Last week our powerful and very effective Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, of the health care legislation the House was considering, that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Well, we’ve passed that bill and some of us wish the media would have concerned itself with what was in the bill a bit more before the vote, much less after. But even before the House voted in support of the bill, most stories dealt with politics. And now that has descended into some pretty partisan media coverage. The media obsession of the moment is that health care legislation’s opponents are a violent and uncontrolled mob, the likes of which we’ve never seen (or something).
Fewer foregone conclusions, please
Growing up as a pastor’s kid, my aversion to congregational meetings was earned honestly. I don’t know what it is about people, but time somehow becomes no object when contending for how you want the bathrooms remodeled. And I’m glad that people care about how their congregation is operating, but sometimes that concern translates into some pretty tense moments. I was reminded of my feelings about voters assemblies when reading this horribly imbalanced story about a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran congregation’s recent vote regarding a principal who had been accused of teaching contrary to the denomination’s position.
Tebow's Christianity like NFL leprosy?
First Tim Tebow, one of the best football players ever to play the college game, had too elongated a throwing motion to play on Sundays. Now that his delivery is no longer an issue, NFL teams are worried about the “challenges” that would come with signing a rookie so overtly Christian.
Got news? Why did Stupak back down?
It’s the question hidden in many of the angry whispers in some corners of Washington, as well as the question behind the stunning plot twist that launched those public celebrations among the supporters of the Senate health-care reform bill.
Religious exemption in health care reform?
On Saturday I mentioned that, amid the health care debate, there had been next-to no coverage of Christian health plans in which members receive no guarantee that their medical bills will get paid but take on faith that co-members will divide their expenses, just as they do each month for other co-members. It’s unclear if participants in this sharing plans will be exempted from the health care overhaul.
Quietly awaiting execution
Saudi Arabia isn’t high on anybody’s list for a religious freedom award. But last year there were some hopeful signs for religious liberty advocates when the king dismissed the chief of the religious police and a cleric who had condoned killing owners of television networks that broadcast immoral content. He had also appointed a female deputy minister and changed the makeup of a body of religious scholars — who issue fatwas — to give more moderate Sunnis representation.
Asked and Answered
There may be hundreds of millions of Buddhists in the world, but pick up an American newspaper and you’re much more likely to read about Uma Thurman than her father.
An Aggie nerd considers his path
There is so, so much to like in the recent Dallas Morning News profile of a young Texan who is wrestling with the ultimate decision of whether or not to become a monk in the Cistercian community at Our Lady of Dallas, a monastery in Irving, near Dallas.
Got reform; what about religion? (corrected)
In case you somehow missed it, there were big doings in the nation’s capital over the weekend related to an issue that President Barack Obama promised to make a top priority. I am talking, of course, about … immigration reform.
