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Poll: Minority of Catholics Oppose Notre Dame's Obama Invite
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (141)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
A just released Pew poll on the Obama/Notre Dame controversy finds that about half of Roman Catholics support the university's invitation to the president, while only 25 percent oppose it. Among white, weekly attending Catholics, however—among whom Obama did much better than expected last November—about half oppose Notre Dame's invite, while just a third support it.
This poll speaks to the importance of seeing Catholics, who constitute about a quarter of the country, as a population that is a part of multiple political constituencies, rather than as a single voting bloc.
Here are the complete numbers (note that half of Catholics haven't even heard about the controversy):
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Beauty contestant Carrie Prejean's New Ad Against Same-Sex Marriage
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (74)Here's the new anti-gay-marriage ad starring Carrie Prejean, Miss California. No word yet on where and when it will air.
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Poll: Most Evangelicals and Catholics Condone Torture in Some Instances
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (139)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Check out this fascinating new graphic analysis from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
It shows that most white evangelicals and Roman Catholics, along with most frequent churchgoers, say it's OK to "sometimes" or "often" use torture on suspected terrorists. A slight majority of mainline Christians and religiously unaffiliated Americans, meanwhile, say torturing suspected terrorists could "rarely" or "never" be justified:
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Unpacking Obama's Notre Dame/Abortion Answer Last Night
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (4)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
There was one big "faith and values" moment during last night's presidential press conference, provoked by Ed Henry's question on Obama's forthcoming Notre Dame appearance and the president's support for the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate most state-level abortion restrictions.
As I see it, the president sent six important messages in his response:
1. He avoided any mention of Notre Dame, trying to stay above the fray. Most Americans probably haven't heard about the controversy, so why boost the story's visibility by commenting on it?
2. He unequivocally acknowledged a moral/ethical dimension to the abortion issue: "I think abortion is a moral issue and an ethical issue."
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Specter's Switch and the GOP's Huge Disadvantage Among American Jews
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2009 Comment (5)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
The American right, particularly the religious right, has dramatically stepped up its support for Israel in recent years.
President George H. W. Bush criticized Israel for allowing settlers to build in the Palestinian territories, but you'd be hard pressed to find a statement from George W. Bush offering anything less than full-throated support for an action taken by the Jewish state.
In 2006, John Hagee founded Christians United for Israel to congeal the burgeoning Christian Zionist movement into a national organization.
One of the most memorable lines from last year's vice presidential debate was Sarah Palin's praise for Joe Biden's response to a question on Israel: "I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that is a good thing to get to agree on, Senator Biden. I respect your position on that."
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Vatican Newspaper Pleasantly Surprised by Obama's First 100 Days
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2009 Comment (8)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
From all the coverage of the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's appearance next month at Notre Dame, you might think the Vatican sees the president as public enemy No. 1. But an article on the front page of today's Vatican newspaper under the headline "The 100 days that did not shake the world" gives Obama props on embryonic stem cell research and applauds the Democrats' abortion reduction effort.
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California's Carrie Prejean Joins Movement Against Gay Marriage
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2009 Comment (88)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
When Miss California appeared Friday night on CNN (above), she insisted she wasn't a poster girl for the movement against gay marriage—just a beauty pageant contestant answering a tough question.
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Gallup Poll: Obama Closes 'God Gap' Further
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2009 Comment (33)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
To hear conservative Christian activists tell it, Obama's first 100 days in office have proved that all his campaign talk about valuing conservative religious folks and caring about issues like reducing abortion was little more than faith-based fakery. Look at his appointment of abortion-rights supporter Kathleen Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services, they say or his reported plan to undo so-called conscience protections for healthcare workers.
Witness Obama's reversal of the Mexico City policy banning federal dollars to abortion backers abroad.
And after the Notre Dame imbroglio, do you really need more evidence that the president has burned up his credibility with Roman Catholics?
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How the Antiabortion Movement Sees Obama's First 100 Days
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2009 Comment (34)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Family Research Council Action senior VP Tom McClusky, one of Washington's top antiabortion lobbyists, has tallied a list of setbacks to the antiabortion cause in the first hundred days of the Obama administration. Democrats and progressives will contest some of McClusky's claims and terminology—he calls the Terri Schiavo case one of "assisted homicide" and refers to abortion-rights supporters as "pro-abortion"—but it's a helpful guide to how the traditional antiabortion movement sees the Obama administration.
Here's McClusky's long list of grievances, which actually goes back further than 100 days:
November 19th, 2008 President-elect Obama nominates pro-abortion former Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) as his Health and Human Services Secretary.
December 10th, 2008 The Obama transition team publishes a wish list from radical pro-abortion groups of pro-abortion actions they would like to see from the Administration.
November 25th, 2008 President-elect Obama appoints Melody Barnes, former board member for the pro-abortion EMILY's List and executive vice president for policy at the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, as director of the domestic policy council.
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Whom Will Obama Choose for Vatican Ambassador?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2009 Comment (19)By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Whom should President Obama appoint as his ambassador to the Vatican? The White House isn't discussing its selection process, but the question is receiving attention these days among politically connected Catholics.
Democrats for Life of America has published its short list, below. Other names that have surfaced in the media are Doug Kmiec and Caroline Kennedy. Either would inflame Catholic conservatives, given Kmiec's kind words for Obama's abortion reduction plan and the president's embryonic stem cell research policies and Kennedy's apparent pro-abortion rights stand.
