Features
Mixed marriage: A pastor and a skeptic
Early on in our marriage, Karen began to decide that even if she believed in some kind of God, she could not accept basic Christian teachings. The faith claims that Christians make about Jesus—about him being the Son of God—seemed unbelievable to her. The Bible is just another book, she began to conclude, and so we cannot grant it any particular authority. She wondered whether she could continue to attend church. This stirred a bit of panic in me. She was not just my wife. She was the minister’s wife.
Pursuing the possible: Religious voices on health care
On May 13, I lingered in Upper Senate Park, just north of the U.S. Capitol, hearing New Orleans jazz coming from down Constitution Avenue. Then I saw the brass band leading a lively procession of hundreds of nurses, other medical professionals and patient advocates. It was the National RN Day of Action, a lobby day for several state nurses’ associations—among the most ardent proponents of single-payer health care.
Health-care fix: The role of a public option
Longtime advocates of single-payer insurance like me are thrilled, anxious and deflated simultaneously by the state of the debate on health-care reform. The debate that we wanted has finally come, and it is coming with a legislative rush, but the plan that we wanted is being excluded from consideration. Should we hold out for the real thing, or get behind the best politically possible thing?
I am for doing both: Standing up for single-payer without holding out for it exclusively; supporting a public option without denying its limitations; and hoping that a good public plan will lead eventually to real national health insurance.
Pucker up
Bombs-away: Not so long ago neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz, John Bolton and William Kristol were recommending that the U.S. (or Israel) bomb Iran. Now that there are protests in Tehran against what appears to be a rigged presidential election, some of these same commentators are showing concern for the well-being of the protesters. Blogger Glenn Greenwald says: “Imagine how many of the people protesting . . . would be dead if any of these bombing advocates had their way” (salon.com, June 16).
The pastor's husband: Redefining expectations
"You can be a minister. Just don’t marry one,” I heard myself telling a little girl in my church, and then wondered where that came from. I suspect that I meant it as a compliment to my husband, who was standing nearby. Perhaps I had been short-tempered, as I sometimes am on Sunday mornings, so the comment was my way of saying that I know it is not always easy to be married to a minister.
Summer hours
A well-established French cinematic tradition is to spin out a story that seems to be about very little—until you get a peek beneath the surface and can see it is about a dizzying number of things. Then the themes and symbols rain down, forcing you to watch and listen carefully lest you miss one of the clues that helps explain, perhaps even solve, the tale.
Books
Engine trouble
The book Two Billion Cars arrives in stores at the close of a quarter that has seen auto sales plummet 30, 40, even 50 perc...
Waiting for the Apocalypse/Dating Jesus
A fundamentalist childhood ha...
Departments
Doctors’ orders: Stakeholders in the health-care debate
President Obama’s plan to give all Americans the option of a government-run health insurance plan got a frigid reception in June from the American Medical Association, the nation’s leading lobbying group for physicians....
Grace by Federal Express: A small kindness
Harsh things happen in the world with numbing frequency. So when somebody does something kind and thoughtful, we really ought to celebrate it....
Family secret: Resurrected memories
When my father boarded a ship to New York in 1938, he brought his trunks of family silver and linens—and his faith....
The crypto-Christians: One of the world's largest religious groups
For most American Christians, re straints on the open expression of religious loyalties normally involve situations in which believers might be seen as imposing their views on others—through evangelism in the workplace or school, perhaps....
News
People
Stephen A. Hayner, national president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship from 1988 to 2001, was elected June 15 as president of Columbia Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)–related school in Decatur, Georgia....
Briefly noted
Christian leaders, including three members of President Obama’s faith advisory council, have urged the president to make good on his promise of comprehensive immigration reform....
Carter says Gaza residents are treated like animals: Two-year-old blockade "an atrocity"
Former president Jimmy Carter is calling Israel’s two-year-old blockade of Gaza an “atrocity” and saying that people there are being treated like animals....
Faith leaders press Obama for torture comission: National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Prominent religious officials led a march to the White House last month to urge President Obama to form a commission of inquiry into interrogation practices under the Bush administration....
Schuller picks daughter to lead Crystal Cathedral: An administrative position
Robert H. Schuller, the founding pastor of Crystal Cathedral in southern California, has announced that he has turned over the administrative duties of his ministry to his daughter, Sheila Schuller Coleman....
RCA drops Church Herald as subscriptions fall off: An online successor to come
Just as major mainstream print publications are struggling to forge a new path in the digital age, so will the flagship magazine of the 166,000-member Reformed Church in America....
Megachurches a draw for those under 45: Members often invite others to church
Megachurches are most attractive to younger adults, and almost all who arrive at their sanctuaries have attended church elsewhere before, a new survey shows....
Toxic mix: Antifaith and antigovernment violence: Hate and extremism
In 1981, white supremacist James W. von Brunn tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., in a bid to overthrow a financial system he believed was controlled by Jews....
Religious charities gain in a recession year: A Giving USA Foundation study
Religious organizations reported a 5.5 percent increase in donations last year, a marked contrast from the nationwide 2 percent decline in charitable giving, according to a study by the Giving USA Foundation....
Recession may pull seminaries apart or together: Creative solutions
The recession has forced seminaries to undertake cost-cutting measures that affect people, projects and their own best-laid plans for sustainability....