The Religious Center Blog

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080824/ap_on_el_pr/cnv_biden_catholic

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/930/religion-politics

On August 16 at Saddleback Church in California, Pastor Rick Warren did an overall good job of facilitating questions to candidates McCain and Obama about a ride range of issues.  In the media, the clear winners of the evening were McCain and Warren.  Warren would be a strong choice to moderate another debate in the fall instead of a traditional news anchor. 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/the_new_politics_of_evangelica.html

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/08/the-race-for--1.html#more

 Great USAToday editorial today by Rev. Henry Brinton on the Religious Center

- DG

Why don't the presidential campaigns talk about workplace flexibility?  Work and life balance is a leading concern in most families.  According to the Attitudes in the American Workplace Survey conducted by the Marlin Company in 2004, 63 percent of Americans report that job pressure interferes with family life. MSNBC has reported that most workers (81 percent) said they were "unhappy with their work/life balance."  60 percent of Americans have reported feeling overworked, according to results from a Monster.com survey.  ComPsych Corporation's Stress Pulse Survey reports that 63 percent of workers say they are stressed to the point of "feeling extremely fatigued or out of control." Roughly two thirds of both men and women indicate that they would like to work fewer hours and this rises to three quarters among those reporting moderate to high levels of work-to-life conflict. 

There is a mismatch between the needs of workers and the structure of American workplaces today.  Businesses are already using flexibility to meet their recruitment and retention needs.  Policymakers are using creative incentives to encourage flexibility in the workplace.  There are solutions that can work for both businesses and workers.  The presidential candidate who articulates those solutions will reap a reward in November.

- David Gray

Prince Caspian, the much anticipated second movie based on the books of C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, opened earlier this month. It follows the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

As I watched Senator Clinton speak after the Montana and South Dakota primaries last evening, I can't help but think of that first Narnia book.

On first glace, John McCain would seem like the lion. Strong willed, sometimes to a fault, with a sturdy constitution that has withstood great pressure and pain. Lions lead battles. They are kings of the wild. In the books, the lion in Narnia has existed "since before the beginning of time." That is not far from the description Senator McCain uses for himself, "I'm older than dirt," and in the spirit in which the Senator from Illinois reminds Americans of every time he thanks Senator McCain for his "more than half century of service."

Senator Obama is like the wardrobe, something magical that helps bridge between two worlds. In the wardrobe's case, one in England and one of Narnia. People come in contact with the wardrobe and are transported to a new place in time. Obama's personal story, racial background and post-partisan outlook places him between two worlds. In the case of the Pevensie children in Lewis' books, the wardrobe helps take them from life as usual in war-time England to a new hopeful world of dreams. Obama's appeal, in part, is his ability to transport his audiences to a new place of possibility. Even dreams for some.

 This Sunday we honor the 83 million moms in America on Mother’s Day.  We owe our Moms our lives and our thanks.  Mother’s Day also turns our attention to our children and the need for more focus on them.  Unfortunately, families with children receive a dwindling share for federal expenditures. Scholars Eugene Steuerle and Adam Carasso have found that between 1960 and 2005, federal spending on children declined from 20.1 percent of the domestic budget to just 15.4 percent, while non-child Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid spending soared from 22.1 percent to 45.9 percent.  This is not good for the development of our future generation.

It is within families that many Americans find the support and love to live their lives with joy.  Many Americans work increasingly hard and it is within families that they experience unconditional love and support in times of trouble.  For couples that do not have children, nuclear and extended families provide critical emotional support.  In a variety of emotional and psychological ways, families enhance the lives of millions of Americans.  And through children, mothers help ensure our future.

Let’s thank our mothers for all they do to make our families what they are.

Let’s let Mother’s Day be a wake-up call for us to invest more in our children.  

Rev. Gray directs the New America Foundation’s Workforce and Family Program. 

Prepare to hear more from the presidential candidates about worker retraining.

In the run up to the Ohio Democratic primary, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama criticized U.S. trade deals and proposed renegotiating NAFTA. Why? Because the American middle class is nervous. A March 3, 2008 survey by Lake Research Partners found that 71% of voters believe it is has become harder to achieve the American dream. 32% of voters found the economy and jobs to be the top issue in the election, twice the number (16%) who selected the war in Iraq as the key issue. Lake's research found that the highest rated cornerstone of the American dream rested upon having a job that pays enough to support a family. The perception that globalization threatens family economic well-being, real or perceived, echoes around the kitchen tables of many American families. Recent fears of recession, foreclosure, and a credit crunch exacerbate these worries.

On March 27, Senator Clinton announced a proposal to invest $12.5 billion over five years in workforce development and to increase the range of assistance to all jobseekers, regardless whether their jobs are lost solely due to their jobs being exported overseas

Now as Clinton may exit the race and the general election begins to focus in on Obama and McCain, will those two candidates pick up the worker retraining mantle? We think they will.
Given his natural forward-looking nature and his record in the Senate, one could see a President Obama focusing on worker retraining.

The 2008 Presidential candidates are all advocating "change" in America (what that change is - rarely specific). One of the major messages of the Obama campaign besides change is unity. While Americans may be awe-inspired by the charm, intelligence, and background of Obama, in a recent article in the Washington Post, (posted on http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/jan/08/world-won8217t-be-that-impressed-by/)
religious scholar Reza Aslan argues that the rest of the world, particularly the Islamic world, will not be so impressed with Obama. It is an interesting commentary on uniting the world, whatever side you are on.