Producer's Desk — February, 2008

Richard Land answers the question, How do you reconcile the Revolutionary War with our responsibilities as “Christian citizens?”

Enjoy the audio or the transcript at RichardLandAnswers.com

Dr. Richard Land was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition Thursday February 28, 2008.

Excerpt:

“It seems to me that when you say to someone, ‘Well, you’re too narrowly focused on abortion and same-sex marriage.’ That’s like telling [the Rev. Martin Luther] King he was too narrowly focused on racial reconciliation and racial justice,” Land says.

“If you have a pro-life candidate running for the Republicans … and he’s running against someone who is pro-choice and who is running on a party platform that has never met an abortion they couldn’t at least live with — if they didn’t like — you’re not going to see a lot of movement among evangelicals when it comes to presidential elections,” Land says.

NOTE: Producer’s Desk finds the heading of NPR’s Web entry amusing: “Conversations with Conservatives.” Does NPR also have entries under the heading “Conversations with Liberals?” Just curious. At least they are “conversing with” conservatives.

Richard Land publishes the Feb 26th edition the ERLC’s weekly “Faith and Family Values” newsletter (FFV).

This week’s FFV Includes the following:

• Harry Reid made it clear he’s waiting for a “new president, hopefully of a different party than the one now occupying the White House…”
• The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock finds connection between Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood.

The Pew Forum releases the results from its massive survey on religion in America. A few tidbits:

• Americans = 78.4 percent Christian, 4.7 percent other faiths and 16.1 percent unaffiliated.
• The nation’s Protestants make up just 51 percent of the U.S. population and is close to becoming a religious minority.
• While 62 percent of Americans 70 and older are Protestant, compared to only 43 percent of Americans 18-29.
• Jews outnumber Muslims, with Jews comprising. Muslims are the most racially diverse faith group.

Also, former Bush speech writer Michael Gerson looks into the future of evangelicalism. Gerson writes:

“…there is something essentially countercultural about Christianity that should make evangelicals restless in any political coalition… It is often hard where liberalism is soft, and soft where conservatism is hard.

…If evangelical Christianity were identical to any political movement, something would be badly wrong. It is supposed to look toward a kingdom not of this world, one without borders, flags or end. And by this standard, homelessness is a natural state.”

Richard Land and the Richard Land Live! staff are reading the following articles today…

• What That McCain Article Didn’t Say - NY Times editorial by Clark Hoyt

“A newspaper cannot begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did. And if a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point or not, it owes readers more proof than The Times was able to provide. The stakes are just too big.” - Clark Hoyt: Public Editor, NYT

• Is there democracy in the Democratic Party? - by Richard Land for Beliefnet.com

“These superdelegates—disproportionately middle-aged (that’s being charitable), white, and male—are free to vote their “consciences,” without regard to what throngs of Democratic primary or caucus voters in their districts or states may have done.” - Richard Land

• Michelle Obama’s Princeton thesis, Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community - at Politico.com
• Peggy Noonan analyzes Obama speeches at WSJ.com

“It appears that the superdelegates are a symbol of liberal elitism. “Yes, you can vote for the candidate of your choice,” but if the people chose unwisely, the party elders, fulfilling the role of elitist “nanny” state, will decide what is “best for the people.” ”

Read the rest at Casting Stones on Beliefnet.com.

Richard Land participates in a USCIRF hearing on Advancing Religious Freedom and Related Human Rights in Iran.

• Streaming video from C-SPAN.
• Full transcript from USCIRF

“It now appears almost certain that the presidential contest in 2008 will be between Sen. McCain and either Sen.Clinton or Obama. I have been asked on many occasions which contest I would prefer….The country does not need yet another round of that bitter debate in which no one wins and everyone loses…”

Read on at Casting Stones (Beliefnet.com)

I joined a panel discussion with Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Joel Hunter of Northland Church, Laura Olson of Clemson U. and host Warren Olney on this To the Point radio broadcast on NPR.