Christmas, Chaukah and the Electoral College

Editors Note: This post came my way through an email generated by David Burton, a Christian and neighbor of Dr. Burton. The piece below is well-written and captures the true spirit of the Christian-Judeo relationship.  Perhaps it is no coincidence that, after a particularly contentious year, that the first night of Chanukah occurs on Christmas (this last occurred in 1959). As American Jews prepare to celebrate Chanukah, which commemorates our struggle for freedom of worship, we should recognize that that our ability to do so is not the norm. Millions of people around the world are being persecuted for practicing their Christian or Jewish faith. As we reflect on our blessings during this holiday season we should consider the historical roots of America whose founders developed a new system of governance that continues to safeguard the rights of minorities to live in freedom and worship as they please. In the Pledge of Allegiance we “pledge allegiance…to the Republic for which is stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” America was founded by Christian Pilgrims who fled England with the hope of being able to practice their religion without fear of persecution. Despite the fact that [...]

By |2016-12-28T16:28:47-06:00December 28th, 2016|My Blog Post|Comments Off on Christmas, Chaukah and the Electoral College

Religion on Capitol Hill: What Are the Faith Backgrounds of the 113th Congress?

The religious and faith backgrounds of the 113th Congress are more diverse now than at any time in the nation's history, with the addition of America's first Buddhist senator and the first Hindu in the House of Representatives. Since the birth of the nation in 1776, Congress has typically reflected the religious beliefs of the districts from which they were elected. But gone are days where the overwhelming majority of Congress was Protestant. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, with the assistance of Congressional Quarterly's Roll Call, compiled data comparing the faith breakdown of Congress to the American population and released their report on Wednesday. Here is what they found. There are 299 Protestants in Congress, making up 56.1 percent of the Senate and the House. In comparison, 48 percent of Americans are Protestant. Of those, 13.7 percent are Baptist, 10.9 percent are Unspecified/Other, 8.6 percent are Methodist, 8.1 percent are Presbyterian, 7.3 percent are Anglican/Episcopal and 4.3 percent are Lutheran. The remaining 3.4 percent belong to nondenominational churches, or are Congregationalist and Christian Scientist. One hundred sixty-three, or 30.6 percent of the body, are Catholic, 6.2 percent are Jewish and 2.8 percent are Mormon. All of these [...]

By |2013-01-05T13:17:22-06:00January 5th, 2013|My Blog Post|Comments Off on Religion on Capitol Hill: What Are the Faith Backgrounds of the 113th Congress?

Labor Day at the DNC; Wasserman-Schultz Addresses Faith Council

Most of the Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte have arrived and are wandering around downtown Charlotte in an effort to acclimate themselves to the events of the next three days. Although it’s Labor Day in at the DNC, you won’t see a big union presence because North Carolina is a right-to-work state and the AFL-CIO reminds the Democrats of that fact every chance they get. A handful of big labor bosses will be in town but they won’t be spending big labor bucks on the convention. The highlight of the day is the Carolina Fest being headlined by James Taylor. My only other major convention experience was attending the 1996 Republican Convention in San Diego. If you can’t remember that far back, Sen. Bob Dole and former Secretary Jack Kemp were the party’s nominees. And in case you are wondering, they didn’t win but it was fun nonetheless. I drove in and parked as close to downtown as I could this morning but still had to walk about 15 blocks to reach the convention center. I picked up my credentials (maybe I’ll write a separate post about that process) before finding the media center. All the big [...]

By |2012-09-03T15:17:37-05:00September 3rd, 2012|My Blog Post|2 Comments
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