Counting steps is passé … now, count your prayers!
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Given the the success of Fitbit (and its imitators) — counting steps, recording sleep patterns, nudging butts off couches — you just had to see this one coming:
Here’s the scoop…
Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category
Move over FitBit …
October 18, 2019Score one for the Little Sisters of the Poor …
November 12, 2016Remember when the Obama DOJ decided to go after the Little Sisters of the Poor?
We posted about the law suit in January 2014: Let’s have a little fun with the nuns …
Looking back, it may have been a defining moment for some folks.
Sicking the IRS on the Tea Party was one thing …
Going after the Little Sisters, though, was a visible, and mobilizing metaphor.
Let’s flashback ….
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When I heard the news report, I thought it was a joke.
The full force of the DOJ is being thrown at, believe it or not …
THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.
Not just nuns, “little” nuns.
Not just little nuns, little nuns who dedicate their lives to God and spend every waking hour praying or caring for the poor.
Not just little nuns who care for the poor, little poor-caring nuns who are, on average, probably about a hundred years old.
These are the nuns who are literally icons for the helpless.
So much so that weak sports teams – like those on Georgetown’s early season basketball schedule — have forever been referred to as representing The Little Sisters of the Poor.
Those Little Sisters of the Poor.
What’s the government’s beef?
Papal Visit: Little Sisters call in Big Papa…
September 25, 2015Everybody must have their favorite moments from the Pope’s visit.
Here are my top 2 in reverse order:
#2 Obama was late getting to Andrew’s Air Force Base, so the Pope’s plane was put in a holding pattern over North Carolina to blow some time and arrive concurrently with the President. Source
I got a kick out of this one since the men — who were totally in sympatico re: climate change change — didn’t flinch at the notion of burning a couple of hundred gallons of jet fuel.
The symbolism was awesome..
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What could possibly beat that ?
Muslims like him; Mormons, not so much…
July 11, 2014A recent Gallup poll reports that 72% of Muslims approve of the job that President Obama is doing.
78% of Mormons dis-approve …
More generally, the President is under-water with Christians … above water with non-Christians and atheists … and still has Jewish support.
Hmmm.
#HomaFiles
Follow on Twitter @KenHoma >> Latest Posts
Let’s have a little fun with the nuns …
January 6, 2014When I heard the news report, I thought it was a joke.
The full force of the DOJ is being thrown at, believe it or not …
THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.
Not just nuns, “little” nuns.
Not just little nuns, little nuns who dedicate their lives to God and spend every waking hour praying or caring for the poor.
Not just little nuns who care for the poor, little poor-caring nuns who are, on average, probably about a hundred years old.
These are the nuns who are literally icons for the helpless.
So much so that weak sports teams – like those on Georgetown’s early season basketball schedule — have forever been referred to as representing The Little Sisters of the Poor.
Those Little Sisters of the Poor.
What’s the government’s beef?
Why I like the new Pope …
March 14, 2013With a puff of white smoke, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina became Pope Francis.
Seems like a good guy …
1. In Argentina, rode around on buses instead of private limos
2. When elected, told Cardinals who voted for him “May God forgive you”
3. First Jesuit Pope … HOYA SAXA
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Follow on Twitter @KenHoma >> Latest Posts
It’s Sunday … So, how did the religious folks vote?
November 11, 2012Last Sunday, I posted: It’s Sunday, so forget the ‘war on women’ … the ‘war on religion’ may turn the election.
I argued that religious folks would be out in force to vote against Obama because of his support of same-sex marriage and his mandating that Catholic organizations would have to provide free birth control to employees – in an apparent violation of religious rights.
I said that Evangelicals would vote for Romney in droves; that a majority of Catholics would vote Romney; that Obama’s Jewish support was less certain than in 2008, and that Mormons would support their favorite son.
Well, what happened?
According to a Pew Poll:
- Evangelicals did get to the voting booth and voted almost 80% for Romney.
- Overall, Obama got 50% of the Catholic vote, but that’s a bit deceptive since he only got 40% of the white Catholic vote; his ace-in-the-hole were Hispanic Catholics who voted 3 to 1 for Obama
- Jewish voters were less enthusiastic for Obama than they were in 2008, but still supported him 2 to 1 despite his lukewarm support for Israel.
- Mormons gave Romney almost 80% of their votes … (Note: way less than the 93% that blacks gave to Obama.)
Pretty much as expected, except for the Hispanic Catholics who voted Hispanic, not Catholic … and the 20% of Mormons who didn’t vote for Romney.
It’s Sunday, so forget the ‘war on women’ … the ‘war on religion’ may turn the election.
November 4, 2012President Obama made two decisions that may come back to haunt him if he loses the election: (1) supporting same-sex marriage and (2) mandating that Catholic organizations cover contraception, morning after pills, etc.
While those decisions may have popular support … especially with the Democratic base … they have also riled up religious factions … and not just those on the far right.
Let’s put the morality of those two decisions aside, and just look at the politics.
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Same-sex Marriage
First, a Pew poll reported by the Daily Caller suggests that Obama’s support for gay marriage didn’t win Obama many votes in the gay community … largely because he pretty much owned that group even with a wishy-washy position.
- “President Barack Obama has barely moved the needle among the small percentage of voters who are gay or lesbian, despite his public support for lifting curbs on open homosexuality in the military and revamping marriage to include same-sex couples.”
- “A Pew poll … found that only 3.4 percent declare themselves to be sexual minorities … 71% of gays or lesbians who are registered voters support Obama, 22% say they’ll vote for Romney. That’s a very small drop from the 2004 and 2008 elections, when three out of four self-identified lesbians or gays voted for the Democratic candidate … In 2004, Kerry got 77% percent of the vote.
Obama may have gained some votes from non-gays who support the same-sex marriage cause, but those votes are likely to be offset by lost votes among conservative religious groups.
For example, in June, a group of black pastors launched an anti-Obama campaign centered around the gay marriage decision and its potential impact on families.
According to CNN: A group of conservative black pastors are responding to President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage with what they say will be a national campaign aimed at rallying black Americans to rethink their overwhelming support of the President … The Rev. Williams Owens, who is president and founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors and the leader of the campaign, has highlighted opposition to same-sex marriage among African-Americans. He calls this campaign “an effort to save the family” … “The time has come for a broad-based assault against the powers that be that want to change our culture
The effort hasn’t gotten much press lately, and probably hasn’t gotten much traction.
Obama still has near total support among blacks.
But, lump the same-sex marriage support with the contraception mandate and there may be a bigger blowback among religious groups.
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Evangelicals
The WSJ reports that Romney’s support has surged among evangelicals.
The Southern Baptist Convention has endorsed him, the Faith and Freedom Coalition has been stumping for him, and evangelical Christian leader Rick Warren didn’t hold presidential election interviews like he did with John McCain & Barack “Above my pay grade” Obama. More generally …
The president of Ohio Christian University, Mark A. Smith, says, “The intensity of voters in the faith community is as high as I’ve seen it in the last 12 years.
“The driver of that intensity is religious liberty. We took a direct hit with the Affordable Care Act,” he says.
Evangelicals watched the Obama administration’s big public fight with Catholic hospitals and charities.
What they concluded is that the health-care law was a direct threat to their own private outreach programs.
In the 2008 presidential vote, evangelicals were 31% in Iowa,26% in Wisconsin and 30% of the vote in Ohio.
It’s estimated that in 2008 there were 350,000 evangelicals who didn’t vote in Ohio.
They could be a determining factor this year if evangelicals are, in fact, galvanized and motivated to flock to the polls.
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Catholics
And, there’s the Catholic factor.
In 2008, Obama won 54% of the Catholic vote.
But, Pew reports that there’s been a 9-point swing in Catholic voters toward the GOP since 2008.
Since Catholics are 1/4 of the U.S. population … that’s a 2% swing in the electorate … a shift that could be a big deal.
While Catholics are split – largely balancing social justice with right-to-life – and while a majority of Catholics reported;y to favor contraception … the contraception insurance mandate was a proverbial stick in the eye to church officials who railed against it as a violation of religious rights.
That view seems to have gained some traction.
According to Pew, Catholics are hearing a lot from the pulpit about abortion and religious liberty.
Bishops around the country have been having letters read to parishioners, reminding them of Catholic values.
For example, the Bishop of Green Bay recently issued a pastoral letter saying that “voting for candidates whose positions contradict any so-called “non-negotiables” of Catholic teaching “could put [one’s] soul in jeopardy.”
Apparently the Bishop has had some impact since Obama is making a campaign stop in Green Bay this week … likely to either settle things down a bit or stick the Bishop in the eye.
And, it appears that some Catholic groups are rising up.
Our local church staged a Fortnighi to Freedom rally … reminding parishioners that the Feds are stepping in to dictate actions and restrict religious liberty.
And, some Catholic lay groups have produced slick ads that are starting to go viral.
Here’s one called “Test of Fire”.
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Mormons
Finally, you may have heard that Mitt Romney is a Mormon.
Early on, pundits said that Americans generally and Evangelicals wouldn’t vote for a Mormon President.
That doesn’t seem to be the case … though I still expect some anti-Mormon chatter in the final days of the campaign.
The bigger point is that, according to Pew, Mormons are the religious group most skewed towards Republican.
There are over 6 million Mormons in the U.S. … expect them to vote as a bloc and to be out in force to to bolster Romney’s get-out-the-vote efforts.
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Bottom line
When the dust settles, I’m betting that the religious groups – mobilized Evangelicals, “poked” Catholics and zealous Mormons – will largely determine the election outcome.
We’ll see.
