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“… Just think of what might (not) have happened if the whole issue had been ignored and the national debate stuck with war, peace, and prosperity. There certainly would have been a lot less emotionalism on both sides. The fact that so much attention has been given the mosque debate, raises the question of just why and driven by whom? …” SOURCE: RONPAUL.COM

Popularity: 1% [?]

Florida Official Jesus License Plate

* SOURCE: Bill Press Show, 4-29-09

Popularity: 2% [?]

Popularity: 2% [?]

[SOURCE: CNN LARRY KING LIVE - Bill Maher Takes Aim at Politics, Religion - Aired August 19, 2008 - 21:00 ET]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST (voice-over): Tonight Bill Maher mouths off on politics…

BILL MAHER, HOST, HBO’S “REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER”: Politically incorrect. You think maybe?

KING: … the presidency…

MAHER: It’s going to be a good show.

KING: … practically everything else.

MAHER: It worries me that people are running my country who think, who believe in a talking snake.

KING: He’s taking aim at religion, too. Is nothing sacred?

MAHER: I’m talking to America. You know what I’m talking about.

KING: Get ready for outrage and outcry. It’s all fair game for the outspoken Bill Maher.

MAHER: Speak louder!

KING: Right now, on LARRY KING LIVE.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: He returns to “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO. The new episodes start Friday, August 29, Labor Day weekend. He’ll be appearing at Humphrey’s in San Diego this Sunday. His documentary, “Religulous,” opens in theaters this fall. I got a chance to see it. It’s going to be wild. And we’ll talk about that a little later.

Thanks for coming, Bill. Always good to see you. One of my favorite guests.

MAHER: Thank you. I hate that word, “documentary.” It sounds like they have to put on their thinking caps.

KING: What would you call it?

MAHER: And unscripted comedy. An uproarious comedy.

KING: An uproarious film that’ll have you splitting — anyway. OK, the vice president picks. Apparently it’s right around the corner.

MAHER: Right.

KING: Could be tomorrow. Could be the next day with Obama. What’s your read?

MAHER: I was worried I might get bumped today, actually, Larry. I thought, oh, Obama is going to pick him and then it’s like, “Bill, something happened. Good-bye.”

KING: What’s your read?

MAHER: You know, I’m reading, I guess, the same thing you’re reading, that it’s between three boring white guys again.

KING: He doesn’t need a black guy.

MAHER: Actually if he doubled down on Colin Powell, how wild would that be? I mean, this is the Democrats’ problem. Is that they never do anything bold once they get the nomination. You know, I’m still for Obama, but I have to tell you, he’s trying my patience.

KING: Really?

MAHER: Well, moving to the center on so many issues and just doing what I saw Kerry do, what I saw Al Gore do. I thought he was going to be different. He didn’t have that “I’m going to blow it” look on his face like those two did. But he’s doing sort of the same thing: moving to the center, moving to be a kind of a lighter version of the Republican candidate.

KING: So who do you — who do you handicap? Do you think it’s going to be one of these three boring white guys?

MAHER: I do, but I think that’s, again, the wrong — the wrong sort of strategy. At this point I think they need Hillary Clinton.

KING: Really?

MAHER: Yes. Look, I may change my mind tomorrow. I’ve been thinking this way a long time, but I swear to God. Not just because it’s bold and they need to show bold, but you know what? I think they need the Clinton ruthlessness onboard. I really do.

I’m beginning to think Bill Clinton is still the only guy in that party who really knows how to do this, as far as talking to the American people, making the counter argument to the Republican arguments that, again, Obama just seems to be cozying up to their way of thinking. “Oil drilling? Yes sure. I’m for that. Wiretapping? Like that, too. Religious nut? I can get onboard there.” I’m telling you, I like this guy but…

KING: Why — why was Biden a bad choice? Here’s a guy with world…

MAHER: He’s not a bad choice. KING: … foreign policy experience.

MAHER: He’s not a bad choice, but is he going to excite anybody? Hillary Clinton would excite the base. I keep saying the Democrats have to move toward their base. They have to make the case that there is this other America out there.

KING: You mean technically. Not technically. There’s an unpopular president, the most unpopular president ever.

MAHER: Right.

KING: An unpopular war.

MAHER: Right.

KING: Economic worries. Why isn’t this a done deal?

MAHER: You’d think it would be a no-brainer in a country where…

KING: How much of it is…

MAHER: … torture is legal and marijuana isn’t. You’d think it would be a no-brainer.

KING: How much of it is race?

MAHER: That’s a big factor, much bigger than people think, I believe.

KING: Sad.

MAHER: I think the poll I read recently was 30 percent of white Americans have a positive view of Barack Obama. You know, even if he gets every black person in America to vote for him — and he will, by the way — I don’t know if — that’s just going to cancel out the people who wouldn’t vote for him just because of that one reason.

And of course, the Republican campaign is all about making him different. He’s not like us. He’s from some weird place like, I don’t know, Morocco or something. He doesn’t always wear a flag pin, and he’s got a lippy wife, and his pastor wears an African shirt. You know, this stuff is scary, Larry.

KING: You think McCain is playing to that?

MAHER: Absolutely.

KING: Does McCain disappoint you in doing that?

MAHER: They both have disappointed me, but yes, McCain has been disappointing me steadily since 2000 when I was supporting him.

KING: I remember when you supported him. MAHER: Yes. But you know, that Straight Talk Express has taken a lot of detours, Larry. And the closer he gets to it the more — the more they both do ridiculous things. Once — you know, once Paris and Britney got in the race, that’s when I said, you know, this is another year where I have to march forward, again, without an ideological champion.

I mean, Obama is no — I like him better because he’s younger, he’s cooler, he’s smarter. I do think he’d be a better president. You know, he does nuance, and you saw how well that goes over with the Rick Warren people.

But as far as an ideological champion, do I have one anymore? Do I have one — do I have a candidate who’s — who’s taking the side on the issues that I would want the candidate to take on most issues? No. I’m left with two…

KING: Will — might McCain go bold and pick, say, a Democratic running mate or a pro-choice running mate: Tom Ridge, Joe Lieberman?

MAHER: Well, Joe Lieberman is already a Republican. He’s just a Democrat in name. I don’t think that makes a big difference.

You know, that’s an important pick, because McCain is, you know, another Bush in the sense we’re getting another very detached, anti- intellectual president. There’s a big vacuum when you have a president like that. And so the vice president very often steps into that vacuum, as we saw with Dick Cheney. That could happen with McCain.

I think when you get McCain you get the worst of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Old, forgetful, doddering, anti-intellectual. And into that breach who knows who might step?

And I’m amused that the press thinks — the pundits, you know, he’s going to pick somebody younger. Gee, you think? Who’s available that’s older? Bob Dole, Lauren Bacall and Abel, I think, is the short list.

KING: Boy, you’re really down on this campaign. It’s got you down. Both of them.

MAHER: Well, I’m reading the paper, and how could it not? Is it me? Am I making this stuff up?

KING: What does Bill think of the John Edwards sex scandal? We’ll ask him. It’s still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER: John McCain has to stop starting every sentence of every speech with the words “my friends.” If he’s really my friend, then how come every time we get together I’m the one who has to buy the weed? (END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We’re back with Bill Maher.

MAHER: That’s ridiculous.

KING: He’s our guest. Before we get to the John Edwards caper, what do you make of the statement by Joe Biden today. He said, quote, “I’m not the guy.”

MAHER: I didn’t hear that. Really? For vice president?

KING: Yes. Does that mean he is the guy?

MAHER: You think it’s reverse psychology?

KING: Yes.

MAHER: Throw him off and make him pick me.

KING: What do you think?

MAHER: I think any time Joe Biden limits a sentence to three words, he’s winning a lot of fans, and he’s trying to prove that he is the guy. I think what he means is he’s not looking for it, but he would take it.

KING: OK. John Edwards. What does one say? I know you liked him very much. Or like him very much.

MAHER: Yes. I still do. He didn’t cheat on me. Although I understand when people say they’re disappointed in the sense that, well, I guess it’s like if you invested in a company and somebody did something to damage the stock. You know, I did send him money. People did send him money. And what if he was the candidate now? What if he had gotten the nomination and this broke? I mean, it would have been a disaster for the Democrats. They’d have to do an Eagleton and get somebody else at the last minute. You know how hard that is to get help at the last minute, Larry.

I — always when somebody is caught cheating, of course it’s never an admirable thing to do, but I still think there’s a giant lack of national perspective on this crime.

KING: Meaning?

MAHER: Meaning, a man is married 31 years, you know, people, not just men, women. I mean, you’re married a long time. You know, you’re desperate for something new. I mean, men like new sex. Women like new shoes. You know, people like new. You can’t stop human nature.

So OK. It’s not an admirable thing to do. The noble thing to do when you’re married is to suck it up and suffer. We all get that. Fine. But it’s a shame that we have to lose a good message from an otherwise good man. He was the guy who had the health care plan that they both copied. His idea that we have two Americas and in one of them he’s single. I mean, but certainly, that’s an important message. And it’s a shame that, you know, his name and all of his work, he’s just a national punchline now.

KING: Are the conventions relevant? Do they mean anything? It’s like going to the Super Bowl and you know the winner. Isn’t it the same thing?

MAHER: Yes, but — but it has morphed into something else which is American people generally don’t pay attention to politics very much, certainly not before this time of the year. I do think they’re often too dumb to be governed.

At least this is a time when the parties can sort of step out and say, “Here’s who we are. Here are our people. Here’s what we’re selling. We packaged it up for you. We’re only going to take an hour of your evening, and you can go right back to Howie Mandel or whatever you’re watching. And it is your country. We are in bad shape. Just take a look at our wares this year. This is our fall line. We’ve got health care. We’ve got this. We’ve got that. These are the people we’re putting up there who we think represent us best.”

You know, there is something to that. To just — you know, people in this country need you to package it and put a bow on it and make a pageant out of it. And I’m sure if they could get them in swimsuits they would, but yes, I do think there is a value to that.

KING: You do?

MAHER: Yes.

KING: OK. It’s no secret that you deal with religion a lot. And you have a new movie coming called “Religulous.” I saw that movie. It’s is really well done. Now, it will offend — I think it will offend the deeply religious people. Those on the border — certainly, agnostics are going to love it. Atheists are going to love it. But there’s a lot of open religious people who would just appreciate it as a very funny movie.

MAHER: Right. You don’t have to agree with it, I think, to laugh.

KING: What — what part — now you mentioned Rick Warren. What part does — what should religion play in our political life?

MAHER: Well, if you ask me, none, or in any part of life, but you know, look who you’re talking to, the guy who made “Religulous.” But certainly in political life it’s had a terribly detrimental effect. I mean, did you see the Rick Warren thing?

KING: Sure. And we had him on last night.

MAHER: Yes, right. And by the way, let me just preface this by saying I’m asking people for perspective. I have it also.

Rick Warren, big improvement over Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. If we have to have a pope of the super Christ-ies, I’d rather it be him. He’s got good ideas about actually, you know — actual helping people.

Because you know, one thing I don’t like about religion is that, you know, ask any of the truly devout. It’s not mainly about doing the right thing or being ethical. It’s mainly about salvation. It’s mainly about getting your butt saved when you die. And that’s why I think they’re less moral than ethicists. But they would…

KING: But Rick is different?

MAHER: He’s better. He’s an improvement. But you know, when he says, as I heard him say before the event, “I’m going to ask the tough questions.” What would those questions be? How tightly do you close your eyes when you insist on believing something that your mind must be telling you can’t be true? OK.

But here’s a good example of why it shouldn’t infect our public policy. The big question that got all the play in the news snippets was asking what should we do about evil? Evil. And…

KING: Is there evil?

MAHER: Is there evil? And what should we do about it? So Obama gives a very nuanced answer, and again this is why I do like this guy. He sort of can’t win for — lose with the winning. I mean, he’s damned if he does and he’s damned if he doesn’t. He gives a nuanced answer, which I like, and he loses the crowd.

He said, “Yes, we should be aware of evil, but we should be humble about evil.” And what he was trying to say, I think, was you know what? It’s easy to sit back in America and go, “Well, we’re the good people. That’s common knowledge. Evil is always over there and never here.”

He was saying you know what? We have a lot of evil right here. Look at the prison system. Look at the justice system. Look how we treat immigrants. We torture people now in America. There’s, you know, rampant sexual harassment of women in the military. There’s a lot of evil that we’re doing. OK. This didn’t go over very well.

Then McCain is asked. What do we do about evil? Two words. Defeat it. Now, of course, to the people in this audience, this goes over great because when they hear evil, they think of something very tangible: the devil. They’re not kidding. They believe in this comic-book figure called the devil who’s going to poke your ass in hell if you’re bad. Heaven, air conditioning. OK.

So, you know, you have to take this into account. These are voters. These are people who think evil is the devil. We can defeat it by the end of my first term. We will defeat evil. And, you know, how are you going to have a country, supposed to be a super power, in this world making the right decisions if this is the kind of thing, thinking that goes into it? It’s like trying to write a song when half the keys are out, you know, the keys on the piano are out of tune.

KING: We’re just getting warmed up with Maher on religion, politics, the election, when LARRY KING LIVE returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAHER: Do you believe in evolution?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, my — first, I don’t know. Clearly, the scientific community is a little divided on some the specifics of that, and I understand that.

MAHER: I don’t think they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, well, I…

MAHER: I think they pretty much agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don’t know how it all happened. I mean, I’m certainly willing to…

MAHER: Could it possibly have been Adam and Eve 5,000 years ago with a talking snake in the garden? Could it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it could have possibly been that.

MAHER: Come on. This is my problem, because I’m trying — I mean, you’re a senator. You are one of the very few people who are really running this country. It worries me that people are running my country who think, who believe in a talking snake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don’t have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate, though.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: That was funny.

MAHER: And a very nice man.

KING: He is.

MAHER: You know, I hope he’s not…

KING: OK. This — this film, “Religulous,” opens October 3. It will be wide?

MAHER: Oh, yes.

KING: All over?

Here is another clip from the film, “Religulous.” Watch. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC: “Jesus is just all right with me Jesus is just all right oh, yes.)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I left myself on. Testing, one, two. Testing.

All right. How you doing, Bill? God bless you.

MAHER: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seen you around.

MAHER: Having no other gods before you, that’s not moral. There’s nothing moral about that. It’s just — it’s just something a jealous god would do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does say that our god is a jealous god.

MAHER: But your god is jealous? That seems so un-godlike that God would have such a petty human emotion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He’s also…

MAHER: I know people who have gotten over jealousy, let alone God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There’s two sides of the coin. He’s a just god, and he’s also a merciful god.

MAHER: The first five books are about wiping out people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His ways are higher than ours, Bill.

MAHER: But our shirking (ph) should be higher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That’s a good point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: You better explain. Where was that? That man was Jesus right?

MAHER: Yes. That was in heaven, Larry.

KING: Where was…

MAHER: We went on location. Believe me, it’s not easy to get in there. Permits. You think the Chinese are…

KING: You especially. I don’t think you have a shot to get in.

MAHER: No. That was Holy Land. That was the amusement park in Florida, in Orlando.

KING: Like Disneyland?

MAHER: Oh, yes. You never heard of Holy Land?

KING: Well, I never — I saw the movie.

MAHER: You’ve got young kids, Larry. You take them down there. They will love it. They’ll see a minor league baseball game. You go to spring training. You go to Holy Land. It will be a fantastic trip.

KING: What do they do in Holy Land?

MAHER: Well, they — well, they have Jesus. They re-enact — we show it in the movie — they re-enact the — I guess, the March of Tears — no, I’m getting that wrong, but you know, where he was carrying the cross and he was beaten by the centurions and then they, you know, crucify him.

KING: They show you all that?

MAHER: They re-enact it with that man. That was Jesus.

KING: And you interviewed him?

MAHER: And I interviewed him, yes.

KING: Did you watch the whole presentation?

MAHER: Oh, yes.

KING: What do you mean?

MAHER: You know, I mean, this is — this is what they believe, and having been to the real Via De La Rosa in Jerusalem and then this re-enactment in America, I was confounded as to which I thought was more commercially crass. It was really a tossup.

KING: Really?

MAHER: Ever been to Via De La Rosa in Jerusalem? It’s really the Via De La Rosa mall. You know, it’s very commercialized, not that that’s the worst part of the whole religious problem.

KING: In this film you take a tour. You go to the Mormon Church. You go to the Vatican. Did anything alter your thinking? Did anything impress you?

MAHER: I was impressed with how hard it is to make a movie, and it altered my thinking about ever wanting to make another one. You know, you just have to get up early in the morning and put on makeup. You know, it’s endless, all day.

KING: A great director.

MAHER: Larry Charles was the right man.

KING: Who directed the…

MAHER: Yes, “Borat.” And I needed someone who understood comedy, because we’re making a comedy. We’re trying to — well, we’re mostly trying to make people laugh, but I also would like to arouse the somewhat, like, 16 percent of people who I call rationalists. They would call them atheists or agnostics in America. It sounds like it’s a small minority, but 16 percent is actually bigger than blacks or Jews or homosexuals or NRA members, or teachers union, Hispanics. If those people stood up and made themselves heard, but they never do.

KING: Do you think it might be more? Do you think there are people who just don’t admit it?

MAHER: Absolutely. You know what they are? They’re a lot of people like me, like I was. We make a point in the movie to show that my evolution toward where I was, where I am now, was gradual. You know, I still had, later in life — I wasn’t a religious person. I definitely didn’t believe in the Jesus story after we quit the Catholic church.

But I did have an idea of some imaginary man who lived in my head who got mad at me if I was bad and who I had to bargain with if I was bad. And I was always being like, “Oh, please, God, get me out of this. Just get me out of this. I promise I will never do this again.”

So, you know, it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to come to it slowly.

KING: I asked Rick Warren if he could vote for — would America vote for an atheist? And he said never, because in his opinion, he could never vote for someone who did not believe in a higher authority than himself or herself.

MAHER: Well, but see, I used to read parts of Rick Warren’s book onstage in my standup act. It produced, I promise you, gales of laughter, because the idea that any person on earth can tell you with such specifics what happens when you die just blows my mind. That somebody on earth, another person, can just say to you, “Oh, yes. And what happens when you get to heaven? Yes. You’ll meet Jesus. He’s wearing a white robe. There’s a little gold piping on the sleeve. And then you go in this room and eat eggs and you watch ‘F Troop’.”

Are you kidding? What are you talking about? You’re just a person like I am. You are clueless. You have no idea what happens.

KING: Don’t you think Rick believes it?

MAHER: Of course he believes it, but how — how ridiculous is that? Like, if I went to the Himalayas to find the holiest of holy men in the world who had all the answers, the guru. And I got to the top of the mountain. I said, “Please, master, can you help me with the ultimate meaning of life?”

He’d say, “Yes. There’s a guy Rick in Long Beach, Rick Warren. Go ask him. He knows exactly what happens when you die.” And, you know, that is my ultimate message. Unless a god told you personally what happens when you die, it all came from another person with no more mental powers than you have, and you don’t know. So just man up and say, “I don’t know.” But they believe.

KING: And belief — belief is a tough thing to counter.

MAHER: Yes. And I understand why it’s a luxury for some people who don’t need it and why a lot of people are less fortunate, and they do need it.

So we’re not trying to point fingers in this movie. I think we do it — we’re laughing all the way through it. I think we’re winking and having a good time, and we’re not trying to be judgmental. But at some point, you know, mankind is going to have to shed this skin if he’s going to move forward. I do have a serious intellectual problem with it.

And on another level it just ticks me off. It’s just the ultimate hustle. It’s just “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” You know, why can’t they, I always ask — I asked Jesus at Holy Land, “Why can’t God just defeat the devil and get rid of evil?”

You know, and it’s the same reason the comic-book character can’t get rid of his nemesis. Then there’s no story. If God gets rid of the devil — and he could, he’s all powerful — well, then there’s no fear. There’s no reason to come to church. There’s no reason to pass the plate. We’re all out of a job. You know, it’s got to go on.

KING: Start dialing. Bill will take your calls.

MAHER: Yes, right.

KING: Ahead on LARRY KING LIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER: New rule: President Bush must resist the urge to invade Cuba. Fidel Castro has stepped down and now Cuba is being run by his brother. And the majority of Americans can’t wait until our president steps down and our country is also being run by a brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We’re back with Bill Maher. Tonight’s quick vote, by the way, I like it when Bill Maher takes on politics or religion? Take your pick. Go to CNN.com/LarryKing and cast your quick vote now. Email question from Mike in San Francisco: “I’m always puzzled by undecided voters. I think it’s more appropriate to call a lot of them unhappy with the choices. Do you believe the time is right to move beyond Republicans and Democrats and have a truly multiparty system?”

MAHER: Sure. But it’s probably not going to lap in our lifetime. A multi — you know, every time a third party has tried in this country, it’s absorbed by one of the other two parties. Because we don’t have a parliamentary system. If we had a parliamentary system, that affords many parties. You know, it’s probably a better system, but can you imagine taking on the U.S. Constitution and trying to get away with that?

KING: Let’s take a question from Orlando. Hello.

CALLER: Bill, for years, Evangelicals never cared about pollution and the destruction of our environment. They only cared about making converts. Do you think the Evangelicals’ new found mission to now save the environment is because they realize it’s smart business to appear politically correct?

MAHER: Wow, what a well thought question. She had it ready and she didn’t fumble. Very good. Thank you. That’s one reason why I’m saying Rick Warren is a big improvement, is that he cares about the environment, poor people. He’s actually — has read the New Testament, I think. So there’s a Christ-like, not just a Christian element to him. So, great. If they throw their lot in with saving the Earth, that’s fantastic.

One reason I have always been anti-Evangelical and people who take the Bible literally is because it allows you to be horrible to animals, people, too. Slavery is OK with the Bible, keeping women down, and honor killings and let’s not even go into how bad they are to people. But animals, you know, the Bible says man can have dominion over animals. And also they believe people have a soul, whatever that is, but animals don’t. So do whatever you want with them.

So if they’re getting more on the page of being kind to animals and helping the environment, then sign me up.

KING: Do you believe it?

MAHER: Yes, I do. I don’t doubt their sincerity. I doubt their — you know, I always say it’s a neurological disorder. I doubt that part of their mind that’s walled off. I want to knock down that door. And, you know, I think this movie is going to be that for a lot of people. It’s going to be the anti-”Passion of the Christ.” For all the people who liked that movie, there’s another crowd.

KING: This is the antidote.

MAHER: Right.

KING: Email question from Linda in Nebraska: “what’s your opinion of the so-called stimulus package that Congress passed? Any clue about what or whom it actually stimulated?”

MAHER: I read that the only industry that got a spike was online porn. Seriously, people got their stimulus checks and got to stimulating themselves rather quickly. But I find it sleazy, you know, that the government bribes people. Every time there’s a problem, what did Bush say after 9/11? Go shopping.

KING: McCain attacked that yesterday, at the Rick Warren thing. He attacked that pretty tough on that go shopping idea.

MAHER: He picks his moments to pretend to look tough. And then, of course, we had a war with tax cuts. I mean, no one has ever done that. Even Croissis (ph), I think, raised taxes on the Persians when he had to fight a war. Now we find ourselves in a recession and the answer is here’s 600 dollars. It’s sleazy. Here’s some cash. Do whatever you want with it.

KING: Both parties favored it.

MAHER: Both parties favor almost everything. This is my problem. Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have come down now at least wishy washy on oil drilling. At least they’re not opposing it. Again, where is my champion? Where is the Democrat who would have stood up and said, you know what? Even oil people get it, that offshore drilling is not the answer. It’s not even a short-term answer and it’s not a long-term answer. It’s a lose-lose. And yet two thirds of the people in this country were convinced somehow that this is going to lower our gas prices in the short term and they’re for it.

This is what I mean about being too dumb to be governed. A politician can’t be that much better than the people. The people have to look in the mirror. Yes, the leaders are bad, because the people almost demand it of them.

KING: Do you agree with Lincoln, who said no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people?

MAHER: And he was writing in the ’30s, when people were a lot more intelligence. Imagine what he’d say now. His head would explode.

KING: An email from Lad in New Jersey: “As a former member of the U.S. Air Force, I feel the drinking age should be lowered to 18. If somebody is old enough to fight for their country, he’s old enough to drink. What do you think Bill?”

MAHER: I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’d say 14. No. Sure, I mean, 18, I don’t know. How long ago that I started drinking illegally, but –

KING: You don’t drink anymore. Do you?

MAHER: I drink way less than I used to. But I certainly do have a cocktail.

KING: Pot?

MAHER: Pot?

KING: I do pot in the movie.

MAHER: Larry, we were in Amsterdam. Don’t get me in trouble with the authorities.

KING: It was legal, correct.

MAHER: We were in Amsterdam, where it’s legal. In America, I only smoke it when I’m 12 miles offshore. I have a boat, Larry. I go out there beyond U.S. territorial waters and I light up.

KING: We’ll continue with the Emmy award nominating — how many times have you been nominated?

MAHER: Twenty one.

KING: And never won.

MAHER: You’d think once just by clerical error I would have won.

KING: Right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHER: The Crocodile Hunter clan has to leave nature alone. This week, the late Steve Irwin’s younger son was bitten by a Boa Constrictor. Authorities don’t know exactly what went wrong, but they think the accident might have happened when a bunch of idiots let a four-year-old (EXPLETIVE DELETED) around with a giant snake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: “Real Time With Bill Maher” returns Friday, August 29th. He is appearing at Humphries in San Diego this Sunday, and his film, “Religulous,” will open October 3rd wide across the United States. No matter what you think about religion, you should see this movie. Charlottesville, Virginia, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Bill. I have a question. What do you think when religious people say that men who believe in God are weak minded?

KING: When religious people say that?

CALLER: Yes. They call men weak minded.

KING: Men who don’t believe in god you mean.

CALLER: Yes.

MAHER: I’ve heard it the other way. Jesse Ventura had that great quote, religion is a crutch for week minded people who need strength in numbers. Pretty harsh words from somebody who I think was governor at the time.

KING: He was.

MAHER: I don’t know how it’s more weak minded to be the one who is saying, look, I don’t know what happens when you die. So I’m just going to say I don’t know. That, to me, seems a more honest approach than believing in — KING: Well, in truth, don’t most people think that? Would you gather that they don’t know? Because if they knew, why would they fear it so much?

MAHER: Right.

KING: Why would they not — why would you not — why fear death?

MAHER: You know, I agree. I’ve never been the person who’s been troubled by those big questions. I’ve never been able to answer them and I know I never will. And you just give yourself a headache thinking about them. I mean, if you start thinking about these things, you kind of get down to why is there anything? Try to ponder that one afternoon, if you’re not high. You’ll be, you know –

KING: Why is there anything?

MAHER: Well, like if the universe begins at a certain point, what was before the universe? Nothing. But how can nothing — we can’t contemplate that, because nothing is something. See, there may be answers. I’m not saying that there isn’t something out there. I’m not strictly an atheist. An atheist is certain there’s no god.

KING: That’s a religion.

MAHER: Sort of. You know, people say could it be Jesus? Yes, it could be Jesus. It also could be Furbee (ph) or the lint in my navel. I have a feeling it’s probably not something that smacks of the story that bronze-age men would write down, people who didn’t know what an atom or a germ was, or where the sun went at night, or why their women got pregnant. You know, if the Bible was written by a god who’s beyond time, it wouldn’t be so limited to the morays of that era.

KING: Cape Coral, Florida, hello.

CALLER: Hey, Larry, love the show.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: Bill, I love your show too. I can’t wait for it to come back, sir.

MAHER: Thank you.

CALLER: I have a question. Do you think McCain will be just as bad or worse than Bush? I’m a first-time voter, and I’m Barack all the way, man.

KING: How do you compare McCain to Bush?

MAHER: OK, dude. It’s hard to say. It’s hard to imagine a president being worse than Bush. But I could see McCain pulling it off. I don’t know. McCain is a real hard one to figure, because he could get into office and revert to the maverick McCain that we used to like. He could. He could say, you know what? I had to do a lot of stuff I didn’t like to get to this spot, which every politician has to do. But now I’m here. You can’t touch me. I’m not going to run again, perhaps. I’m just going to do it my way. And, you know, he is — he can be better on a lot of issues than Bush.

But on issues like Iraq he’s not. He doesn’t get the most fundamental thing about this war, that it is our presence in that country that is the problem. He’s OK with leaving troops in Iraq for a hundred years. He said this. He said, look, we have troops in Germany and Japan and South Korea. Yes, but they’re not Muslim countries. What irks them is just our presence there. As long as we have troops in the heart of the Middle East, there will always be terrorist planners trying to kill us, young, Muslim men who want to kill us for doing that.

So on that level, alone, I can’t say he’s better than Bush.

KING: We’ll be back with more of Bill Maher. Don’t go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We’re with Bill Maher and the caller is from Concord, California. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. How are you.

KING: I’m fine. Go ahead.

CALLER: I have a question for Bill. You’ve come across — maybe it’s just the cockiness that you have answer to everything. But you never seem to present anything that you don’t have an answer. It’s just your opinion. I was wondering why.

MAHER: I don’t know what that question means.

KING: He just said he has no idea where the world began or ends.

MAHER: I mean, when I give my opinion, it’s assumed — I think tacitly we understand — I’m not speaking from a position of religious authority. Yes, I sound like I know what I believe. It’s what I believe at the moment. I could be wrong. I’m the first one to say I could be wrong. But, you know, if you don’t sound like you know what you’re talking about, no one’s going to believe you.

And again, if I may get back to the problem with Obama and McCain, you know, McCain looks confident. When he says defeat it, it looks confident. Obama by sidling up on so many issues to the Republican doesn’t look confident. And the American public is clueless. They don’t know who’s right, Obama or McCain. That would involve reading and watching CNN. Please.

So they vote for the person who looks the most confident and if the Democratic candidate is constantly slinking toward the positions of the right winger, they’re going to say to themselves at the end of the day, why vote for the imitation? Why not just vote for the real thing?

KING: Atlanta, hello.

CALLER: Hello, Bill.

MAHER: Hello.

CALLER: I wondering if you knew George Carlin on a personal level. Also, I remember a movie you made back in the ’80s with Brian DePalma, if I’m not mistaken. Was that you?

MAHER: No. No, that was “Body Double.” That’s a guy who did look like me back then.

KING: George Carlin, by the way, is nominated against you for an Emmy.

MAHER: Yes.

KING: Ironic.

MAHER: And I’m doing the — another one I’m bound to lose. I’m doing the Mark Twain Award for him in Washington in November. I’m thrilled.

KING: Are you going to accept it for him?

MAHER: I think a bunch of comics are going to make a presentation. It’s a very prestigious award. This is not just something they offered to him posthumously, like, oh, he’s dead, let’s give him an award. It was bad timing on his part.

KING: You were on the night he died. That was a sad night.

MAHER: We had a good show about it. Did I know him personally? Not that well. I wish I had. But, you know, at the moment in my life when I got to know him and work with him, he was in his ’60s. He was set in his ways. He did his show, he went home. I wish I had met him when he was younger, and we could have got out and had a drink together.

KING: An e-mail question –

MAHER: I was younger and go out and drink more.

KING: Email question from John in Toronto, Ontario: “Bill, you’re very outspoken about staying a bachelor. Has there ever been a woman who made you second guess your choice not to settle down?”

MAHER: On a nightly basis, Larry. But I resist. I have kept my toe out of the trap.

KING: Is there any girl in your background that you said, she might be — could have been?

MAHER: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Stop asking these questions, mom, about when am I going to get married. First of all, I’ve never been against marriage. I always admit that it works for a certain amount — number of people, a certain percentage. And I know people who are very happy and wouldn’t be happy if they weren’t with their partner. So my hat’s off to them.

There’s another bunch of people who I think it doesn’t work for. And the kind of people like me, we’re growing in numbers, just like the no religious people, we’re growing in numbers. People don’t feel the need anymore to conform just for the sake of society.

KING: So you prefer single?

MAHER: I do to this point, but who knows? I just entered my fifties a couple years ago. It’s my experience that every decade you live, you’re kind of a different person or you lead a different life. I led a very different life in my 20s, my 30s, my 40s. I don’t know what my 50s are going to be. It might include that. Please, god, no, I’ll bargain again with you if you get me out of this one.

KING: We’ll be back with more of Bill Maher. We have sad news to pass on tonight. Leroy Moore, the saxophone player and the founding member of the Dave Matthews Bands has died. He was only 66. He was 46, I’m sorry. He was apparently in a TV accident on June 30th in Virginia. He punctured a lung and broke a few ribs. As we understand it, Moore went back to the hospital recently due to complications from those injuries and he died this afternoon.

The band will perform tonight as scheduled at the Staple Center in Los Angeles. We’ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Bill Maher has said a lot of strange things in a long an illustrious career, but he just told me something during the break that requires a follow up. He said to me, he loves the recession.

MAHER: Larry.

KING: Why?

MAHER: Because I was driving over here and I have driven over here many times. Traffic is light. You know?

KING: Oh, I see.

MAHER: People aren’t out as much. The stores are empty. The businesses are so happy to see you. Have you noticed that? You walk into a restaurant and they’re about to close. My friend, please come in. Just so happy to have anybody’s business. That’s not an attitude that businesses usually have. It goes right away.

KING: Good point. We love the recession. Boston, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Bill. I know you’re an animal protection advocate, as am I. And I know there’s currently a lot of discussion in the animal advocacy community about the potential for change with a new president from the Bush administration, which you know has been disastrous for the environment and the animals that live there. I wanted to know if you could share your opinion on which presidential candidate you think would be best to benefit the animal protection movement in the U.S. going forward.

MAHER: I would have to guess it would be Obama. But this is an issue that’s hardly on the radar of presidential candidates.

KING: Has not come up in a debate.

MAHER: Please, I mean, animals don’t vote. They forgot about poor people, let alone animals. Anyone who doesn’t have a vote, forget about it. Children, why are old people taken care of so well economically in America and children not? Because old people vote. So I don’t know. It’s a host of issues that I wish, again, my champion of the liberal wing would take on, like the drug war and animal rights. But I’m not holding my breath. I’d be happy if they could end the war.

KING: You got to be pleased by T. Boone Pickens. He was on this show for an hour, against oil addiction, in favor of wind power.

MAHER: Right, we’re trying to get him on our show. I would love to talk to him.

KING: I bet he would come.

MAHER: Yes. And that shows you where we are. When an 80-year- old oil man has to show the government the way. You know, this guy gets it. You know, I just — I just — I hate to be despairing. But, again, you know, when I hear two thirds of Americans are for oil drilling, oil drilling which is not going to improve anything at all. Oil companies and oceans never worked out so well before. In fact, the phrase that we have for things not going well together is actually oil and water.

KING: Yes, you’re right. Good point.

MAHER: That’s how much we should know not to do this. But let’s end on a happy note, Larry. Let’s not leave people with –

KING: A great writer, Philip Reilly, told me once in an interview that when you talk to man about generations not yet born, it goes in one ear and out the other. He ain’t thinking about generations not yet born. It’s take care of me now.

MAHER: Yes. But this doesn’t. You know, people don’t seem to be able to make rational decisions. Like I’m — I’m not always on the side that liberals are on. I’m for nuclear power. I think McCain is also. And I know a lot of people hate this. Bill, what about the waste. Yes, nothing is a — not everything can be a win-win situation. There are problems. But we are definitely killing ourselves with fossil fuels.

France has had nuclear power for decades without an accident. And in this country they want to bury it at the bottom of a mountain.

KING: Got to run.

MAHER: Sorry.

KING: Bill Maher, he’s the host of “Real Time With Maher.” That returns August 29th. He will be appearing at Humphries in San Diego this weekend and look forward to that movie, “Religulous.” It opens October 3rd. There’s still time to cast your quick vote. Tonight’s question, I like it when Bill Maher takes on politics or religion. Go to CNN.com/LarryKing and have your say. While you’re there, check out our other features. Sign up for e-mails, text message alerts. We got you covered at CNN.com/LarryKing.

Popularity: 4% [?]

BARACK OBAMA WITH RICK WARREN AT SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM (see the comment section in this post, for the text transcripts)

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Broadcast Transcript Service:
Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency

DATE: Satuday, August 16, 2008
TIME: 8:00-10:00 P.M. ET / 7:00-9:00 P.M. CT / 5:00-7:00 P.M. PT
LOCATION: Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, Calif.)
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Videos (1-6 parts of opening + Obama and 1 to 5 parts of McCain; Rick Warren talked with them each separately, for this forum):

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McCain 1 of 5:

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Video 1 of 2:
[SOURCE: countdown.msnbc.com ~alt. here~]

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[SOURCE: CBS @ YOUTUBE: "Courting The Evangelical Vote"]

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abc7.com
Friday, August 15, 2008
By Jovana Lara

Tune in to watch the Saddleback event live on abc7.com between 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16 (among other live on-line feeds and TV broadcasts)

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (KABC) — Saturday, the two leading presidential candidates will share the stage at Reverend Rick Warren’s evangelical megachurch in Lake Forest. The event could have a big impact on the race to the White House.

It could be the hottest ticket in town, and Saddleback Church representative say only about 2,200 people got their hands on them. Apparently space is limited for Pastor Rick Warren’s forum Saturday with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Many residents in the area believe an event like this should have been open to the community.

“I’m very, very excited,” said Meriven Deocariza says luck was on her side. And now, she’ll be among the 2,000 people or so to watch presumed presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in their first joint appearance since the end of the primary season.

“I didn’t think that I would be able to get tickets,” said Deocariza. “It was something I wanted to do, and when they called me yesterday to say that I had won tickets because I had been leader of a small group, and they put me in a raffle ticket. I was ecstatic.”

And for good reason: Tickets to Saturday night’s event, during which Pastor Rick Warren will question McCain and Obama on personal morals, faith and leadership, have been hard to come by.

Church representatives say the forum is an invitation-only event, open exclusively to church members. But local residents say that’s not what they read on the church Web site.

“There was just an unfortunate situation where they promised there would be tickets available to the general public, and they kept postponing the date on their Web site, and finally Wednesday, the big day, they said all tickets have been distributed,” said Jan Young. “I happen to have made a contact here, and she was kind enough to find two tickets for me. She works here. So I’m very mixed about my feelings. In general I think it was unfortunate.”

Some church members say the ticket controversy has been blown out of proportion, and despite the disappointments, the forum will be remembered as one of the most exciting events ever to take place in south Orange County.

“Absolutely exciting,” said Saddleback Church member Tony McGivern. “Guaranteed the next president is in the room, that’s just unbelievable. It’s exciting, it really is.”

Church representatives say they will be streaming the forum live to hundreds of people on campus at three nearby locations. Two of them are tents, and tickets are required to attend those events.

Tune in to watch the Saddleback event live on abc7.com between 5 p.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16 (among other live on-line feeds and TV broadcasts)

Popularity: 4% [?]

[SOURCE: The Interfaith Alliance -- E-Mail Alert @ Tue, May 27, 2008 at 2:38 PM]

EXCERPTS:

WHAT’S BEEN WRITTEN THIS WEEK AT THE INTERSECTION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

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Race for the White House ’08:
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’08 Race Has Got Religion. Is That Good?
Christian Science Monitor – 5/28/08

There was Mitt Romney’s speech to try to dispel concerns about his Mormon faith. There was Barack Obama’s denunciation of certain beliefs of his longtime pastor. Last week it was John McCain’s turn to cut himself off from two controversial preachers whose endorsements he had once sought. And throughout the presidential primary season, there have been candidate forums on religious beliefs, plus eager courting of evangelical Christians, Catholics, and other faith groups. Are religion and faith playing an appropriate role – or an inappropriate one – in the 2008 presidential campaign? So far, it’s some of both, say those who’ve been monitoring the campaign. Critics also cite news media that turn faith into mere entertainment or play it for controversy. Some questions asked during televised debates have been helpful, they say, but others have been inappropriate or irrelevant, bordering on religious vetting. the Interfaith Alliance, a religious liberty watchdog, became so concerned it released a video called “Top Ten Moments in the Race for Pastor-in-Chief.” Among the questions it criticized: “What’s the worst sin you’ve committed?” and “Do you believe every word of the Bible?” “Why ask Senator Clinton about ‘feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit’?” complained TIA president Welton Gaddy after the Compassion Forum aired on CNN in April. “Far more useful would be specific questions about how their faith would impact their policy positions.”

McCain Rejects Pastor’s Support
Wall Street Journal – 5/23/08

John McCain rejected the endorsement of the Rev. John C. Hagee Thursday after an old sermon was unearthed in which the evangelical pastor seemed to suggest that God had created the Holocaust to drive Jews to Israel. Mr. Hagee, who endorsed the Republican candidate in February, delivered a sermon in the late 1990s in which he appeared to explain how something good could come from a tragic event. “A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says…’They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,’” Mr. Hagee preached. “God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.” The sermon was posted on Talk to Action, a blog critical of the Christian right, and later republished on the Huffington Post Web site. “Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them,” Sen. McCain said Thursday. “I feel I must reject his endorsement.” “As anybody that aspires to the office of the presidency ought to know, fairly or unfairly, they’re going to be judged by the words and actions of their friends as well as their enemies,” said Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance. “It’s irresponsible to let someone align themselves with you” without proper background checks.

• New York Times

  Los Angeles Times

  Boston Globe

Special Edition:
Read more stories featuring the Interfaith Alliance on this topic in:

Pastors Pose Problems for McCain and Obama
Associated Press – 5/25/08

Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, both seeking to use religion to their advantage in the presidential campaign, have learned painful lessons about the risks of getting too close to religious leaders. Both now realize that sermons given to a narrow audience on Sundays don’t always play as well on the national stage, where context can be a casualty. And McCain’s rejection of endorsements from two evangelical pastors puts into relief the candidate’s problems with that core GOP constituency. McCain, the Republican nominee-in waiting, and Obama, who is closing in on the Democratic nod, both have been slowed by their respective pastor problems. Whether the controversies will play a role in the months ahead remains unclear, but the two candidates face decisions about how clergy fit into their efforts to reach voters informed by faith. Clergy who have seen colleagues go from relative obscurity to infamy in the course of a 24-hour news cycle face similar choices in weighing whether to talk about politics and candidates. “This is the new terrain of religious politics,” said David Domke, a University of Washington communications professor and co-author of “The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America.” “Politicians have been getting a pass on this for some time, using support from a minister or pastor for their political advantage and not having to answer for what that pastor has said.” Both candidates have reason to pay attention to the faith factor in their White House bids.

IRS Clears Obama’s Church
Wall Street Journal – 5/22/08

The Internal Revenue Service has told the United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama’s denomination, that it didn’t violate tax laws when the presidential candidate addressed 10,000 church members in June. In a letter released by the UCC, the IRS said that the denomination hadn’t engaged in prohibited political activity and retains its nonprofit status. The UCC disclosed an IRS inquiry into Sen. Obama’s appearance earlier this year. IRS spokeswoman Nancy Mathis declined to comment. Charitable groups, including churches, are barred from engaging in political speech if they wish to remain untaxed.

As Obama Heads to Florida, Many of It’s Jews Have Doubts
New York Times – 5/22/08

At the Aberdeen Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the fountains were burbling, the man-made lakes were shining, and Shirley Weitz and Ruth Grossman were debating why Jews in this gated neighborhood of airy retirement homes feel so much trepidation about Senator Barack Obama. “The people here, liberal people, will not vote for Obama because of his attitude towards Israel,” Ms. Weitz, 83, said, lingering over brunch. “They’re going to vote for McCain,” she said. Ms. Grossman, 80, agreed with her friend’s conclusion, but not her reasoning. “They’ll pick on the minister thing, they’ll pick on the wife, but the major issue is color,” she said, quietly fingering a coffee cup. Ms. Grossman said she was thinking of voting for Mr. Obama, who is leading in the delegate count for the nomination, as was Ms. Weitz. But Ms. Grossman does not tell the neighbors. “I keep my mouth shut,” she said. On Thursday, Mr. Obama will court Jewish voters with an appearance at a synagogue in Boca Raton, Fla. A longtime Democratic constituency with a consistently high turnout rate, Jews are important to his general election hopes, particularly in New York, which he expects to win; in California and New Jersey, which he must keep out of Republican hands; and, most crucially, here in Florida, where Jews make up around 5 percent of voters.

Religious Right Feeling Left Out in Race
Politico – 5/22/08

Christian conservatives who helped elect President Bush are wary of his would-be Republican successor, and now they’re feeling abandoned by Congressional Republicans, too. There are two sources of their unhappiness: Republicans didn’t rise up en masse last week when the California Supreme Court invalidated a ban on same-sex marriage, and the House GOP’s new family agenda focuses on pocketbook issues rather than moral concerns. “In 2004, there was great emphasis on marriage, on value voters,” said Tony Perkins, president of the influential Family Research Council. “And now you see [Republicans] running from those values issues. … By taking a path away from values issues, Republicans will find themselves in the wilderness.” Congressional Republicans insist they haven’t given up the fight against abortion rights and same-sex marriage. At a session with reporters Wednesday, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said: “We have never walked away from who we are, … [but] we don’t control the agenda. “Certainly, the Democrats have done everything imaginable to avoid some of those issues,” Boehner said. “But that doesn’t mean our commitment to those issues is any less.” Still, a comparison of the House GOP’s 2006 American Values Agenda with its 2008 American Family Agenda shows how the party’s emphasis has changed.

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National News:
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Interfaith Alliance criticizes Alabama governor’s Plan to Have Churches Manage Prisoner Re-entry
Birmingham News – 5/24/08

The Interfaith Alliance, a national religious organization supporting the separation of church and state, on Friday criticized Gov. Bob Riley’s plan to have the state’s churches manage prisoner re-entry programs. The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said prisoners could be forced to accept proselytizing in order to receive assistance, and that religious discrimination in hiring also may result. “It’s not a legal issue so much as it is a moral issue,” he said. “The government is responsible for the public welfare and should be dealing with this.” Riley on Tuesday asked the state’s churches to come to the aid of newly released prisoners, providing everything from job-search assistance and housing to cash. Riley and program administrators said the state can’t afford to provide the needed assistance for the 11,000 men and women released from the state’s prisons each year. Jeff Emerson, a spokesman for Riley, said Gaddy doesn’t understand the Community Partnership for Recovery and Re-entry program. “It’s not about proselytizing. It’s about a partnership between people who want to help and those who need assistance,” he said. Program administrators have said it does not violate the separation of church and state because it receives no state funding and because any person or organization, not just churches, can participate. But Gaddy, a Baptist minister from Monroe, La., said the lack of state funding means that participating churches are free to proselytize and to discriminate on religious grounds when hiring staffers for re-entry programs. “When the state of Alabama is not willing to provide government-run prisoner re-entry services, it leaves prisoners only one option – to accept proselytizing in exchange for needed services,” he said.

Coming to Grips With Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Los Angeles Times – 5/20/08

Pastor Gregory L. Waybright struggled from the pulpit Sunday to reconcile the laws of God with the laws of man. Though he wanted his church “to be a welcoming and loving house,” he told worshipers at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, the California Supreme Court’s decision last week to legalize gay marriage in California “is a contradiction of what God’s word says.” The 4-3 ruling, which held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, has prompted conservative and liberal congregations alike to discuss whether gay and lesbian members will be allowed to wed in their churches, synagogues and temples. “These are the kinds of issues every religion has to grapple with,” said James A. Donahue, president of the Graduate Theological Union, a Berkeley-based consortium of theological schools. “How do you factor in the role of contemporary human rights, civil rights, the data about homosexuality” with “core traditions and beliefs?” In recent years, conflicts over homosexuality and the Bible have unsettled many denominations, especially such mainline Protestant churches as Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical Lutherans and Episcopalians. Although the specifics vary, the controversies for all of these faith groups and for Conservative Judaism have revolved broadly around whether to provide official recognition to the unions of same-sex couples and whether to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy.

Bush Apologizes Over US Soldier’s Quran Shooting
Associated Press – 5/21/08

President Bush has apologized to Iraq’s prime minister for an American sniper’s shooting of a Quran, and the Iraqi government called on U.S. military commanders to educate their soldiers to respect local religious beliefs. Bush’s spokeswoman said Tuesday that the president apologized during a videoconference Monday with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who told the president that the shooting of Islam’s holy book had disappointed and angered both the Iraqi people and their leaders. “He apologized for that in the sense that he said that we take it very seriously,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “We are concerned about the reaction. We wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong.” It was the highest level in a string of statements by U.S. officials trying to soothe anger over the shooting incident, particularly among Sunni Arabs who have become key allies in the fight against insurgents. The U.S. military said Sunday that it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam’s holy book for target practice May 9 in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad. The book was found two days later by Iraqis on a firing range in Radwaniyah with 14 bullet holes in it and graffiti written on its pages, tribal leaders said.

Probe Biased, Televangelists Say
Washington Post – 5/24/08

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is investigating six televangelists for alleged lavish spending, is facing growing criticism from prominent conservatives and evangelicals, some of whom question whether Grassley is biased against the Pentecostal televangelists because of his Baptist faith. Many are also concerned that his probe intrudes on the churches’ constitutional right to practice their religion. Kenneth Copeland, a Texas-based televangelist who is a subject of Grassley’s investigation, recently launched a Web site, http://believersstandunited.com, to fight the probe. Copeland said the investigation is “aimed at publicly questioning the religious beliefs of the targeted churches, their ministers, and their members while ignoring televangelists of other denominations.” Copeland’s stance is supported by almost two dozen leaders of conservative secular and religious organizations, who criticized the inquiry in a letter sent this month to the Senate Finance Committee. The letter suggested that the ministries were targeted for sharing “the same branch of evangelicalism.” The letter’s signers, including Paul Weyrich, Moral Majority co-founder; Ken Blackwell, chairman of the Coalition for a Conservative Majority; and Anthony Verdugo of the Christian Family Coalition, said the probe also infringes on churches’ First Amendment rights.

AP Engages Pastors, Parishoners About Racism in US
Associated Press – 5/24/08

Jesse McGee points to trophies he won in local marathons. He mentions his work with youth and volunteer school programs. He praises his church’s efforts to deliver scripture lessons to inmates. For more than an hour, the 84-year-old church deacon, who is black, chats about his life, largely ignoring the subject at hand: racism. It isn’t until his wife, Warine, sheepishly shares that their son’s wife is white that McGee offers a confession: He had been uncomfortable with the union for nearly 30 years _ until his Bible study class offered enlightenment. His story represents a snapshot of how America’s racial landscape is navigated daily, often with religion as guidance. The issue of race drew sharp focus as Barack Obama’s contentious split with his longtime pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, played out in a national glare. In response, the United Church of Christ and National Council of Churches USA called on 10,000 ministers to initiate a “sacred conversation on race.” “The realities of race have not been addressed adequately,” says the Rev. John Thomas, president of the UCC. “Racism continues to demean and diminish human lives in this country.” To listen in on that conversation, Associated Press reporters across the nation engaged pastors and parishioners about their individual experiences with racism.

Muslim Chaplain Offers American Brand of Islam
NPR – 5/20/08

There are about 1,300 chaplains in the U.S. Army, and of those, only five are Muslim. One of them, Maj. Khalid Shabazz, serves at Fort Hood in Texas and is getting ready to retire from his post to study ethics. For three years, Shabazz has been the Muslim chaplain for the 1-227 Aviation Attack Battalion at Fort Hood. He’s a big part of the religious life of the Muslim soldiers on base, and he offers them a very American brand of Islam. His office is full of citations and awards thanking him for his service. But it was a different story when he first discovered Islam as an artilleryman 16 years ago. For Shabazz, it hasn’t always been easy to be a Muslim in the U.S. Army. He wasn’t an officer when he joined the Army. He wasn’t even a Muslim, and his name wasn’t Khalid Shabazz. Once upon a time, a 23-year-old named Michael Barnes enlisted and was studying to become a Lutheran minister. When he changed his name after converting to Islam, not long after he enlisted, the howitzer unit he was serving with at the time went nuts. “All [of a] sudden, it was almost like I switched sides to them,” Shabazz says. “They were hurt because I converted. [They] thought maybe I was joining on to the enemy.” There are anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 Muslim soldiers in the U.S. military, depending on whom you talk to. No one knows the numbers for sure because some Muslims in the military don’t want to advertise their religion. Shabazz says it’s tough trying to be a good Muslim and a good soldier. He was ready to quit. Then a Christian chaplain pointed him toward a different military career — becoming a Muslim chaplain. He says that when the chaplain presented the idea, it was like “a gift from God.”

A Jihad for Love: Torn by the Contradictions of Being Gay and Muslim
New York Times – 5/21/08

Sad to say, “A Jihad for Love” is not a sequel to the pornographic satire “The Raspberry Reich” (2004), in which pseudo-revolutionaries exhort their comely comrades to “join the homosexual intifada!” It is, rather more arduously, a dispatch from the outer limits of marginalization: a documentary on devout Muslims struggling with their homosexuality. Angst is the norm in this heartfelt debut by the filmmaker Parvez Sharma, whose documentary ranges from Johannesburg to Istanbul, from doubt to despair (with a happy detour among the drag queens of India). He does manage to locate a headstrong lesbian in Paris, albeit one whose face, like those of many of the subjects here, has been digitally blurred. “If we are truly Muslims,” runs her contradictory lament, “we have no right to alter his creation.” Mr. Sharma’s film emphasizes testimony over context to such a degree that it feels at first of little use to anyone except gay Muslims who might take comfort in knowing they’re not alone. But the documentary gains depth of feeling as it goes and even develops something of a nail-biting narrative as it follows a clique of Iranian men who flee to central Turkey in hopes of applying for political asylum in Canada.

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Commentary:
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Lifeline for Mainliners
USA Today Op-Ed by Mark Pinsky

America’s mainline Protestant denominations, which for two centuries dominated the nation’s religious landscape and political discourse, are in a terminal state. Their membership is declining and aging, both precipitously, and they are intractably riven over sexuality. There is little hope for these congregations. Or so the story goes. Some of the problems for mainline invisibility might be self-inflicted. “They best stop complaining and take another look at their methods of communicating and organizing,” says the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, head of the Interfaith Alliance, a religious liberty organization dedicated to protecting faith and freedom. “Mainline congregations do not tend to translate their moral convictions into effective political organization and influential social action with the adeptness and passion that characterize evangelicals moving in lockstep with one another,” says Gaddy, who also hosts a show on the liberal Air America radio network. Leaders and activists of mainline denominations might be heeding Gaddy’s advice. Some are raising their profile by reaching out to find common cause with emerging, moderate evangelical churches on issues such as climate change, genocide in Sudan, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS.

Popularity: 4% [?]

[SOURCE: The Interfaith Alliance -- E-Mail Alert @ Fri, May 23, 2008 at 12:00 PM]

Dear Voter,

We have witnessed an incredible turn of events over the last few days. Presidential candidate John McCain was forced to repudiate the endorsements of two evangelical ministers – Rev. John Hagee and Rev. Rod Parsley – after past statements came to light.

Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of the Interfaith Alliance was at the forefront of leaders condemning what he called “the extremist, hate-mongering comments and views” of Hagee and Parsley. Rev. Gaddy also pointed out that this situation “is a perfect example of when politicians and religious leaders try to use each other, both of them end up getting hurt.” It was not long after Rev. Gaddy made his statements that Senator McCain repudiated the endorsements.

I wanted to share with you a few of the news stories about this issue that quoted Rev. Gaddy. You can read the full statements released by the Interfaith Alliance in the press releases section on the homepage of our website: www.interfaithalliance.org.

With your support, we will continue to protect the boundaries between religion and government.

Sincerely,
Ari Geller
Director of Communications
Interfaith Alliance

PS.  Is it possible for candidates and religious leaders to campiagn together without comprimising the integrity of religion or politics? Join the discussion on our Facebook page.

Popularity: 2% [?]

[SOURCE: The Interfaith Alliance -- E-Mail Alert @ Mon, May 12, 2008 at 12:12 PM]

WHAT’S BEEN WRITTEN THIS WEEK AT THE INTERSECTION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

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Race for the White House ’08
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Republican Evangelical Support Has Peaked: Analyst
Reuters – 5/5/08

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain will almost certainly garner less of the evangelical vote in November than the almost 80 percent that President George W. Bush took in 2004, a former top Bush aide said on Monday. Michael Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter and adviser who is now with the Council on Foreign Relations, predicted at a conference on religion and politics in Key West, Florida, that Bush’s 2004 totals among this key voting bloc won’t be matched by the Republican Party for a long time. He pointed among other factors to “a candidate like John McCain who doesn’t have a specifically religious appeal.” By contrast he noted that Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both more comfortable talking about their faith than McCain, who was raised in a mainline Episcopal tradition but who now attends a Baptist Church in Phoenix. Gerson also noted that “evangelicals experience the same kind of economic concerns” as other Americans as the pain from a housing and credit crisis spreads. Bush had the support of 78 percent of the white evangelical Protestants who cast ballots in the 2004 election by some estimates and about one in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical.

Obama’s New Gospel
Newsweek – 5/12/08

Tim Roemer is a gifted salesman working a tough territory. For weeks, the former Indiana congressman has been crisscrossing primary states trying to convince Roman Catholic voters that Barack Obama is their man. Just a few months ago, there were plenty of takers. Obama beat Hillary Clinton among Catholics in Louisiana and Virginia and tied her in Wisconsin. But in more recent primaries, Catholics have decisively turned away from him. In Ohio, exit polls showed that 65 percent backed Clinton. In Pennsylvania, Clinton won 70 percent of the Catholic vote. What’s going on here? “The short answer is, I don’t know,” says Roemer, who has spent hours quizzing Catholics at rallies and town-hall meetings. One possibility: Obama’s ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Roemer says that, like other voters, the Catholics he meets mostly want to talk about what the candidate will do about the economy, gas prices and the mess in Iraq. But Wright comes up often, especially now. Working Indiana voters, Roemer was asked repeatedly about the Chicago preacher. Last Monday, Wright reignited the controversy over his incendiary sermons. He gave two widely televised speeches in which he expanded on some of his more paranoid rants—charging that America brought the September 11 attacks on itself, and saying government scientists may have invented HIV as a weapon to use against minorities. Roemer says voters usually want to know: does Obama believe this stuff?

Catholics Reflect Schism in Democratic Base
Boston Globe – 5/5/08

Taking a break from studying for final exams, three dozen Catholic students gathered for a barbecue on a grassy area of an apartment complex near the University of Notre Dame, their cellphones dialed in to a conference call with Victoria Reggie Kennedy, wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. She urged them to help turn out the vote in the Indiana Democratic presidential primary tomorrow for Senator Barack Obama, saying the candidate embodies the “Catholic social justice tradition” she was raised to believe in. For about two months, pundits and analysts have been culling exit poll data from recent primaries to contend that Obama has a problem winning support from Catholic voters in his bruising struggle with Senator Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination. Last week, a group of former national party chairmen who support Clinton drove home that point in a letter to members of the Democratic National Committee, part of a Clinton effort to stop the steady movement of superdelegates to Obama. They wrote that Catholics are part of a Clinton electoral base that includes women, Hispanics, seniors, middle- and low-income Americans, and rural, suburban, and urban voters. They called it “a formidable coalition tailor-made for victory in a November general election.” But for both campaigns, the issue of Catholic voters reflects the reality of a Democratic electorate that has split along lines of class, race, gender, and age.

McCain Pushes Priorities That Resonate on the Right
New York Times – 5/8/08

Senator John McCain appealed to religious conservatives on Wednesday with pledges to prosecute sex traffickers, fight Internet child pornography and make religious freedom a priority in American diplomacy. In a speech followed by tough questions from the audience about the war in Iraq and his temper, Mr. McCain said that those issues, particularly the fight against sex trafficking, would be important in his White House. “Most of the victims of human trafficking in the United States and in most other places in the world are the most vulnerable among us, destitute women and children who are sold into bondage as sex slaves,” Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, told a crowd at Oakland University here. Later he added, “We must view this evil form of 21st-century slavery every bit as important as drug trafficking.” Human trafficking, the transport of victims under false pretenses from one nation to another for forced labor or prostitution, has become an important issue to the Christian right. The Central Intelligence Agency estimates that as many as 800,000 people around the world, including 200,000 in the United States, are enslaved each year. In part because of the concerns of the right, President Bush has devoted more money and attention to the issue than his predecessors did. Conservatives, who are distrustful of Mr. McCain on a number of fronts, are pushing him to follow Mr. Bush’s lead.

A New Faith in Politics
Chicago Tribune – 5/6/08

At the east end of the giant Wal-Mart parking lot in this northern Indiana town of about 32,000, there’s a metal-roofed building accommodating as many as 20 horse-drawn buggies. People in plain dress—flat black hats, white bonnets—can be seen around town. Goshen is a population center for Mennonites and their religious “cousins,” the Amish. Both are Protestant Christian faiths built on foundations of pacifism and keeping government, politicians and politics at arm’s length. The Amish remain non-voters who believe in the strict separation of church and state. However, some Mennonites, especially younger members such as those on the campus of church-founded Goshen College, are seeing an opportunity now to integrate politics into their lives in a way that furthers rather than diminishes their religion. Emily Miller, for instance, is a 20-year-old sophomore social-work major from Waco, Texas, and—like 60 percent of the nearly 1,000 Goshen students—a Mennonite. Though her dorm room features the book bag and flip-flops you’d expect with any kid away at school, there’s a sign on her door that stands out, considering where and who she is.It says: “Change We Can Believe In,” and in smaller letters: “BarackObama.com.” When a CNN film crew recently asked if there might be a handful of Mennonite students at Goshen willing to talk about being first-time voters, 50 volunteers stepped forward to say whom they supported and why. When students manned registration tables in the student union, more than 300 new voters signed up.

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National News
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Pastors May Defy IRS Gag Rule
Wall Street Journal – 5/9/08

A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics. Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional. Alliance lawyers represent churches in disputes with the IRS over alleged partisan activity. The action marks the latest attempt by a conservative organization to help clergy harness their congregations to sway elections. The protest is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28, a little more than a month before the general election, in a year when religious concerns and preachers have been a regular part of the political debate. It also comes as the IRS has increased its investigations of churches accused of engaging in politics. Sen. Barack Obama’s denomination, the United Church of Christ, has said it was under investigation after it allowed the Democratic presidential candidate to address 10,000 church members last year. Last summer, the tax agency said it was reviewing complaints against 44 churches for activities in the 2006 election cycle. Churches found to be in violation can be fined or lose their tax exemptions.

U.S. Evangelicals Call for Step Back From Politics
Reuters – 5/7/08

A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not become “useful idiots” exploited for partisan gain. One in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical Protestants, giving them serious clout in a country where religion and politics often mix. Conservative evangelicals have become a key support base for the Republican Party. But the movement has had growing pains and the statement issued on Wednesday, called an “Evangelical Manifesto,” is the latest sign of emerging fractures as some activists seek to broaden its agenda beyond hot-button social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights. “Christians from both sides of the political spectrum, left as well as right, have made the mistake of politicizing faith,” the manifesto declares. “That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes ‘the regime at prayer,’ Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest form,” it said. The manifesto was signed by leading and mostly centrist evangelicals such as Leith Anderson, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals; Mark Bailey, president of the Dallas Theological Seminary; and evangelical academic and author David Gushee. Many of the more than 70 signatories have been critical in the past of evangelical partisan involvement which was seen as the crucial element behind U.S. President George W. Bush’s re-election victory in 2004. Leading figures on the conservative “Religious Right” such as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, did not sign the document and his office said he had not been asked to sign it.

Christian Leaders Question D.C. Probe of ‘Prosperity’ Televangelists
Associated Press – 5/7/08

Nearly two-dozen conservative Christian leaders have signed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee questioning an investigation into six large ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity. The letter argues that the 6-month-old inquiry sets a dangerous precedent. It also suggests that the ministries were targeted for sharing “the same branch of evangelicalism” and promoting “socially conservative public policy positions such as support for the traditional definition of marriage.” Although the ministries under scrutiny are conservative theologically, they are not at the forefront of the culture wars issues championed by the leaders who are now rallying to their side. The most prominent figures who signed the letter are Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich, American Family Association chairman Don Wildmon and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. “The ministries have been asked to produce financial records and internal documents in what appears to be an exercise in disproving their alleged guilt,” the letter states. The group repeats an argument by some of the targeted ministries – that the investigation falls short of the high bar the Internal Revenue Service has for justifying a church investigation.

Ousted Cal State Fullerton Teacher Revises Oath of Loyalty
Los Angeles Times – 5/9/08

A Quaker who lost her appointment as a Cal State Fullerton lecturer after she objected to a state loyalty oath submitted a revised statement of her beliefs Thursday in a bid to win the job back. People For the American Way, a Washington-based civil rights group now representing lecturer Wendy Gonaver, called on the university to reinstate her and adopt a policy protecting the religious freedom of all California State University system employees. “She is willing to sign the oath as long as she can exercise her free-speech rights and note that her views as a Quaker would prevent her from taking up arms,” said Kathryn Kolbert, president of the organization and a constitutional lawyer. “We would like to avoid filing a lawsuit, but we are certainly prepared to do so if we need to.” The loyalty oath was added to the California Constitution in 1952 to drive communists out of public jobs but in recent years it has forced out religious believers such as Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Gonaver was hired to teach classes in American and women’s studies at Fullerton this academic year. But in August, just before classes were to start, she was told of the state requirement that she sign the oath promising to defend the U.S. and California constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” A pacifist, she feared that signing the oath could commit her to bear arms. She said she would sign the pledge if she could submit a statement of her beliefs, a practice allowed at the University of California. But Cal State officials rejected her request, saying the addendum she proposed was illegal.

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Commentary
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The Resilient Religious Right
Op-Ed, USA Today – 5/5/08

With the deaths of prominent evangelical pastors Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy last year, funeral bells began tolling for the Religious Right. Political columnist E.J. Dionne wrote Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right, and theologian Jim Wallis offered The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. Even religious and civil liberties attorney John Whitehead, who assisted Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, joined the chorus with an article titled, “The Passing of the Christian Right.” These reports are at the very least premature, and in all likelihood dead wrong. High-profile leaders will come and go, but the strength and commitment of conservative Christians on the front lines of parish life are as strong as ever. In the case of Dionne’s epitaph for the Religious Right, I think he is too quick to conclude that evangelical Christianity has become disentangled from politicians who trumpet opposition to gay marriage and abortion. For instance, John McCain has moved from not supporting a repeal of Roe v. Wade in 1999 to saying today it should be overturned. Why the shift? A clear desire to secure the Republicanbase’s pro-life vote. Wallis writes that “the monologue of the Religious Right is indeed over.” Perhaps it’s no longer a monologue — especially with the emergence of the Religious Left — but it’s still a powerful voting bloc directed more by its moral compass than any political one.

McCain’s Christian Problem
Op-Ed, Washington Post – 5/12/08

John McCain, who as the Republican candidate for president has spent the past two months trying to consolidate right-wing support, has a problem of disputed dimensions with a vital component of the conservative coalition: evangelicals. The biggest question is whether Mike Huckabee is part of the problem or the solution for McCain. Some U.S. Christians are not reconciled to McCain’s candidacy but instead regard the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as “God’s candidate” for president in 2012. Whether they can be written off as merely a troublesome fringe group depends on Huckabee’s course. Huckabee’s announced support of McCain is unequivocal, and he is regarded in the McCain camp as a friend and ally. Nevertheless, the word is that some evangelicals dispute Huckabee’s support. One experienced, credible activist in Christian politics who would not let his name be used told me that Huckabee, in personal conversation with him, had embraced the concept that an Obama presidency might be what the American people deserve. That fits what has largely been a fringe position among evangelicals: that the pain of an Obama presidency is in keeping with the Bible’s prophecy.

Popularity: 2% [?]

[SOURCE: The Interfaith Alliance]

WHAT’S BEEN WRITTEN THIS WEEK AT THE INTERSECTION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

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Race for the White House ’08
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For McCain, Little Talk of a Controversial Endorsement
New York Times – 4/8/08

When Senator John McCain won the endorsement of the Rev. John C. Hagee in February, his campaign hoped it would shore up his conservative credentials among evangelicals and build enthusiasm among a voting bloc that would be critical for him in November. But since then, Mr. Hagee has been on the defensive over some of his views about Catholics and Jews, and he and Mr. McCain’s campaign have been silent about his endorsement. The controversial endorsement points to Mr. McCain’s tenuous relationship with conservative evangelicals, a group that President Bush courted with tremendous success and that Republicans have come to view as vital to their prospects in many states. The McCain campaign sought Mr. Hagee’s support, Mr. Hagee said in a recent interview. But after the two announced the endorsement at an event on Feb. 27 in San Antonio, Mr. Hagee’s hometown, the campaign has stopped talking about it. A spokeswoman answers questions by referring to a statement Mr. McCain made the day after the endorsement, when it was greeted with a barrage of criticism: “In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee’s views, which I obviously do not.

Democrats Wrangle Over Words and Beliefs
New York Times – 4/14/08

A candidate forum devoted to issues of faith and justice became another flash point for Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton to spar in their intensifying nominating fight, with the candidates exchanging frosty glances Sunday night as their paths briefly crossed on stage. The Democratic contenders addressed the Compassion Forum at Messiah College here, one after the other. Their cold, quick encounter as they traded places on the stage reflected the hostility between them over the past two days as Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly hammered Mr. Obama for remarks he made at a fund-raiser suggesting that some voters turned to religion and guns as consolation for their bitterness about their economic hardship. Nine days before the fiercely contested Pennsylvania primary, the two candidates sought through their appearance at this small Christian college to reassure voters that they shared their values. They also sought to close the so-called God gap that has benefited Republicans over the past several election cycles. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, chose not to participate.

Firing Barbs, but Looking Like a Saint
New York Times – 4/14/08

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton showed no mercy at the “compassion forum.” Both Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama gave thoughtful, pious answers to questions about faith and moral values at the CNN event held at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa. But Mrs. Clinton, who spoke first, didn’t shrink from also going on the attack. In answer to a question, she decried what she called Mr. Obama’s lack of faith in American values, labeling a description he gave of “bitter” voters in small-town Pennsylvania as “elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing.” And with a straight face, Mrs. Clinton simultaneously claimed the high ground, saying twice that she would allow Mr. Obama to speak for himself on the matter, noting “he does an excellent job of that.” Later, Mr. Obama proved just as fluent as Mrs. Clinton on the subject of his faith and the role of religion in American society, and he had no difficulty explaining once again why he has remained faithful to his former pastor, Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., despite Mr. Wright’s incendiary sermons. But Mr. Obama had to alternately assure viewers that he is not an alienated, race-obsessed African-American who speaks for the meaner streets and that he is not a Harvard-educated elitist who looks down at Main Street. And that gave Mrs. Clinton the advantage.

Obama’s Religious Rhetoric Puts Faith in Spotlight
NPR – 4/13/08

In 2004, the Democrats had a religion problem. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), a committed Catholic, almost never talked about his faith, while George W. Bush spoke about it all the time. Then, one night during the Democratic National Convention, a young U.S. Senate candidate named Barack Obama broke the zone of silence: “The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states,” he called out to the cheering crowd. “Red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too: We worship an awesome God in the blue states.” The crowd roared. It was a remarkable moment for Democrats, who were tired of being cast at the Godless party. “I thought ‘how brilliant’ because that’s a trope from a contemporary Christian song,” recalled Shaun Casey, who teaches Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary. “It’s sung in white evangelical churches, it’s sung in African-American churches — Our God is an awesome God. So if you knew the code, it’s like, ‘This guy is not the typical secular Democrat.’”

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National News
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Kenneth Copeland Ministries Asks for IRS audit
Associated Press – 4/8/08

A Christian television ministry targeted by a Senate committee investigation into possible financial wrongdoing has asked the Internal Revenue Service to audit its finances. Attorneys for Kenneth Copeland Ministries sent a letter to the IRS’ Office of Examinations on Monday saying the church was willing to cooperate with a tax inquiry by the agency. Dallas television station KTVT first reported the North Texas-based church’s request for an IRS audit. Leaders of the television ministry contend dozens of questions about expenses, executive compensation and amenities asked by Sen. Charles Grassley are similar to those posed in an IRS church tax inquiry. In the letter, attorneys for the ministry say the appropriate procedure would be for Grassley to obtain the information from the IRS after it conducts an audit of the church. “The church is confident that, upon the conclusion of a 90-day church tax inquiry … the IRS will conclude that it is unnecessary to pursue a church tax examination,” the letter sent to the IRS said. Dallas tax attorney Charles Blau said the church’s strategy could fail if the Senate committee subpoenas the Copeland ministry. “The church is saying this is a First Amendment religious issue and a Senate committee does not have a right to this financial information. I think they’re probably going to loose that argument. There are limits on non-reporting of financial information,” Blau said. Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent letters to six ministries as part of an investigation. Grassley said stories of excessive lifestyles and spending by ministry leaders caused him to wonder if the tax breaks given to churches were being abused.

400 Children Removed From Sect’s Texas Ranch
Washington Post 4/8/08

Texas authorities investigating allegations of abuse and the forced marriage of young teenagers to much older men have taken more than 400 children into custody from a remote ranch owned by a polygamist religious sect, authorities said Monday. The children were joined by 133 women, in homemade ankle-length dresses, who departed voluntarily. While investigators questioned them, state police detained the men who live at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, which is affiliated with sect leader Warren Jeffs. He was convicted last year of being an accessory to the rape of a 14-year-old girl. The court-ordered sweep of the 1,700-acre property near Eldorado, Tex., nearly 200 miles northwest of San Antonio, continued into the night Monday, four days into a raid described as the largest single child-welfare operation in state history. “We didn’t know there would be this many [children], and we don’t know how many more there are,” Marleigh Meisner, a Child Protective Services spokeswoman, told the Dallas Morning News. A central goal Monday was finding and identifying the 16-year-old girl who had telephoned authorities late last month to say that she had been abused at the ranch, built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Tex. Compound Was Considered A ‘Holy Land’
Washington Post – 4/14/08

The secretive and insular community established near this West Texas town by a radical offshoot of the Mormon Church is considered by the sect’s members to be a holy shrine populated by its most fervent adherents and is propped up financially by members of the group living in other states, according to law enforcement officials and former members. Interviews with law enforcement authorities and former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints depict the Yearning for Zion Ranch, which was raided last week by Texas authorities, as an outpost whose adult residents were considered the sect’s elite. They were handpicked by the church’s leader, Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to rape for arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her cousin. Jeffs dubbed those chosen for the ranch as the “elect” or “heart’s core,” selected to live in the “holy land,” as he called the compound. The adults were his most loyal followers and the young children were the least “contaminated” by the outside world, former church members say. According to court documents, adherents living at the ranch practiced the most extreme tenets of FLDS doctrine, including forcing girls as young as 13 to “spiritually marry” older men for the purpose of bearing their children.

Q&A About the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints
Dallas Morning News – 4/13/08

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has more than a century of history and a system of beliefs and practices that have long set it apart. Here’s a look at its roots and beliefs: Is the FLDS Mormon? Members say they represent the only true Mormon church – a claim otherwise rejected by people who consider themselves Mormon. As Mormon historian Martha Sontag Bradley of the University of Utah puts it: “The FLDS is as foreign to contemporary Mormons as they are to outsiders.” What is the connection between the FLDS and the mainstream Mormon church – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Both churches trace their origins to Joseph Smith. They believe that in 1823, an angel visited Mr. Smith, son of a farmer in upstate New York, and told him to reboot authentic Christianity, which was lost shortly after the deaths of the original apostles. Where did the FLDS come from? The FLDS, formally incorporated in 1991, is one of the largest splinter groups that rejected new Mormon revelations.

Video: Robertson Named “Worst Person” for Claiming “Islam is Not a Religion”
Media Matters for America – 4/11/08

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann named Pat Robertson the “winner” of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for stating: “I want to say it again, and again, and again: Islam is not a religion, it’s a political system meant on — bent on world domination, not a religion. It masquerades as a religion, but the religion covers a worldwide attempt to exercise power and to subjugate the world into their way of thinking.” Of Robertson’s comments, Olbermann asserted: “Whatever your views about Islam or religion in general, just think about this for a second. This is from a guy heading up a giant corporation devoted to eliminating science from schools, eliminating freedom of choice for women, who himself ran for president, and who said that 9-11 was the result of people not abiding by his political system — I’m sorry, it was the result of people not abiding by his religious beliefs.”

Florida Submits ‘Evolution Academic Freedom Act’ to Senate
Christian Post – 4/10/08

The Florida Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-3 this week to submit the Evolution Academic Freedom Act, which would guarantee the freedom of teachers and students in Florida public schools who challenge theories of Darwinism, for debate in the Senate. Lawmakers felt prompted for the need of an academic freedom bill after the Florida Board of Education voted for the first time in its history to require the teaching of evolution in schools back in February. According to lawmakers, teachers who opposed or were critical of Darwinism felt threatened by administrators and were purposely denied class planning time and other privileges. The new bill, however, would guarantee the freedom of both teachers and students to share their views in the classroom without fears of reprisal. “There are a variety of ways that people in leadership, other class members and teachers and department heads and principals can intimidate teachers from presenting the full range,” said Republican Sen. Ronda Storms, the bill’s sponsor, according to the Palm Beach Post. Opponents of the bill, however, argued that it was unconstitutional and nothing more than a masked agenda for the promotion of religion in schools.

How Would Jesus Choose?
Newsweek – 4/14/08

Adam Hamilton does not call himself “pro-choice.” He prefers “pro-life with a heavy heart.” What that means, as he explains in his new book “Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White,” is that he believes abortion should be available and legal, that there are instances in which it might be necessary and that those instances should be very rare. Further, he says, the abortion debate has been too hot for too long, and that, as a Christian minister, his job is to try “to support people no matter what decision they make.” As an evangelical megachurch pastor in Kansas, a man educated at Oral Roberts University, Hamilton speaks carefully, aware that he’s staking out a controversial position. Or maybe not. About a third of white evangelicals say that abortion should sometimes or always be legal, according to the Pew Research Center—a number that hasn’t changed in a decade. In recent election seasons, however, these moderate voices have been drowned out by hard-line shouting on both sides. In the past, an evangelical who might condone abortion in the case of his ailing wife or 14-year-old daughter would never say so in public. Now, the abortion rhetoric has faded somewhat as evangelicals turn their attention to other things: AIDS, the environment, Darfur. In 2004, megapastor Rick Warren announced that abortion was a “nonnegotiable” for evangelical voters. This year, he’s been silent. What’s new, then, is not that a pastor like Hamilton would take a softer approach to abortion, but that he would feel comfortable enough to say so from the pulpit and in print.

Younger Evangelicals Defy the Stereotypes
Philadelphia Inquirer – 4/6/08

They are 21st-century born-agains, unorthodox in their orthodoxy, a new generation of evangelical Christians. Lucid, passionate and unpredictable, 41 students in professor Kathy Lee’s political-science class at Eastern University, a Christian school in St. Davids, filled a rollicking hour last week busting stereotypes while debating God and country. Exhibit A: “Being a good Christian hasn’t made George Bush a good president,” said 21-year-old senior Bob Grant, from Haddon Heights. “I want a good president, not necessarily a Christian.” And Exhibit B: “People don’t see that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton profess their Christianity and act their faith by telling us to love each other,” said Chelsea Holden, 19, a sophomore from York, Pa. It was clear that the students, who describe themselves as evangelicals, fully realize that their influence will be felt in this election and future contests. “We’re young, and we see the other side of things,” said Nate Riedy, 18, a freshman also from York. “Eventually, we’ll be shaping evangelical thinking about politics.” There’s evidently a disconnect when it comes to the nation’s perception of evangelicals and the Christian reality.

Backstage With Six Rabbis, Six Imams and No ‘Kumbaya’
New York Times – 4/13/08

Marc Schneier, 3 years old and not yet a rabbi, had a knack for getting the attention of adults. The story is told that he liked to wander. One night he was nowhere to be found in the synagogue during Yom Kippur services. His frantic mother searched. His stern father, who was officiating, started the service anyway. When the congregation concluded a prayer, the ark holding the sacred Torah scrolls (about the size of a minivan) was opened. And inside, waving at the congregants with both hands, was the toddler. Last week, Rabbi Schneier, 49, worked on his latest attention-getting venture: a television commercial to promote tolerance between Muslims and Jews. It is set to air in September, during Ramadan, the month in which it is said the Koran was revealed to Muhammad. It will also play in early October, during the Jewish High Holy Days.

Mormon Followers Install a New Leader
Associated Press – 4/5/08

Mormons stood by the thousands with upraised hands Saturday, officially installing their first new leader in 13 years. Thomas Monson took over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February after the death of Gordon Hinckley, but the faith traditionally calls for a sustaining vote by members in a ceremony known as the solemn assembly. Each church organization took its turn standing when called to cast votes in the packed conference center. The ceremony has been practiced since 1880, when John Taylor was named president of the church. Mormons last held an assembly in April 1995, when Hinckley was named president. He was remembered Saturday by church apostle Russell Nelson, who said all Latter-day Saints felt a deep sense of loss with the 97-year-old Hinckley’s Jan. 27 passing. “However, we have felt our mood shift from grief to gratitude,” Nelson said. “We are very grateful for what we have learned from this great prophet of God.” Monson, 80, is the youngest church president since 1973 and the 16th president of the American-born denomination, which claims 13 million members worldwide. Since the early 20th century, the church has followed a system of apostolic succession in selecting its president. The position passes to the most-senior member of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles, one of its leadership circle.

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Commentary
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Ten Commandments Back in Court
Los Angeles Times Op-Ed – 4/8/08

When the Supreme Court ruled 46 years ago that official prayers in public schools violated the 1st Amendment, it infuriated those who claimed that public institutions should reflect the fact that this is “one nation, under God” — the God of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, that is. In recent years, however, supporters of religion in the “public square” often have taken a different tack, arguing not that this is a Christian (or Judeo-Christian) nation but that individual believers have a free-speech right to express their religious views on government property. What government may not do, the high court said as long ago as 1947, is “set up a church [or] pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.” Given that precedent, the state of Texas argued a few years ago that a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol didn’t violate the 1st Amendment because it was part of a “museum-like setting” that featured other messages. Besides, the “driving purpose” of the display was to symbolize secular law. By a 5-4 vote, the court upheld the display. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear another Ten Commandments-related case. A federal appeals court ruled that Pleasant Grove, Utah, which displays a privately donated Ten Commandments monument at a city park (on a patch of land ceded to a private party), must also make room for the Seven Aphorisms of Summum, the principles of a faith that was founded by a former Mormon and is headquartered in Utah. Thanks in part to the late Charlton Heston, the Ten Commandments are familiar to most Americans; not so the Seven Aphorisms (including No. 2: “As above, so below; as below, so above”). That might change if Summum is allowed to display them in the park, but Robertson’s group is urging the high court to rule that Pleasant Grove can say no — because messages in a public park are government speech, not private speech. Therefore, Pleasant Grove can agree to display the Ten Commandments but reject the Seven Aphorisms, just as it could display a model of the Statue of Liberty but reject a “Statue of Tyranny.” Whether or not this argument convinces the court, it seems to cast aside the contention that religious expression on public property is a matter of individual, not government, expression. As Aphorism No. 3 says: “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.”

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Editorial
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Commentary: Democrats Finally Getting Religion on Religion
CNN – 4/10/08

Sweet Jesus! What has gotten into the Democratic Party when it comes to issues of faith? This is the second time the top Democratic candidates will deal with issues of faith. On June 4, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien moderated a forum with the Rev. Jim Wallis’ Sojourners Social Justice Ministry as host. That one featured Obama, Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards. These forums should not be casually overlooked and blown off, because they represent a significant shift in attitude from previous Democratic presidential campaigns. Democrats, in the words of Sen. Joseph Biden after the Sojourners forum, acted more like agnostics –­ other would say atheists –­ when it came to issues of faith. For nearly 30 years, Republicans successfully used wedge issues like abortion and homosexuality to rally their base to those social causes and elect candidates who were willing to go to the mat when they came up. Their outreach efforts were strong, consistent and they delivered time and time again. And as long as Democrats were willing to ignore the ever-increasing concerns of people who tied their faith with public policy, the GOP would continue to clean up at the ballot box.

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