Posts tagged Donald Trump
At March for Life, embracing ancient doctrines reveals modern tensions

(COMMENTARY) While the United Methodist Church homepage notes a tension between upholding the sanctity of unborn human life and also the life and well-being of the mother, Bishop Timothy Whitaker spoke out against abortion referencing the Didache, a doctrinal statement on “gross sins” like murder.

Read More
Attention all newsroom managers: There will also be non-political religion news in 2019

(COMMENTARY) Mark your calendars for these religion events from the Vatican and United Methodist Church.

Read More
The Faustian deal of trying to be a good Christian and a Trump voter

(COMMENTARY) Due to God’s charge to Christians, they should not support President Donald Trump. By claiming one can be a “good Christian” despite who you vote for, Christians such as Jerry Falwell Jr. imply that one’s political activities are completely divorced from their faith. Such a claim, in essence, reduces Christianity to a mere set of propositions and intellectual or moral claims. However, the Bible presents Christianity as something far more whole-person than many Trump supporters realize.

Read More
Surprise – The crucial religion story of 2018 is the specter of 'designer babies'

(COMMENTARY) He Jiankui, a U.S.-trained biological researcher in China, claims he has successfully altered the genes of newly born twins, with a third such birth expected soon.

Read More
Jordan Peterson: The Devil's in the details of all those Youtube debates (Part 1)

(COMMENTARY) University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson answers critics, the faithful and seekers in between on his popular Youtube channel. Peterson has sent mixed signals about Christianity.

Read More
Jamal Khashoggi and the Middle East’s Game of Thrones

Jamal Khashoggi may have signed his own death warrant with his opinion column in The Washington Post when he criticized the White House’s democratic efforts in the Arab world, including both the Obama and Trump administration.

Read More
Keeping up: Transgender challenges ahead for news media and 'mainline' Protestants

(COMMENTARY) The New York Times reported this week that the Donald Trump Administration is considering, for federal purposes, a definition that a person is male or female “based on immutable biological traits identified by or before birth,” supplemented if necessary by genetic testing. That would overturn a policy under President Barack Obama to recognize transgender identities.

Read More
Complex realities behind that '81 percent of evangelicals love Trump' media myth

(COMMENTARY) In the current news theory of everything, few numbers in American political life have received more attention than this one – 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Trump in 2016. Politicos have paid less attention to signs that many evangelicals cast those votes with reluctance, and some with a sense of dread.

Read More
Will the 'God gap' persist on Nov. 6? What else should religion-news pros look for?

(COMMENTARY) On Election Day 2018, we can expect black Protestants, Latino Catholics and Jews will join the “nones” as solidly Democratic while Mormons plus evangelical Protestants go Republican. More interesting two big blocs of religious swing voters - Non-Hispanic Catholics and white “mainline” Protestants - each have a negative view of President Trump at 52 percent, roughly tracking his standing with the over-all public.

Read More
Australia's new Pentecostal prime minister

Australia has a new prime minister, which is certainly news. The new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is an outspoken, politically conservative Pentecostal Christian. This mixing of religion and politics may be old-hat at this point for Americans. But it's an entirely new experience for Australians.

Read More
News mystery: Why so little interest in 'mainline' Protestants' liberal politicking?

(OPINION) “Mainline” Protestant groups have been ardent in politicking for leftward and anti-Trump causes, perhaps even moreso than with the typical evangelical congregation. You would barely know this, if at all, from reading or viewing most news media reports.

Read More
Are standard theories about the decline of religion in United States crumbling?

The Religion News Service column “Flunking Sainthood,” as the title indicates, expresses the outlook of liberal Latter-day Saints. But author Jana Riess, who comes armed with a Columbia University doctorate in U.S. religious history, is also interesting when writing about broader matters.

Read More
Two prominent namers of names inside DC Beltway warrant in-depth religion profiles

(COMMENTARY) Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement throws the spotlight on one of the most influential players in Washington, D.C., when it comes to deciding what individuals inhabit the centers of power. Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society and the go-to guy for names of federal court appointees when Republicans rule the White House. Journalists should also be taking a close look at another Republican networker and talent-spotter, Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation.

Read More
Italian voters choose populism, break from social Catholic teaching

The March 4 vote in Italy swept to victory a wave of populist candidates – including Matteo Salvini of the Lega party – who campaigned heavily against immigration. As Italians, like many across Europe, become more agnostic, their politics morph. Political observers say a new generation of a more secular electorate have started to differentiate between religious obligations and political desires.

Read More
Jeffrey Bell – A Catholic politico caught between two political worlds

(COMMENTARY) Republican Jeffrey Bell died in February, after a career in which he ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey – in 1978 and 2014 – but was better known for work behind the scenes helping others, following beliefs that escaped easy political labels.

Read More
Connecting with God in the digital age

(COMMENTARY) As Christians enter the season of Lent, the church's mission is as paramount as ever – to spread the Gospel and inform parishioners, through news stories and commentary, about the politics and culture around us. The mainstream press is not the least interested in such a mission – so it has largely become the role of the religious-based press – and the communication tools of the 21st century – to fill the void.

Read More
The sin of fake news: The devil is in the details

(COMMENTARY) "Fake news" - and the overuse of the term itself – has become so pervasive that even Pope Francis felt strong enough about it to address the phenomenon plaguing our Facebook feeds and Google searches. The added layer of technology and the changing dynamic within journalism has made this an issue that could have severely negative consequences on our political and economic systems going forward.

Read More