Entries for March 2009

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

After Barack Obama won culturally conservative Indiana and North Carolina, doubled his support among traditionalist Catholics over the previous Democratic presidential nominee, and made inroads among white evangelicals, there was lots of talk about the end of the God gap between Democrats and Republicans. The gap, it seemed, had been overtaken by the economic tidal wave.

An important new survey from the Barna Group shows why that's not exactly the case. Not even close. It finds that political conservatives are much more religiously orthodox than liberals. The key findings:

The White House has invited recently retired NFL Coach Tony Dungy, whose outspoken Christian faith fueled his 2007 support for a gay marriage ban and has won accolades from evangelical leaders, to join its Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. News has learned. The invitation is likely to draw praise from conservative evangelical groups and criticism from liberals and gay rights activists.

Dungy has long been active with evangelical Christian charities like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Prison Crusade Ministry, along with other nonprofit groups, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way. Leading the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, he became the first black coach to win the Super Bowl.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Newt Gingrich's weekend conversion to Roman Catholicism got me thinking about how many Catholic converts from the worlds of politics and political commentary have been in the news in recent years. Here's a quick list I came up with:

• Robert Bork
• Sam Brownback
• Jeb Bush
• Laura Ingraham
• Bobby Jindal
• Lawrence Kudlow
• Robert Novak
• Ramesh Ponnuru

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich converted to Roman Catholicism over the weekend at St. Joseph's Church in Washington, D.C. So far, Gingrich has been conspicuously quiet about his conversion. He didn't mention it in an interview with me earlier this month that focused on his stepped-up efforts to organize religious conservatives and promote religious liberty issues.

An enthusiastic Twitterer, the former speaker has gone tweetless since Saturday. Best I can tell, Newt's one recent mention of Catholicism was a tweet last Tuesday about President Obama's forthcoming appearance at Notre Dame: "It is sad to see notre dame invite president obama to give the commencement address Since his policies are so anti catholic values."

I checked with his media team, which says that Newt is declining interview requests about his conversion for now but that he may open up later in the year.

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Amid controversy over President Obama's upcoming appearance at Notre Dame, a new Gallup analysis finds that Catholic Americans are more liberal than the rest of the country on a handful of so-called moral issues and that they hold the same views as non-Catholics on other such issues. This graph tells the story:

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Doug Kmiec and Robby George, two of the country's top legal scholars and Catholic conservatives, recently debated President Obama's executive order on embryonic stem cell research on this blog. George said the order pledged federal dollars for human cloning; Kmiec argued that it did not. Now Kmiec and George are in discussions to continue the argument in public, with a face-to-face debate. To help shape the debate, Kmiec has sent me a list of questions that he wants God & Country readers to answer. (Kmiec has asked George to respond to the same questions ahead of their debate.) Put on your thinking caps and prepare to do some soul searching. These questions are tough.

Kmiec also invites readers to submit their own questions for him and for George. "It occurs to me that your readers may have much to contribute on these matters," Kmiec said in an E-mail to me yesterday.

I've also asked George for questions and will post any that he sends along.

Here are Kmiec's questions for you:

Q. Assume we need a relatively clear answer to the question "When does life begin?" in order to avoid ethical arbitrariness and to show proper respect for the dignity of the human person. The Supreme Court, of course, has selected viability, but this is objectionable to many since it does not seem to be anything but an arbitrary point designed as a jurisprudential compromise. Since either fertilization or implantation is a bright line, is there a basis to decide between the two that is not dependent upon faith?

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

I hear that the White House is about ready to announce the 10 remaining members of the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Aides are just waiting on sign-off from the president himself. An announcement could come today or Monday.

In the meantime, post your predictions on who will be named to the council—and your hopes for who should be. Here's the lineup so far:

Judith N. Vredenburgh, president and chief executive officer, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Philadelphia

Rabbi David N. Saperstein, director and counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Washington; noted church/state expert