When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
Way back when we first heard the war drums for an invasion of Iraq, I had an interesting email exchange with a nationally known television pundit who has written for Liberty in the past. "You need to write something for us before the crusaders are marching through downtown Baghdad," I wrote tongue in check, with
READ MOREThe other day I heard something on the car radio that made me think that I had somehow passed through a wormhole and entered into an alternate universe. It was a National Public Radio report about a church that was in danger of having its tax-exemption status revoked because of partisan politics from the pulpit.
READ MOREThe Reverend John Leland was not a man to mince words when it comes to religion and politics. Candidates who advertise their personal faith, he insisted, should be avoided by the voters. "Guard against those men who make a great noise about religion in choosing representatives," observed Leland. "It is electioneering intrigue. If they knew
READ MOREThis past summer saw the release of a fifth book from radical right-wing author Ann Coulter. Since then, Godless: The Church of Liberalism has probably raised more hackles than all her other books combined. The day of its release she was interviewed by Matt Lauer of NBC's The Today Show . The conversation began as
READ MOREOne of the great puzzles to foreign observers of the U.S. political and religious scene is how an overtly religious political movement can flourish in a country, which, more than any other Western nation, has maintained clear blue water between church and state and has an unequivocal, even dogmatic, attachment to the principle of religious
READ MOREOn the eve of October 12, 539 B.C. (Tishri 16), the inhabitants of Babylon rested in ease and security. It was a grand city not far down the river Euphrates from the site of present-day Baghdad. In the festal hall of King Nabonidus' summer palace, his son, Belshazzar, who had been appointed as prince regent,
READ MOREOver the past year, new fights have broken out in states across the nation about Bible courses in public schools. Competing "Bible bills" have popped up in various state legislatures, with Republicans and Democrats vying to see who can thump the Bible the loudest. First prize goes to Georgia Republicans. In March 2006 the Georgia
READ MOREAs a trial lawyer, there is nothing quite like the sheer panic of the interval between getting the call from the judge's chambers that the jury has a verdict and then hearing it read aloud in court. Friday, June 30, 2006, was no exception. The jury had been deliberating on the case since early Thursday
READ MOREBehind the lectern and the platform seating area of the little Seventh-day Adventist church in Debary, Florida, is a quite striking stained glass window. I had seen it once or twice before, but had never really looked at it till that afternoon memorial service four days after my father's death. My task was to present
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