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February 10, 2012
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February 6, 2012
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
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Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
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Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
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January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
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January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 29, 2008
/ 2 Teves 5769
The religious have rights, too
By
Kathryn Lopez
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
There was something brilliant about President-elect Barack Obama's choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his presidential inauguration next month. The preacher and best-selling author is pro-life and anti-gay marriage, making Obama, who leans considerably to the left on these issues, look like a uniter, not a divider. He must have a keen enough radar to know that religious folks have been feeling marginalized from politics of late; Obama's choice caps off an election season that hit churchgoers hard.
Proposition 8, the successful initiative in California that limits the legal definition of marriage to a rite occurring between a man and a woman, has been the most obvious example. Churches have been threatened. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a prominent supporter of that controversial initiative, has been made a scapegoat by 8's angry and vociferous opponents. And the media, having sided with the proposition's detractors, is leading the intolerance campaign.
Yes, I know: The conventional wisdom has it that the opponent of gay marriage is the intolerant one. But can "tolerant" really be the right word to describe this excerpt from a recent Newsweek cover story on religious conservatives and the gay-marriage debate?
"Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife, Sarah, was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women...? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better... The apostle Paul... regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple...turn to the Bible as a how-to script?"
Is such an insultingly simplistic view actually worthy of a national magazine's cover story? Does anyone read the Bible and not understand that Abraham was doing wrong? Rattling off Biblical sins does not a coherent argument make.
Catholics are currently celebrating a Pauline year; I hope most could come to that great saint's defense. St. Paul also happens to have written: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." And, yes, for the record, couples do turn to faith ... even in the bedroom. Religious folks want faith to inform their entire lives.
I happen to be a Christian who opposes gay marriage, but I have never tried to make a case for, say, a federal marriage amendment based on the Bible. Nor, to my knowledge, has a leading proponent of traditional marriage (who is also a Christian) Maggie Gallagher, of the National Organization for Marriage. Her arguments focus on natural law, family and the future.
For years now, once the weather turns cold and the days short, we've had a debate about Christmas. Is there a "war" on that holiday? Attacks on nativity scenes and silly prohibitions on religious symbols have long drawn the most attention. But there's something more serious afoot. It's hostility not necessarily to religion itself for many on the left are regular churchgoers, and some oppose abortion and gay marriage on religious grounds. But the conventional wisdom as dictated by Newsweek suggests that there is something downright unacceptable about allowing voters to submit to a higher power who, if truly listened to, probably isn't going to change with the times. At some level, true faith demands obedience to a rock-steady core of beliefs and rules, despite what the efforts of some religious temporizers who pretend they can legitimately rewrite doctrine on Sunday morning talk shows would have you believe.
We're ending 2008 with a major news magazine demonizing mainstream voters whose faith leads them to a political conclusion deemed outrageous by big media. In California, where voters followed their religious consciences, and delivered a blow to gay marriage, a similarly outraged attorney general has decided to ignore his obligation to his constituents.
Meanwhile, right-leaning columnists and politicians are busy turning on their religious allies for one reason or another. This is not a good place to be. Dare I say it? G-d help us if preying on the prayers is in. And although it is born from nothing but political pragmatism and obfuscation, Obama's choice of inaugural pastor does what Newsweek and its legions didn't do: welcomes everyone, even those on their knees who have the right to be on the right.
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