Entries by Admin

Complex Problems Without Simple Solutions

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The crisis in Syria and concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons are multi-faceted and incredibly complex issues. Outsiders like me (and likely most people following this conversation) have limited access to information about these situations and thus see only small pieces of a much larger, intricate puzzle. After a brief discussion of why foreign policy is so important when deciding how to vote for president, I will offer a few observations about possible paths to follow in addressing the situations in Syria and Iran.

The Challenge of Syria and Iran to Christian Peacemakers

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“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matt. 5:9) Both Syria and Iran one are evil regimes that are prone to the use of violence against their own citizens and in relations with other countries. Iran has supported terrorists abroad, its president, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, has threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and all indications are it is working to develop nuclear weapons. Syria is led by Bashar al-Assad, a ruthless dictator who is using indiscriminate violence to put down a year-long citizen’s challenge to his rule. Let no one underestimate the international and humanitarian threats these two regimes pose.

Topic #4: Syria and Iran

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Please consider the following potential leading questions   #1: What role, if any, should the United States and the rest of the international community play in the current conflict in Syria?   #2: In what way, if any, should the United States respond to the potential for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and the […]

Religious Liberty, The Secular State, and a Third Way

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The United States is one of the oldest democracies in the world and prides itself on being among the founders of modern day Human Rights. Yet, since before the signing of America’s constitution, ideological armies have dug their trenches and taken up arms on one side or the other of the debate over religion and its proper relationship to the United States Government. The fight began before Madison ever drafted The Constitutional Bill of Rights.

The HHS Mandate Matters

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Our president recently decreed that American employers must subsidize the cost of certain healthcare products regardless of whether doing so would violate any religious convictions of the employer. (The mandate is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act commonly referred to as “Obamacare”). Churches are exempt for now, but religiously affiliated colleges, hospitals, and charities have been given one year to comply with the law or face fines of up to $100/day for each employee. A small Christian college with 400 employees that chooses to abide by the values of its faith would face annual fines of up to $14.6 million. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says such an arrangement “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to preventative health services.”

Religion in Public Life–and in Election Campaigns

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Since over 40 percent of Americans attend religious services every week and over 90 percent profess belief in God, it is not surprising that religion enters into many public policy debates and election campaigns. Americans are also near unanimous in professing a commitment to the separation of church and state, and they hold the religious freedom language of the First Amendment as nearly sacred. Given the large role religion plays in most Americans’ lives, when combined with their commitment to religious freedom and the separation of church and state, it is not surprising that conflicts between the two have at times arisen. But this need not be so. There is no inherent conflict or even tension.

Sixteen Highly-Contested Words in Theory and in Practice

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These first sixteen words of the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” provide the foundation for religious freedom in the United States. The history of legal decisions interpreting these clauses is far from consistent. Over time, judicial rulings have tended to alternate between broad interpretations and much more restrictive readings of the First Amendment. In this essay, I will offer some brief thoughts on how to interpret these two clauses and consider two issues that have been central to recent debates over religious liberty.

Preserving Disestablishment AND Free Exercise

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The federal treatment of religion under the First Amendment was a masterstroke in political history. The Amendment reflected hard lessons learned from 1500 years of established Christianity in Europe. In this nation there would be no legally established religion. This, in itself, was revolutionary.

Religious Freedom and Constitutional Democracy

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There is in American political life a strong tendency to see any social or political phenomena as rooted ultimately in individual choice. States, churches, schools, families, all are said to be best understood by looking to the aims and goals of the persons who made agreements with each other to establish these entities. The view of these organizations as essentially voluntarist in nature is one of the hallmarks of the classical liberal understanding of political and social life.

Topic #3: Religious Freedom

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Please consider the following potential leading questions   #1: What is the scope, and what are the limits, if any, on “religious freedom” in the stipulation in the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?”   #2: What […]