Comments on: Commentary Slowdown – Open Thread

By: Duncan

Duncan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:57:11 +0000

On a different topic, take a look at this link, from one of The Economist’s blogs:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2009/11/banning_straight_marriage_by_m.cfm

The basic problem is that these people don’t just think straight marriage is written in stone, they think it is an absolute truth and states merely acknowledge it. Hence this.

By: Richard W. Fitch

Richard W. Fitch — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:22:25 +0000

Ben – Bishop Spong’s newsletter is e-published weekly. Some times it deals with strictly Biblical and/or Christian issues; but frequently it addresses current events that have a religious/spiritual component. It requires a subscription ($10 per qtr) to take advantage of all the features which includes reader forums and access to all the past newsletters. I have been an admirer of the Bishop for over 12 yrs now and have read/own most of his books. His perspective has prompted me to define myself as “a post-theistic, liberal Episcopalian”. His latest book “Eternal Life: A New Vision; Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell” was released a few weeks ago. [I had it on pre-order and 'devoured' it immediately.] Most of the issues he has elucidated over the past 30 yrs are touched on again in this book. If you have liked his thinking previously, I highly recommend wrapping your spirit around this one too.

By: Ben in Oakland

Ben in Oakland — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:29:01 +0000

What a great link, richard. I just emailed Rev. Spong.

Dear Bishop Spong:

“We invite all gay Roman Catholic clergy who are tired of hiding in dishonesty to become Anglicans. To ease their transition we will allow some Roman liturgies to be used. We also invite all those alienated Roman Catholic lay people who can no longer twist their minds into first-century pretzels in order to assent to dogmas that the intellectual revolution of the past 500 years has rendered unbelievable to come now into a Church where they can explore truth with minds not fettered by the myth of “divine revelation.”"

All I can say is BRAVISSIMO. I have always admired you. I hope the Anglican and Episcopal Churches do exactly this. Any chance that you can replace that weak tea of an Archbishop?

By: Ken in Riverside

Ken in Riverside — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:52:20 +0000

Empirical evidence is empirical.

By: Ephilei

Ephilei — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:46:54 +0000

The Bradley Effect question is interesting!

I’d also like to see coverage of ENDA which is being debated in Congress now, tho not getting the coverage it has before.

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:35:26 +0000

It seems clear enough to me, you can take 5% off the poling numbers for the equality side to bet a better feel for how its likely to go on voting day.

By: Burr

Burr — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:22:13 +0000

I like that last question. I’m really curious whether anyone has really looked into a Bradley Effect or if we’re all just theorizing and we’re just getting a lot of bad polls. Improving the accuracy of polls on gay rights is going to be key to any future campaigns.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:17:04 +0000

Can we have some investigation into whether there is a gay “Bradley Effect”? The polls had us winning in California and Maine by similar margins, and then we lost by similar margins. Even polling guru Nate Silver got it wrong in his predictions for both states.

By: homer

homer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:02:10 +0000

Is Carrie Prejean the sixth Cylon?

By: Richard W. Fitch

Richard W. Fitch — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:52:36 +0000

Corrected link:
http://secure.agoramedia.com/spong/week375story1_prev.asp