Jerome E. Copulsky

Imagine, for a moment, if, during the tense final hours of the recently concluded negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 world powers, Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister…

In his latest the Times’ conservative Wunderkind Ross Douthat attempts to explain the current crisis as the result of our nation’s departure from orthodoxy. An honest look at the history of orthodoxy and he might see a past rife with the sin and brutality, enforced less by faith than by coercion.

Obama’s civil religion, like JFK’s and Bush’s before him, emphasizes the connection between God and American ideals. But Obama spoke not of “endowed rights” but of “God-given promise.” Rights are inherent in the creature while promises are to be fulfilled.