{"id":5604,"date":"2005-10-22T09:19:19","date_gmt":"2005-10-22T13:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5604"},"modified":"2005-10-22T09:19:19","modified_gmt":"2005-10-22T13:19:19","slug":"add-this-one-to-your-late-year-holiday-want-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/add-this-one-to-your-late-year-holiday-want-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Add this one to your late-year holiday want list"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Post by Morbo<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week I mentioned<\/a> Catherine Crier’s new book “Contempt,” a great slam on the kook right for its attacks on our judicial system.<\/p>\n

I’d like to recommend another new book this week. Former CNN and MSNBC commentator Bill Press has just released “How the Republicans Stole Christmas<\/a>: The Republican Party’s Declared Monopoly on Religion and What Democrats Can Do to Take it Back.” It’s a book you don’t want to miss.<\/p>\n

Press begins by debunking Religious Right claptrap about America being founded as a Christian nation. He offers a strong defense of the separation of church and state from a faith perspective and then moves on to discuss issues like abortion, the death penalty, gay marriage and taxes. He wraps up with a plan Democrats can use to re-engage religious Americans without alienating the secularists in the party. <\/p>\n

Press is a devout Catholic, and his passion for a faith that uplifts instead of divides Americans really comes through on these pages. Not only is he a great writer, he’s an engaging speaker as well. Press lives in Washington and has been making appearances on behalf of the book. I was lucky enough to hear him last week at a book store in my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

I was impressed by his down-to-earth nature. Some people get on TV and become all snooty. That’s not Press. He didn’t just scrawl his name on the books and push them across the table. He took the time to talk one-on-one with everyone who attended and personalized every signature.<\/p>\n

I should note that there’s a lot about Jesus in this book. As a young man, Press entered a seminary and almost became a Catholic priest — he knows his stuff. I see the emphasis on Jesus as a plus. In a country that is predominantly Christian in a cultural sense, Press is making an important argument: The Bible simply does not support right-wing positions. <\/p>\n

Press has much of value to say, and I believe even non-Christians will enjoy the book. Regular readers probably know of my secular bent. If more Christians were like Press, I might be tempted to sign up again.<\/p>\n

Pick up a copy of “How the Republicans Stole Christmas<\/a>.” You won’t regret it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Post by Morbo Last week I mentioned Catherine Crier’s new book “Contempt,” a great slam on the kook right for its attacks on our judicial system. I’d like to recommend another new book this week. Former CNN and MSNBC commentator Bill Press has just released “How the Republicans Stole Christmas: The Republican Party’s Declared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}