W.R. Marshall: Newtown, Connecticut

AFP

I waited a week…I still have nothing to say—there is nothing to say. I lie to my third grader so she can sleep, I can’t. A lie that says nothing bad happens here, there are no bad people here—the lie melts away as soon as it’s spoken; not because it’s a lie, but because a lie needs words, and there are no words.

Rev. Jennifer Butler and Gordon Whitman: The moral case for preserving the safety net

AFP

As cracks form among CEOs and Republican Members of Congress over their hardline anti-tax position in the fiscal showdown, religious leaders from across the ideological spectrum have been united in supporting new revenue over additional spending cuts. And they’re speaking for their people. A strong majority of religious Americans favor letting the Bush tax cuts for the richest two percent of Americans expire. Even reliably conservative groups, such as white evangelical Protestants, are evenly divided on the issue.