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), there ...

"God Particle" Discovered
Originally Posted: 07/05/2012 - 1:11pm | Type: Blog

Scientists in Geneva have found the God particle. It may have been buried in the bombastic July Fourth news cycle, but something amazing happened yesterday: scientists in Geneva h ...

Does a President's Faith Make Any Difference in How He Governs?
Originally Posted: 07/05/2012 - 10:44am | Type: Blog

CNN.com's John Blake reports: We elect a president every four years, but perhaps we also elect a high priest.  Ever since George Washington spontaneously added “so help me God” to his inaugural oath, Americans have expected their presi ...

Mormons Quit Church in Mass Resignation
Originally Posted: 07/05/2012 - 10:37am | Type: Blog

A group of about 150 Mormons quit their church in a mass resignation ceremony in Salt Lake City on Saturday in a rare display of defiance ending decades of disagreement for some over issues ranging from polyga ...

Christian Patriotism: Love for the 'Other'
Originally Posted: 07/04/2012 - 5:25pm | Type: Blog

When you hold yourself up as somehow favored in the eyes of God, it’s easy to hold those you deem as less favored to be somehow “less than,” and to dehumanize all who do not conform to your custom-built ideal ...

Thomas Jefferson: Our Least Religious President
Originally Posted: 07/04/2012 - 10:15am | Type: Blog

In his new book, "The Jefferson Lies", Barton argues that academics have spread a series of falsehoods about Jefferson — that he was a racist, a secularist and an advocate of strict church/state sepa ...

Even Facts Have a Point of View
Originally Posted: 07/03/2012 - 11:00am | Type: Blog

Stephen Prothero in his latest column for USA Today, points to Barton's (and others like Glenn Beck's) talking points as indicative of the larger issue of extreme factionalism that stretches the trut ...

The Politics of Aslan
Originally Posted: 06/11/2012 - 9:56am | Type: Magazine Article

Jim Wallis The lion helped inspire my hope to write a biblical and theological defense of the common good, something that has been almost ...

Health Care and Judgment Day (Part 2)
Originally Posted: 08/09/2012 - 8:54am | Type: Blog

One-hundred years after Teddy Roosevelt pressed for a national health care program — the Supreme Court has levied its judgment: States can opt out, but they cannot prevent the nation from offering its citizens ...

The Affordable Care Act: Without a Vision, the People Perish
Originally Posted: 06/29/2012 - 9:32am | Type: Blog

While I appreciate the political analysis and the importance of political processes to the wellbeing of the United States, I believe that a majority of coverage has missed one of the most remarkable points of ...

What Chief Justice Roberts Did Not Say
Originally Posted: 06/28/2012 - 3:15pm | Type: Blog

In upholding the ACA, Roberts said that a judgment as to the wisdom of the law is reserved to the people. I say: the law is a good thing. In 2009, during the debate over health ca ...

The U.S. Supreme Court: Health Care, Immigration, Juvenile Justice and More
Originally Posted: 06/28/2012 - 2:39pm | Type: SojoMail

June 28, 2012   QUOTE OF THE WEEK "We're going to ge ...

The U.S. Supreme Court: Health Care, Immigration, Juvenile Justice and More
Originally Posted: 06/28/2012 - 1:03pm | Type: Blog

Today, in a long and complicated ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. This is an important victory for millions of uninsured people in our country and ultimately a triumph of the comm ...

Our Values ... Charted
Originally Posted: 06/28/2012 - 11:29am | Type: Blog

The Atlantic provides some insights into its recent American Values Survey. The Atlantic provides some insights into its recent American Values Survey, conducted in conjunctio ...

Religion Will Play Key Role in Presidential Election
Originally Posted: 06/28/2012 - 11:25am | Type: Blog

What Americans ought to know by this time in their history, though, is that religion is seldom far from their politics. Stephen Mansfield writes for The Huffington Post ...

With God Some Things Never Change
Originally Posted: 06/29/2012 - 9:48am | Type: Blog

Peace is better than war. Good of the whole is better than whims of a few. God wants everybody — red, yellow, black, brown and white taken care of. God wants true community, more togetherness … not more separa ...

Archbishop on British PM: Big Society Policy is "Aspirational Waffle"
Originally Posted: 06/25/2012 - 11:08am | Type: Blog

The Observer newspaper in the UK published extracts from Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams' new book. The Observer newspaper in the UK published extracts from ...

Filmmaker Switches Sides, Now Opposes Mosque
Originally Posted: 06/22/2012 - 9:25am | Type: Blog

An outspoken supporter of a planned mosque that has sparked opposition in Murfreesboro, Tenn., has switched sides and joined the anti-Islam movement. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An outspo ...

1 in 5 Americans Would Not Vote for Mormon President
Originally Posted: 06/21/2012 - 4:09pm | Type: Blog

Nearly one in five Americans say they would not vote for a Mormon president, a percentage that has hardly budged since 1967, according to a new Gallup poll. Nearly one in five Ame ...

VIDEO: Sister Simone Campbell Speaks At Rep. Paul Ryan's Office
Originally Posted: 06/21/2012 - 12:17pm | Type: Blog

Nuns on the Bus, a cross-country bus tour of sisters sponsored by NETWORK, hopes to protest the House Republican budget that drastically cuts safety net programs. On June 20, Nun ...