There is something decidedly public about Ash Wednesday. Walking around all day with a gash of grey ash across one’s forehead — this is among the most visible Christian things I do each year. This is a rare day when I cannot and could not hide my Christian commitments and my Christian aspirations, even if [...]

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The White House has surprised observers and disappointed some liberal allies by signaling that it is willing to compromise and provide a broader religious exemption in its controversial regulations requiring all employers to provide free contraception coverage. Given that birth control use is almost universal – even among Catholics – many wonder why the Obama [...]

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The Republican presidential candidates competing for the affections of Florida voters have plenty of labels with which to tar each other: Influence peddler. Failed politician. Cayman Islands account holder. Aspiring polygamist. But perhaps the worst smear they could lob at an opponent would be to call him a “compassionate conservative.” There’s no place for compassion [...]

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“Black people are so lazy. They need to get off the welfare and food stamps and get jobs.” Though that sounds like something Archie Bunker would’ve said back in the day, it’s actually the kind of stuff Gingrich people are accusing Republican presidential candidate hopefuls Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich of saying on the campaign [...]

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And so it has come to this. Newt Gingrich, the career politician and millionaire “consultant” for the health care and mortgage industries, a twice-divorced and thrice-married convert to Catholicism, may be the last great hope of the religious right. Granted, this is the Republican nominating contest for 2012, which means just about anything can happen, [...]

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Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno is out in the university’s burgeoning sex abuse scandal, and comparisons to the Roman Catholic Church’s own abuse scandals are in. “The parallels are too striking to ignore. A suspected predator who exploits his position to take advantage of his young charges. The trusting colleagues who don’t want to [...]

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