http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/ 15 On Faith is an innovative, provocative conversation on all aspects of religion with best selling author Jon Meacham of Newsweek and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. Keep up-to-date on global religious developments with On Faith. en Copyright 2009 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:05:40 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.2-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss What effect will the Fort Hood shootings have on the American public's perception of Islam? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/11/islam_and_the_ft_hood_shooting/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/11/islam_and_the_ft_hood_shooting/all.html Interfaith Issues Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:05:40 -0500 Proposed health-care reform legislation includes a provision that allows Medicare to pay for "end-of-life" counseling for seniors and their families who request it. The provision -- which Sarah Palin erroneously described as "death panels" for seniors -- nearly derailed President Obama's health-care initiative. Some Republicans still argue that the provision would ration health care for the elderly. Does end-of-life care prolong life or does it prolong suffering? Should it be a part of health-care reform? Cover photo: Terminally ill patient Jackie Beattie, 83, releases a dove on October 7, 2009 while at the Hospice of Saint John in Denver, Colorado. (John Moore/Getty Images) http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/11/end-of-life_care/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/11/end-of-life_care/all.html Morality Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:51:26 -0500 Is there good without God? Can people be good without God? How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some sort of belief in a being which is greater than they are? Where do concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, come from if not from religion? From where do you get your sense of good and evil, right and wrong? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/good_without_god/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/good_without_god/all.html Morality Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:25:19 -0500 The Vatican is making it easier for Anglicans -- priests, members and parishes -- to convert to Catholicism. Some say this is further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic and Anglican traditions; others see it as poaching that could further divide the Anglican Communion. What do you think? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/catholics_welcoming_anglicans/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/catholics_welcoming_anglicans/all.html Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:34:46 -0500 Congress has voted to expand federal hate crimes laws to add "sexual orientation" to a list that already includes "race, color, religion or national origin." Is this necessary? Should there be special laws against crimes motivated by intolerance, bigotry or hatred? Isn't a crime a crime? (Cover photo: Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was killed because he was gay, stands next to a photograph of the fence where he was slain. AP) http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/hate_crimes_laws_necessary/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/hate_crimes_laws_necessary/all.html Religion and Politics Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:24:19 -0500 Polls show a majority of Americans are concerned about the H1N1 virus (swine flu), but also about the safety and efficacy of the swine flu vaccine. Is it ethical to say no to this or any vaccine? Are there valid religious reasons to accept or decline a vaccine? Will you get a swine flu shot? Will your children? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/swine_flu_vaccine/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/swine_flu_vaccine/all.html Morality Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:08:28 -0500 What makes the best 'case for God' to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why? 1) The message of scripture? 2) The scientific evidence for an Intelligent Designer? 3) The 'words' that God has 'spoken' - Torah, Jesus, the Qur'an? 4) A compassionate lifestyle? 5) Personal, subjective experience? -- Karen Armstrong http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/the_case_for_god/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/the_case_for_god/all.html Personal Religion Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:43:01 -0500 Eight years after the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, fighting continues. Religious extremists in the Taliban and al-Qaeda retain significant power there. What is our moral responsibility to the people of Afghanistan? If religion is part of the problem there, how can it be part of the solution? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/us_in_afghanistan/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/10/us_in_afghanistan/all.html Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:05:55 -0500 Reacting in part to recent missile tests by Iran and North Korea, President Obama and a unanimous UN Security Council last week endorsed a sweeping strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately eliminate them. Is nuclear disarmament a pro-life issue? Is support for nuclear disarmament a moral imperative? Should we pray for nuclear disarmament? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/nuclear_disarmament_a_moral_im/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/nuclear_disarmament_a_moral_im/all.html Morality Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:56:26 -0500 Dozens of major religious groups and denominations are urging Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to renounce a Bush-era memo that allows faith-based charities that receive federal funding to discriminate in hiring. Should religious charities that receive federal grant money be allowed to discriminate in hiring? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/should_religious_charities_dis/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/should_religious_charities_dis/all.html Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:51:06 -0500 In his prayer at the Inauguration, pastor Rick Warren said, "As we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ." Since then, clarity, responsibility, humility and civility seem to have given way to self-righteousness, anger, resentment, and what columnist Kathleen Parker calls "a political era of uninhibited belligerence" that is finding expression in sermons, at town hall meetings, on radio talk shows, even on the floor of Congress -- especially when we differ. Why are people so angry and belligerent, and so willing to express their anger publicly? Why has our civil discourse become so uncivil? What does this public anger say about our private faith? What should we do about it? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/public_anger_and_belligerence/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/public_anger_and_belligerence/all.html Religion and Politics Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:51:17 -0500 Some New York-area rabbis are planning to bring weapons to High Holy Day services this month to guard against terrorist threats. In June, a Kentucky pastor invited his congregation members to bring their firearms to church to celebrate the Second Amendment. Do weapons belong in worship? Should clergy be armed? Do the Ten Commandments trump the Second Amendment? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/weapons_in_worship/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/weapons_in_worship/all.html Religion and Leadership Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:36:45 -0500 The Texas Board of Education, the nation's second largest purchaser of public school textbooks, is revising its K-12 social studies curriculum and deciding how to characterize religion's influence on American history. Three consultants have recommended emphasizing the roles of the Bible, Christianity and civic virtue of religion. As America's children go back to school, how would you advise the Texas board? How should religion be taught in public schools? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/teaching_religion_in_public_sc/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/09/teaching_religion_in_public_sc/all.html Religion and Leadership Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:26:03 -0500 Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber last week so he could die at home in Libya. "Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown," a Scottish official said. Did Scotland do the right thing? Should we have any mercy for mass murderers who are terminally ill? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/08/mercy_for_lockerbie_bomber/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/08/mercy_for_lockerbie_bomber/all.html Religion and Leadership Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:30:38 -0500 Health-care reform is an economic, political and medical issue. But On Faith panelist and evangelical leader Jim Wallis says it's also a "deeply theological issue, a Biblical issue and a moral issue." Do you agree? Why or why not? http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/08/health-care_reform_a_moral_or/all.html http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2009/08/health-care_reform_a_moral_or/all.html Morality Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:24:54 -0500