Religion

The Bishop of Rhode Island Suspends Seattle’s Muslim Episcopalian Priest

By Carroll Andrew Morse | July 6, 2007 |

According to a report from the Associated Press, Episcopalian Church procedures (a subject I know precisely nothing about) have placed the Right Reverend Geralyn Wolf, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, at the center of the controversy concerning the “Muslim Episcopalian priest”…An Episcopal priest who announced last month that she is also a…

For Those in Need of Comparison

By Justin Katz | June 25, 2007 |

Michelle Malkin has republished photos of what actual non-separation of church and state looks like. Others have rightly emphasized the silence that this oppression inspires on the international stage, but given recent discussion around here, I’ll make a tangential point: Some Westerners apparently believe that allowing Christians to buck the secularist system within their own…

Religious Freedom, Except When Denied

By Justin Katz | June 24, 2007 |

Raising yet another sticky issue on the Sabbath, I note that Connecticut has decided that Roman Catholic hospitals may not behave as if the Roman Catholic faith is actually, you know, true: Victim advocates cheered a recent bill requiring all Connecticut hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims, but Roman Catholic leaders see it…

Separation of What and State?

By Justin Katz | June 14, 2007 |

I get the feeling that people (like Peter O’Connell of East Greenwich) who would get incensed at this paragraph, from a story about Philadelphia’s declaring itself the City of Brotherly Love and fetal massacre: Cardinal Justin Rigali, the spiritual leader of hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics in the region, immediately responded with a rebuke…

Jurassic Eden

By Marc Comtois | May 25, 2007 |

My first thought was that it’s things like this that provide the “smarter-than-thee” rhetorical ammunition for the ideological opponents of conservatism. Two prehistoric children play near a burbling waterfall, thoroughly at home in the natural world. Dinosaurs cavort nearby, their animatronic mechanisms turning them into alluring companions, their gaping mouths seeming not threatening, but almost…

Imagining Conversations with God About Political Necessity…

By Justin Katz | May 22, 2007 |

Commenter Rhody gets to the heart of liberal/Democrat Catholics’ rationalizations with respect to what their faith is supposed to encompass and what their politics are supposed to require: When a Catholic is elected to public office, he or she is representing everyone in the district, not just Catholics (the crucial distinction JFK made). If a…

“Can a Catholic Be a Democrat?”

By Marc Comtois | May 21, 2007 |

Former RI Senate Majority Leader and CCRI Professor David Carlin (D, Newport) has written a new book, Can a Catholic Be A Democrat. Here’s a summary: When author David Carlin was a young man, it was scandalous for a good Catholic to be anything but a good Democrat. In the pews, pubs, and union halls…

The Significance of the Holiday

By Justin Katz | April 8, 2007 |

To all of our Christian readers, I wish a joyous Easter, full of reminders of the holiday’s significance to us. No matter what happens in this world, in our society, we’ve better things ahead. In all our actions, there should always be that underlying confidence in salvation. Which is why it is only with sadness…

Fish on Fridays

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 6, 2007 |

Nothing symbolizes the supposed arbitrariness of religion to those predisposed towards skepticism towards religious belief than does the Catholic practice of eating fish on Fridays during the season of Lent. I’ll admit to having asked myself, especially on Good Friday, what connection there is between fish and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And then there…

Secularists Versus Faith-Based Homeless Shelters

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 2, 2007 |

Am I alone in finding the attitude expressed towards the Providence Rescue Mission expressed by “some members of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless” in Linda Borg‘s Saturday Projo article to be outrageous…Last night, Sean Carew greeted his guests the way he always does, with a firm handshake and a warm smile. Carew is…