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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title>God as Tea Partier: Judges Defend the Pledge of Allegiance</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/supreme-court/" rel="tag">Supreme Court</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/03/3126716resize.jpg" />If you asked 1,000 people to list the attributes of the Almighty, how many would include "proponent of limited government"? But that was the top of the list last week for two California federal judges.<br /> <br /> Michael Newdow is a California atheist who gets his jollies watching federal courts stand on their heads to deny that the concept of God's sovereignty is essentially religious.<br /> <br /> That may overstate the case a smidge. Newdow <em>is</em> a California atheist. And he's spent more than a decade peppering the federal courts with challenges to the phrases "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on American currency. He wins some and he loses some -- mostly and ultimately losing.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19404674/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/20/god-as-tea-partier-judges-defend-the-pledge-of-allegiance/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>atheism</category><category>Michael Newdow</category><category>MichaelNewdow</category><category>pledge of allegiance</category><category>PledgeOfAllegiance</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-03-20T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Faith-Based Politics? No -- 'What Happens in Church Stays in Church'</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/abortion/" rel="tag">Abortion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/03/1347533resize.jpg" />I'm going to let you in on a secret about us folks who try to analyze human behavior: Sometimes, we make it up.<br />
<br />
I'm not talking about liars or idiots, though there are too many of those out there. But even for reasonably smart folks who are trying to get it right, we bump into a problem that evolution has hardwired into our brains: The Homo sapiens is a pattern-seeking critter.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19392786/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/13/faith-explains-politics-not-so-fast-top-scholar-says/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>mark chaves</category><category>MarkChaves</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-03-13T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Young Adults Doing Religion on Their Own? Blame It on Politics</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/republicans/" rel="tag">Republicans</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/conservatives/" rel="tag">Conservatives</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/02/78791900resize.jpg" alt="" />Last week, the number-crunching folks at the Pew Center released a report titled "<a href="http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=510 ">Religion Among the Millennials.</a>" It's part of an ongoing analysis of the generation of young adults between 18 and 29 years old.<br />
<br />
This report was a meta-analysis of lots of surveys done over the past several years, some by Pew and some not. Many of the results seemed pretty "duh" to me: Young people tend to lean left politically, be more open to change, more tolerant of differences than their elders. It has ever been thus, ain't it? As Plato kvetched more than 2,400 years ago: <br />
<blockquote>
<div>"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"</div>
</blockquote> <br />
But two paragraphs in the report jumped out at me: <br />
<blockquote>
<div>"Fewer young adults belong to any particular faith than older people do today. They also are less likely to be affiliated than their parents' and grandparents' generations were when they were young. Fully one-in-four members of the Millennial generation -- so called because they were born after 1980 and began to come of age around the year 2000 -- are unaffiliated with any particular faith. Indeed, Millennials are significantly more unaffiliated than Generation Xers were at a comparable point in their life cycle (20 percent in the late 1990s) and twice as unaffiliated as Baby Boomers were as young adults (13 percent in the late 1970s)."</div>
</blockquote><br />
So that seems different, evidence of secularization on the march. But then we have: <br />
<blockquote>
<div>"Young adults' beliefs about life after death and the existence of heaven, hell and miracles closely resemble the beliefs of older people today. Though young adults pray less often than their elders do today, the number of young adults who say they pray every day rivals the portion of young people who said the same in prior decades. And though belief in God is lower among young adults than among older adults, Millennials say they believe in God with absolute certainty at rates similar to those seen among Gen Xers a decade ago."</div>
</blockquote><br />
Which says to me that young adults are not losing faith, just unplugging from religious institutions at a rate unprecedented in U.S. history. <br />
<br />
(And I know that "mileage may vary" for individuals. There are lots of politically and religiously conservative and engaged Millennials -- they're just in smaller proportions than among their elders.)<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19370959/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/young-adults-doing-religion-on-their-own-blame-it-on-politics/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-02-25T16:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Should the Senate Return to Old-Style Filibusters?</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/senate/" rel="tag">Senate</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/democrats/" rel="tag">Democrats</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/republicans/" rel="tag">Republicans</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/fundraising/" rel="tag">Fundraising</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/congress-1/" rel="tag">Congress</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/campaigns/" rel="tag">Campaigns</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/02/huey-long.jpg" alt="" />Once upon a time, boys and girls, the Senate filibuster was not the bloodless procedural agreement we have today. No, sir (or madam). Minority senators who wanted to hold the podium had to grip that lectern and keep on actually talking.<br />
<br />
The official U.S. Senate Web site <a href="http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Filibuster_Cloture.htm ">takes note of those halcyon days:</a> <br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<div>During the 1930s, Senator Huey P. Long effectively used the filibuster against bills that he thought favored the rich over the poor. The Louisiana senator frustrated his colleagues while entertaining spectators with his recitations of Shakespeare and his reading of recipes for "pot-likkers." Long once held the Senate floor for 15 hours. The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.</div>
</blockquote><br />
That all changed in 1975, with the adoption of new rules by the Senate. In addition to the stuff that went down on paper, the filibuster could be invoked merely by the minority leader letting the majority leader know it was coming. And if the majority leader could count on fewer than 60 votes on his side, both parties agreed that the filibuster was on.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19360723/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/18/should-the-senate-return-to-old-style-filibusters/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-02-18T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Is Obama Appointee Harry Knox an 'Anti-Catholic Bigot'?</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/abortion/" rel="tag">Abortion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/gay-rights/" rel="tag">Gay Rights</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/obama-administration/" rel="tag">Obama Administration</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/02/knox-resize.jpg" />Even if you've never heard of Harry Knox, you might want to pay attention: He's the latest nexus in the ongoing politicization of religion. Or maybe it's the religious-ization of politics?<br />
<br />
Knox is the director of the <a href="http://www.hrc.org/about_us/2638.htm ">Religion and Faith Program of the Human Rights Campaign</a>. He's a former licensed Methodist pastor. He's gay. He's a member of the Obama administration's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.<br />
<br />
And depending on whom you ask, he's an anti-Catholic bigot.<br />
<br />
I learned that last part from a news release sent out by a group called the Media Research Center. The release has a link to a petition demanding that "<a href="http://mrc.org/press/releases/2010/20100205083411.aspx">Obama Fire Anti-Catholic Bigot Harry Knox</a>" signed by U.S. Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader. And there was also a helpful link to a list of Knox statements headlined "Instances of Harry Knox's Bigotry."<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19353257/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/12/is-obama-appointee-harry-knox-an-anti-catholic-bigot/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-02-12T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Baptist Denomination Separates Itself From 'American Baptists' Arrested in Haiti</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/haiti/" rel="tag">Haiti</a></p>A U.S. denomination has become collateral damage in the ongoing horrible mess in Haiti. If you've been paying any attention at all, you surely know about the report of American missionaries arrested for trying to remove Haitian kids from the country without going through proper procedures.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19344249/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/04/baptist-denomination-separates-itself-from-american-baptists-a/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>baptist</category><category>baptist church</category><category>BaptistChurch</category><category>baptists</category><category>daily guidance</category><category>DailyGuidance</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-02-04T09:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>The Super Bowl as Culture-War Battleground</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/abortion/" rel="tag">Abortion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/gay-rights/" rel="tag">Gay Rights</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/news-media/" rel="tag">News Media</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/tebow13110a.jpg" />So here's American culture in 2010: A controversy about whether TV ads shown during the Super Bowl are "fair." Is that an argument that anybody really wants to start?<br />
<br />
The ads in question are about abortion -- starring just-former college football star Tim Tebow -- and gay dating -- for a company called ManCrunch.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19339251/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/01/the-superbowl-becomes-a-battleground-for-culture-wars-over-abort/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>pam tebow</category><category>PamTebow</category><category>superbowl ad</category><category>SuperbowlAd</category><category>tim tebow</category><category>TimTebow</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-02-01T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>What Do iPads, Teabaggers, and 'Beavis and Butthead' Have in Common?</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img  border="1" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/ipad.jpg" />I'm already weary from the<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/28/ipad-the-new-mac-with-the-unfortunate-name/ "> pushback about the name Apple gave its latest techtoy. </a><br />
If you're just back from a visit to Uranus, the new computer tablet is called the iPad. From pretty much the moment that Steve Jobs revealed the name Wednesday morning, the jokes started. A few of them are funny:<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19337659/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/29/what-do-ipads-teabaggers-and-beavis-and-butthead-have-in-com/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-29T12:47:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Ban the Burqa in the U.S.? Over My (Seldom Worn) Yarmulke</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/71974436resize.jpg" />The post by my Politics Daily colleague Bonnie Erb&eacute; suggesting that the U.S. follow France's lead in<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/ready-to-run-frances-proposed-burqa-ban-why-americans-might-w/ "> considering a ban on burqas </a>leaves me gobsmacked. She says:<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19327024/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/23/ban-the-burqa-in-the-u-s-over-my-seldom-worn-yarmulke/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>burqa ban</category><category>BurqaBan</category><category>religious freedom</category><category>ReligiousFreedom</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-23T05:01:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Haiti and the Pat Robertson Paradox</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/haiti/" rel="tag">Haiti</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/robertson.jpg" alt="" />Here's the Pat Robertson paradox: Maybe the overwhelming condemnation of his comments about Haiti following the earthquake is evidence of how much religion continues to matter to many Americans.<br /> <br /> In case you missed it, Robertson said this <a href="http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130024">on the 700 Club</a>:<br /> <br /> "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.'<br /> <br /> "And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have -- and we need to pray for them -- a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now, we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable."<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19324410/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/21/haiti-and-the-pat-robertson-paradox/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>haiti earthquake</category><category>HaitiEarthquake</category><category>pat robertson</category><category>PatRobertson</category><category>satan</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-21T15:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Brit Hume, Tiger Woods and Why the Powerful Behave Badly</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/news-media/" rel="tag">News Media</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/tigerbrit.jpg" alt="" />Nothing that Brit Hume said in his long and distinguished career as a newsman has come close to stirring up as much response as his recent evaluation of the religious needs of Tiger Woods.<br />
<br />
In case you missed it, Hume, in his newer role of Fox News analyst, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/04/brit-hume-tiger-woods-should-turn-to-the-christian-faith/">offered some advice</a> to the multiple philanderer Tiger Woods:<br />
<br />
"He's said to be a Buddhist; I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.' "<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19311250/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/11/brit-hume-tiger-woods-and-why-the-powerful-behave-badly/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>brit hume</category><category>BritHume</category><category>buddhism</category><category>tiger woods</category><category>TigerWoods</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-11T15:10:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Shaming and (In)civility: Elinor Ostrom on Challenge of Online Discourse</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img hspace="4" height="203" border="1" width="350" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2010/01/1735497resize.jpg" alt="" />A few days ago, Politics Daily Editor-in-Chief Melinda Henneberger <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/04/why-would-any-non-psychopath-want-to-dance-on-deborah-howells-g/">bemoaned the terrible incivility that is endemic to many online discussions.</a> How, she asked, can strangers cheer for the death of an honorable woman they never met? <br />
<blockquote>
<div>"Assuming we are not becoming a nation of psychopaths, are we trading our humanity for a little negative attention? Do people just not think before they type? Or, even if they don't really mean such meanness, do they not worry that someone who reads it might?"</div>
</blockquote>Why <em>is</em> it that across the Web, discussions all too frequently end up in the crapper when comments are allowed to run free? Nothing new about that, of course. Since the days of the Compuserve forums, the most loathsome element has regularly taken control of conversations.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19304594/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/07/shaming-and-in-civility-elinor-ostrom-on-the-challenge-of-onli/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>civility</category><category>elinor ostrom</category><category>ElinorOstrom</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-07T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>The Top 10 Religion/Politics Stories of '09: Catholicism at the Fore; Niebuhr's Reemergence</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/barack-obama/" rel="tag">Barack Obama</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/john-edwards/" rel="tag">John Edwards</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/abortion/" rel="tag">Abortion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/healthcare/" rel="tag">Health Care</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/gay-rights/" rel="tag">Gay Rights</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/terror/" rel="tag">Terror</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/foreign-policy/" rel="tag">Foreign Policy</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/national-security/" rel="tag">National Security</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/disputations/" rel="tag">Disputations</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/85991353resize.jpg" alt="" />Despite America's legal wall between church and state, the mixing of faith and politics is all but unavoidable. This past year was typical in the number of major stories with aspects of religion that had powerful public-policy and cultural implications. <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/disputations">David Gibson</a> and I, who filter the news stream for faith 'n' values items here at <em>Politics Daily</em>, have produced our top 10 list of religion-politics stories for 2009. We make no claim of infallibility, of course. Feel free to weigh in with your opinions in the comments section. But please, let's be civil out there.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19294903/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/03/the-top-10-religion-politics-stories-of-09-catholicism-at-the/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>george tiller</category><category>GeorgeTiller</category><category>pope benedict XVI</category><category>PopeBenedictXvi</category><category>Reinhold Niebuhr</category><category>ReinholdNiebuhr</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-01-03T09:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>'Why Don't Moderate Muslims Police Their Own?' Here's One Who Did.</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/barack-obama/" rel="tag">Barack Obama</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/terror/" rel="tag">Terror</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/foreign-policy/" rel="tag">Foreign Policy</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/national-security/" rel="tag">National Security</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/95452580resize.jpg" />Surely you've heard that question asked many times over the past decade. Before we all get lost in election-year political recriminations over the Christmas Day terrorism attack, let's note that there was a hero to this story who hasn't gotten as much credit as he deserves:<br /> <br /> Based on current news reports, Umaru Abdul Mutallab, father of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, did everything but take out an ad in the <em>Washington Post</em> to let American authorities know that his son needed watching. Months before the 23-year-old Nigerian tried to blow himself up and take down a jet over Detroit, his father warned officials that the young man might be dangerous.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19297605/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/30/why-dont-moderate-muslims-police-their-own-heres-one-who-di/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab</category><category>UmarFaroukAbdulmutallab</category><category>Umaru Abdul Muttalab</category><category>UmaruAbdulMuttalab</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-30T09:22:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>A Christmas Eve Defense of Garrison Keillor -- and Satire</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/garrison-keillor-cf.jpg" />Garrison Keillor wrote a <a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2009/12/15/cambridge/index.html">Christmas-related column for <em>Salon</em></a> that has kicked up unusual sand.<br /> <br /> Here are the key paragraphs:<blockquote>
<div><br /> "You can blame Ralph Waldo Emerson for the brazen foolishness of the elite. He preached at the First Church of Cambridge, a Unitarian outfit where I discovered that "Silent Night" has been cleverly rewritten to make it more about silence and night and not so much about God . . . Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that's their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite "Silent Night." If you don't believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn "Silent Night" and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism and we Christians have stood for it long enough. And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write "Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we'll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah"? No, we didn't.<br /> <br /> "Christmas is a Christian holiday -- if you're not in the club, then buzz off. Celebrate Yule instead or dance around in druid robes for the solstice. Go light a big log, go wassailing and falalaing until you fall down, eat figgy pudding until you puke, but don't mess with the Messiah."<br /><br /></div>
</blockquote>And here are some reactions:<blockquote>
<div><br /> "Hating on Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" is, in a way, the same thing as the American Family Association's boycott of the Gap for its "failure" to use the word Christmas in ads: both actions reject a dilution of Christmas by outsiders, just in slightly different ways. It certainly does not accord with the generous holiday spirit." -- Marissa Brostoff <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/22606/garrison-keillor-doesn%27t-like-jews-writing-christmas-songs/">on the Jewish website Tablet</a>.<br /> <br /> "So far, Chinese Christmas has not come crashing down, and -- in fact -- it's all but assured that China's churches will be fuller this year than last. That Garrison Keillor's considerable imagination cannot allow for this possibility, but rather recurs to insensitive, narrow-minded bigotry, is a sorry commentary on someone who fashions himself a progressive-minded Minnesota populist. To my mind, at least, he's not, and as a "Jewish guy," born and bred in Minnesota, I'd like to suggest that perhaps, all things considered, he's the one who needs to buzz off." -- <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2009/12/22/14492/cool_it_keillor_its_a_multicultural_world_out_there">Adam Minter on MinnPost.com, </a>who lives in China and took the column as a slam against the way that some Chinese are adapting American cultural Christmas customs.<br /> <br /> "I'm the pastor of First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, where we were honored to host Garrison Keillor last week. Many in my congregation attended and enjoyed his talk. So we were hurt and disheartened to read his ill-tempered attack on our church and our faith in his syndicated column in newspapers throughout the country and at Salon.com." -- <a href="http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/154156.shtml">Fred Small on uuworld.org</a>.</div>
</blockquote><br /> You get the idea. To which I reply: Why don't <em>they</em> get the real idea?<br /> <br /> Keillor, the fabulously successful host of the long-running Prairie Home Companion radio show, author, and man of letters, needs no defense from me. But I'll offer one anyway, because the attacks are an indication of a worrisome cultural ignorance.<br /> <br /> Have we forgotten what satire is? Because that's what Keillor does. And satire is not and should not be nice.<blockquote> </blockquote><p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19292786/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>garrison keillor</category><category>GarrisonKeillor</category><category>unitarian</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-24T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Politics and Religion on Pandora: Why 'Avatar' is Crummy Allegory</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/abortion/" rel="tag">Abortion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img width="450" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="311" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/avatar2.jpg" alt="" />If you've read any reviews of the new movie "Avatar," you've probably seen discussions about how <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Avatar-Delivers-Massively-by-Rob-Kall-091221-205.html">it's lefty-political</a> and how <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/opinion/21douthat1.html?_r=1&amp;th&amp;emc=th">it touts New Age religion.</a><br /> <br /> Political, it is. Religious it is not. And the lack of religion actually weakens the political argument that writer and director James Cameron is trying to make.<br /> <br /> [<strong>SPOILER WARNING:</strong> If you haven't seen the movie and don't want any information about it, don't read past the photo below until you see the film. Which you probably will.]<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19288381/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/21/politics-and-religion-on-pandora-why-avatar-is-crummy-allegor/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>avatar</category><category>james cameron</category><category>JamesCameron</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-21T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Conservative Christians Don't Crown 'Princess and the Frog'</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/93079058resize.jpg" />You'd figure that Disney has all its family-friendly bases covered with its latest offering:<br /> <br /> Warm, hand-drawn animation, jazzy songs, role-model parents, and the first green and nekkid princess in the Mouse House's history. (Well, yes, she's nicely dressed and proudly African-American at the start and at the end.)<br /> <br /> But conservative Christian film reviewers are not all on board with "The Princess and the Frog." And unlike similar attacks on, say, the Harry Potter stories, I think they have a point.<br /> <br /> Knee-jerk attacks from the right at pop culture often evoke eye-rolls from those not on the same theological wavelength - sometimes because the charges seem so off target. Consider the anti-Potter reaction. Harry, they said, was engaged in magic. Which is per se unbiblical and therefore evil.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19282829/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/conservative-christians-dont-crown-princess-and-the-frog/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>disney</category><category>princess and the frog</category><category>PrincessAndTheFrog</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-18T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Chanuka -- A Holiday Made for Political Junkies</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a></p><img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/menorah.jpg" alt="" />Untangling politics and religion has been well nigh impossible throughout history. But the Jewish holiday that starts at sundown Friday has more political threads than most.<br />
<br />
Take the narrative that explains the holiday: On one level, it's a political battle for freedom of religious expression. These days, the main characters might be featured on a TV talk show as a nod to religious diversity in a "War on Christmas" segment.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19272613/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/10/chanuka-a-holiday-made-for-political-junkies/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>chanukah</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-10T05:00:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>The Last Tiger Woods Question</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/john-edwards/" rel="tag">John Edwards</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/rudy-giuliani/" rel="tag">Rudy Giuliani</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/eliot-spitzer/" rel="tag">Eliot Spitzer</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/news-media/" rel="tag">News Media</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/ethics/" rel="tag">Ethics</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/12/92888954resize.jpg" />There's only one real question left about Tiger Woods: Why?<br />
<br />
Not "Why did he cheat on his wife?" Infidelity is so much a part of human history that the question is all but boring. <br />
<br />
My question is: <em>Why did he think he would not get caught?<br />
<br />
</em>In the year 2009, when the slightest rumor about relative unknowns travels at blog-speed, how does one of the most recognized humans on the planet imagine that he can commit what I suppose we still need to call <em>alleged</em> multiple "transgressions" without it being discovered?<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19267514/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/07/the-last-tiger-woods-question/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>infidelity</category><category>tiger woods</category><category>TigerWoods</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-12-07T06:59:00 00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Linda Ellerbee Poisons the Breast Cancer Screening Debate</title><link>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/</guid><comments>http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/healthcare/" rel="tag">Health Care</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/category/news-media/" rel="tag">News Media</a></p><img hspace="4" height="442" border="1" width="300" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2009/11/51297561resize.jpg" alt="" />Linda Ellerbee should be ashamed.<br /> <br /> The longtime journalist <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ellerbee29-2009nov29,0,1138337.story">had a piece in Sunday's <em>Los Angeles Times</em></a> about the current controversy concerning breast cancer screening. And in an atmosphere already so tainted with suspicion, Ellerbee's column is unvarnished fearmongering.<br /> <br /> She's taking issue with the proposal released a couple of weeks ago by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which recommended that most women not get regular mammograms until they're 50 years old -- or perform monthly self-exams. <br /> <br /> There is a real controversy to be intelligently explored here, as Politics Daily's own <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/17/when-do-i-get-my-mammogram-new-guidelines-met-with-controversy/">Ria Misra</a>, <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/24/five-reasons-to-welcome-the-new-mammogram-guidelines/">Delia Lloyd</a> and <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/18/the-torture-of-a-false-positive-mammogram/">Andrea Stone</a> have demonstrated. But Ellerbee's take? More like poison dripped into the body politic, calculated to make people suspicious of and ignorant about the scientific method.<p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/forward/19257519/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/30/linda-ellerbee-poisons-the-breast-cancer-screening-debate/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a></p>]]></description><category>breast cancer</category><category>BreastCancer</category><category>linda ellerbee</category><category>LindaEllerbee</category><dc:creator>Jeffrey Weiss</dc:creator><dc:date>2009-11-30T07:15:00 00:00</dc:date></item></channel></rss>