{"id":9536,"date":"2007-01-06T09:45:01","date_gmt":"2007-01-06T14:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/9536.html"},"modified":"2007-01-06T09:45:01","modified_gmt":"2007-01-06T14:45:01","slug":"this-week-in-god-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/this-week-in-god-43\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kicking off the first “This Week in God” of 2007, it seems appropriate to consider Americans’ expectations for the year with regards to matters of faith. As it turns out, a stunningly large amount of people expect 2007 to be remarkably noteworthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[A]n Associated Press-AOL News poll that asked Americans to gaze into their crystal balls and contemplate what 2007 holds for the country. […]<\/p>\n

Among other predictions for the U.S. in 2007: One in four, 25 percent, anticipates the second coming of Jesus Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This wasn’t one of those dubious online polls; this was an actual telephone survey with a legitimate random sample of Americans.<\/p>\n

Now, I can appreciate a large number of people hoping<\/i> for the second coming; for Christians, it’s a fairly big deal. But one in four Americans actually expects<\/i> JC to come back in ’07? Is it me or does that seem really, really high?<\/p>\n

Next up is an update on an item<\/a> from a few months ago, about Muslim cab drives in Minneapolis who refuse service on religious grounds to passengers carrying alcohol or with service dogs. As of this week, officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport are proposing stiffer penalties<\/a>, including suspension of an airport taxi license
\n<\/p>\n

Officials on Jan. 3 asked the Metropolitan Airport Commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend the airport licenses of cab drivers who refuse service for reasons other than safety concerns. The penalties would also apply to drivers who refuse a fare because a trip is too short.<\/p>\n

Drivers would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and revoked for two years after the second offense, according to the proposal.<\/p>\n

“Our expectation is that if you’re going to be driving a taxi at the airport, you need to provide service to anybody who wants it,” commission spokesman Patrick Hogan said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society told airport officials last year that “Islamic jurisprudence” prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, “because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam.” Since then, about 100 people a month are denied cab service because of a driver’s religious objections.<\/p>\n

The new rules, with the stiffer penalties, will be effective in May — giving drivers time to find a new job if they refuse to work under these conditions.<\/p>\n

And finally this week, because of inexplicable interest from some religious conservatives in which books lawmakers use for their ceremonial swearing-in photo-ops, reader SKNM reminded me that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) wasn’t the only lawmaker to choose an untraditional path<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

While a new, Muslim member of Congress sparked a controversy for taking his oath of office with a Quran instead of a Bible on Thursday, another new member who is Buddhist was sworn in with no book at all.<\/p>\n

Rep. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who was raised in the Buddhist tradition but doesn’t actively practice the religion, said, “I don’t have a book. … But I certainly believe in the precepts of Buddhism and that of tolerance of other religions and integrity and honesty.” […]<\/p>\n

Of the controversy, Hirono said, “It’s about time that we have people of other backgrounds and faiths in Congress. I think Keith Ellison really handled things well. I think that whole discussion, if you want to call it that, is good for our country.<\/p>\n

“What happened to separation of church and state and religious tolerance? I believe in those things.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And if more people agreed with you, Congresswoman Hirono, Congress would be a stronger institution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kicking off the first “This Week in God” of 2007, it seems appropriate to consider Americans’ expectations for the year with regards to matters of faith. As it turns out, a stunningly large amount of people expect 2007 to be remarkably noteworthy. [A]n Associated Press-AOL News poll that asked Americans to gaze into their crystal […]<\/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-9536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536","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=9536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}