Michael Sean Winters and Paul Krugman: Two Views re: Romney and the Poor

At National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters, who has announced he will not vote for President Obama following his decision on contraceptive coverage and health insurance, tells his readers to give Mitt Romney a break after Romney said, "I'm not concerned about the very poor . . . ."

Phyllis Zagano on Foolishness of Catholics Who Question Bishops' Attack on Obama: A Footnote

A tiny footnote to what I posted earlier today about Phyllis Zagano's recent NCR article (and about all of the centrist Catholic intellectual and media gurus now piling on the Obama administration and politicking for the "pro-life" Republicans vis-a-vis religious freedom and the rights of conscience): 

Phyllis Zagano on Foolishness of Catholics Who Question Bishops' Attack on Obama: My Response

I've gone back and forth in my head about whether to comment on Phyllis Zagano's latest piece at National Catholic Reporter chiding her fellow Catholics who refuse to walk lock-step with the U.S. Catholic bishops in their current attack on the Obama administration.  I've hesitated to write any more about this topic, because it has been hashed to death on one blog site after another--this one included--and I suspect many readers are as thoroughly sick of the discussion as I myself am.  And continuing to talk about these matters only gives legs and further publicity to the shameful, dirty, decidedly anti-life and downright dangerous (for the whole planet and everyone on it) pro-Republican politicking in which the bishops and their epigones of the Catholic center are now involved.

Religious Liberty, Faith-Based Privileges, and Lynchings: Lessons from American History

I continue to spend my time in the 1890s lately, as I read and annotate the selection of essays of Wilson R. Bachelor that my collaborators and I will be publishing (along with his diary and letters) down the road.  The 1890s: a period not entirely like our own in the U.S.  A period in which the super-wealthy richly deserved the appellation "filthy rich," as they threw lavish spectacle-parties to celebrate their financial success and to poke fun at the 99% who had been shoved from the socioeconomic table by this success--parties to mock the failure of the 99% and to proclaim that the 1% have no obligation whatsoever to care for the very poor.

Andrew Sullivan's Live Blog of Florida Primary: Romney Plays USCCB Card about "Religious Freedom"

Dialogue from Andrew Sullivan's live blog of last night's Florida Republican primary: 

Peter Montgomery vs. Claims that Religious Right Is Waning in American Politics: The "Religious Freedom" Debate

Peter Montgomery lists five reasons to demonstrate that it's wildly wrong to claim that the influence of the religious right has waned in American politics.  The first of these: the attempt of the religious right (including the U.S. Catholic bishops and their supporters) to redefine the term "religious liberty" or "religious freedom," so that it permits special privileges to religious groups to disobey non-discrimination laws applying to everyone else.

Religion and Politics: Joanna Brooks on Mormons, Sarah Posner on Gingrich and Catholics

Two good new politics-and-religion postings at Religion Dispatches today: 

First, Joanna Brooks talks about how the increasing availability of information online allows more and more Mormons--especially Mormon youth--to come to terms with their tradition's real history and mixed bag of teachings and legacies.  Writing as an insider who knows how things work in LDS culture, she notes that most Mormon young people are introduced to Mormon history and religious practice through a  "highly orthodox, literal approach to Church doctrine and scripture."