Religion

Ross Douthat, the best man on the New York Times op-ed page, has a good piece this week about the movie “Avatar,” the blockbuster hit that is about to set the new zeitgeist. There is some worry in his essay, as he correctly points out that this film by James Cameron is an anthem to pantheism, a faith in opposition to the “literal mindedness of the monotheistic religions” that equates God with nature, “and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.” Read more...

The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe deserve serious consideration, says the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, director of the Vatican Observation.

Fox Mulder couldn’t have said it better. Has Father Funes been watching “The X Files”? The Vatican is calling in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implications for the Catholic Church.

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As the president appears to be pushing harder for the public option and Senate Democratic leaders appear to be joining him, here is one vitally important argument on their behalf: Isn't it fair to suggest that Jesus would support the public option?

Jesus spoke about the need to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, heal the ill, cure the sick and put the needs of the poor ahead of the hunger for money and wealth. Sure sounds more like the public option than premium-gouging and $10 million salaries for insurance-company CEOs. Right?

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At the end of Ramadan last week, Muslims wanted to pray at Rome's Piazza Vittoria. The Italian government said no, they had to pray in mosques. Despite the ban, thousands left their shoes by the side of the road and laid down their prayer rugs to participate in the Eid al-Fitr ceremonies.

A church, mosque, temple or synagogue is a container. Praying in a public piazza marks — territorializes — the common territory. But what were the Italians going to do, arrest people for praying?

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It was all too easy, after hearing the initial stories about Rifqa Bary, to determine that some crazy fanatical Islamic extremists were going to try to kill their own daughter because of her conversion.

We’ve almost been taught to believe that Muslims’ understanding of God is naturally warped; that they’re just aching for a chance to kill what they term infidels, even those in their own family. Fortunately, being human allows for constant re-examination of our beliefs about other faiths, and it is time to recognize that this girl, whether due to confusion or malicious intent, has slandered and sullied her parents’ good name.

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Before the storm, said Louisiana resident James Madison, he had Mormons knock on his door, just like everybody else, and the object was to try to get rid of them as fast as possible; go away, not interested, don’t want to hear what you have to say. After the storm, he said, it’s “a little bit different now. They’re part of my family now. Always will be. They got into my heart. They’ll never stand on my doorstep again without being invited into my house.”

They were hearing stories of troops coming in and heard helicopters were flying over, he said — they even heard that the president was flying over. But no one was there on the ground with them except the Mormons in their yellow T-shirts to help them clean up. Read more...

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Republican Policy Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) put out an interesting press release this morning on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the global economy.

They cautioned:

Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, is neither an indictment of capitalism nor an endorsement of any political or economic agenda, and ideologues and politicos hoping to spin it as either are destined to be unsuccessful.

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In the first few months of Barack Obama’s presidency, he has managed to fracture and marginalize the extreme right of the Republican Party. He might well be on his way to doing the same with the far right within the Catholic Church.

This Sunday, when President Obama receives an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame, he will have an opportunity to bridge the long political divide between Catholic pro-life voters and the Democratic Party. He does not need to come out against the criminalization of abortion on Sunday, but if he can show respect for the church’s position and commit to the reduction of abortions, he can help mend one of the great schisms in American politics. Read more...

With the continued hoopla over the selection of the Rev. Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation you'd think that he'd been selected as attorney general instead of just giving a several minute prayer to a God that all best evidence says doesn't exist at all anyway. Yet, the faux outrage from my very own LGBT community continues.

Melissa Etheridge courageously asked us gays to cool it over Warren's selection. She reached out to him and they had a pleasant conversation. Read more...

Full disclosure of my position on gay rights and gay marriage: I support both, strongly. I strongly disagree with anyone who would deprive an American citizen of full and equal rights, regardless of sexual preference, and I would vote in favor, if I could, of all 50 states allowing same-sex marriages. There are enough divorces and loveless marriages in this country. If there is a loving relationship and the couple wishes for a marriage certificate as testimony to their commitment to each other, regardless of whether they are heterosexual or same-sex, I am strongly in favor of that.

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has views on gays and gay marriage that are the extreme opposite from mine. Even more uncomfortably for me, Pastor Warren would impose his views on others — for example, by supporting Proposition 8 in California, passed by a small majority of Californians last November, which would ban gay marriage in the Golden State. Read more...