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Archive: June 28, 2009 - July 4, 2009
Let Freedom Ring
July 4 should be more than barbeques and lazy days by the pool. For Jews it marks our independence, too.
By Erica Brown | July 3, 2009; 3:37 PM ET | Comments (1)
Lust Messes Up, Love Straightens Out: Ask Mark Sanford
The public knows the difference between penitence and pandering by the aftermath: when real, repentance in words is followed by behavioral improvement. In old biblical English, "Repent, and do works meet for repentance."
By Willis E. Elliott | July 2, 2009; 10:33 PM ET | Comments (1)
Real Humility, Beyond the Sound Bites
What we really wonder is whether someone who's given him or herself over to lust and infidelity can ever really change.
By Phil Davis | July 2, 2009; 2:47 PM ET | Comments (0)
A Governor, a King, and the Tragedy of Adultery
Governor Sanford is no King David, and the people of South Carolina -- as well as the watching world -- now observe the sad spectacle of a man who, while admitting to wrongdoing, shows no genuine repentance. He should resign.
By R. Albert Mohler Jr. | July 2, 2009; 2:04 PM ET | Comments (107)
A Convenient Love
I would suspect that Gov. Sanford and all of us who have "fallen" will be forever grateful that the theology of forgiveness provides some balm, some comfort, when we feel the most alone.
By Susan K. Smith | July 1, 2009; 3:04 PM ET | Comments (2)
The Wages of Pandering
The difference between penitence and pandering is reflected in the acknowledgment that letting go is not the same as running away.
By Mathew N. Schmalz | July 1, 2009; 12:34 PM ET | Comments (3)
King David's Playbook for Political Sex Scandals
When Southern politicians use religious language to confess their marital infidelity, they are tapping into one of the Bible Belt's best known stories--the story of David and Bathsheba.
By Robert Parham | June 30, 2009; 3:48 PM ET | Comments (2)
Did the Faithful Repent? Check their Lives
At the heart of American Christianity are two things: the cross and a repentant sinner.
By Matt Maher | June 30, 2009; 3:12 PM ET | Comments (0)
Grace in the Gospel
The politcians who gave those statements are all professing Christians, so it is not surprising that they used religious language. It would be surprising if they hadn't.
By Charles "Chuck" Colson | June 30, 2009; 2:19 PM ET | Comments (0)
It's a Southern Thing
There are many things that one can reasonably call Mark Sanford. Whether he is pandering or penitent we can't know. But what's clear is he has a certain facility with the "language of Zion," as its called, and that's a quality he shares with many of his Southern brethren and sister-en.
By Gustav Niebuhr | June 30, 2009; 1:38 PM ET | Comments (114)
Hang from a Tall Tree: Shades of Clinton and Lewinsky
When the Lewinsky scandal broke out I was repeatedly asked for my views, since the family grew up in my synagogue. They remain the same as with Gov. Sanford and other similar scandals. Infidelity is a matter of private judgment but not public abuse of trust.
By David Wolpe | June 30, 2009; 12:24 PM ET | Comments (4)
Our Political Illusions and Delusions
The idea that a man of Clinton's intelligence could believe in a sky fairy or imaginary friend is absurd. Like other intelligent politicians, he presumably felt obliged to feign religious belief in order to curry favor with voters.
By Richard Dawkins | June 30, 2009; 10:53 AM ET | Comments (81)
The Desire for God and One Another
Desire for one another and desire for God, as all spiritual directors know, are intimately linked.
By Nicholas T. Wright | June 30, 2009; 10:12 AM ET | Comments (1)
Confession: A Lifeline or Just a Line?
No one can fully understand the heart of another person, nor the sincerity of his (or her) repentance. But many politicians use and misuse religion and religious language like a lifeline which they grab only when drowning.
By Cal Thomas | June 30, 2009; 9:58 AM ET | Comments (1)
God Talk Works For Most Americans
Since the Bible celebrates both of those values, perhaps it is we who should invoke the Bible even more than the politicians when it comes to matters of public misdeeds and the proper response to them.
By Brad Hirschfield | June 29, 2009; 9:35 PM ET | Comments (0)
Michael Jackson and the God Feeling
Michael Jackson's call to "Heal the World" in a pop song spreads to every corner of the planet and probably touches more people than the Pope's annual Christmas message. This is an unsettling phenomenon.
By Deepak Chopra | June 29, 2009; 7:48 PM ET | Comments (83)
The Pandering Penitents
The religious language used by the political penitent is actually a form of the sin of pride: 'I'm really a fine Christian because I am religiously penitent."
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | June 29, 2009; 7:26 PM ET | Comments (6)
My Sin When I Ran for Governor of South Carolina
One of Governor Sanford's press conference apologies was "to people of faith across South Carolina, or for that matter, across the nation,..." Implicit in his apology, and insulting to nontheists, is that people of faith are expected to be more moral than people without faith.
By Herb Silverman | June 29, 2009; 7:14 PM ET | Comments (11)
The Scarlet Letter For Politicians
I think it's perfectly obviously that saying you've let down God, your wife and family, and the voters (not always in that order) is part of the ritual of public apology for any politician who is caught committing adultery.
By Susan Jacoby | June 29, 2009; 4:21 PM ET | Comments (174)
Madoff's Greed, and Ours
As Madoff and Michael showed us, we seem to want more of everything, except God.
By Susan K. Smith | June 29, 2009; 2:44 PM ET | Comments (1)
