Video

By John Marini – Imprimis – In light of the differences between the ideas and policies of Roosevelt and Reagan, it is not surprising that political debates today are so bitter. Indeed, they resemble the religious quarrels that once convulsed western society. The progressive defenders of the bureaucratic state see government as the source of benevolence, the moral embodiment of the collective desire to bring about social justice as a practical reality. They believe that only mean-spirited reactionaries can object to a government whose purpose is to bring about this good end. Defenders of the older constitutionalism, meanwhile, see the bureaucratic state as increasingly tyrannical and destructive of inalienable rights.

Michael Gerson, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and President Bush’s former speechwriter, discusses new trends in evangelicalism. He explains that the younger evangelicals are breaking from the religious right; while they are remaining morally conservative, they are becoming more socially liberal.

According to Stephen Mansfield, the author of this book, Barack is “raising the banner of what he hopes will be the faith-based politics of a new generation . . . and he will carry that banner to whatever heights of power his God and the American people allow.”

“With gentle demeanor and tight argument, Sam Harris carried an overflow audience into the core of one of the crucial issues of our time: What makes some religions lethal? How do they employ aggressive irrationality to justify threatening and controlling non-believers as well as believers? What should be our response?”- The Long Now Foundation

Seven years have passed since the planes hit the World Trade Center. Here is an unvarnished scrapbook of events that took place on that day and how these events led to a war in the Middle East and what happened there.

This year, the candidates’ religious leaders and their own beliefs are getting a lot of attention. Here is a round-up of some of the videos that have made news in recent months.

In this hour-long documentary, produced for Italy’s RomeReports News Agency, Chinese men and women speak candidly of their experiences as religious believers, and their assessment of what the future may hold for them. The film presents interviews with representatives of both official and underground religions, shows priests and seminarians practicing their faith in secret, and offers a rare glimpse into China’s Muslim community.

Recorded in May 2007, Delaware Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden discusses the role of religion in American society, and gives his thoughts on the separation between church and state.

Rep. Chet Edwards – “I believe perhaps America’s greatest single contribution to the world from our experiment in democracy is our model of religious freedom and tolerance. The foundation of that religious freedom is the principle of separation of church and state, imbedded in the first 16 words of our Bill of Rights: ‘Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ In his letter to the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut in 1802, Thomas Jefferson expressed his belief that the principle of church-state separation is one of the most sacred of our founding principles. Unfortunately, many Americans today have come to perceive that separation of church and state implies disrespect for religion. Nothing could be further from the truth as Jefferson stated over a century ago.”

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED With all that is going on in the world today, it is easy to forget that there is a war going on overseas.  I wondered whether […]