Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Gaseousness in GQ
Please respect our Commenting Policy
God and the NYC terror plot
An absolutely shocking story this morning about plans to bomb two synagogues and shoot down planes in New York. “Chilling Terror Plot Thwarted,” the New York Post headline screams.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Israel, where religion is always the story
When Pope Benedict visited the Holy Land last week, every religious move he made was analyzed for its political significance. On Monday when Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet President Obama in Washington, just the opposite will be true: the political moves will be analyzed for their religious significance.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Pulled into Nazareth...
A few things about Pope Benedict’s extended viist to the Holy Land were predictable. One, every word the pontiff said would be parsed for meaning like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two, every place he went would become highly symbolic. Three, some Palestinians and Israelis would be offended when the Pope either addressed or seemed to be slighting the concerns of the other party. And lastly, there would be little journalistic consensus, at least in the immediate aftermath, about the impact of either his words or his actions on the tinderbox called the Middle East.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Ghosts of popes past
Poor Pope Benedict XVI. Wherever he goes he is plagued by the larger-than-life reputation of Pope John Paul II whose legacy keeps growing, perhaps nowhere more so than on the current visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Time to check your facts
If a mainstream media outlet raves about a movie or a restaurant or a book, you’d expect that its reviewer did due diligence in checking it out. One would hope that the reviewer actually saw the movie or ate the meal or read the book. Why then, I wonder, does Time magazine praise a new religion website that is so essentially flawed?
Please respect our Commenting Policy
Improper use of "improperly"?
I tend to agree with my fellow libertarian Penn Jillette about people of different religious backgrounds attempting to convert me: I’d be more offended if they didn’t. It shows they care about me temporally and eternally. So I don’t personally share the disdain so many people have for the Mormon practice of baptism of the dead.
Please respect our Commenting Policy
The return of Jewish prayer
As the perceptive people at the blog Jewschool note, the article in Wednesday’s Washington Post on alternative prayer services was smartly done but it did not advance the story much beyond a New York Times article on the same subject in 2007. Here is the lead of the Post story:
Please respect our Commenting Policy
From football to "frum"
“From football to faith,” the TV reporter begins, “you’ve heard that before….But this story is different. You are about to meet a former NFL player from Miami who has to be the only ultra- Orthodox Jew who wears a Super Bowl ring when he prays.”
Please respect our Commenting Policy