11D

Father Neuhaus

Father Neuhaus passed away a couple of days ago. While I never met him, my parents knew him fairly well. My dad is a regular contributor to First Things. Some commentary on his passing from Russell Arben Fox, Ross Douthat, and John Podhoretz.

The Mormom Church and Prop 8

The kids are home; the chaos begins. I will be soon bumped off my computer so that one of the savages can get on the Cartoon Network website. But first I must pass on a few links to a massive and interesting and disturbing discussion about the Mormon role in the passage of Prop 8 in CA.

Peace, Yo

I finally ordered Christmas cards through Shutterfly. It took all morning to figure out which kiddie picture to  paste on the front. Jonah's two front teeth are going through an awkward stage, so it was tricky to find a good picture of him.

After I set up the front of the card, then came the message decision. I couldn't use "Happy Holidays" after reading Maria Farrell's post last week. In these strange times,"Merry Christmas" has become too daring, like you're spoiling for a fight. "Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah" was leaving out the atheists and the two people who celebrate Kwanzaa.

We decided that a message of "peace and good will to men" was religious themed, but not politically loaded. Still there was the "men" problem. Do we write "peace and good will to men and wimyn and transgendered individuals"? Finally settled on "peace and good will to all."

My brother said that he has a recipe for George Washington's egg nog, which is loaded with rum and brandy. Bring it on, bro.

Going to Hell in a Handbasket

In addition to Elizabeth Kolbert's book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, I'm thinking about using my Amazon kickback money to buy Kevin Phillips's book, American Theocracy. The Times reviewed it on Sunday.

Phillips is a long time Republican well known for his early prediction of the flourishing of Republicans in the Sun Belt.

In his new book, he forsees death and destruction for America caused by his beloved Republicans. He bemoans the big debt in Washington and in the individual's credit card statement. The oil industry's influence over foreign affairs also freaks out Phillips. But what made my hair stand up on end was his description of the Religious Right and their impact on American politics.

Politics on the Pulpit

Forgive me if posting is thin this week. Still not entirely well. Energy levels wax and wane.

Last week, I wrote a long screedy post about Catholicism and politics. I questioned whether some of recent attacks on the political and social views of Catholics were due to some lingering anti-Catholicism in America. Now that the antibiotics have kicked in, I'm a little more reasonable.

I do think that the charges that the pope is responsible for AIDs in Africa are wrong, as I explained in the comments. But some of the comments and posts by other bloggers are valid. Jay maintains that he should have a position on Catholic politics, because Catholics have a world view that they seek to impose on others.

The problem is that the church isn't just taking positions on these issues with regard to Catholics, but rather working to institute their positions in civil law and society. And that does affect me and is my business.

Exactly. This is true. Catholics have positions that affect their politics which can affect others, even non-Catholics. And non-Catholics should protest when they feel that their rights and freedoms will be limited by these policies.

Should Catholics and other religious groups be denied to the right to organize, because they are members of a religious group? Should we be at all shocked that when religious leaders talk politics at the pulpit?

No. That's what politics are about. Everybody is organized under some sort of organization. If not religious, then other interest oriented.

The NRA, the ACLU, the National Wildlife Organization, NOW are all groups of people seeking to turn their interest into policy. And all of them have counter groups that feel that their interests are going to be affected. The NRA feel that the gun regulation activists are limiting what they see as their God given rights to carry around AK47s. The loggers feel that the environmental activists are curtailing their rights to put food on the table for the family.

Politics is about the clashing of rights and interests. Politics is about people organizing to have their world-view made into law. It's about jockeying for the position to become a majority. It's about the minority adjusting its message to make itself into the majority in the next election.

Yes, we should watch and even protest political action by religious groups. But we shouldn't be surprised when they talk politics in church, and we shouldn't try to stifle them.

For later...

I have several long screedy, unwritten posts on religion and politics and Congress and maybe even Jane Fonda. This afternoon I'll probably be too busy to purge them, so it will have to wait until this evening. Cutting out Ian's afternoon is going to have a major impact on blogging. In the meantime, read this article on Frist and evangelical Christians.

Other stuff:
Should there be universities have an affirmative action program not only for students of color, but students from lower income families? Yes. Read more on this upcoming conference at Brookings.