Well, not really. But at a roundtable for reporters hosted by the Religion News Service this morning, Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlberg, president of the Rabbinical Assembly and rabbi emeritus of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., gave anti-gay-marriage advocates a little lesson on marriage in the Torah. The roundtable was inspired by the Interfaith Alliance, and […]
Sarah Posner
Sarah Posner’s coverage of religion and politics has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Week, and many others.
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GOD AND HEALTH-CARE REFORM.
The driving force behind many of the more center-left-leaning religious-advocacy groups that popped up in Washington after the 2004 election was that religious voters wanted their voices heard in the public square and that our elected officials care what they think. Thus, if a religious-advocacy group holds a rally for health-care reform, members of Congress […]
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THE ELEPHANT IN THE COMMON GROUND ROOM.
At a press conference yesterday, Reps. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) unveiled their new Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. Hailed as the product of years of blood, sweat, and tears of negotiating between different camps that support and oppose legal abortion, the bill gained the support […]
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SOTOMAYOR AND CHURCH-STATE SEPARATION.
Despite prodding from church-state separation advocates, no member of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Judge Sonia Sotomayor about her views on the Establishment Clause or Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment during her confirmation hearings. Republicans, like Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn, talked about the Second Amendment “hanging in the balance” — a questionable jurisprudential assertion […]
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SANFORD, C STREET AND JESUS’ “TOP MEN.”
This morning The Washington Post picks up on a reference Mark Sanford made in his confessional press conference to meetings he had at “C Street” to discuss his infidelity. He was referring to 133 C Street, S.E., in the District, where a secretive group of power elites known as “The Fellowship” or “The Family” meets. […]
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MARK SANFORD: FATHERS ARE THE “SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF THE HOUSE.”
At the web site of the Palmetto Family Council, the South Carolina arm of Focus on the Family, is an undated recording of an interview Governor Mark Sanford did on families and fatherhood. He serves up the usual platitudes about families being the bedrock of society, and then launches into the particular responsibilities of fathers. […]
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS HAS A NEW LOBBYIST.
The National Association of Evangelicals has finally replaced Richard Cizik, its longtime Washington presence who was forced out last December after endorsing civil unions. The group chose someone from within its ranks, Galen Carey, who, according to a press release, has worked for the NAE’s related humanitarian mission, World Relief. Notably, the NAE did not […]
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The FundamentaList (No. 86)
This week in religion and politics: In her last regular column, Sarah Posner says so long to The FundamentaList.
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The FundamentaList (No. 85)
This week in religion and politics: The Army secretary nominee’s record on church-state separation comes under scrutiny, and immigration reform may leave out LGBT people.
Posted inEducation in America
ABORTION REDUCTION GAMESMANSHIP.
Dan Gilgoff has a thinly reported post in which he speculates, based on one anonymous congressional source, that the White House is “leaning” towards supporting the Pregnant Women’s Support Act (PWSA). If true — and Gilgoff offers little evidence it is — this would represent a remarkable about-face for the administration. Since President Obama’s Notre […]
