"Breathlessness is always a problem with papal visits."

An entertaining rant from Peter Steinfels about the predictably clueless coverage of the pope's visit to the States.

Commonweal to GW: "Stop It"

A strongly worded editorial condemning the president's theological defenses of the "war on terror."

Apples and Catholics

According to the Vatican newspaper, Muslims have passed up Catholics as the world's largest religion!

Wait, you say. Shouldn't we be comparing Muslims to CHRISTIANS, or SUNNIS to Catholics? Or, as my girlfriend would say, isn't that like comparing apples and Catholics?

Well, maybe. Depends on what exactly "one true church" means, so it's always an awkward question. In this case, while the monsignor who compiles the Vatican's yearbook acknowledged this qualification, he still felt the need to tell the paper the news--ostensibly BAD news, to be downplayed, not trumpeted--that the "Muslims have overtaken us."

In other news, there are more Hindus in the world than Episcopalians. We've failed!

"Yesterday’s wisdom is not tomorrow’s"

A provocative piece by Paul Oestreicher challenges the idea that Christians are/should be "people of the book." While my own view of scripture is somewhat higher that his, he's especially good when he's discussing the Bible's own resistance to being read as a singular authority:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God . . .” In the beginning, there was no Bible. The Word, the logos, is the living Christ, constantly made known in his Church and in our hearts by the Holy Spirit — the light that enlightens the world. That enlightenment is a process that goes on until the end of time.

The paradox is that the New Testament texts themselves attest to the fact that they are not the last word. The Spirit is the contemporary judge over all that has been written. Jesus said, and the Spirit goes on telling us: “You have heard it said . . . but I say unto you.” Yesterday’s wisdom is not tomorrow’s. To the disciples, Jesus said: “There are many things you do not understand, but the Spirit will lead you to the truth.” He did not say: “Study the texts: it is all there,” and, significantly, did not write any texts himself.

More here.

In case you haven't yet tired of Angryblackpastorgate

Hello, I'm still here. Been running around quite a bit.

Jim Naughton has a good response to Michael "I'm a religious right shill!/I'm a thoughtful moderate!/Who am I now?!" Gerson's recent call for Obama to denounce "political extremist" Jeremiah Wright.

In short: Mike, you insist on calling yourself a member of the Anglican church of Nigeria, making Archbishop Peter Akinola your chief pastor. So, what about the plank in your own eye?

Also: the full text of the main Wright sermon in question is available here. (Hat tip to Dallas Morning News religion blog.) I'd say it largely confirms the view endorsed by me and others--the truth of the message itself rises considerably above its hyperbolic rhetorical flourishes.

Holy Week

It's Maundy/Holy Thursday--one of my favorite days of the church year. I'm in DC, spending the week with Nadia and our church community here. Last night we had a lovely Tennebrae service, complete with a dozen or so antiphonal psalms. I sang the gospel responses with a quartet and the Christus factus as a solo.

Holy Week's always an unpredictable experience for me. I just never know how distracted I'll be.

Here's a brief meditation I wrote on the subject two years ago.

"Wright is right" digest

I've already linked to a couple good pieces on what my friend John calls Blackpastorgate.

Here's a longer post I wrote yesterday for Utne, essentially a digest of that rare thing in the last few days: pieces by people who actually understand and appreciate what Jeremiah Wright is about and aren't just obsessed with the OMG-how-will-this-hurt-Obama angle.

Frank Schaeffer is an American hero

All you need to know about why the Jeremiah Wright thing shouldn't really be a thing.

Actually, I'd add to Schaeffer's bold analysis that Wright and Falwell alike represent a long American tradition of pulpit jeremiads...while the statements are what they are, the hyperbole exists within a particular context.

Hey, jeremiads (and Wright) are named after some Bible guy, right? That reminds me--for further support of Wright and his (hyperbolic) statement to the effect that God has no desire to bless us when we're oppressing each other and failing to pursue justice, you could always read the prophets.

Reminder: get your skateboard designs in

Today is the last day to submit design ideas to the NY arch for the papal skateboard, to be presented to the pope during his stateside visit next month. I know you've been putting this off, folks, but it's time.

The photo op will no doubt do much to take away from Benedict's rather old-fashioned image...

Via Gary Stern.

Crossposted at the Posse.

To some extent, it's the black church tradition, not Jeremiah Wright himself, that the rest of us find so shocking

And that's OUR problem, not Wright's or Obama's or anyone else's. It's an often prophetic, sometimes hyperbolic, always provocative tradition...

Diana Butler Bass.

Vatican: Luther still bad

Looks like it was a vicious rumor.

Via Get Religion.

"Haman, what's with the attitude? I don't know why you're trying to get us so mad at you"

If you're like me and you carry a fair bit of religious subculture baggage around with you, the phrase The Bible Raps makes you cringe, not click. But this Jewish project--"kid tested, rabbi approved," according to its Web site--is, if not exactly cool, too self-consciously silly to be totally embarassing, either. Here's their Purim selection:



Via Jewschool. Crossposted over at CSP.

Another candidate forum on religion

This could be a pretty big deal.

Breaking news!

The ELCA's new statement on gays and lesbians highlights a lack of consensus, takes no strong positions, and angers advocates on both sides of the issue!

First church opened in Qatar

While the building features no outward Christian symbols, it's still causing a controversy.

Times of London story.

You think same-sex marriage is a minefield?

John Witte on the growing legal complexity of religion and marriage in U.S. culture.

Better late than never

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has endorsed a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine.

Via Jewschool.

Steven Waldman on the faith of our fathers

Few of the founding fathers were orthodox Christians. Nor were they uber-rationalist deists.

Steven Waldman makes both these claims, guaranteeing that he'll piss off pretty much everyone who's ever held a strong opinion on the subject of the fathers and religion. Waldman's blogging about this all week at Table for One. Good stuff--he's read pretty much every known primary source on the topic.

He's also put up a project archive at Belief Net.

David Gordon Green on Snow Angels and faith

Idol Chatter talks to one of my favorite filmmakers.

(In the photo included w/ this article, Gordon Green looks an awful lot like a good friend of mine, also named David, currently in div school in North Carolina, where Gordon Green went to film school. Very suspicious.)

Bishop Schofield deposed

Episcopal Life article.

Congress' second Muslim

Elected yesterday in a special election.

Obviously, will have to run again this fall, also known as right away...

America magazine on recent Catholic theology

In the new issue of America, Roger Haight traces post-Vactican II theological history and identifies a few core lessons learned (subscription required).

Another poll from FPL et al

Faith in Public Life, the CAP Action Fund, and Sojourners commissioned another poll about Democrats and evangelicals. In a state where the subject matters a great deal to the national electoral math--Ohio.

Good stuff, though it would be nice to know more about these voters' more general voting trends, as Mark Silk pointed out last time around. Especially since, at this point, the Democratic and Republican nomination contests are very different things--which one would you vote in if you wanted to have an effect?

Guess who loves the earth?

The Southern Baptists.

Geez, who's next, Focus on the Family?

Freedom of conscience for other people, too

Good piece in Islamica about U.S. religious pluralism, the evangelicals who built it, and its positive effect on the American Muslim experience.

More at Utne.

"Please don't let them separate me from you"

It's official: Bishop Gene Robinson will not be participating at the Lambeth Conference.

His response is worth a read.

It was inevitable

Take 3,000 "OMG!!! Evangelicals Heart the Earth and the Poor!"s, add 600 "Who the Huck's This Candidate Who Hates Abortion But Seems Genuinely to Like People?!"s, and what do you get?

Eventually, this.

Benedict: Luther wasn't a heretic

This is encouraging.

And a great lede in the Times of London, summing up in a sentence the widely misunderstood point of Luther's activism:

Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices.

Tired of the negligible fruits of your lifestyle-driven environmentalism?

Organize a campaign over at The Point.

More at Utne.

I don't need you, I'm South American now

The bishop of the diocese of San Joaquin has resigned from the Episcopal House of Bishops--for the second time--to avoid "forc[ing] the House of Bishops to a vote." How thoughtful of him!

He also spelled the presiding bishop's name wrong. Though I suppose some might find it gracious on his part that he didn't refer to her as "that gay-loving woman 'bishop'" or some such.

Ugh.

The hedge of separation

Jeff Sharlet rants about the role of religion in the presidential campaign and proposes that we start quizzing the candidates on details about the Christianity they apparently hold so dear.

You know, because theological knowledge is what makes your faith real.

"Ecclesiastical bait-and-switch"

Interesting article about the practice of giving altar calls, literal or otherwise, during weddings and funerals.

Personally, I've seen this more at funerals than at weddings. Which is upsetting--while in either case, the is-it-what-the-family-wants? litmus test seems a decent one as far as it goes, funerals in particular are full of people who are especially vulnerable and should be able to mourn and commemorate a loved one's life without being put on the spiritual spot. (Some of them might even be active members of other faiths, some of which have painful histories with the subject of Christian conversion...) It's extremely manipulative, and whenever I witness it I get angry--not that there's anything particularly helpful to do about it then and there.

(Also: the article suggests that pastors do this to fight the decline of church membership, which is not only an overly cynical interpretation but also one that suggests the reporter doesn't know the mainline-to-evangelical landscape to well...)

Overwhelmed by the commentary and spin following last night's primaries-and-a-caucus?

All you need is Noah Millman.

Happy birthday, Townes

In honor of Townes van Zandt's birthday: a tribute show tomorrow (Thursday) night in Minneapolis. If you're local and you like the country music, come on out. I'll be playing a few songs with friends Jake Hyer and Meghan Dudle.

It's at Lee's Liquor Lounge, at 101 Glenwood. 9 p.m., $5.

Joshua DuBois on Obama's Sermon on the Mount comment

David Brody had a good idea: hey, instead of speculating, let's ask!

What's the big deal with John Hagee?

Per usual, Jeff Pasley gives some good historical context for the McCain-Hagee debacle.

(Anyone who remains skeptical of the history of anti-Catholic bigotry in the States would do well to take a look at Awful Disclosures, which Jeff mentions as well.)

What's better than playing the lottery in hopes of being able to pay for health care?

Playing a lottery for which the prize itself is health insurance.

Martin Sheen awarded Laetare

While you Reagan kids may think of him exclusively as Pres. Bartlett, those of us who were around for the 70s remember him also as Kit and Captain Willard.

Notre Dame knows him as a Catholic activist and is honoring him accordingly.

The big produce lobby is powerful, too

Minnesota produce farmer Jack Hedin has a good op-ed in yesterday's NYT about how the final version of the farm bill is likely to make it even tougher for local producers to meet growing demand.