Social Issues

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Religion in the new Democratic Congress

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The big religion story at the start of the 110th U.S. Congress last week focused on Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who was ironically and ceremonially sworn in on a Koran once owned by President Thomas Jefferson. Frederic Frommer of the Associated Press was thorough enough in his report published Tuesday to note that Ellison’s mother is Catholic. But she supports her son, of course, and thinks the controversy is a good thing.


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Judy Woodruff talks to some of us kids

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Judy Woodruff has us kids figured out. In her documentary Generation Next: Speak Up, Be Heard, the veteran broadcaster took a segment to explore the issue of religion with 16- to 25-year-olds. I can’t say I am a big fan of the documentary’s methodology, but it has its redeeming qualities.


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Ignoring a problem doesn't solve it

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A few days ago we looked at New York Times public editor Byron Calame’s expose of reporting and editing gone bad at the paper. He found problems in an April cover story from the Sunday magazine that claimed women were sentenced to 30 years in prison for nothing more than having abortions.


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Irony in the Keith Ellison story

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Let’s give a big round of applause to The Washington Post‘s gossip columnists, Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, for cornering an ironic bit of religion news Wednesday regarding the swearing in of the first Muslim in Congress. The irony of the story was not fully fleshed out, which is a pity because there is plenty of it.


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Ford's quiet faith was just wonderful

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The passing of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, brings us the usual slate of obituaries about the man who led the country after the scandalized President Richard Nixon resigned. Some of the articles break new ground and are affecting current debates — think The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward — while others are there just as historical reminders and are great for those of us too young (or still unborn during the 1970s) to remember Ford’s presidency or public life.


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Saddam's Koran moment

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What is the significance of Saddam Hussein holding a Koran as he headed to the gallows Saturday morning? It’s not the first time a brutal tyrant reached for religious symbols as the people he formerly ruled sent him to his Creator. And it won’t be the last. The job of the journalist is to tell us what it means and how the Iraqi people perceived the symbol.


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