Racing Toward Armageddon: The Three Great Religions and the Plot to End the World: An Excerpt
Finally, something Christians, Jews, and Muslims can agree on: Apocalypse. But as the theological end-time visions of the three Abrahamic faiths converge, it is not the wrath of heaven that threatens life on Earth, but all-too-human fundamentalism and fearmongering.
The Legacy of Bush, Gambler of Other People’s Fortunes, Is Still With Us
A look at Bush’s gambling habit is instructive as Obama works to fix the problems of his predecessor with a team cut from the Bush administration cloth.
Talmud v. Torture: The Jewish Case Against “Enhanced Interrogation”
During the Bush Administration, Rabbi Melissa Weintraub wrote a definitive condemnation of torture according to Talmudic teaching and Jewish collective memory. With the release of the CIA “torture memos,” these essays are worth revisiting. And, as Israel celebrates the 61st anniversary of its independence how does the Jewish nation itself stack up to these ideals?
Is Torture Utilitarian?
As politicians argue, and our pragmatist-in-chief tries to find an angle, we can agree that not all moral dilemmas can be reduced to a cost-benefit analysis of pleasure and pain. There are some kinds of pain a morally serious person ought never to inflict.
As online media supplants traditional publishing quantity is often mistaken for quality, some say. Especially where religion reporting is concerned.
The outgoing president's much-vaunted faith may have given religion a bad name.
As you approach the end of your time in the White House, I want to make sure I say “Thank you.” Thank you for transforming my faith and my politics.
Why did Bush not do more for peace during his failed presidency? Because someone is always lobbing a rocket or detonating a bomb, and this invalidates any and every gesture toward peace, in his simple view.
Physicians, “Conscience,” and the Denial of Options
New federal regulations, enacted by the lame-duck Bush administration, privilege the religious or moral scruples of physicians over a patient’s right to treatment. 40 million Americans have physicians who will not present them with all the options for treatment.
Missing the Anger for the Shoes
In the wake of the Bush/Shoe incident, much has been said about the shoe in the Muslim world. The important thing is that a man sought to express anger.
The Shoe Thrower: What Bush Didn’t Understand
A young Iraqi woman, frustrated and in tears, explains to her classmates: “If Iraqi people come at you with shoes, you have lost their hearts and lost the war and God help us all.”
Faith-Based Initiatives in the Obama Administration?
If the Obama Administration sticks with Bush’s faith-based initiatives they would do well to avoid the numerous mistakes and predilection for corruption that haunted the Bush version.
The Fundamental(ist) Optimist President
The president delivered more bromides this morning as the stock market dipped even further; but who would expect realism from this man?
Bush and others throw around numbers like $700 billion without really knowing what they mean.
Though it may be unhelpful to draw comparisons between the administration and fascist regimes, it's important to recognize the “family resemblances” in their political reasoning and self-conception.
The Byzantine Bush Tell-All
The original insider memoir, by Procopius of Caesarea, gave the word 'byzantine' its current meaning...
Organizing with Obama: Faith in Action
The "compassionate conservatism" of the Bush era was based on the idea that "sinful sloth" leads to poverty, and only religion can cure such a weakness. But the underpinning of Obama's faith-based plan is political, not theological...
Obama's Faith-Based Makeover
Obama pledges to remake Bush's faith-based initiative. No one is pleased...
The tragicomic Napoleonic Era reveals eerie similarities to the Bush Doctrine...
It’s not easy for faculty to stand up to the administration; especially at a small conservative school.
RDPulpit: Religious Bloggers Campaign to Stop Torture
Religious bloggers push the media to go beyond “soundbite theology” to challenging questions about torture and America.
Deconstructing the systematic political theology in the president’s Easter address; are American soldiers merely imitating Christ?