Posted on 04/05/2009 8:58:24 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham welcomed "The End of Christian America," with the arrival of new statistics from a new religious identification study. Even though he later tries to stipulate that his own magazine’s headline is a little overwrought, he’s thrilled that the country is maturing beyond uptight Christian orthodoxy and beyond any Christian claim to insist on social conservatism:
While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing—good for our political culture, which, as the American Founders saw, is complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance.Meacham routinely argues that liberal Christianity is "theologically serious." He echoed that same thought when Newsweek made the "religious case" for gay marriage. Then, Meacham tried to talk the reader off the ledge they built in their own headline:It is good for Christianity, too, in that many Christians are rediscovering the virtues of a separation of church and state that protects what Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters, called "the garden of the church" from "the wilderness of the world."
As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom—not least freedom of conscience. At our best, we single religion out for neither particular help nor particular harm; we have historically treated faith-based arguments as one element among many in the republican sphere of debate and decision. The decline and fall of the modern religious right's notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.
Let's be clear: while the percentage of Christians may be shrinking, rumors of the death of Christianity are greatly exaggerated. Being less Christian does not necessarily mean that America is post-Christian. A third of Americans say they are born again; this figure, along with the decline of politically moderate-to liberal mainline Protestants, led the ARIS authors to note that "these trends … suggest a movement towards more conservative beliefs and particularly to a more 'evangelical' outlook among Christians." With rising numbers of Hispanic immigrants bolstering the Roman Catholic Church in America, and given the popularity of Pentecostalism, a rapidly growing Christian milieu in the United States and globally, there is no doubt that the nation remains vibrantly religious—far more so, for instance, than Europe.Newsweek clearly see traditional Christianity as a pestilent obstacle to the kind of libertine America they want to create. How nice to pick the week of Easter to tell Americans that Jesus is on the wane.
"We're all Muslims now" with a happy face.
Ann Coulter was right: they’re all Godless swine...
Wrong, Obama butt-wiper. Not least freedom from an over-arching government that dictated every aspect of our its citizens lives.
Like how many gallons of water its toilets could use per flush.
Yeah, yeah. I know flush toilets weren't invented at the time of this nation's founding but you get my point.
Obviously, right after 9-11, people put great weight in their faith, millions went BACK to church, that had not been, in years.
Now, we are back to where we were, pre 9-11.
It does not mean that we are about to start worshiping Gaia or that we are going to join any left wing anti religion movement.
Who cares what Newsweek writes or thinks? they preach to the libs, who are the ones who read that rag.
This dork sounds like he thinks this is England with Her Magesty the Queen as the head of the Church of England. We have always had freedom of religion in the USA. It is the first Bill in The Bill of Rights! To quote a famous rabbit, "what a maroon!"
Consider this a MSM “victory” lap, they are dancing on our supposed National Graves and are quite happy to do so.
Newsweek is 2 end-of-American-dominance articles away from being a two-bit college commie propaganda rag. They should just go for broke and put sex classifieds at the back.
Kind of random question here...
But...can someone who’s Catholic please answer a question that I have been wondering about...
How come some Catholic churches protect and give sanctuary to illegal aliens? Do they do the same for others who break the law?
Just wondering...they seem so strict on the abortion issue...but so the opposite with illegals...
Did Editor’s Scolding Wife Spike Newsweek Obama Cover?
Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham’s Wife May Have Killed Dark Obama Race Cover In Favor Of A Sunnier One: Report
May 29, 2008
this week’s cover story about Barack Obama, Newsweek distills the conventional political wisdom into a bitter tonic of condescending campaign advice. The Democratic presidential candidate is praised for having “wisely taken to often wearing and American-flag lapel” to reassure people he doesn’t sympathize with Islamic extremists but also advised “it would help to be seen venerating your white mother and grandparents as well as your black father” and that “whites resent being accused of racism for remarks they regard as innocent,” in case the black politician hadn’t learned that yet. To illustrate this cynical lesson in realpolitik, the magazine had originally planned to run the suitably stark cover above and on the left, according to the person who supplied us with a copy. But that cover was “killed” late Friday night, we are told, and replaced with the bright and sunny front at right — a bizarre choice given the gritty lead article and stark collection of supporting pieces on racial division. More outlandish still is the purported reason for the cover switch:
After working on the attached cover all week and making multiple modifications, the cover was killed late Friday night. Why? The wife of the editor stopped by, apparently saw the cover and expressed her disapproval. Amazingly, the previously approved cover, worked on all week, was killed. I guess we know who has the final say...
http://gawker.com/5011558/did-editors-scolding-wife-spike-newsweek-obama-cover
Meacham is late. Time Magazine declared God dead eons ago.
How’s that working out?
Go to your bookstore and shake out hundreds of subscription litter cards and drop in the mail. Send a message.
Well, I'm not sure I can find much correlation between abortion and people who migrate to another illegally. That not withstanding, the church has a 2,000 year history of giving sanctuary to people who need sanctuary, regardless of what crime they may or may not have committed.
The church views it's mission as one of giving aid to the injured, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless and hope to the hopeless. Regardless of what your position may or may not be on illegals, I think everyone can agree that many fit into that category - especially the women and children.
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham confesses that news stories are driven by conflict rather than ideology.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=148076&title=jon-meacham
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CAMPAIGN 2008
It’s Not Easy Bein’ Blue
America remains a center-right nation—a fact that a President Obama would forget at his peril.
Eight years of Republican rule have produced two seemingly endless wars, an economy in recession, a giant federal intervention in the financial sector and a nearly universal feeling of unease in the country (86 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with how things are going, and 73 percent disapprove of the president’s performance). Obama—a man who has yet to complete his fourth year in the United States Senate—is leading John McCain, and Democrats may gain seats on Capitol Hill.
Should Obama win, he will have to govern a nation that is more instinctively conservative than it is liberal—a perennial reality that past Democratic presidents have ignored at their peril. A party founded by Andrew Jackson on the principle that “the majority is to govern” has long found itself flummoxed by the failure of that majority to see the virtues of the Democrats and the vices of the Republicans.
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Goes to show you how much Jon Meacham knows about anything!
He runs a magazine that has a whole six pages that you can find mostly in a doctor’s office. I don’t even think liberals actually buy it.
Yeah, I'll say it's a random question.
Protect Innocent Human Life ==> God's Law, purview of religion, stays same in all countries and jurisdictions.
Immigration Law ==> Man-made law, purview of law enforcement, varies based on nation and state.
The Church is a church, not a sheriff's posse.
The Palin Problem
Yes, she won the debate by not imploding. But governing requires knowledge, and mindless populism is just that—mindless.
By Jon Meacham | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 4, 2008
In an interview before her debate with Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Palin offered a revealing answer to radio host Hugh Hewitt. “Governor, your candidacy has ignited extreme hostility, even some hatred on the left and in some parts of the media,” Hewitt said. “Are you surprised? And what do you attribute this reaction to?”
On the phone from McCain’s retreat in Sedona, Palin replied: “I think they’re just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, ‘You know what? It’s time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency.’ I think that that’s kind of taken some people off guard, and they’re out of sorts, and they’re ticked off about it, but it’s motivation for John McCain and I to work that much harder to make sure that our ticket is victorious, and we put government back on the side of the people of Joe Six-Pack like me, and we start doing those things that are expected of our government, and we get rid of corruption, and we commit to the reform that is not only desired, but is deserved by Americans.” This is, presumably, good politics: it makes a strength out of a weakness, always a shrewd tactic.
A key argument for Palin, in essence, is this: Washington and Wall Street are serving their own interests rather than those of the broad whole of the country, and the moment requires a vice president who will, Cincinnatus-like, help a new president come to the rescue. The problem with the argument is that Cincinnatus knew things. Palin sometimes seems an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from “Being There” and Marge from “Fargo.”
Is this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use “summer” as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life.
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And look who we ended up with!
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