The recent Bush administration report on inner-city education shamelessly advocates massive public funding for religious schools. In addition to voucher subsidies, tax credits and something called “backpack” scholarships (another kind of voucher), it promotes “faith-based charter schools.”
The report, issued Oct. 3 by the White House Domestic Policy Council, notes that charter schools, because they are publicly funded, cannot […] Read More
Back in the fall of 2007, I attended the Family Research Council’s “Values Voter Summit.” The Republican presidential field was quite crowded then, and all of the major contenders showed up to seek the Religious Right’s support.
Some were received with more enthusiasm than others. Mike Huckabee was a big hit, while Fred Thompson fizzled. The reaction to U.S. […] Read More
Today is the first Monday in October—the day when the U.S. Supreme Court is back in session for a new term.
Yesterday was the Sunday before the first Monday in October—the day when the justices are invited to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., to participate in the Red Mass, a Catholic tradition in the nation’s […] Read More
Thanks to my two children, I’ve become quite the expert on children’s literature. The Harry Potter books were fun, and I really enjoyed the sly humor and wordplay of Lemony Snicket’s “Series of Unfortunate Events.”
Would-be witches and wacky orphans in peril make for entertaining reading, but not all “kidlit” is so fantastic. Much of it deals with realistic themes, […] Read More
Yesterday, I sat in on a conference call sponsored by Concerned Women for America (CWA), and the leaders of California’s ProtectMarriage campaign. Not surprisingly, I heard some interesting commentary, to say the least.
The call was led by Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa who is the leader and initiator of Proposition 8. If that […] Read More
Pat Robertson is on a tear again.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, the controversial TV preacher is predicting an imminent war in the Middle East that may result in nuclear attacks on coastal cities in the United States.
“In a letter on his Web site, www.patrobertson.com, Robertson said his opinion was that Israel would bomb Iranian nuclear sites between Nov. […] Read More
Forget about what the law says, some Texas school board members think they know better.
The Houston Chronicle reports that several Texas Board of Education members are pushing Texas schools to teach a curriculum drafted by the North Carolina-based National Council on Bible Curriculum In Public Schools (NCBCPS). This promotion comes despite the fact that a Florida federal court ruled […] Read More
Yesterday Americans United reported six churches to the Internal Revenue Service for violating federal tax law by endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Five of the churches were taking part in the so-called “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund. (The sixth was inspired by it.)
Thirty-three churches participated in this reckless stunt. Americans United relied on media […] Read More
Today Religious Right activists and their politician allies are all worked up about the Capitol Visitor Center, which is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2.
They are complaining that the Center, funded by more than $600 million in taxpayer dollars, is too secular and doesn’t display America’s “Christian heritage.” Apparently, they would rather push their own […] Read More
The Rev. Gus Booth is one of a handful of clergy who plan to endorse political candidates from the pulpit this Sunday as part of a Religious Right scheme to turn churches into a right-wing political machine.
Booth, pastor of the Warroad Community Church in Warroad, Minn., says he has every right to tell his parishioners how to vote.
“If […] Read More