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The hopes and fears of all the year

28 Dec 2008 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Nearly two years ago, in April 2007, an undergraduate art student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago unveiled a papier-mache sculpture of Barack Obama as a messianic figure, titled "Blessing." David Cordero, 24, made the sculpture for his senior show after noticing all the attention Obama had received since first hinting he might run for the presidency. Run Obama did, and win he did, and his election was overwhelmingly voted the top news story of the year by U.S. editors and news directors polled by the Associated Press. But as we prepare to celebrate the Savior's birth, Obama must contend with the almost messianic-like hope that many people hold for his presidency. Artist Cordero's explanation for creating his sculpture may prove a healthy cautionary tale: "All of this is a response to what I've been witnessing and hearing, this idea that Barack is sort of a potential savior that might come and absolve the country of all its sins. In a lot of ways it's about caution in assigning all these inflated expectations on one individual, and expecting them to change something that many hands have shaped." As Obama prepares to take office in a few weeks, he inherits a number of daunting challenges not of his own creation, not least of which is the nation's financial meltdown-voted the number-two story of the year in the AP poll. Obama will also be handed the long-running war in Iraq, another top-ten story of the year, not to mention the even longer-running war in Afghanistan. If that were not enough, the U.S. as well as other nations face the ongoing threat of terrorism, as demonstrated by another top story, the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, India that killed 164 people. The historic political campaigns of two women-Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin-also made the list of top-ten news stories. Though their campaigns were not victorious, both women finished the year with their political futures intact-Clinton as Obama's choice for U.S. Secretary of State, and Palin as a leading light of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. China and Russia were home to top stories of the year as well. China made the list for a triumph, its largely successful hosting of the Beijing Olympics, as well as a tragedy, a powerful earthquake in May that left more than 70,000 dead and led to the collapse of about 7,000 classrooms in shoddily built schools. The five-day Russian-Georgian war in August rounds out the list, a further reminder that Obama will inherit a number of complex and potentially volatile foreign-relations concerns. Stories that almost made the top ten included Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 84,000 people in Myanmar; Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which wreaked deadly damage in the Caribbean and on the U.S. Gulf Coast; and the seesaw fate of same-sex marriage in California, where a court ruling approving it was later overturned by a ballot measure. Several write-in votes were cast for two developments that occurred too late to be included on the AP ballot: the indictment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the efforts of struggling U.S. automakers to get a federal bailout. The alleged financial scam involving Bernard Madoff also was revealed too late to make the ballot. Several of the editors who voted commented on how two transcendent developments dominated the news in 2008. "As far as I am concerned, there were only two stories this year," wrote Linda Grist Cunningham of the Rockford (Illinois) Register Star. "Global economy collapses (sending every country into financial, political, and personal chaos) and Obama elected U.S. president, changing the way the America does business-financial, political, and personal." Source: Articles by Joel Roberts and David Crary for the Associated Press

automakers russia beijing olympics georgia cyclone nargis myanmar hurricane gustav hurricane ike same-sex marriage california bailout bernard madoff china sarah palin hilary clinton rod blagojevich barack obama david cordero school of the art institute of chicago associated press savior iraq war afghanistan war top-ten news stories terrorism mumbai global economy

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Racism not our cup of tea, say Tea Party loyalists

18 Jul 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“One who walks blamelessly and does justice” will live in the presence of the Lord, the psalmist says this Sunday. Accused of fostering racism, Tea Party loyalists said the charge is unjust and they are blameless. The debate intensified this week after the NAACP approved a resolution condemning racism in the movement. Some Tea Party groups tolerate bigotry, said NAACP officials. The resolution approved Tuesday “calls on the Tea Party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the Tea Party,” said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau. Tea Partiers weren’t buying it. Even before the formal vote at the NAACP’s annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri, the St. Louis Tea Party put out its own resolution. That measure condemned the NAACP for “lowering itself to the dishonorable position of a partisan political attack dog” and demanded the organization withdraw its “bigoted, false, and inflammatory resolution.” Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a Tea Party favorite, issued a statement saying that NAACP claims that Tea Party members judge people by the color of their skin are “false and appalling.” Palin said she was “saddened by the NAACP’s claim that patriotic Americans . . . are somehow racists.” Tea Party activists say their loosely organized movement’s guiding principles center around the need for a smaller federal government and lower taxes. Charges of racism have surfaced in the past, however, largely in response to individuals at Tea Party meetings making comments or displaying signs that minority groups find offensive. A recent survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality suggests that “people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters,” said Christopher Parker, who directed the study. “The Tea Party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race.” Source: Articles by Peter Grier for Christian Science Monitor and Ellis Cose for Newsweek

sarah palin racism tea party naacp christopher parker

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Another year, another conflict over religion

26 Dec 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Religious tensions existed when Jesus first came into the world, and they continue to this day. As another calendar year draws to a close, the Religion Newswriters Association has released its list of top religion stories and newsmakers for 2010. Heading the list this year is the public debate and controversy over a planned Islamic community center and mosque to be built near New York’s Ground Zero. The plan ignited a national debate about religious freedom that kept the story in the forefront of U.S. news for months. Public opinion and outcry over the mosque reached a peak when a pastor of a small Florida church threatened to burn a Qur’an in protest, a planned act of bravado that until the pastor backed down fueled fears of international backlash against the United States. The Islamic center’s leading proponent, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was voted the 2010 Religion Newsmaker of the Year, topping Pope Benedict XVI, the many faith-based workers helping victims of the Haitian earthquake, and Sarah Palin, who devoted significant portions of her second best-selling book to arguing that candidates for office take a public Christian stand. Source: A press release by Debra L. Mason for Religion Newswriters Association, www.rna.org/news

religion new york city sarah palin benedict xvi ground zero mosque feisal abdul rauf news religion newswriters association

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Arizona shootings leave nation stunned and grieving

16 Jan 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The prophet Isaiah this Sunday speaks the rousing words through which the Lord gives strength to the people of Israel so they will be a light to the nations. The husband of hospitalized Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords spoke of her fighting spirit and his hope for her recovery after she was shot last Saturday in an attack that shocked the nation. “I can only think that God has more important things planned for her in the future,” said Mark Kelly, a Navy pilot, Desert Storm veteran, and astronaut with NASA's space shuttle program. The killing spree at a public gathering for Gifford’s constituents killed six--including a federal judge and 9-year-old girl--and wounded 14 others. Shaken by the attempted assassination of their colleague and the killing of one of her aides, House members convened at the Capitol on Wednesday to honor the rampage's dead and wounded and begin reviewing security concerns with law enforcement officials. The attack on Giffords, a relatively centrist Democrat known for her easygoing charm, and its unremarkable setting at a weekend “Congress on Your Corner” event for constituents, left fellow lawmakers rattled and with a sense that democracy itself had been a victim of the attack. At the same time, many Republican lawmakers quickly rejected any suggestion that gun control laws need to be tightened, even to limit access to expanded ammunition clips like the one that the police say shooter Jared L. Loughner used outside a Tucson supermarket on Saturday. With all eyes on the rostrum of the House, and many Americans still forming their first impressions of him, speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio struck a bipartisan and conciliatory tone he spoke. “Our hearts are broken,” he said at one point, “but our spirit is not.” Some commentators have drawn a connection between the heated political rhetoric of the past several years, including gun and shooting metaphors used by Sarah Palin, and the violence in Arizona. In an online video Wednesday that stirred controversy anew for its use of the term “blood libel,” Palin denounced those criticisms: "Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn." Speaking at a Tucson memorial service Wednesday evening, President Obama implored Americans to honor those slain and injured by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other “in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.” Following a hospital bedside visit with Rep. Giffords, the target of the assassination, he said: “She knows we’re here, and she knows we love her.” “Those who died here, those who saved lives here--they help me believe,” the president said. “We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.” Source: Articles by David M. Herszenhorn and Jennifer Stainhauer for the New York Times, Adam Nagourney for Politico, Julie Pace and Ben Feller for the Associated Press, Ted Rowlands and Jessica Yellin for CNN News, and Yahoo News

gun control barack obama sarah palin congress john boehner arizona gabrielle giffords tucson

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