Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Politics and Religion

2025-05-05T22:37:22-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Hubris of Suburbia, Arlington Heights edition

Last updated on: May 5, 2025 at 10:37 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

Here’s some brief background: For a century, give or take, Arlington Heights, IL, a sleepy bedroom community northwest of Chicago along the rail line, was known for its racetrack, Arlington Park, conveniently accessed by its own station. In its heyday, it hosted large crowds who came out to see all the celebrated horses in a beautiful palace of a building, but as ordinary folks lost interest in horse-racing and as “riverboat” casinos won the business of a large number of... Read more

Uncategorized

2025-04-30T18:55:06-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Illinois Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance? Ugh, no!

Last updated on: April 30, 2025 at 6:55 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

The state of Illinois is coming to the close of the legislative session. Some bills, like the Homeschool Act, have been put on ice. But the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program bill has been given an extension to May 9th, which, even though it has comparatively few sponsors and hasn’t made it out of committee, I understand this extension to indicate that it has some level of support from top Democrat Senate leadership. Weirdly, it’s in the Paid... Read more

Uncategorized

Illinois politics

2025-04-06T16:23:11-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What are YOUR legislators up to? A report from Illinois

Last updated on: April 6, 2025 at 4:23 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

First, the background: In Illinois, the city of Chicago has long been dominated by Democrats, but most suburbs have not been. Even up to very recently, the state legislators in my area had been a mix of Republican and Democrat, until 4 years ago. Our township trustees had been Republican for who-knows-how-long. And village board elections were non-partisan, or strictly speaking independent, not just “officially” but also in terms of how the elections played out. This past week saw a... Read more

Uncategorized

Illinois politics

2025-04-01T09:52:38-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why are American mobile phone plans so expensive?

Last updated on: April 1, 2025 at 9:52 am By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

Why am I writing about mobile phones? Bear with me . . . First, the background: The Actuary family has, as many families have, expanded the number of mobile phones in the household as each successive child became old enough to need one, though we have also economized by taking advantage of the Xfinity mobile “Bring Your Own” phone service, which for a fair bit of time enabled us to pay next-to-nothing for service, by selecting a by-the-Gig option which... Read more

2025-03-22T20:55:24-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What does the Pope really think about “just war”?

Last updated on: March 22, 2025 at 8:55 pm By Jane the Actuary

Going on three years ago, in an interview on June 20, 2022, Pope Francis in an interview made the statement that I believe it is time to rethink the concept of a ‘just war.’ And some time afterwards I came across this and was mystified at what he could possibly mean. A lengthy explainer in The Pillar seems to claim, based on statements shortly before then, in March (thus, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine) that the Pope is really saying... Read more

2025-02-28T23:18:42-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Do you have a “Third Place”?

Last updated on: February 28, 2025 at 11:18 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

For various reasons, I’ve been thinking more about local issues than national politics these days — not so much because I think things are going swimmingly at the national level as because there is at least some degree to which it’s possible to make a difference at the local level. And I’ve been noticing that our local library has been sponsoring more community events lately — not just children’s chess club but a board game night for adults, a trivia... Read more

2025-02-23T22:43:54-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What’s good and what’s bad about the Illinois Homeschool Act

Last updated on: February 23, 2025 at 10:43 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

The state of Illinois has, at present, a very unregulated approach to homeschooling: you want to homeschool your child, you can. But there is currently a bill (with two of its sponsors being my “hometown” state representatives) which intends to make rather significant changes, and which has homeschool families up in arms, so I decided to see what the actual legislation has to say. Is this the “final product” which will come up for a vote? Illinois, which has a... Read more

Uncategorized

homeschooling

Illinois politics

2025-01-19T15:33:32-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The ERA of 1972 no longer exists in 2024

Last updated on: January 19, 2025 at 3:33 pm By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

So on Friday, President Joe Biden declared that the Equal Rights Amendment is henceforth adopted, following the urging of supporters, based on arguments that the constitution doesn’t have any provision for Amendment approvals setting time limits, so that the 1982 deadline was never valid. The National Archivist said, “no, it’s my job to certify amendments and I do not,” and Biden supporters said, “her role is purely ministerial,” and, well, it should be apparent that if the role of certifying... Read more

2025-01-05T11:41:26-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dear Cardinal Cupich: enough with endless Capital Campaigns!

Last updated on: January 5, 2025 at 11:41 am By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

From 2014 to 2015, the Archdiocese of Chicago ran a capital campaign called To Teach Who Christ Is. The Archdiocese’s purpose in the campaign was to generate $150 million for scholarships for Catholic schools, but in order to make the campaign palatable, each parish was instructed to come up with capital projects of some sort or another, so that an additional $150 million of the overall goal of $350 million was for the use of the individual parishes. (In my... Read more

Uncategorized

Archbishop Cupich

Archdiocese of Chicago

capital campaigns

2025-01-05T10:03:53-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How “Blind Spots” are driving up medical costs – and worse

Last updated on: January 5, 2025 at 10:03 am By Jane the Actuary

0 Comments

Yes, I just finished Marty Makary’s new book, the topic of which is clear from the subtitle, “When Medicine Gets It Wrong and What It Means for Our Health,” and the story he tells is grim. It’s a slim book and probably available for checkout at your local library (though I had to wait for it to come off hold) and honestly I don’t understand why his nomination for a cabinet position in the Trump administration was treated as suspicious... Read more

Uncategorized

health care

Marty Makary

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the cupbearer to the king who fasted and prayed for Jerusalem?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nehemiah Haggai Zerubbabel Ezra

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic