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Watchdog group asks IRS to probe Catholic bishops
A public watchdog group is charging the U.S....
Casting my (provisional) ballot
I got up before dawn today. (My farmer wife does this every day; I try, with mixed results, to keep her hours.) We got to the polls just as they were opening.
For the first time in the eight or nine times I’ve voted in Chicago, my name wasn’t on the list. I had my voter registration card with me, so nobody challenged my eligibility. But I did have to cast a provisional ballot, which might or might not eventually be counted.
Of sonnets and discipleship
Our assignment last week in my poetry class was to write a sonnet–English or Italian, our choice. But when it comes to sonnets, that, in many ways, is where the freedom seems to end. You can’t write as many lines as you want (has to be 14, of course). You can’t make it rhyme–or not–however you might like (must be abab, cdcd, efef, gg for the English kind). Line length is non-negotiable, too:five “feet” of “iambs” (unstressed syllables followed by stressed ones). Sonnets and the poets who write them take their metrics very, very seriously.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Constructive conflict, the nonpartisan tragedy of voter disenfranchisement, more.
Election-day communion and the sacrament of voting
This election cycle has included enough religion-related bickering for a lifetime of elections — there was “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” Mormon bashing, continued ignorance of President Obama’s Christian faith, and Billy Graham’s surprising endorsement of Mitt Romney (orchestrated by son Franklin?). Even though much election rancor softens after election day, our deep divisions do not simply disappear on November 7. We may take down our yard signs, but we will still be divided.
The poor are still with us: Peter Edelman, policy advocate
"I don't think we have laid the ground for a national conversation on poverty. People just don't know the facts."
Buddhists aim to bring mindfulness to the ballot box
The mindfulness movement has seeped into Silicon Valley, Capitol Hill, and even the United States Military Academy at West Point. Next stop: the voting booth....
Marginal stories
The story of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah is bracketed by two other stories that are excluded from the lectionary and are therefore never heard by many people in our congregations. Both of them concern the deviant monarchy under which the widow and her child live.
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Amy Frykholm interviews Peter Edelman, Heidi Neumark blogs the lectionary, more.
Dealmaking
Within the decided limits of a Hollywood blockbuster, Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln presents a nonheroic version of the 16th president....
Changes in the PC(USA) dues structure
As common sense dictates, an insurance company needs a good percentage of healthy people in order to do well. Why would our insurance plan give incentives to retirement-age clergy to work longer while making it cost more for clergy with dependents?
Duty and delight
I cherish Thanksgiving for its cultural institutionalization of the practice of gratitude. And because there are no gifts and few cards.
S.C. Episcopalians say split goes beyond gay debate
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (RNS) The night before the Diocese of South Carolina announced its secession from the Episcopal Church two weeks ago, the Rev....
Moral decisions in the megastorm
As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the barrier islands of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie gave stubborn residents one more thing to worry about....
Anti-Semitic incidents lowest in two decades
Anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. dropped by 13 percent in 2011, according to a recently released report by the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks assaults and other attacks on Jews....
High drama in your web browser
I've mentioned before that some of the language in the administrative screens for Drupal—the open-source software that runs this website—always makes me laugh.
Here comes everybody
How could I help but notice? She flapped her fingers in front of her face as the choir sang, waving her hands spastically, tilting her head to the tune....
Friday digest
New today from the Century: John Buchanan on gratitude, Laura Kelly Fanucci on people-watching at church, more.
Faitheist, by Chris Stedman
Stedman, the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard, grew up in a secular family. He had a conversion experience in an evangelical setting, but this foundered when he came out as gay....
Inconvenient solidarity: Religion professors support a hotel boycott
Scholars traveling to Chicago for the joint AAR–SBL meeting will have to make hard decisions—beginning with where to lay their heads.