Tag: Government & Politics

Evangelist Franklin Graham blasted the Internal Revenue Service probe of conservative nonprofit groups as “un-American,” saying both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the relief group Samaritan’s Purse were audited by the IRS.

In a Tuesday (May 14) letter to President Obama, Graham said the two organizations he leads were notified last September that the IRS would review their records for the 2010 tax year.

Republican congressman Paul Ryan, who has touted his Catholic faith as evidence of his social as well as economic conservatism, has come out in favor of gay couples adopting children — a significant break with the Catholic hierarchy, which has even shut down adoption services rather than placing children with same-sex couples.

President Barack Obama praised Bostonians for their actions “in the face of evil” during an interfaith memorial service on Thursday (April 18) for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

“You’ve shown us, Boston, that in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good. In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion,” Obama said.

Today, as the national debate over sequestration cuts and budget priorities wages on, locals will make their voices heard by delivering hand-written letters and "Money for People, Not for War" photo petitions to Rep. McMorris-Rodgers, Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell. This is the latest in a series of actions from community members calling for Pentagon cuts and shifting funds to education, healthcare and community needs, according to the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane.

Last week I had the privilege of being part of a progressive roundtable meeting with Senator Patty Murray and her staff. Murray listened to, and engaged with, 16 representatives from various local entities concerned about the sequester and other federal economic policy actions.

One normally does not expect to hear a political attack during a sermon on Easter Sunday, but that's exactly what the congregation of St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., received this weekend.

"The captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back, back. For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet and for immigrants  to be on their side of the border," Rev. Dr. Luis Leon said.

NEW YORK (RNS) Heartened by his inaugural calls for gay marriage and for bold action on climate change, leaders of the Christian left are confident that President Obama will now claim the progressive legacy they believe he craves.