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Steven Waldman

The Vatican has changed course and declared today that Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson “must absolutely, unequivocally and publicly distance himself from his positions on the Shoah,” or Holocaust. Good for Pope Benedict XI, admitting error that way. Oh, wait — that may be over-stating it. The statement asserted that Willamson’s views were “unknown to the…

Obama in his first week said three words that the previous four presidents had avoided: “I screwed up.” Even though the Bushes, Clinton and Reagan had made massive errors — from adultery in the White House to launching a war on erroneous premises — they invariably described the mistakes in the passive voice. “Mistakes were…

Senator Harry Reid recently re-introduced the “Prevention First Act” which, he said, would decrease abortions by improve family planning and increase the use of contraception. (Summary here, full text here) This prompted this response today from Dr. William E. May, Senior Fellow of the Culture of Life Foundation: “The Act is based on the false…

I share Crunchy Con’s slight nausea over this video, and especially the line “I pledge to be a servant to our president and all mankind.” This is now tied with American Prayer for most insufferable Obama video.As for their pledges to help the world through volunteering, I remain a steadfast curmudgeon on this issue. I…

During the campaign, Barack Obama proposed tripling AmeriCorps, the full-time community service program, at a cost of roughly $3 billion. John McCain, though less specific, also supported a large expansion in national service. That consensus had grown around national service before the economic crisis — which has only strengthened the argument for it. Franklin Roosevelt…

The New York Times’ Jason DeParle has an important piece today documenting that among the states with highest unemployment increases, half chose to cut welfare benefits rather than boosting them. During the welfare reform debates of the 1990s, governors said, in effect: take away federal requirements and we’ll do right by our folks, especially since…

Tom McClusky of Family Resaerch Council has a thoughtful post responding to my item on why many pro-life groups oppose family planning. First, he argues that I make a false assumption: that being opposed to federally-financed family planning is the same as opposing family planning. Many pro-life people support family planning, of a particular sort:…

ENCYCLICAL LETTER HUMANAE VITAE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL VI TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE, TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD, AND TO ALL MEN OF GOOD WILL, ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH 1968 Honored Brothers…

From today’s New York Times Book Review comes two interesting morsels about Charles Darwin that ought to slightly soften Christian antagonism to him as the destroyer of faith. One new book, “Darwin’s Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution,” argues that his abolitionist sentiment drove him toward a “belief…

For those of you who have already read The Shack, I wanted to tease out a few other points beyond these. The most wrenching part is God’s demand that Mack forgive Missy’s killer. But there’s something unsatisfying to me about the moment: part of how he’s able to go through with it is that God…
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