Recent Religion Commentaries

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The Orange Jesus
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”—The First Commandment In last week’s caucus, the good, decent, hardworking people of Iowa overwhelming supported Donald Trump. Evangelicals make up 55 percent of supporters. Their conversion began when they leaned away from the holy Bible to the scriptures of Donald Trump. It began when they believed the lies the former president told...
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January 19, 2024
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The New Christian Front
Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported, told supporters at a recent rally. “My campaign has no place for hate, bigotry and intolerance. . . .” “Intolerance towards men is always reprehensible. But often times intolerance is provoked by injudicious and erroneous policies.” While the first statement was made by Mastriano, the second...
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July 12, 2022
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The Good, The Bad of Last Year
Looking back over the past year we have faced the challenges of a lifetime. During that past year, Pew Research has been asking American’s their views and reactions to the COVID-19 virus. How the virus has affected their lives. The results show a mix of the depressed, fortunate, money-savers, readers, angry, happy and more… Here is just a small sampling...
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March 12, 2021
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The Power of Faith
During these extraordinary times, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. Will I be safe? Will my family be safe? How will I pay for food, rent, mortgage? When will it end? In his ground-breaking book, Man’s Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl describes his heartbreaking loss in a letter to friends after his liberation from Auschwitz....
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April 8, 2020
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More Than the Heart of a City
The fire that devastated one of the great religious, cultural and architectural treasures of the world – the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris – not only shocked French citizens but the world. If the walls inside this cavernous basilica could talk, they would tell a story of conflict, coronation, and courage. Built by hand more than 850 years ago, Notre-Dame –...
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April 17, 2019
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Who is the Pope’s Confessor?
Whomever he is, I hope he’s got a lot of juice with the Almighty. When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was voted by his colleagues to become the next Pope six years ago, replacing the retired Pope Benedict XVI, little did he know that a scandal, literally of Biblical proportions, would soon envelop him. The Catholic Church is supposed to be...
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March 4, 2019
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“We Can Be Better Than This”
Times of crisis call forth a leader among us who, through their compassion and wisdom, can help both comfort and unite. Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers is doing just that by not only tending to the needs of his own community but offering a broader message to us all. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota spoke to Rabbi Myers on Monday morning...
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November 1, 2018
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Updates
In Friday’s commentary (Right Message, Wrong Moment), I sided with Serena Williams’s point about a double standard that women are held more accountable for their bad behavior than men. I was wrong. Near the end of this year’s women’s U.S. Open final, Williams was fined $17,000 for three code violations in the finals against Japan’s Naomi Osaka, her first Grand...
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September 17, 2018
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Thou Shalt Not…
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” – the 8th commandment of God, “The Baltimore Catechism,” page 100 “A person who has sinned,” The Catechism declares, “by detraction or calumny, or who has told a secret he is bound to keep, must repair the harm he has done to his neighbor, as far as he is able.” For...
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September 12, 2018
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Maddi Runkles
“…if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom…” – Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Maddi Runkles, an 18-year-old high school student with a 4.0 grade average, was not allowed to attend the graduation ceremony with her class in Hagerstown, Maryland, because she is pregnant. Technically, according to a statement to parents...
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June 9, 2017