This is the 21st Century addition to the original eight beatitudes of Jesus Christ found in Matthew’s Gospel recounting the Sermon on the Mount. This new phrase probably turns Christianity and many other religions on their heads, but it may best describe humanity in its current worldview. One view of human history is a continuous war between those who have some sense of ethics and morality, and those individuals...

Christine Amanpour held a religious war town hall today.  As one would expect there was plenty of nonsense from all sides.  What would you expect when a collection of humans claims their religion is the “only true religion” but are unable to offer any proof only contradictory mythology.  Franklin Graham was well, Franklin Graham: Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of Rev. Billy Graham, called Islam...

Some lessons from the Rick Sanchez firing via the Orlando Sentinel’s “TV Guy.”

Manchester, NEW HAMPSHIRE — What a difference a few hours make. I was out all day appearing at an event in my other incarnation and was struck by New Hampshire’s falling leaves. Then I came back and learned about a fallen cable news anchor: Rick Sanchez, one of CNN’s rising personalities whose show “Rick’s List” seemed to be getting better and better in terms of interview...

It’s fair to say that most of Europe looks askance at America’s newest Tea Party – and this article from France’s Liberation by Didier Péron does nothing to dispel that impression. Focusing on what is now a somewhat famed photo of Tea Party darling Christine O’Donnell’s facial expression after winning the Republican Senate primary, Péron likens her to a sitcom comedian...

It’s not news to say that Pakistan is a nation in crisis. But recent U.S. drone attacks and ‘hot pursuit’ attacks by helicopter gunships into Pakistani territory, combined with some of the worst flooding in history, have raised tempers among Pakistanis to a fever pitch. Two editorials we posted today, one from The Nation and the other from The Frontier Post, reflect such anger at the United...

Najib Tun Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday about, among other things, growing Islamophobia and the Cordoba House controversy: The real issue is not between Muslims and non-Muslims but between the moderates and extremists of all religions, be it Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Across all religions we have inadvertently allowed the ugly voices of the...

As readers of my posts will know I have plenty of reasons to be critical of President Obama. I disagree with him on a number of issues and would probably not vote for his re-election. Having said that I am begging, pleading and praying that people will finally shut up about him being a Muslim. He’s been quite plain about the fact that he is a Christian. Indeed during the 2008 campaign one of the issues...

Is President Obama serious about helping to create a Palestinian state? According to this editorial from Samidoon, a newspaper in the Palestinian Territories, Barack Obama is completely biased toward Israel when he speaks of a Jewish homeland on occupied Palestinian land. Reflecting frustration with the president and showing how wide the chasm remains between Israelis and Palestinians, the editorial from Samidoon...

Is President Obama, like so many political shooting stars of hope from the past, destined to fade from the scene as quickly as he emerged? According to Financial Times Deutschland columnist Ines Zottl, “Obama is through – completely finished.” Citing some seldom-heard in English Germany prose, for the Financial Times Deutschland, Ines Zottl writes in part: “A star burns out, and the...

In even more troubling and shocking news, a video was unearthed today showing Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell has dabbled with Christianity. Although she was only in her 20s, she repeatedly prayed, read the Bible, and confessed a sincere belief in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Some speculate that O’Donnell is still secretly practicing her “faith” as she’s been spotted cavorting...

Muslims have been worshiping in the abandoned building that is now the center of debate — two blocks from the edge of Ground Zero — for more than a year. The only question left is whether the community center will get built. Most of us don’t know that. I learned it from an excellent report aired tonight on 60 Minutes tonight. They also traveled to DC: It occurred to us that there is, of course,...

Given the post-election deadlock in Iraq, could the United States be considering postponing democracy and planning a bloodless military coup? Columnist Haitham Al-Taib of Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper warns Iraq’s political class that with American patience wearing thin, the time for negotiating over a new government is running out. For Kitabat, columnist Haitham Al-Taib wrtes in part: It seems that...

Last weekend something called the Values Voters Summit was held.  There was one thing missing – Christian Values. William Rivers Pitt: It’s a kind of big-tent showcase for the fundamentalist far-right base of the Republican Party, sponsored by such leading conservative lights as the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, and Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Some of the...

Question: How many people will take the time to read through the House Republicans “Pledge to America”? My answer: Not enough. If you remove the political claptrap from the document, what you get is deja vu: We heard this before: Lower taxes, less spending, a return to “core values” and an unlimited national missile defense fund. There is both good and bad in the pledge and a lot of omission, among which...

Guest post by Peter Henne Peter Henne is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. (This post originally appeared at The Huffington Post.) Observers and participants in the recent Park51 debate likely noticed some parallels to the 2005 Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy. Potent religious issues mixed with a clash between freedom of speech...

So far three young men are claiming anti-gay Bishop Eddie Long used cash, cars and expensive trips to pressure them into sexual relationships. On Inside Edition last night, Ted Haggard said he can empathize: “I think he’s heartbroken, I think he’s confused,” Haggard said on the program Wednesday. “I’ll tell you how I felt. I felt like I’d ruined my life.” Haggard’s...

As we’ve been pointing out over the past few weeks, concerns over events in the United States that are perceived as Islamophobic are global in scope – in this case, from South America. This article by Raul Sohr of Chile’s La Nacion warns that people both in and out of the Muslim world best tread carefully, so as not to allow the next attack to trigger events even worse than those we’ve...

The nation’s fourth-largest home lender halts evictions of homeowners in 23 states this week. Seems like someone forgot to actually read the paperwork! In a related story, no one on the face of the earth has ever read an entire software licensing agreement before initialing. Ethicists and theologians speculate if engaging in the forced practice of initialing is actually immoral. Particularly when people...

The disturbing turmoil in the United States over Muslims and immigrants is not at all an isolated case. Columnist Clovis Rossi of Brazil’s Folha newspaper writes that even nations considered the most tolerant in the world are experiencing right-wing upsurges that bode ill for the virtues of tolerance and coexistence. For Brazil’s Folha, Clovis Rossi writes in part: for the first time in that country’s...

Tea Party star and Delaware new GOP candidate for Senate Christine O’Donnell’s campaign has gotten off to a bewitching start with news that she said she once dabbled in witchcraft. It sparked a host of posts including our humble offering of three possible campaign songs she might consider using for her campaign. She has already cast a spell on Tea Party movement members and supporters and on members...

In the battle that ensued the day after September 11, 2001, did the people of the Western World lose something essential about themselves? Claus Hecking of Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland writes that due to a largely conjured-up fear of terror, ‘we are dismantling the foundations of our liberal society.’ For the Financial Times Deutschland, Claus Hecking writes in part: In the United...

In their quest to regain power, have U.S. Republicans gone too far? For Spain’s El Pais, columnist Elvira Lindo laments that while it’s clear ‘the Republican Party has no compunction about making use of lies and prejudice to regain power,’ it is unlikely to be forced to pay for its many indiscretions. For El Pais, Elvira Lindo writes in part: Those who accentuate the divisions between...

Has right-wing firebrand Dinesh D’Souza gone too far by writing that President Obama’s ‘philandering, inebriated African socialist father’ is now ‘setting the nation’s agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son’? Columnist Jean-Sébastien Stehli opines for France’s Le Figaro that D’Souza’s analysis is a disgrace, and that it’s...

John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.