If Joe Biden wants his presidency to have a lasting impact on religious freedom, he and his fellow Democrats must craft legislation acceptable to Republican senators.
News Analysis
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
Why do white Catholics have such a high vaccination rate? Is it faith or education?
About two-thirds of white U.S. Catholics are accepting of the Covid vaccine—a higher rate than any religious group other than Jews. But it is unclear whether the high vaccination rate is a matter of faith or of demographics.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Before Rush Limbaugh, Father Coughlin was America’s first demagogue of the airwaves
Before Rush Limbaugh, there was the notorious “radio priest” of the 1930s and 1940s, Father Charles E. Coughlin.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Joe Biden sends a signal that he’s willing to dialogue with the bishops and other faith leaders
The faith-based office, founded under President George W. Bush, evolved over the past two decades, but it became moribund under President Donald Trump, who preferred to talk only with evangelical leaders who supported him.
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
The bishops were divided on how to approach Joe Biden. It’s not the first time a dispute has gone public.
Public disagreements among the U.S. bishop are rare but not unprecedented. A contentious debate about the church and AIDS in 1987 is perhaps the situation most similar to the divisions over how to welcome President Biden.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
No, it wasn’t wrong for Catholic parishes to accept Covid relief money from the government
The Associated Press (again) investigated Catholic dioceses that benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program. Here’s what they got wrong about the church in the United States.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Republicans use ‘unconstitutional’ in bad faith — and it’s dangerous for the pro-life movement.
The Republican Party has steadily devalued the meaning of “unconstitutional” in its defense of Donald Trump, writes Sam Sawyer, S.J., undermining the best legal argument of the pro-life movement.
Posted inFaith, News Analysis
Joe Biden quoted Augustine in his inaugural address. What would the saint think of our politics?
The full context of Augustine’s line is perhaps not as rosy as Joe Biden might have suggested.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
What makes an effective inaugural address? Advice for Joe Biden from an Obama speechwriter.
Joe Biden will deliver his inaugural address just two weeks after an ‘unprecedented attack on our democracy,’ says former White House speechwriter Terry Szuplat. We can expect a call for unity—and accountability.
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Samantha Power, Joe Biden’s pick to head up humanitarian aid, is a fan of Pope Francis and Dorothy Day
Ms. Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and human rights advocate, served as a co-chair of Mr. Biden’s Catholic outreach group.