By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Sep 27, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  Kentucky lost a giant last night.
Owsley Brown II, was best known for serving as Chairman and CEO of Brown-Forman, a Fortune 500 corporation, but his enduring legacy will be for doing good, after doing so well.
Brown was a very active and visible civic leader in Louisville who emerged ultimately as one of Kentucky’s most generous and profilic philathropists — a supporter of the arts, the environment, historic preservation, and hundreds of noble causes, large and small.
Owlsey Brown also happened to be a genuinely warm, steadfastly sincere, and eternally gracious and graceful human being. I lost a dear friend last night, a mentor, adviser, and champion. And so did so many other Kentuckians of my generation, whom Owsley so passionately nurtured and lifted upward. He truly believed in giving back to the community that gave so much to him, and in paying forward all of the support that others had provided him along the way.
I’ve recently bristled at the overuse of the cliche that we should offer the grieving “our thoughts and our prayers.” But as his widow (an extraordinary civic leader in her own right, Christy Brown) and his whole family mourns Owsley’s loss, I hope each of us will look into our own hearts, explore our individual religious and spiritual traditions, and take meaningful action to honor his memory.
When I learn of Owsley and Christy’s wishes for more formal ways to honor his memory, I will post them here.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Sep 26, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Saudi Arabia, a country that follows strict Sunni Islamic law, takes a significant step forward in women’s rights by permitting women to vote and to run in municipal elections. [BBC News]
Pope’s visit with Protestant and Muslim leaders in Germany may demonstrate the Vatican’s desire for stronger interfaith relationships. [NY Times]
Can Judaism survive without God? Some Jews say yes. [Washington Post]
By RP Staff, on Thu Sep 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET Yesterday, the RP published a provocative piece here and at The Huffington Post, urging President Obama to firmly and strongly object to unilateral U.N. action on a two-state solution, giving the President a two-part message:
Obama has a simple, fair, and logical message to share: First, each party to the problem must have ownership of the solution: imposing borders unilaterally is not in the spirit of the U.N.’s mission. And second, if Palestine merits formal global recognition, then Israel too — finally — deserves its full acceptance as a Jewish state by Palestine and all of its neighbors, an integral element of any compromise solution.
Of course, President Obama listened to the RP and immediately complied by delivering a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. (OK, just maybe it was planned in advance of the RP’s article.):
Now, I know that many are frustrated by the lack of progress. I assure you, so am I. But the question isn’t the goal that we seek — the question is how do we reach that goal. And I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace is hard work. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations — if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians — not us –- who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and on security, on refugees and Jerusalem.
Ultimately, peace depends upon compromise among people who must live together long after our speeches are over, long after our votes have been tallied…We seek a future where Palestinians live in a sovereign state of their own, with no limit to what they can achieve. There’s no question that the Palestinians have seen that vision delayed for too long. It is precisely because we believe so strongly in the aspirations of the Palestinian people that America has invested so much time and so much effort in the building of a Palestinian state, and the negotiations that can deliver a Palestinian state.
But understand this as well: America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. Our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring. And so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that Israel faces every single day.
Let us be honest with ourselves: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, look out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile and persecution, and fresh memories of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they are. Those are facts. They cannot be denied.
The Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland. Israel deserves recognition. It deserves normal relations with its neighbors. And friends of the Palestinians do them no favors by ignoring this truth, just as friends of Israel must recognize the need to pursue a two-state solution with a secure Israel next to an independent Palestine.
Click here for the full text of the President’s address.
The RP Nation had its say as well. The RP’s article unleashed a torrent of comments here, at The Huffington Post, on Facebook, and via email.
One consistent thread from all sides of the ideological debate: The ROP screwed up when he stated the Yom Kippur War occurred in 1974. It was 1973. We are confident that the RP will seek absolution for this mistake on Yom Kippur, this year, 2009.
Here is a representative sample, protecting the identities of the innocent:
Read the rest of…
“Obama’s Defining Moment on Israel”: The Response
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Wed Sep 21, 2011 at 9:15 AM ET
Is the invisible hand of the free market really God at work? That’s what some believe. [Washington Post]
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Sep 21, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET For my column this week in The Huffington Post, I draw upon a seminal childhood memory — sparked by my recent trip to Europe — to comment on a subject of great personal and religious import: the security and survival of the State of Israel.
I also offer President Obama some advice on how to address President Mahmoud Abbas’ current efforts to force a United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood.
Here’s an excerpt:
As I gaze out my airplane’s window, across the runway of Munich’s International Airport, I flash back to my childhood, and am reminded of what truly is at stake today for my ancestral homeland of Israel.
Early memories can leave indelible marks. My teenage daughters, and many of their generation, will forever be influenced by the events of 9-11. Younger Boomers found their worldviews permanently transformed by the assassinations of the sixties, of Kennedys and King.
My seminal memory is of the 1972 tragedy that transpired on another runway in Munich. The halcyon harmony of the Olympic Village was ravaged by hooded terrorists who brutally murdered eleven Israeli athletes — nine of them on a Munich tarmac — through a hail of gunfire and grenades, as a global television audience prayed in vain for their rescue.
The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich were supposed to be a transcendent moment for the Jewish people: A penitent Germany symbolically renouncing its Nazi past; while a proud American Jew, Mark Spitz, set standards for swimming that were only recently surpassed by Michael Phelps.
Instead, Jews around the world were vividly reminded of the fragility of their newfound security. And a young boy in Lexington, Kentucky began to understand what being Jewish really meant.
Click here to read the full column in The Huffington Post.
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Sep 19, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Has American society shifted from deep sectarianism to “liberal whateverism”? Sociologist Christian Smith argues that both should be rejected in favor of “authentic pluralism.” [Huffington Post]
In Mississippi, the state with the highest obesity rate, one pastor bans fried chicken from church events in an effort to live according to the gospel of healthy eating. [NPR]
Is God a Christian? Here’s a review of R. Kirby Godsey’s recently published book about “creating a community of conversation” around that question. [Patheos]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Sep 12, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Rabbi refuses to testify in a tax-evasion case because of an ancient Jewish doctrine called mesira, that prohibits Jews against informing on other Jews to secular authorities. [LA Times]
Comedian Dean Obeidallah, son of Palestinian-Muslim and Italian-Christian parents, comments on how 9-11 affected “shared faith and American identity.” [CNN]
Get your daily dose of amazing information at OMG Facts Official. In this clip, the location of the Door to Hell is revealed. [YouTube]
Clothing store Forever 21 draws controversy over its religiously themed shirts. [Kansas City Star]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Public praise and adoption of Ayn Rand and her philosophical and political views is in fashion for conservative politicians, including those who identify themselves as Christians. Some challenge, however, that Rand’s values are antithetical to Christianity. [EvangelicalsForSocialAction.org]
9/11 inspired a new generation of Muslims that have worked diligently in the past decade to launch organizations that foster understanding and cooperation between Muslims and the rest of the America. [CNN]
Clergy not invited to 9/11 memorial ceremony. [Huffington Post]
A cross shaped bean on the site of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum sparks controversy. [NY Times]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Aug 29, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. A video game based on the apocryphal book Enoch is popular with Japanese gamers. [CNN]
Rick Perry is running a campaign that is openly religious, but are the values he espouses a good reflection of Christianity? [The Atlantic]
Painting of Mickey Mouse as Jesus banned in Russia for being religiously offensive. [Huffington Post]
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, on Wed Aug 24, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  America is a religious nation. Polls may differ, but most find that over 80 percent of Americans say they believe in God. Fifty percent also say they go to church on Sunday, while only half of those actually do. I guess this shows that we want to look better than we actually are, at least to the public — if not to God, who presumably knows what we’re really up to.
Most political candidates also profess their belief in God. At the same time, they rarely make a big deal of their devotion. They’ve probably read Matthew 6:1, which warns, “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them.”
 Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who just announced he’s running for president, has taken a different tack. A week before announcing his candidacy, he led a prayer meeting for evangelical Christians in Houston. The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit trying to stop him from participating in this rally, arguing that he was violating the First Amendment by using his position, stationery, and website to promote the event. The court dismissed the complaint, saying that the plaintiff didn’t show sufficient harm to merit the injunction.
I disagree with the court’s ruling. I think the governor misused his office to promote a particular religion. That might have been clearer to the judge if Perry had organized a rally in support of Islam rather than Christianity. There’s no difference as far as the First Amendment is concerned.
Read the rest of…
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Is Rick Perry as Christian as He Says He Is?
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