Georgetown/On Faith

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Georgetown/ On Faith is moving to a new format and a new page. Follow the university at his new online home, here.

Go to washingtonpost.com/onfaith for the latest religion news and commentary from around the world.

Why does Santorum despise the separation of church and state?

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:48:08 GMT

Secular-baiting has become something of an art form in high GOP circles ever since Newt Gingrich began his pioneering explorations of the genre back in the 1990s.

A milestone in the evolution of this rhetoric occurred in 2007 when Mitt Romney likened secularism to radical Jihadism in a memorable speech.

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Obama’s prayer breakfast and the still small voice of the Religious Left

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:50:03 GMT

Remember that young phenom who “rocked” the 2004 Democratic National Convention with the refrain “we worship an awesome God in the blue states!”? Well, in style, at least, he was nowhere to be found at yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast. Indeed, listening to President Obama deliver his remarks I was struck by the dirge-like joylessness of his oration.

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Religion at the GOP debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:29:39 GMT

ABC News hosted a halting debate Saturday night at St. Anselm College. It was followed by a far better “Meet The Press” event Sunday morning. Neither gathering, however, provided much to roil the normally tranquil weekend news cycle.

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How to make atheism matter

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:07:25 GMT

If I were in charge of American atheism--which I am not, but then again who is?--I would ask myself the following questions: Why does poll after poll indicate that we are one of the most disliked groups in the United States? Why are there so few self-professed atheists among 535 congresspersons and senators? Why have all three branches of the federal government turned their backs on the vaunted mid-century policy of church/state separation? Why has atheism—a once formidable intellectual tradition—become such a “little idea” as R. Joseph Hoffmann memorably put it in an important recent essay?

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How to make atheism matter

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:07:25 GMT

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Faith and values at the Republican presidential debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:40:23 GMT

Thursday night’s at-points-intriguing Fox GOP debate featured a few exchanges of interest to those of us who study faith and values politicking.

Rick Perry Tebows Himself: The Governor of Texas paralleled himself to the Denver Broncos’ conservative Christian quarterback and fourth-quarter messiah, Tim Tebow: “There were a lot of folks who said Tim Tebow wasn’t going to be a very good NFL quarterback . . I hope I am the Tim Tebow of the Iowa Caucus.”

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Why the Mississippi personhood amendment self-imploded

Jacques Berlinerblau — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:46:22 GMT

Mississippi’s “Personhood Amendment” self-imploded and succumbed to an unexpected defeat last night. Analysts are already dissecting the reasons for the collapse of an initiative that seemed a sure thing just a few weeks ago.

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Rick Santorum makes faith pitch at GOP debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:33:29 GMT

Tuesday night’s spirited and smackdownish GOP debate paid some attention to an issue that has been inexplicably absent from recent candidate get-togethers: faith.

The lack of attention to this subject is understandable to a certain degree. As Pastor Robert Jeffress’s recent anti-Mormon effusions have taught Rick Perry, discussions about religion in politics can have combustively negative consequences.

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For Sarah Palin: God, family, then country?

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:34:34 GMT

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has decided not to run for the presidency in 2012. In her statement she writes:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

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For Sarah Palin: God, family, then country?

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:34:34 GMT

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has decided not to run for the presidency in 2012. In her statement she writes:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

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Where does church end and state begin?

Jacques Berlinerblau — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:53:26 GMT

For a few years now activists on the Christian right have propounded an absolute doozy of a justification for legitimating their right to disobey federal and state laws. Secular believers and nonbelievers ought take note--they’ll be hearing a lot of it in coming years.

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Bloomberg takes stand on church v. state

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:06:45 GMT

The dust-up/circus sideshow this past weekend over Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to not feature clerical speakers at the 9/11memorial service is now past.

Even though the conservative Christian “outrage machine,” as Americans United for Separation of Church dubbed it, went into overdrive, the mayor of New York City seems to have weathered the storm.

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Bloomberg takes stand on church v. state

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:06:45 GMT

The dust-up/circus sideshow this past weekend over Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to not feature clerical speakers at the 9/11memorial service is now past.

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Rick Perry and rest of GOP field get no values questions at debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:12:20 GMT

The MSNBC/Politico debate at the Ronald Reagan library was a major disappointment. Do not blame the candidates who came ready to scrum. Blame the journos. For reasons I still can't fathom the two news organizations configured the debate to intentionally avoid all social issues.

This may be sour grapes from a person whose expertise is in Faith and Values politicking and is now deprived of fertile source material. But permit me to adduce at least four reasons why permitting Brian Williams and John Harris to not pose a single question about abortion, gays, the role of religion in public life, and so forth, was a journalistic misstep.

First, GOP voters in the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary are, I think it is safe to say, undeniably interested in those very issues. Second, newcomer Rick Perry has — as he often does with everything — doubled down on Faith and Values themes with his call to national prayer of a few months ago.

Wouldn't it be interesting to know in this, the first debate featuring the governor of Texas, what the Mormon candidates Jon Hunstman and Mitt Romney made of The Response? What about Ron Paul, who clearly crafted his debate strategy to mix it up with his colleague from Texas? Paul could have conceivably busted out one of his vaunted anti-Fed tirades on the subject of religious politicking.

Third, some of Wednesday night’s participants have made appeals to faith central to their candidacies. Michele Bachmann comes to mind. As does Rick Santorum who says what he says because he believes it is the right and moral thing to do according to the teachings of the Catholic Church (though Santorum was asked about his views on poverty in the context of Catholic social thought and somehow managed to deliver a response completely bereft of any reference to Catholic social thought).

For those who are about to remind me that it's the economy, stoopid and that the debate properly should have been about jobs and deficits and taxes, well, yes, I get that. The problem is that the GOP has gone out of its way to proclaim the budget "a moral document" with ties to our most deeply held values.

We heard this argument, incidentally, as a rationale for slashing funding to Planned Parenthood during the government shutdown saga. There is an element in the GOP that refuses to disarticulate economic concerns from social ones. Journalists need to acknowledge that.

The inability of MSNBC and Politico to engage religious themes was at points inexplicable. Moderator Brian Williams asked Rick Perry about the 234 (!) death-row inmates executed on his watch (to which the crowd broke out into spontaneous applause). Perry answered that he didn't "lose sleep over it." The obvious follow-up question should have gone (but did not) to the Catholics on stage, Newt Gingrich and Santorum-- what with the church's longstanding moral concerns about the death penalty and all that.

With that said, I was left with a few stray observations, none of them having to do with religion because, apparently, that stuff isn't relevant to the GOP today.

• Michele Bachmann, is hands down, the most polished and on-message of all the candidates: Her every response is like a perfectly crafted short story with a narrative arc culminating with a nod to her own personal experience dealing with both the heroism and governmental contumely she has just described (in 15 seconds). She seems to be fading in this race, but with skills like this you will hear from her again.

• Jon Huntsman has already pivoted to the general election, where he could do some damage and make inroads among independents. He defended evolution and climate science tonight. He mocked the pledge plague afflicting the GOP. But how does he make it past the social conservatives in the primaries with positions like that?

• Rick Perry: Back in the pack: The sociologist Erving Goffman spoke of, if memory serves, "mystification" or the tendency of religious figures to increase their mystique, attractiveness and social power by simply making it very difficult for others to have any actual contact with them. Seeing Perry on stage was a de-mystifying experience. Not that he did poorly, mind you. He just seemed far more vulnerable among the ravenous pack than as a solo act. He looked especially uncomfortable when trying to defend the "unsettledness" of climate science.

• Can Newt Gingrich just answer the damn questions?: Look, all of us have our gripes with the media. But Gingrich's tendency to sniff out a liberal journalistic conspiracy in every question he is asked (even if, as in the previous debate, the question is asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News) is appalling.

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Rick Perry and rest of GOP field get no values questions at debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:12:20 GMT

With that said, I was left with a few stray observations, none of them having to do with religion because, apparently, that stuff isn't relevant to the GOP today.

Read full article >>

Rick Perry and the Jewish vote

Jacques Berlinerblau — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:23:32 GMT

Having been mesmerized by a few hours of “Professional Bullfighting” on TV the other day my free-associative mind kept returning to two previously unconnected themes: 1) presidential aspirant Rick Perry, and, 2) Jews (i.e., a people who rarely participate in recreational activities that involve close contact with large, highly enraged animals).

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Rick Perry and the Jewish vote

Jacques Berlinerblau — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:23:32 GMT

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Faith up for debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:16:45 GMT

The eight candidates at Thursday night’s GOP debate were willing to get into one another’s grills or, failing that, into the grills of the four journalists who subjected them to fair, hard-hitting and well organized questions (this was some of the best moderator work I can recall in a recent presidential debate).

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Faith up for debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:16:45 GMT

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Faith up for debate

Jacques Berlinerblau — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:16:45 GMT

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Piety is the policy at Rick Perry’s prayer rally

Jacques Berlinerblau — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:18:23 GMT

Governor Rick Perry unofficially kicked off his 2012 presidential campaign Saturday by staging a revival meeting in Houston, Texas. In terms of Faith and Values campaigning it was significant and unusual in a variety of ways:

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Georgetown/On Faith

Georgetown/ On Faith has moved

Why does Santorum despise the separation of church and state?

Obama’s prayer breakfast and the still small voice of the Religious Left

Religion at the GOP debate

Top 10 religion and politics stories to watch

Top 10 religion and politics stories to watch

Top 10 religion and politics stories to watch

How to make atheism matter

How to make atheism matter

Faith and values at the Republican presidential debate

Why the Mississippi personhood amendment self-imploded

Rick Santorum makes faith pitch at GOP debate

For Sarah Palin: God, family, then country?

For Sarah Palin: God, family, then country?

Where does church end and state begin?

Bloomberg takes stand on church v. state

Bloomberg takes stand on church v. state

Rick Perry and rest of GOP field get no values questions at debate

Rick Perry and rest of GOP field get no values questions at debate

Rick Perry and the Jewish vote

Rick Perry and the Jewish vote

Faith up for debate

Faith up for debate

Faith up for debate

Piety is the policy at Rick Perry’s prayer rally