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Archive: May 10, 2009 - May 16, 2009
Obama and Notre Dame: Profiles in Courage
Can you imagine George W. Bush appearing live before any audience that was likely to contain opponents of the war in Iraq?
By Susan Jacoby | May 16, 2009; 11:42 AM ET | Comments (174)
Self-Gratification or Gift to the Other?
The answer to the question of a celibate life is at the heart of one of the biggest struggles we face in the world right now....that of living your life for something or someone other than yourself.
By Matt Maher | May 15, 2009; 2:37 PM ET | Comments (0)
Poetry Slam at the White House
Young Chicago poet a smash at White House poetry slam.
By Sally Quinn | May 15, 2009; 12:52 PM ET | Comments (4)
In Defense of Celibacy
Celibacy is an admission of our own human limitations, of our own very human need for a continuity and completeness that only God can give.
By Mathew N. Schmalz | May 14, 2009; 10:34 PM ET | Comments (6)
Jesus said, "Leave everything and follow me"
In the Church there is only one priest, Jesus Christ, and those who are chosen to participate in his priesthood should be ready to leave everything, including career and family, to go where he wants and to serve in the way he wants.
By Thomas G. Bohlin | May 14, 2009; 6:39 PM ET | Comments (11)
Saving the Priesthood from Post Haste
Roman Catholic views of the priesthood may or may not be correct, but Western people lack the prudence and moderation to decide.
By John Mark Reynolds | May 14, 2009; 12:37 PM ET | Comments (14)
Celibacy a Man-Made Rule that Can be Changed
A growing consciousness in the Western world will inevitably make openness to women clergy and homosexual clergy a part of the ministry of all churches in the future. I will rejoice in that.
By John Shelby Spong | May 14, 2009; 11:40 AM ET | Comments (7)
Can Sex Bring Us Closer to God?
All the world's religions seek to confine sexual intercourse to the institution of marriage, but none is as fearful of sexuality as is Christianity.
By Stephen Prothero | May 13, 2009; 2:25 PM ET | Comments (11)
What Does God Require?
Clergy celibacy should be a choice, not a requirement.
By Susan K. Smith | May 13, 2009; 11:08 AM ET | Comments (5)
Denominations Choose, But Who Pays?
Questions about who should and should not serve as clergy are strictly denominational issues and it is the height of arrogance for those outside a given community to pretend otherwise. But each decision that is made carries with it a real price.
By Brad Hirschfield | May 13, 2009; 9:08 AM ET | Comments (0)
Celibacy: Beautiful and Wrong
The great Rabbis of Judaism, with very few exceptions, married and raised families. They were better for it.
By David Wolpe | May 13, 2009; 8:31 AM ET | Comments (14)
Celibate Clergy and the Reins of Power
Insisting that only celibate males are fit to lead a congregation not only sets up a patriarchal hierarchy of power where women are always in the bottom, but also degrades the basic human worth of half the human population.
By Pamela K. Taylor | May 13, 2009; 8:16 AM ET | Comments (10)
Changing an Unchanging Church
As a humanist, I worry not only about a Church whose leadership requirements are more likely to lead to abuses of the innocent faithful. I also worry about a politically engaged Church trying to impose its religious prohibitions (contraception, gay marriage, stem cell research, etc.) on the rest of the world.
By Herb Silverman | May 12, 2009; 11:28 AM ET | Comments (2)
God Does Not Restrict the Categories of His Call
The ordination of clergy is the human response to "vocation," God's "call" to ministry in and through the churches. I consider it blasphemous to give God a list of excluded categories.
By Willis E. Elliott | May 11, 2009; 10:57 PM ET | Comments (2)
"Real Life, Real Love": Why Celibacy Needs to Go
How did the Catholic Church ever get the idea that single, celibate men would be in the best position to deal the most common problems of their parishioners? No sex. No children. No money (vow of poverty). No experience.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 11, 2009; 7:19 PM ET | Comments (4)
One Being Should Not Hurt Another
Torture betrays the Hindu concept of ahimsa, wishing no harm to another being, the highest law.
By Rajan Zed | May 11, 2009; 5:19 PM ET | Comments (2)
Torturing the Image of God
The choice is whether America is to celebrate the Infinite God or the tyrannical Caesar. To affirm the Image of God in every human being, or to fall at the feet of Empire.
By Arthur Waskow | May 11, 2009; 3:32 PM ET | Comments (5)
Torture is Wrong in So Many Ways
Torture, like slavery, is one of those grand old human traditions that most civilized humans have now (in theory) turned against.
By Susan Jacoby | May 11, 2009; 2:57 PM ET | Comments (122)
Caesar Tortures, Not Jesus
Torture is incompatible with a great nation and with the beliefs of the Christian majority of that nation. We must act as the Prince of Peace would act and not as Caesar did.
By John Mark Reynolds | May 11, 2009; 2:19 PM ET | Comments (23)
The Wrong Question
The real question in war time is what kind of behavior constitutes torture? That seems to me to be a factual question before it is a theological question.
By Charles "Chuck" Colson | May 11, 2009; 2:16 PM ET | Comments (18)
Witches Abhor Torture
In our 'thealogy,' the Goddess is immanent in every human being. Torture is a desecration of the sacred. It dehumanizes both the victims and the perpetrators, who must warp their souls and shut off any sense of empathy or compassion to carry it out. It erodes the moral ground we stand on when we as a nation allow torture in our name.
By Starhawk | May 11, 2009; 11:58 AM ET | Comments (35)
Star Trek Beams Us Up Again
The new Star Trek movie shows us how to get our post-9/11 imaginations back from the brink of Armageddon.
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 11, 2009; 9:31 AM ET | Comments (41)
Torture is Wrong, Until It Saves a Life
The very notion of torture sickens me. I am almost 100% certain that it must always be opposed. But I live with the awareness that if it was my kid and I genuinely believed that torture would save their lives, I might think differently.
By Brad Hirschfield | May 11, 2009; 9:29 AM ET | Comments (46)
Torture Not the Way of Jesus or Us
Any society that sanctions torture has lost its moral compass and threatens the ethical integrity of all its people.
By Gabriel Salguero | May 11, 2009; 9:24 AM ET | Comments (8)
