Sarah Posner

On the heels of Nancy Pelosi’s audience with Pope Benedict XVI, during which he lectured her that she should “protect life” (i.e., not be pro-choice), comes a damning investigation of the virulent anti-semitism of the St. Pius X Society. Benedict recently lifted the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society, who openly […]

Yesterday, an “orgy of strange bedfellows,” as former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson put it, got together to release a package of policy proposals to combat poverty, under the auspices of a new “common ground” coalition, The Poverty Forum. The group was convened by Gerson and Sojourners president Jim Wallis, the ubiquitous but accommodationist […]

At Beliefnet’s Progressive Revival blog, Ed Kilgore takes a dissenting view of Obama’s new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and its accompanying Advisory Council. In particular, Kilgore objects to the implication that religious people have better ideas about solving our societal crises, noting that the initiative “puts ‘God in a box,’ as […]

There’s been some touting of a Gallup poll, on the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday, showing that only 39% of Americans say they believe in the “theory” of evolution. Gallup phrased the question: “Do you, personally, believe in the theory of evolution, do you not believe in evolution, or don’t you have an opinion either […]

Faith in Public Life, the organization that has promoted the role of the “broader agenda” evangelicals in politics and public discourse, is hailing the composition of the newly appointed advisory council for President Obama’s new Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships because it “transcends left and right.” In a statement, the group notes that many […]

After all the anticipation and leaks, the White House finally made the creation of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships official. According to the announcement, the Office “will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs.” Yet, as with most things, it’s not so simple. […]

Funny how on the day that President Obama and a bunch of other Democrats cozy up with fundamentalists at the National Prayer Breakfast, the religious right is accusing Democrats of “declaring war on prayer.” Kyle at Right Wing Watch has the scoop. Basically the lowdown is that religious right uber-barrister Jay Sekulow started complaining that […]

The Associated Press is reporting what I first reported here last night: that President Obama, in signing an executive order forming his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office, will not, as promised in his campaign, rescind the Bush-era policy allowing recipients of federal money to engage in discriminatory employment practices. Instead, he will delay resolving the […]