City of Brass posts here over at Street Prophets on the Carnival of Brass and real time carnivals, azizhp writes: "Let's forge links between other blog communities of faith whenever we can."

JSpot's Mik Moore notes Antisemitisms. The Real and the Not so Real.

Chuck Currie blogging for the UCC, notes that kos gets the language of religion and politics wrong.

Pastor Dan has all kinds of good stuff:
analysis of the Supreme Court case Hain vs. Freedom From Religion Foundation.

A lil' Curtis Mayfield. Gotta have peace y'all. . .

And this zinger, Southern Strategy in which he writes,

"Apropos of absolutely nothing, and sure to tick some people off: the Democratic party's so-called religion problem is a phony one in the sense that Democrats do and always have had many people with strong faith and religious practice. But there is some truth to the notion that there is some division fierce indepence among Dems as to the question of how much energy they should expend reaching out to socially conservative religious voters. (In FoxWorld, those are the only "people of faith" who really exist.)"

Ok, does Bill McKibben sleep? Here he is at Beliefnet & Sojourners' God's Politics blog. Is it just me living on the left coast and subscribing to Mother Jones (good blog post on evangelicals and Romney here), but does a new article by Bill show up somewhere every week single for you, too? The Gospel vs. Global Warming

Mainstream Baptist says that freedom is what keeps him still Baptist.

And then over at Talk to Action, he writes about the SBC and oral contraceptives.

On that topic, independent Catholic priest Chris at Even the Devils Believe opines on HPV and moral narcissism.

The Rev. Deb Haffner wonders what's the deal with that idea in the Times piece about Norquist seeking secondary virgins for public office.

UU blogger Philocrates asks: what are you afraid of?

Jus Soli to Jus Sanguinis, multiethnic Johnny's Cache takes on the Texas attempt to redefine what it means to be American.

Velvateen Rabbi writes about eternal light.

What the definitive understanding of Islam? Check out the massive reading and watching list at Islamicate.

Whispers in the Loggia writes on JPII. The Goat Rope tackles the Canon of Conservative Thought.

Wow, former president of Iliff School of Theology and Pacific School of Religion now barely retired Christian theologian Delwin Brown is blogging a really sharp theology of Progressive Christianity. He points out how it's more than just anti-religious right or even how it's different than liberal Christian theology:

The liberal failure to keep the distinctive resources of the Christian inheritance at the center of their reflection was rooted in another failure, one common to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The liberals “forgot” that human beliefs and practices, individually and collectively, are fed and formed by our distinctive human histories. In other words, the liberals were seduced by “modernism.” Modernism is the idea that there is one truth grounded in the nature of things in such a way that thinking individuals can have immediate access to this truth through reasoned analysis of contemporary experience, without any special dependence on inherited resources. It is the idea that we don’t need history in the pursuit of truth; we can go right to the truth by thinking clearly now. The point is not that “history is bunk,” as Henry Ford once claimed. Rather it is that our varied histories, traditions, ancient texts and the like have no special role in guiding and testing contemporary life.

And Beatitudes blogger Sara Miles makes it into the SF Chronicle and says that "the altar does not belong to the church."

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 09:00 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Sunday's NYTimes included a David Kirkpatrick article about a secretive meeting of conservative Christian leaders including Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Grover Norquist. They were meeting, as usual, to discuss American politics but this year the mood is different due in part to the difficulty finding a GOP candidate that represents their issues correctly while also being able to actually win in '08.

In "Christian Right Labors to Find ’08 Candidate," Kirkpatrick writes:

"But in a stark shift from the group’s influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election."

USNews adds this choice quote,

"'I've never seen more disillusionment at this point in the election in 30 years,' says a source close to the Council for National Policy, which prohibits members from discussing meetings with the media. 'There's a revolt out there, a feeling these top three are being pushed on us by Republican leadership in D.C.'"

In light of this dismay, here's a roundup of what conservative blogs are saying.
______________

Over at conservative community blog Townhall, Kevin McCullough writes:

True conservatives are in a bind in 2008, at least so far...

But as the super-secretive Council for National Policy broke camp this weekend the New York Times picked up on the chance to highlight all the "lack of consensus."

And to their credit - made some very valid points...

Waimea notes his Republican bona fides, but after reading the article states, "This is why I cannot support the conservative wings of the Republican party. . should they take over the party, drives me away from being a Republican."

With a quote on her sidebar from Jesse Helms, Little Old Lady writes:

I don’t consider myself a member of the Christian right of Jerry Falwell, I am a Christian and a right winger and I am having as difficult a time with a candidate as they seem to be. Though I am not having as difficult a time about Romney because of his religion as many seem to be. IMO as long as he believes in God, isn’t planning on forcing anyone to do anything to pander to his religion exclusively and isn’t a member os Islam, I have no problem with his religion.

An Ol' Broad's Ramblings corrects the article: "Well, maybe some are hostile, but that’s really not our way. Lack of trust would be more like it. Rudy’s previous marriages aren’t a big deal in my opinion, people make mistakes, it’s his stand on the murder of babies and gay 'rights' with which I have a problem."

In the NYPost John Podhoretz pounds about the reasoning,

"Many on the right profess amazement at the lead he's opened up among Republican primary voters, considering his pro-choice views and sloppy personal life. . .When Republican voters look at Rudy Giuliani, they know one key fact about him: They know he's no liberal.

They may not exactly know why yet, but they know it."

But over at Free Republic, Mr. Pissant clearly has another idea as he weighs the differences between Rudy Giuliani and Duncan Hunter:

"Does the GOP become the party of moderation, or do they insist on a return to Reaganism, with the unabashed, bold conservative ideas and a willingness to ridicule the party of treason. The leading candidate right now supported a communist, Mario Cuomo, for governor of his state because he had the right ideas. The leading candidate was endorsed by the NY liberal party 3 times, because he represented much of their platform. On the flip side there is a candidate that not only espouses Reaganism, but has lived and voted it. And for bold ideas, he vows to get the border fence built in 6 months, return the power of education to the states, confront China's growing militancy, boost our armed forces - including space based weaponry, and do everything in his power to see that Roe v. Wade becomes a footnote in history.

That my friend, is a powerful, positive agenda. Reaganesque, Thatcheresque, but certainly not Giuliani-ish."

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 01:34 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

An informal conversation at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral with David Batstone about the fight to free the 27 million persons who live in slavery today. Yes, human trafficking exists and it permeates American culture. Professor of ethics at USF and co-founder of Business 2.0 magazine, David shares his experiences traveling 90,000 miles over five continents in writing Not for Sale while documenting the return of the global slave trade and how we can stop it.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:26 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

It's budget time again and this one ranks very rank. As Ed Schwartz pointed out in the American Prospect:

"George Bush now gives us an annual laundry list of programs that he wants Congress to cut. The basic philosophy of the Bush administration seems to be that while it's an honor to die for your country, it's an imposition to pay for it."

Here's the budget and supporting documents.

Just to get us started, the Times weighs in, pointing out that:

The budget is based on a series of improbable, if not dishonest, assumptions. To make it appear as if the tax cuts are affordable in the near term, it assumes that the Pentagon will not spend a single penny on Iraq or Afghanistan after 2009. It also assumes there will be no costs for fixing the alternative minimum tax after this year, even though Mr. Bush and virtually every politician in America is committed to such relief. The new budget would also slash key entitlement programs and punish many of the country’s most vulnerable citizens..

As Firedoglake notes, It's the Enron Federal Budget process — bilking the public and lying to them at the same time. Welcome to Bushworld, where everyone but the cronies gets screwed. And, even worse, as Deborah Solomon points out in the WSJ, the thing on which the Bush budget most relies: hoping for a lot of luck. Wait, isn't that our policy in Iraq, too? Oversight, anyone?

Before we get depressed one of my favorite writers, Matt Taibbi, who wrote Spanking the Donkey a great history of the 2004 presidential campaign, tackles the budget.

In the recent issue of Rolling Stone also reprinted at Alternet, he writes about the current Bush budget and the funding priorities. While talk about the war, the environment, and human trafficking gets me moving, Matt makes a compelling case. In fact, this budget may be the most anti-Christ-like thing we face (Matthew 25:31-46).

Here's some evidence:

On the same day that Britney was shaving her head, a guy I know who works in the office of Senator Bernie Sanders sent me an email. He was trying very hard to get news organizations interested in some research his office had done about George Bush's proposed 2008 budget, which was unveiled two weeks ago and received relatively little press, mainly because of the controversy over the Iraq war resolution. All the same, the Bush budget is an amazing document. It would be hard to imagine a document that more clearly articulates the priorities of our current political elite.

Not only does it make many of Bush's tax cuts permanent, but it envisions a complete repeal of the Estate Tax, which mainly affects only those who are in the top two-tenths of the top one percent of the richest people in this country. The proposed savings from the cuts over the next decade are about $442 billion, or just slightly less than the amount of the annual defense budget (minus Iraq war expenses). But what's interesting about these cuts are how Bush plans to pay for them.

If the Estate Tax were to be repealed completely, the estimated savings to just one family -- the Walton family, the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune -- would be about $32.7 billion dollars over the next ten years.

The proposed reductions to Medicaid over the same time frame? $28 billion.

Or how about this: if the Estate Tax goes, the heirs to the Mars candy corporation -- some of the world's evilest scumbags, incidentally, routinely ripped by human rights organizations for trafficking in child labor to work cocoa farms in places like Cote D'Ivoire -- if the estate tax goes, those assholes will receive about $11.7 billion in tax breaks. That's more than three times the amount Bush wants to cut from the VA budget ($3.4 billion) over the same time period. Cox family (Cox cable TV) receives $9.7 billion tax break while education would get $1.5 billion in cuts. Nordstrom family (Nordstrom dept. stores) receives $826.5 million tax break while Community Service Block Grants would be eliminated, a $630 million cut.

[snip]

the family of former Exxon/Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, who received a $400 million retirement package, would receive about $164 million in tax breaks. Compare that to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which Bush proposes be completely eliminated, at a savings of $108 million over ten years. The program sent one bag of groceries per month to 480,000 seniors, mothers and newborn children.

Taibbi adds, "Somehow, to me, that's the worst one on the list. Here you have the former CEO of a company that scored record profits even as it gouged consumers, with gas prices rising more than 70 percent since January of 2001. There is a direct correlation between the avarice of oil company executives and the increased demand for federal aid for heating oil programs like LIHEAP, and yet the federal government wants to reward these same executives for raising prices on the backs of consumers."

Not to sound self-righteous but I am reminded of those words of Bush's favorite philosopher who promised to say in the end:

"Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!"

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 01:06 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

The Beatitudes Society: Salon writer Sara Miles writes on Ashes and Dust.

Faithful Democrats' Jesse Lava asks, will somebody (especially apathetic Christians) think of the children?

Quaker blogger gathering in light posts a "spiritual reflection on life with ghosts."

The Wheeler Spin experiences deja vu with the neoconservative god's of war.

The Rev. Chuck Currie got a new blogging job for the official UCC site. Check out his Lenten podcast.

Atheist Zen blogger Woodmore Village writes about UUism and Humanism: Or How I Learned to Like Unitarian Universalism.

From inside the UU world, philocrates writes about Harvey Cox's lecture on "James Luther Adams: Evangelical Unitarian or Unitarian Evangelical?"

And Muslim blog City of Brass calls out those who use Christopher Hitchens racist language.

Special section on the discussion among bloggers about the role of faith in progressive public life.
________

Although the discussion existed before, due to the controversy over the language and politicization of former Edwards' bloggers, the debate about the role of faith in progressive politics flared up this week.

Last week, kos wrote a long piece on religion, values and politics essentially pointing out that the best candidates and progressive policies come from values, both from the bible and from life experiences independent from faith. But that "talking about faith" hurts the cause.

Jim Wallis offers to make a deal:

How about if progressive religious folks, like me, make real sure that we never say, or even suggest, that values have to come from faith – and progressive secular folks, like you, never suggest that progressive values can’t come from faith (and perhaps concede that, in fact, they often do).

At Street Prophets, Pastor Dan responds:

So Mr. Wallis, let's make our own deal. How about if you realize that there are other people in the religious grassroots working carefully and productively to make common cause with secular progressives.

Kos says, huh? I think we agree.

Atrios, who weighed in last week, writes:

There are few people anywhere in our mainstream discourse who are anything close to being anti-religion, and I'm not aware of any of them having prominent ties to the Democratic party or any prominent organization associated with The Left, let alone speaking for them. . .As I said before I don't really care if progressive or any other beliefs come from faith, but who has denied that they can?

Wallis then tries to clear the air.

Then Kos suggests that he and Wallis don't agree after all.

At Talk to Action, Frederick Clarkson weighs in against what he sees as Wallis' unsupported worries about non-religious folks on the left.

Mik Moore of JSpot, notes the Jewish angle: "jspot is a progressive faith blog and thus part of the somewhat amorphous 'religious left,' (as is JFSJ). And the liberal Jewish community has always struggled with tensions between our observant, non-observant, secular, and anti-religious constituencies. My hope is that the lessons liberal Jews have learned and continue to learn can be instructive to the larger conservation [sic] surrounding Wallis’ post."

Faithful Democrats' Jesse Lava wonders what the secular left even is. But he sticks up for Wallis, stating: I'm a fan of Jim Wallis. He has done an awful lot to draw attention in this country to a progressive Christian vision. Many Americans know the message of Matthew 25 (and the like) because of him. But Lava adds:

As these secular-religious discussions progress, I hope we can eventually come to a point where we don't have to keep talking about our attitude toward each other -- like one of those relationships where all you talk about is the relationship itself. Soon, I hope, we'll understand each other and march on.

Noting that "Wallis, Street Prophets, Kos and Atrios are All My Brothers" Faithful Progressive weighs in on Mr. God's Politics himself:

Yes, Wallis sometimes seems to attack straw men, he's a little wobbily on keeping abortion non-criminal, and he seems on occasion to randomly lash out at Kos or the secular left for reasons known only to him. But this has to be put in the context of 30 years of work organizing on behalf of the poor. To me, that balance is overwhelmingly positive.

And finally,the Rev. Chuck Currie provides farsighted analysis:

But you walk away from discussions about religion on blogs like Daily Kos with the strong feeling that the secular left is happy to tolerate religious people as long as we use DNC talking points in place of the Beatitudes. We're a tool to them (Wallis became the ultimate tool himself when he gave the Democratic response to a recent weekly radio address by the president). When the Christian faith simply becomes a tool for one or another of the political parties we fail in our primary obligation as disciples: to make other disciples so that we build up in the Kingdom.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:20 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Hat-tip to Erik Kleefeld over at TPMCafe for this clip of Gov. Romney and a faith-based heckler at a recent event. Romney's Mormonism is already generating pages of press coverage. I don't have a good sense yet of how influential folks like the heckler are. Sure the crowd turns against the heckler (and Romney handles it all gracefully), but when citizens step into the booth to vote in primaries, will these doubts come back into play? Also worth noting that Mitt's response is that 'we need a person of faith to lead the country.' Paging President Eisenhower...

Posted by David Buckley at 02:13 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Get warmed up after the long weekend with an interview featuring Rev. Jim Wallis on Tucker's MSNBC show...

Posted by David Buckley at 11:02 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

The Oregon Center for Christian Values is located in Portland and started after Jim Wallis stopped by on the God's Politics book tour and more than 2,000 people showed up.

Lead by a ecumenical mix of activist Oregon grassroots leaders, the OCCV board includes evangelicals, Presbyterians, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Catholics all working for the common good.

According to them,

"In spring 2006, OCCV officially registered as a non-profit in the state of Oregon. We have since been faithfully working to engage local Christians in both action and dialogue around important issues in their communities. OCCV played an active role in promoting Christian support for the Payday Reform bill that recently passed the Oregon legislature, calling for an end to predatory lending practices that are morally unjust. We have also formed partnerships with a number of local organizations who are working to help broaden Christian moral leadership in public life, to include issues like caring for creation, supporting economic fairness, and working for the common good."

OCCV has two community organizers who work with local religious leaders to train congregations on witnessing activities like the recent Interfaith Advocacy Days. They are especially interested in broadening the moral values debate to include issues such as:

* Economic Fairness
* Health Care
* Creation Care
* Human Rights
* Global Justice
* Arts and Culture

Coming up "on April 14, 2007 the Oregon Center for Christian Values and Oak Hills Christian Reformed Church are presenting a summit on faith and the environment. A key purpose of this event is to restore Christian leadership in caring for God’s creation by reframing Earth Day as a Christian event called 'Creation Day,' to be celebrated on Sunday, April 22."

They note that "this is a day for Christians to meditate on our call to environmental stewardship, yet it is also an opportunity for us to uplift God as Creator through our example."

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 06:46 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Faithful Democrats and Atrios links to Faith in Public Life's post noting the declining support for the Iraq war even among Bush's traditionally most loyal base, those who attend church weekly. Atrios' is puzzled "why some religious people seem to get upset by more outspoken atheists."

Noting a recently up tick in bloggers discussion religion at Street Prophets, Pastor Dan notes a problem, yes, "they're talking about the religious left, rather than, you know, talking to the religious left."

Commenting on Atrios, Xpatriated Texan is havin' none of it and in light of the Edwards blogger critique: "Isn’t it possible that there’s something in between 100% pro-life and 100% pro-choice?" Adventus weighs in as well and finds both sides wanting.

kos writes a massive post entitled Religion, Values, and Politics. He states:

"If a candidate sincerely gets his or her values from religion, then that's fine. The Bible is a wonderfully liberal text. And when it's sincere it doesn't come across so grating, so imposing. Compare Obama's talking about religion to Bush's "favorite philosopher" b.s.

But religious values are no more superior than the values I learned from my abuelita (and most Latinos will get a good sense of what my value system looks like just by referencing the word "abuelita"). They are no more superior than the values Tester learned on the farm from his farmer father and grandfather. Or the values that Webb learned while proudly wearing his uniform. Or the values someone might learn by contemplating the great philosophers. Or whatever.

Values are important, and Democrats must be comfortable talking about them. Voters will respond to those better than any laundry list of issues.

But that doesn't equal "talking about religion". We have Democrats who proved their ability to win in tough districts based on values-heavy campaigns. So stop looking at Ford's losing campaign as a model for the future."

In the Street Prophets diaries section, M. Scott Lee has a two parter on why secular politics must take religion seriously: one and two.

Over at DailyKos, Frederick Clarkson posts on John McCain's personal Christian nationalist.

On the Iraq debate, the Rev. Chuck Currie shares his wish: "ideal resolution would have involved sending the president and vice-president to Iraq where they could take personal charge of the chaotic situation they themselves created. But we rarely live in the ideal world." Amazing Grace Sunday is comin' up, and his church will be participatin' in remembering the abolition work and the 27 million slaves around the world these days.

JSpot notes the growing cooperation between Jews and Sen. Obama's campaign.

Jesse takes on Tim Russert's repetition of the meme that Republicans talk about religion best.

Jim Wallis is excited that Christian Churches Together finally has happened and that they are talking about poverty.

Fr. Jake talks Episcopal politics.

Thinking about women's rights and the faith community, dotCommonweal re-views Sisters of Selma and Hand of God.

Faithful Progressive posts on the leak case, Dick Cheney, the CIA, and Bob Graham.

And the NCC blog notes how community organizing helps strengthen synagogues.

And Akram's Razor notes a recent op-ed that suggests that France actually might be the future of model Muslim/non-Muslim relations.

And finally for V-day, author Sara Miles writes about, Gay Marriage--A Sign of Christ's Love for the Beatitudes Society.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 05:16 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Just got some cross tabs from Susan Page at USA Today on the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll. Some encouraging news, considering the history of support* for Bush’s Iraq policy among the majority of white evangelicals…

A majority of those who attend religious services weekly oppose President Bush’s move to increase U.S. troops levels in Iraq and support the idea of Congress setting a timetable to bring U.S. forces home by the end of ’08.

Those who say they attend religious services weekly were more supportive of the administration's move to increase U.S. troops levels in Iraq. But a majority still opposed that idea.

Attend church weekly: 46% favor troop increase, 53% oppose.
Nearly weekly/monthly: 35% favor, 62% oppose.
Seldom/never: 34% favor, 63% oppose.

Those who say they attend religious services weekly were the least likely to support the idea of Congress setting a timetable to bring U.S. forces home by the end of next year. But a majority still supported the proposal.

Attend church weekly: 56% support, 41% oppose.
Nearly weekly/monthly: 68% support, 31% oppose
Seldom/never: 65% support, 33% oppose

[USA Today/Gallup Poll, Feb. 9-10, 2007]

Since last month, four percent of weekly-church-attendees moved from the "don't know/undecided" category into "oppose" President Bush's proposed increase in U.S. troop levels in Iraq:

Attend church weekly: 46% support, 49% oppose
Nearly weekly/monthly: 39% support, 60% oppose
Seldom/never: 30% support, 68% oppose.

[USA Today/Gallup Poll, Jan. 12-14]

Looking at the numbers another way, we also know from last month’s AP Ipsos poll, 60 percent of white evangelical Christians oppose sending more U.S. forces to Iraq.

[AP Ipsos, Jan. 8-10]

*(According to an October 2006 Pew poll, 58% of white evangelicals surveyed felt the US made the right decision in using force in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, compared to 71 percent in a previous poll in September 2006.)

Posted by Katie at 06:42 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Yale Divinity School just concluded a most interesting conference titled, “Voices & Votes: Religious Convictions in the Public Square.” As you’ll be able to tell by the conference agenda, the panelists were both distinguished and from across the ideological spectrum. Not every day you get to see Ralph Reed and Eric Sapp at the same conference. In between jokes about who sat to the left of whom at the presenter tables, there was a good bit of serious discussion of the state of religion in American public life today.

Many themes resonated throughout the day, perhaps none moreso than the increasingly diverse political priorities of the evangelical community in America. Whether driven by disenchantment with the Bush Administration or a theological dedication to what Ron Sider called Biblically balanced politics, evangelicals are prioritizing things like creation care, protection of human rights, and combating global AIDS with increasing vigor. As Rich Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals pointed out, this isn’t only good policy, but makes good news when working with media outlets that expects little political diversity from the evangelical community.

Hopefully some of the day’s proceedings will be available through the Internet at some point. The discussions, even when touching on points of serious disagreement, featured an honesty and civility that could be a model for our discourse on faith in public life.

Posted by David Buckley at 05:12 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

On Tuesday John Broder at the NYTimes published a piece picking up Bill Donohue's noise making about the past posts of two bloggers recently hired by the Edwards campaign.

As Glen Greenwald pointed out, "But when the Times claims that the Edwards campaign is "in hot water," what they mean is that there are complaints from a few bloggers fueled by the right-wing Catholic League's Bill Donohue."

Wolf gets on the situation and then CNN's internet reporter collects a bunch of no-comments from campaigns that, yes, have bloggers too. So the narrative emerges: the Edwards campaign hired two bloggers whose past writings are vulgar and highly critical of some religious mores. Catholic League head Bill Donohue finds out about the offending posts, and as he always manages to do gets substantial press coverage with accusations of "anti-Catholic bigotry."

Pointing to "a February 2 article in Women's Wear Daily that described Donohue's efforts to "manufacture controversy," Media Matters for America includes the definitive list of discrediting quotes from Donohue and also critiques the unquestioning early media coverage treating Donohue as the representative of Catholicism. In fact, many Catholic organizations disagree with his POV.

For example, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good issued this press statement:

"We also invite Catholic League president Bill Donohue to focus on promoting the values and message at the heart of the Catholic faith – the common good, and a concern for the least among us – and to address his own political hypocrisy. In 2000, Mr. Donohue called out Gov. George W. Bush for speaking at Bob Jones University. Gov. Bush later condemned the school's anti-Catholic views, and Mr. Donohue quickly accepted the renouncement. Mr. Donohue rapidly accepted Mel Gibson’s apology for anti-Semitic remarks. We ask him today to join us to renew focus Jesus’ message of the common good, social justice, and forgiveness, to drop his rhetoric of division and personal defamation. We invite him to join in debate about an authentic Catholic response to the real problems facing our nation and culture."

Donohue's response, as usual, is about silencing political enemies cloaked in hyperbole that drives the MSM's coverage of religion. As David Goldstein points out Huff Post: "For his part Donohue now promises a "nationwide public relations blitz" against Edwards, attacking him for his religious "bigotry"... this from a man who freely laces his own public statements with anti-semitic rhetoric." Evidence? From the 12/08/04 broadcast of Scarborough Country, Bill Donohue everyone: "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the messiah."

And yes, even arch conservatives like William F. Buckley criticized Donohue for attacking an ethnicity as ideology.

Responses have come in from many corners of the blogosphere, blending varying degrees of disgust at Donohue and discomfort with the writings of the bloggers in question.

At MyDD, Nancy Scola sums up her feelings with this: "And it's absurd to claim to know that Amanda is anti-Catholic deep within her soul because of a few blog posts. But in her writings she certainly warmly embraced the tactic of mocking that faith. To pretend otherwise is to run away from a nut that does need to be cracked at some point: have we made the Democratic tent big enough to welcome religious activists without constantly snickering behind their backs?" A variety of similar posts at the Catholic blog/magazine Commonweal strike on similar notes.

Pastor Dan of Street Prophets is having none of it. He writes that "This is a reprehensible and feather-weight charge, and it should be rejected. I was particularly upset to read the posts in question and discover that there's nothing there that others haven't already said - including Catholics - albeit less colorfully. That is to say, the entire case for the alleged bigotry is a matter of tone and vocabulary, not substance."

Faithful Progressive hopes that this would lead some bloggers to give religious ideas more respect. Tone matters.

Faithful Democrats (Edwards is Southern Baptist) grants Edwards a kinda pass on this, but objects to the from-the-gut (or lower) rhetoric of the two bloggers. Jesse writes:

They're not political arguments; they're condemnations of people who hold certain religious beliefs. They're not funny; they're sardonic; they're mean; they're contemptuous. And calling out Marcotte and McEwen is entirely appropriate.

The Edwards camp, as most know, has decided to retain the bloggers:

"The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwen's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor, or anything else. But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's faith, and I take them at their word. We're beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can't let it be hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the America we believe in."

The Rev. Chuck Currie provides some historical context about when the Donohue attacked his blog. Then the good Reverend Currie concludes: "I don't like the rhetoric employed by the bloggers the Edwards campaign hired. We need more civil discourse than that. But Donohue is nothing more than another right-wing political activist trying to high jack the Christian faith for his own political gain. Make no mistake about that."

Instead of retyping the tired old messages from the loudest bigots of religion, the "mainstream media" needs to listen to more mainstream folks [shameless plug warning] like these thoughtful religious Americans.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:42 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (7)

Go behind the façade of any major town or city in the world today and you are likely to find a thriving commerce in human beings. Nearly 200,000 people live enslaved at this moment in the United States, and an additional 17,500 new victims are trafficked across our borders every year.

Sold into slave labor and prostitution, they staff our favorite local restaurants and work the streets just fifteen blocks from our nation’s capital.

NOT FOR SALE: The Return of the Global Slave Trade—And How We Can Fight It by award-winning journalist and professor David Batstone shines a light on this 32 billion dollar industry. Batstone traveled to five continents, chronicling a shocking investigation into the world of human trafficking and the heroic abolitionists combating this global epidemic.

Go to the campaign You Tube site for more videos of David Batstone talking about the campaign to stop human trafficking.

This week a huge coordinated effort to free the 27 million people in slavery kicked off. Visual artists, businesses, students, people of faith, athletes, actors and many others have formed a new global abolition movement.

On Feb. 23, Bristol Bay Productions (Ray) releases a major motion picture on the life of William Wilberforce who combined his Christian faith with a dogged commitment to abolition. I saw the film and it actually mixes a compelling story and a serious call to faith-based social justice.

Learn more about Amazing Grace.

Amazing Grace Sunday is February 18.

Check out the emerging Concert to End Slavery.

Here's the growing Not For Sale Campaign My Space page.

Join Brian Boitano and the Free to Play campaign for athletes.

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There appears to only be one blog (this one) covering the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference in New Orleans. With 1500 in attendance it was the largest gathering of clergy in New Orleans since hurricane Katrina struck.

Here's Mos Def offering a lil' "Katrina Klap" as a reminder to us all (not just Bush) about what's at stake.

On Talk to Action, Frederick Clarkson notes that Bush's Religious Right Swat Team Takes Aim at Methodists.

Speaking of comity, here's some atheists under attack by Christians? Catholic blogger Eamon posts video and takes on First Things.

Progressive Christians Uniting is getting ready for its conference on February 19.

Quaker seminarian Gathering in Light writes on the emergent church movement and denominational tradition.

Keeping up their strong attention to wage issues, JSpot notes the speeding shift among economists toward raising the minimum wage.

The Rev. Chuck Currie has picks up some flack in a Portland paper over his concerns about a local school. He also notes the introduction of a bill to assit all homeless populations.

At the Beatitudes Society Blog, food activist and writer Sara Miles relates the story behind her conversion by communion:

"that at the heart of Christianity is a power which continues to speak to and transform us. As I found to my surprise and alarm, it could speak even to me: not in the sappy, Jesus-and-cookies tone of mild-mannered liberal Christianity, or the blustering, blaming hellfire of the religious right. What I heard, and continue to hear, is a voice that can crack religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least qualified, least official, least likely; that upsets the established order and makes a joke of certainty."

At Street Prophets: The Warewolf Prophet writes about the bought silence of former New Life pastor Ted Haggard. Pastor Dan provides a two part post on bigots and notes the rise of the KKK and its ideological connection to opine wingers like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michele Malkin.

Zeus takes on Racism, Sexism, Moralism, Christianism: Right-wing Idolatry as Vulgarized Christianity for CrossLeft.

CrossWalk America posts a pretty funny video in honor of Evolution Sunday, Feb 11.

At God's Politics, Duane Shank elucidates the priorites expressed in the new federal budget.

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Rev. Jennifer Butler writes to us live from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference in New Orleans. She'll check in throughout the event with updates on this important gathering.

The Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference launched last night with a night. With 1500 in attendance it was the largest gathering of clergy in New Orleans since hurricane Katrina struck. Dr Iva Carruthers, the conference's General Secretary, has made this conference the "go to place" for social justice oriented African American clergy. The conference is especially attentive to raising a new generation of leaders-150 seminarians from 32 seminaries are present.

The conference opened with a remembrance of the Rev. Samuel Dewitt Proctor. The Reverend Dr. James Forbes spoke to how Proctor mentored generations of social justice oriented black clergy. Proctor once wrote, "Some pastors have given up on filling the shoes of Amos, Micah, Isaiah, or Jeremiah... God bless those pastors who stand tall and who, in love, tell the truth." Forbes reminded the 1,500 participants that its not enough just to show up; they must "tangibilitate" the Gospel-that is make it tangible and live it out.

The conference opened with two women clergy speaking truth to power. The Reverend Dr. Susan K Smith of Advent United Church of Christ in Columbus Ohio and the Rev. Liz Walker of Bethel AME in Jamaica Plain Masachucetts raised the roof, challenging us on our personal faith journey as well as taking on our national leaders on issues like the genocide in Darfur, the War in Iraq, Katrina, the American culture of materialism and corporate welfare.

Most noted by all speakers was the fact that President Bush had failed to even mention the Katrina disaster in his State of the Union Address. Conference leaders in response vowed to meet in New Orleans again next year to continue with this year's theme, "In the Wake of Katrina: Lest We Forget... Call to Renewal." Many of the clergy arrived early to tour the Ninth Ward and other affected areas. Tomorrow, conference leaders will hold a sunrise service on the Claiborne Street Bridge, where many of the city's poor were stopped by police while trying to escape the city.

It's been an inspired gathering so far, with much more to come!

Blessings,
Rev. Jen

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Many film critics believe that we exist in the golden age of documentary filmmaking. Several recent films shown at the recent Sundance Film Festival fuel the fight for justice and human rights.

Here's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib by Rory Kennedy who is, yes, the daughter of RFK. I really like her film because it explores why ordinary people all too often commit extraordinary acts of violence.

In an interview with New York magazine, Rory says:

I had planned on making a film exploring the question of how ordinary people commit extraordinary acts of evil, and Abu Ghraib kept coming up. It was really with the intention of doing a psychological profile of the MPs —were these people psychopaths? Or was it the pressure of working under these conditions?

So, what did you find?

They’re perfectly normal in many ways. Javal Davis—there’s a sweetness to his eyes, an honesty to him. They did horrible things, but it was pretty obvious that these guys were told to do 95 percent of what they did.

This film will play on HBO on February 22.

Another excellent documentary to appear this year at Sundance is The Bible Tells Me So.

This film is "an exploration of the religious right's use of the Bible to justify shutting homosexuals out of the faiths in which they've grown up.One of the central figures in For the Bible Tells Me So is Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first-ever openly gay man to be elected a Bishop of the Episcopalian Church. Robinson's consecration in 2003 (at which he had to wear a bullet-proof vest due to death threats) was a historical occasion that caused a rift in the Episcopal church." The doc also includes conversations with Desmond Tutu, Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer, the Rev. Susan Sparks, Crissy Gephardt daughter of former Presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt, and "the Poteats, an African-American family in which both parents are preachers still struggling to accept that their daughter, Tonia, is a lesbian."

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There's been quite a bit of dust kicked up recently over the political consulting of Common Good Strategies, a group headed by Mara Vanderslice and Eric Sapp. Some on the left say they're selling out progressivism. Others on the right say they're communists in sheep's clothing. The debates offer a window into the highly charged ground that CGS is treading. Must be interesting to take hits from both your right and your left...

“Mara Vanderslice’s attempt to convince Christians to vote for pro-abortion, pro-homosexual Democrats (who hide their real goals behind claims of ‘faith’) is working – and the Republican Party should take note,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “Tragically, Vanderslice’s brand of ‘progressive’ Christianity has more in common with Marxist-Leninist ideals than with orthodox Christianity. I pray that Christians will not be fooled in 2008 – as many were in 2006. Because many evangelicals voted for liberals in 2006, we face a Congress that is openly hostile to biblical values.”

Traditional Values Coalition, February 1, 2007

Casey should have ignored Vanderslice's reckless counsel for a variety of reasons, including that there was no reason to seek additional support from those who would never provide it. Contrary to Vanderslice's notions, engaging the leadership of the hard Religious Right does not demonstrate respect for "people of faith." Instead it sends a clear message of capitulation to the long discredited Aristotelian notion of inherent inequality. Any continued acceptance of this unnecessary strategy of pandering will have its ultimate end in the furthering weakening of liberal democracy.

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America's Young Theologian writes about Gandhi, Graffiti, and Christian Ethics:

"Bourgeois suburban Christianity is limited in practice to largely interpersonal matters. It tends to see the command to love others as elevating the personal encounter with another person over working to alleviate the structural conditions that enslave others. [Given the impersonal nature of people's daily lives, this may seem right, but one cannot claim love while failing to address the structures of poverty and classism.] So, they send teenagers on mission trips dressed in GAP clothing, largely unconcerned with their own suburban exclusion, greed, and perpetuation of poverty."

Upon reading her "beloved" issue of Burma Issues, Brethren Priestess registers alarm that "the military is intent on wiping out Christianity in Burma, according to claims in a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry."

Can't get enough of Islamoyankee's sharp analysis of religious issues this week at Faith in Public Life? Check out his discussion of Shi'ism.

Over at JSpot, Lenny finds an article on community organizing that kinda convinces him to pay a little more attention to Obama.

If you know what WHINSEC / SOA means, you'll appreciate that Chuck Currie writes about the Chicago UCC minister who just got a ticket to the grey hotel for protesting outside Ft. Benning in Georgia.

What a lil' controversy? On Street Prophets a "Pro-Life Secular Liberal" writes about how abortion doesn't fit with the principles of her childhood Universal-Unitarianism.

CrossLeft posts Olbermann's recent "special comment" on Bush and terrorism and Jaws 2.

Ryan Beiler blogs at God's Politics Blog about Sen. Biden's launch speech to Sen. Obama: "NEWS FLASH TO WELL-MEANING WHITE FOLKS: When you praise people of any minority or ethnicity for being "articulate," you're suggesting that you have deeply held stereotypes about people that don't look like you that are only overcome by what you see as noteable exceptions."

City of Brass notes "The incoherence of Ghazali." Poor Cristo Lumen. Apparently his entire blog got erased.

Not surprised, Mainstream Baptist, confirms a recent report that points out that Baptist women head to other denominations.

Be sure to read Jeff Sharlet debuting on Talk to Action by writing on that weirdness known to Americans as the National Prayer Breakfast. Here's something to go with your Frenchy-blend:

"Today, the National Prayer Breakfast is a gathering of all faiths, in Jesus' name. To be fair, the organization that produces it -- so deliberately lowkey that they encourage the misperception that it's an official government event -- tones down its true strangeness in honor of the attendance of the president and hundreds of congressmen. For instance, they don't bring up what they consider the leadership lessons of... Hitler. Yes, Hitler."

Catholics United for the Common Good can't take the conservative bashing of the late, great Fr. Drinan.

Homogenizing her coffee and recent Catholic news, Pam's House Blend mixes it up over an Italian newspaper report on the difference between papal moral absolutes and the advice given in the confessional box.

Yes, human trafficking is a modern reality that must be stopped notes Faithfully Liberal. The Rev. Deb Haffner wonders about who gets to define "family values."

And finally, the NCC blog notes a Goode day for America . . .when an interfaith delegation went to invite Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode to a Muslim service.

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