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Bible teaches us to reward achievement but liberals disagree
By: AFRTALK
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Bible teaches us to reward achievement but liberals disagree - Video
A recent study found liberals were more likely to fib about attending servicesshowing there's still a greater stigma against atheism than belief.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Last week, the Public Religion Research Institute published a study showing that Americans want their fellow citizens to think they are more religiously observant than they really are. When asked by a live human being on the telephone how often they attend religious services, respondents were more likely to say they attend frequently. When filling out a self-administered online survey, by contrast, they were more likely to admit that they do not.
Surprising? Not terribly. But this may be: Liberals were more likely to exaggerate their religious attendance than conservatives. Liberals attend services less frequently than conservatives do. Yet their desire to be thought more religiously observant than they actually are is greater.
Americans Voters Moonlight as Existential Philosophers
Why does this matter? Because its more evidence that the claim that liberals are waging a war on religion is absurd. You can hardly listen to a GOP presidential hopeful or flip on Fox News without hearing the charge. In 2012, Rick Perry promised that if elected hed end Obamas war on religion. Bobby Jindal recently warned that the American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent war against a group of like-minded [liberal] elites, determined to transform the country from a land sustained by faith into a land where faith is silenced, privatized, and circumscribed. Ann Coulter explains, Liberals hate religion because politics is a religion substitute for liberals and they cant stand the competition.
Notice the claim. Its not merely that liberals are not religious themselves. Its that they disdain people who are, and this disdain creates a cultural stigma (and a legal barrier) to religious observance. Bigotry against evangelical Christians is the last acceptable form of bigotry in the country, Ralph Reed said recently.
The truth is almost exactly the reverse. Over the past few decades, liberals havefar more than conservativesturned away from religious affiliation, though not necessarily belief in God. But while they may feel proud of their views on religion-informed issues like evolution and gay marriage, theyre not particularly proud of their lack of religious observance per se. Indeed, theyre aware that theyre violating a cherished social norm. Asking liberals to admit that they are disproportionately secular is like asking conservatives to admit that they are disproportionately white. Its a truth they find embarrassing. Liberals love left-leaning religious figures like Sister Simone Campbell, the immigrant-rights-championing nun who addressed the 2012 Democratic National Convention, for the same reason conservatives love right-wing African Americans like Herman Cain and Dr. Ben Carson: They defy a negative stereotype.
After all, if liberals really stigmatized the religious, wouldnt some of them have objected when John Kerry flaunted his Catholicism in 2004 or Barack Obama flaunted his adult embrace of Christianity in 2008? Is there a single example, even in the most liberal city or district, of one Democratic candidate trying to outdo the other by proclaiming herself more hostile to religious belief?
I doubt it, because most secular liberals understandeven if Fox News commentators dontthat Americas last acceptable religious prejudice isnt against evangelical Christians. Its against atheists. According to a 2008 poll, more than two-thirds of American atheists said they feared the repercussions in their community if they openly declared their belief that there is no god.
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The Myth of a 'War on Religion'
QUEBEC CITY There was a nervousness in the air as MNAs faced off in the very first Question Period since the April elections.
Premier Philippe Couillard fielded some tough questions on the economy, but the biggest blow came with the news that yet another Liberal is being called to testify at the Charbonneau Commission.
WATCH: Are Quebec Liberals in trouble?
The Premier is an experienced politician, but the magnitude of the change Quebecers voted for on April 7 has only just started to sink in.
READ MORE: Liberals sworn-in amidst allegations of illegal party financing
That didnt stop Couillard from cracking a few jokes though saying he was glad he would now get to see the right side of the Speakers face.
I hope that goes on for another four and a half years, laughed Jacques Chagnon, Speaker of the National Assembly and MNA of WestmountSaint-Louis.
WATCH: Quebec Liberals backtrack on daycare cuts
Chagnon says he hopes good relations between the parties will last but that didnt stop the Parti Qubcois from launching its first attack.
The Premier is leading the province toward a credit rating downgrade, said Stephane Bedard, the PQs interim leader.
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Liberals address tough topics in first Question Period
Sen. Menendez Talks Immigration Reform One Year After Legislation Passed Crucial Committee Hurdle
Senator Bob Menendez talks about immigration reform on the Senate Floor exactly one year after the Senate #39;s "Gang of 8" legislation passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.
By: SenatorMenendezNJ
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Sen. Menendez Talks Immigration Reform One Year After Legislation Passed Crucial Committee Hurdle - Video
Senate Democrats on Thursday insisted that House Republicans should take up comprehensive immigration reform legislation as soon as possible, even if that means delaying its implementation until President Obama is out of office.
"Here's a suggestion," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said to reporters. "Let's pass immigration reform today and make it take effect in 2017... under President Rand Paul or President Theodore Cruz." (Sen. Ted Cruz's full name is, in fact, Rafael Edward Cruz)
Democrats have put up the challenge before in response to the Republican rationale for delaying immigration reform: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and others maintain the president cannot be trusted to enforce any laws Congress may pass.
Reid insisted that "the president's proven he'll enforce current immigration law." Furthermore, he said that delaying the implementation of immigration reform is "not my preference."
Still, he said, "We need to get [the reforms] across the finish line." If Republicans reject the Democrats' offer to act now and delay the legislation's implementation, it would "suggest there's never going to be a time when House Republicans are willing to act," Reid added.
If Republicans don't act soon, Democrats threatened, Mr. Obama should feel compelled to make more immigration reforms unilaterally.
"They have about a six-week window from June 10 after the last Republican primary until the August recess," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. "If they don't pass immigration reform, then the president will have no choice but to act on his own... If the president has to act, the only blame will fall on the shoulders of House Republicans."
Noting that the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill 329 days ago, Reid said that they could wait a few more weeks for the House to follow suit. He also said that before ratcheting up pressure on the White House to act, Congress should wait for the upcoming Department of Homeland Security report of the United States' deportation policy.
Mr. Obama has come under increasing pressure from immigration advocates to halt the deportation of undocumented immigrants. His administration has deported more undocumented immigrants than any other administration and last month surpassed the 2 million mark.
Reid said he expects the DHS report should be finished in at least six weeks. "At the end of six weeks if something hasn't been done, there's going to have to be a move made," he said.
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Dems to GOP: Let "Pres. Rand Paul" enact immigration reform