(1) David Letterman’s thoughts on television vanity, starting with his own
“And because of this introspection, you believe that what you are doing is of great importance and that it is affecting mankind wall-to-wall. And then when you get out of it you realize, oh, well, that wasn’t true at all. It was just silliness. And when that occurred to me, I felt so much better and I realized, geez, I don’t think I care that much about television anymore. I feel foolish for having been misguided by my own ego for so many years.”
(2) Disney Threatens to Stop Filming in Georgia Over Bill Considered Anti-LGBT (TIME)
Disney says it will not film in the state of Georgia if a bill, which critics say would effectively legalize discrimination based on sexual preferences, becomes law.
Gov. Nathan Deal has until May 3 to sign or veto the Free Exercise Protection Act, which protects faith-based organizations that refuse to provide services that would violate their beliefs—such as performing gay marriages, according to the Los Angeles Times.
(3) Religious freedom deserves deference: Our view (USAToday)
If the Obama administration had thought long and hard about the meaning of religious freedom, one of the nation’s most fundamental rights, it would not have ended up in the Supreme Court on Wednesday doing battle over free birth control with Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious non-profits.
(4) Christian Colleges and Southern Baptists Really Missed Scalia Today (Christianity Today)
On Little Sisters’ Supreme Court case, a tie will be a loss for Christian groups opposed to HHS contraceptive mandate.
(5) The GOP needs more Mormons, by Damon Linker
Trump has finally met his match — the force in the Republican Party that can stop his populist juggernaut in its tracks. The secret to bringing the demagogue to his knees? Mormons.
(6) Reagan, Missile Defense & Religious Right, by Mark Tooley
…During the mid 1980s as a college student I worked for a missile defense advocacy group known as High Frontier, founded by Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, former head of DIA. I recall attending hearings by the United Methodist Church bishops on their pastoral letter on nuclear weapons, which denounced missile defense and urged nuclear disarmament. And I helped organize a coalition for missile defense that included many religious groups. Conservative Evangelicals were especially supportive. Pat Robertson hosted General Graham on the 700 Club. Jerry Falwell hosted Graham on his own program and shared his Moral Majority mailing list. Other supporters included Rev. James Kennedy and Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright.
It’s common now, even by Evangelicals, to mock or dismiss the old Religious Right. They were ham-handed, unsophisticated, self-righteous, overly political, too anxious for power, and lacked a coherent political theology. And supposedly they ultimately completely failed to steer the nation in a different direction. There is much truth in this critique. And there is also uncharitable and unhistorical exaggeration. Conservative Evangelicals were absolutely key to the Reagan military buildup, including missile defense. The global political pressure against it by the Soviets, by European peaceniks, by American disarmament diehards, was enormous. But the Religious Right never wavered, not articulating its moral purpose always very well, but still intuiting the spiritual imperative of steadfast resistance to the Soviet Union, and recalling the Christian vocation for the state is above all to protect.
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