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Jeremy Lott on Episcopalians, Ex-Atheists, Health Care, and German Circumcision

tonygill — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:00:31 +0000

What’s the news in the world of religion? We check in with author and blogger extraordinaire, Jeremy Lott of RealClearReligion (and other RealClear sites) to catch up with some of the more recent doings and happenings in the US and other parts of the world. We begin by talking about the most recent convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA. That conference produced a number of controversial actions on same-sex marriage, transgendered priests, and funeral rites for pets. We discuss this in the context of Ross Douthat’s New York Times’ column (see below) that Episcopalians are dropping in numbers rapidly and the trend looks gloomy for the future. Jeremy helps to put this in a larger context regarding liberal mainline denominations and the troubles they are facing in retaining members, while Tony wonders why these declining churches don’t adopt “best practices” from growing congregations just as many secular business do. Our continuing discussion on the supposed increase in “nones” (i.e., people declaring no religious affiliation in surveys) prompts Tony to reveal a new research project that he has been working on that deals with decreasing transportation costs. To figure out that link, you will have to listen closely in the podcast. Our conversation then transitions to the issue of atheists recently announcing their religious conversions, including Kaya Oakes who recently wrote a book about her conversion back to Catholicism. Jeremy gives his take on her recent book, pondering why she would go back to Catholicism when many of her ideological and philosophical views don’t match well with Church. All this discussion allows for Tony to help Jeremy with a recent moral quandry he found himself in. Readers of this passage will have to listen deep into the interview to find out what this issue was and the surprising solution your podcast host proposed. Speaking of moral quandries, the next issue to arise in our interview involves the struggle that the Catholic Church and Wheaton College are having with some of the mandates that have come down the pipeline from the Department of Health and Human Services via the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a topic we have addressed a few times previously on our show. Jeremy provides his insight into this matter and discuss what might become of the new lawsuit and what will happen in various election scenarios. We then pivot quickly to talk about the issue of Mormonism in the upcoming presidential election with Jeremy providing his thoughts on that topic, including how evangelicals including Robert Jeffers are coming around to the idea of supporting a Mormon candidate in Mitt Romney. We next deal with an issue that is on the cutting edge of the news — the German circumcision controversy that arose when a four-year old died during this procedure and prompted calls for legally ending the practice. That in turn prompted calls of religious discrimination and Jeremy explains how all of this played out. Finally, Tony poses Jeremy with a question that we presented to other scholars on an earlier podcast: Would you have, as a Christian, fought in US War of Independence? Hear Jeremy’s answer in our closing moments. Recorded: July 19, 2012.

RELATED LINKS

Real Clear Religion. (You can access Real Clear Politics, Real Clear Books, Real Clear Science and other portals at this website as well.)

Jeremy Lott’s Diary on Patheos.com (pithy and profound insights galore).

In Defense of Hypocrisy: Picking Sides in the War on Virtue, by Jeremy A. Lott.

The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency, by Jeremy A. Lott.

William F. Buckley (Christian Encouter Series), by Jeremy A. Lott.

I’ll Never Forget It: Memoirs of a Political Accident from East Baltimore, by Marvin Mandel, Jeremy Lott, and Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

“Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?” by Ross Douthat in The New York Times (July 14, 2012).

“The Church Vanishes,” by Philip Jenkins on Patheos.com.

“Perhaps Atheists Should Be Hitting the Panic Button,” by Timothy Dalrymple on Patheos.com.

Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church, by Kaya Oakes.

RELATED PODCASTS

Jeremy Lott on RealClearReligion.

Hunter Baker on the End of Secularism.

Philip Muñoz on Catholic Bishops, Religious Liberty, and Health Care Mandates.

Should Christians Have Fought in the US War of Independence?

James Felak on Pope Pius XII, the Wartime Pontiff

tonygill — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:00:24 +0000

Imagine that you were just appointed the head of the Catholic Church at the outset of the most devastating war ever known to mankind. Further imagine that this war was raging on the continent in which you were headquartered and that you were living in the capital city of one of the primary belligerents of this war. How would you respond knowing that millions of innocent civilians — both Catholic and Jewish — were being slaughtered outright? We take up the life and times of Pope Pius XII, who ascended to the papacy on the eve of Germany’s invation of Czechoslovakia and Poland, with Prof. James Felak, professor of history at the University of Washington. We start out with a brief examination of how popes choose their names and then dive into the nature of the controversy surrounding Pius XII. Interestingly, Prof. Felak notes that Pius XII was widely lauded for his courageous actions during World War II and that the controversy over his seeming “inaction” only emerged in 1963 following the release of Rolf Hocchuth’s play The Deputy. It was reawakened again in 1999 following another book accusing Pius XII of being “Hitler’s pope.” We roll back history a bit to examine the early life of Eugenio Pacelli and his pathway to the “Throne of St. Peter.” We then spend significant time examining the wartime context in which Pius XII found himself in so as to better understand the diplomatic manuevering of the Vatican at this time. Prof. Felak notes how the pope tended to keep his criticism of war attrocities at a general level so as not to endanger the Church in various nations, nor to threaten some of the activities of grassroots Catholic activists in places such as Germany and Poland. This discussion also entails an examination of how the Church functions institutionally with a realization that clergy, religious orders and lay members have a certain degree of autonomy from the Holy See. Following this discussion, we then look at the other proclamations and activities of Pius XII on issues such as medical ethics and how he laid the foundation for the Second Vatican Council. Prof. Felak finishes with some general observations about the legacy of Pius XII and what we can take away from his tenure to better understand our contemporary times. Recorded: July 3, 2012.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. James Felak’s biography at the University of Washington.

After Hitler, Before Stalin: Catholics, Communists, and Democrats in Slovakia, 1945-1948, by James Felak.

RELATED PODCASTS

James Felak on Pope John Paul II and Communism.

Jon Sweeney on the Pope Who Quit.

Lan Chu on Catholicism in Vietnam.

Catherine Wanner on Religion in Russia.

Andrew Hoffecker on Charles Hodge and Princeton Theological Seminary

tonygill — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:07 +0000

Happy Birthday Princeton Theological Seminary! To help celebrate the PTS bicentennial, Research on Religion offers up the gift of a discussion on one of its most prolific theologians, Charles Hodge. Prof. Andrew Hoffecker, emeritus professor of history at the Reformed Theological Seminary, discusses his new biography of Charles Hodge (1797 – 1878). Rev. Hodge epitomizes many of the different theological and social tensions that were confronting both the Presbyterian Church and the United States during the first half of the 19th century. We begin by tracing Hodge’s life and decision to pursue an academic career at the recently created Princeton Theological Seminary and spend time looking at his two year sojourn in Germany to experience some of the new intellectual trends appearing at the University of Berlin. Halfway through our discussion, Prof. Hoffecker and I ruminate about the effect that intellectualized seminary training may have on the emotional aspects of spiritual faith and how this might affect denominations. We then return to the United States and look at Charles Hodge’s academic career, including the founding of The Princeton Review and his various positions on controversies dividing Presbyterianism, most notably the 1837 schism. Andy also touches upon Hodge’s positions regarding religious education, Catholicism, and slavery – controversies that were roiling during Hodge’s long career. Our conversation finishes with Prof. Hoffecker discussing Rev. Hodge’s impact on American religiosity and society at large. We note the important role that Hodge played in shaping the evangelical and fundamentalist movements that were to appear at the turn of the 20th century. Recorded: December 30, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

W. Andrew Hoffecker’s website at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Charles Hodge: The Pride of Princeton by W. Andrew Hoffecker.

Piety and the Princeton Theologians by W. Andrew Hoffecker.

Princeton Theological Seminary.

RELATED PODCASTS

Thomas Kidd on the Great Awakening.

Mike Donnelly on Homeschooling

tonygill — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:00:01 +0000

Mike Donnelly, adjunct professor of government at Patrick Henry College and a staff attorney at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), joins the podcast to talk about homeschooling. We begin our discussion with a brief history of the homeschool movement back in the 1950s and ’60s, noting both its secular and religious origins, and how the movement expanded rapidly in the 1980s. Prof. Donnelly provides some demographic context to our discussion by telling us who is most likely to homeschool and the reasons these families choose to do so. Our converstation covers the concerns over academic achievement (on standardized testing and college performance) and socialization. As for the latter, Mike reveals that homeschoolers are not any less well socialized than their peers in public or private schools. The latter half of the podcast focuses on various legal hurdles facing homeschoolers and Mike recounts several of the specific cases that he has litigated, including one involving a German homeschooling family that sought asylum in the United States. We finish with a brief discussion of the HSLDA and Patrick Henry College, a recently-created institution of higher learning that caters to homeschoolers but also accepts students educated in public and private schools. Recorded: February 23, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Mike Donnelly’s homepage at Patrick Henry College.

Home School Legal Defense Association.

Patrick Henry College.

Ahmet Kuru on Islam in Europe

tonygill — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:00:40 +0000

How is contemporary Europe adjusting to the growing presence of Muslim immigrants and their second and third generation progeny? Prof. Ahmet Kuru — assistant professor of political science at San Diego State University — joins Tony to discuss the origins and demographic composition of Muslim immigration in post-WWII Europe. We primarily focus our discussion on France, Great Britain and Germany, though the responses of other countries are mentioned as well. Prof. Kuru notes how the demand for labor in the post-war era, combined with differering colonial legacies, shaped the issues surrounding the accomodation of Muslim immigrants in different parts of Europe. While Great Britain made citizenship for immigrants easy based on whether an immigrant came from a former colony, countries such as Germany made citizenship more difficult and existed under the expectation that immigrants would eventually return to their place of origin. Our discussion covers Prof. Kuru’s research on assertive secularism, wherein nations (e.g., France) intentionally seek to remove religion from the public sphere (though the implementation of such policies is not always consistent). We cover the recent ban on the Muslim headscarf (hijab) and oher controversies such as mosque construction and funding for religious education. We close out our discussion with a discussion of how religious policy is changing in Turkey and how that relates to the European situation, and why Muslims in the United States have found it esier to accomodate to the cultural and political landscape than in Europe. Recorded: February 7, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Ahmet Kuru’s website at San Diego State University.

Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey by Ahmet T. Kuru.