Where the worlds of politics and religion collide, you'll always find Kim Lawton, managing editor and correspondent for PBS's "Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly." She's the subject of this week's "Five Good Questions" feature.
Kim is a Beltway reporting vet who's covered all the big beats, including the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. At "R&E," she specializes in helping viewers understand the role of religion in the public square.
Kim has virtually owned one of the biggest stories of the year: Barack Obama's relationship with his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
She's also reported extensively on John McCain's sometimes testy relationship with evangelical conservatives.
Want to ask Kim about these stories? Eager to know how she feels about the commercial media's coverage of religion and ethics? Curious about what it's like to ask public figures about a topic as personal as their faith? Should religion be off-limits in the coverage of political candidates?
This is your chance. Leave your questions for Kim in the comments section below. If you prefer, you may also e-mail them to me.
Remember: Keep your questions on topic. Also, I may edit your question for clarity.
I'll choose five good questions for Kim and share her answers in a few days.
Note: Keep your questions coming. We'll gather up questions for Kim Monday July 20.
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question?
I am looking for the title of a series that ran (rerun?) during the early 80tys about WWII british women(and children) captured by Japan forces, held at a camp until the're release I believe 3-4 yrs later.
If anyone remembers this I would appreicate it... been trying to remember what it was called for a few years now, also looking for it on dvd or vhs.
thanks!
Eva
Rev. Wright/Obama Story
Do you feel given your knowledge of the Rev. Wright/Obama story and past treatment of politicians with controversial pastors, that it was fair for media pundits and public opinion to force Obama to leave his church? If yes, why? If no, Why?
Atheism
Polls show that Americans would rather have a gay president (not that there's anything wrong with that) than an atheist president. Yet the culture we live in is by and large a secular one more obsessed with _American Idol_ than with worshipping idols, and nobody likes the semi-theocratic administration we have now.
Will we ever have an atheist president? What will we have to do to get there?
Re: Atheism
Who's to say we haven't had several atheist presidents? (or, for that matter, who's to say we haven't had bi- or homosexual presidents?)
What a politician professes publicly about his or her faith or lack thereof (or sexual orientation, or prejudicial views or what-have-you) and what a politician *actually* believes about faith (or their own sexual orientation, or whom they prejudge) are not necessarily the same. It shouldn't be surprising that a politician might compartmentalize his or her personal life, thoughts and beliefs from their public persona.
Compartmentalization seems to be a hallmark of our cultural ethos. It allows a person to be an obsessed 'American Idol' fan and still claim unwavering loyalty to a deity that decries allegiance to anything secular. Challenging such a person about the authenticity of their beliefs in the face of their actions typically results in an agitated emotional outburst and an illogical and defensive tirade. As a culture, we seem to cherish our myths and are perfectly happy to put walls around them and guard them from rigorous study and challenge... lest we be exposed to our own hypocrisy. All of this is perfectly normal behavior -- for a child or early adolescent.
To respond to the spirit of your question, "will we ever have a president who publicly expresses non-belief in deity or deities," I suspect that may one day happen. However, for us to get there our society and culture will have to mature and evolve significantly. To my mind, our culture has barely entered adolescence and in many ways is still quite childish. I wouldn't expect a cultural shift of that magnitude to occur during my lifetime.
Religion Reporting
I'd like your insight on:
—What questions do reporters often overlook in religion reporting, and why
—Why do you think religion is so central in politics? Should it be? Why?
—What are common editorial attitudes about religion that you have encountered?
Thanks—I'd love to read your answers.
Muslims and the Obama's faith
-What the perception is in the Muslim community re: the discussion about Obama's faith?
-How does it feel to have "Muslim" be used as a slur?
-How large is that voting base?
-Do they feel included in the conversation?
Thanks for the opportunity,
Mary
Mary L. Rothschild, Director
Healthy Media Choices
www.healthymediachoices.org
Facilitator: Communities Concerned
with the Commercialization of Childhood
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
Host: "How Are the Children?"
WVEW-LP 107.7 FM
streaming at www.wvew.org
Tuesday at 1 pm
The Bible
In Matthew 25:30 Jesus is quoted as saying: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
I have not been able to understand this statement. Can you help?
The Bible Mathew 25: 30
Fortunately, Voltaire interviewed Jesus about this controversial statement. Voltaire discovered that Jesus claimed he was misquoted. He [Jesus] spoke a combination of Aramaic & Hebrew so that the words were not properly translated into the Greek of the Bible. Check out Voltaire's interview with Jesus for a full explanation.
Matthew 25:30
Matthew 10:34-36 states: Do not think I came to put peace upon the earth; I came to put, not peace, but a sword. For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a young wife, against her mother-in-law. Indeed, a man's enemies will be persons of his own household.
Jesus' ministry brought divisions, even within families, but it was because of his adherence to and proclamation of, God's righteous standards and truth. Division resulted because many individuals hardened their heart against these truths while others accepted them.
The message of truth, the word of God, acts like a "sword" and at times it brings sharp divisions among family members. That is why Jesus Christ himself, in speaking of such a situation, said "I came to cause division...Indeed, a man's enemies will be persons of his own household.
Maria Hinojosa
I watched your show this evening and was very disappointed with the way you let this guy from the ACLU deflect some of your tougher questions.
I watch you a lot and this was the first time I've seen you "give way" like this and I wonder why.
When you tried to ask him if he wasn't really playing both ends against the middle (which I thought he was), he just talked over you and you let the question go.
Again, when you were trying to get him to explain about a single person going door to door asking folks about their legal status, he rerouted the question also (and you let him), at which time I turned the channel.
I'm a lifelong democrat and have always thought the ACLU was a good, needed organization, but since this guy's taken the reins, I've had my doubts.
Watching him wiggle his way around tough questions today does nothing to relieve me of those doubts.
As a Black American, it's obvious to me, that the Latino Organizations are, as usual, fighting against the Blacks instead of trying to unite and become that much stronger as a result.
It's bad enough we're fighting over the same scraps, but to fight one another is exactly what the Whites want and both Black's and Hispanics need to recognise this and figure out what we have in common as opposed to what separates us.
To me, it's the most sickening and disturbing thing happening in politics today!
Christian responsibility towards God's creatures - His animals
Our treatment and views of God's creatures reflect and affect our relationship with God. Since we have been commissioned by God to be their stewards, our silence and neglect of the tens of billions of animals who suffer every day for our greediness, is offensive to God. We will be held accountable someday for every creature as Hebrews 4:13 says.
As His children made in His image, we don't radiate God's character of compassion for all of God's creatures. This is an ethical and moral issue, yet we don't want to acknowledge it and speak out for reasons which are worldly (money)?
Jan Fredericks, LPC, MA
Christian Educator
Licensed Counselor
Founder/President, God's Creatures Ministry
Chair, Catholic Concern for Animals-USA
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