When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
During Jefferson's eight-year term in office, and in the ensuing eight-year tenure of James Madison, religion and the churches managed not only to survive but even to multiply on a grand scale. Neither president worried about the growth of religion, but only about maintaining its freedom. For example, in 1802 Jefferson explained in the draft
READ MOREIn recent years a number of church leaders have been pressing public claims that the United States has been a Christian nation since its beginning. Their argument is that the Founders of the nation were Christians, and that they wrote their Christianity into the Constitution and intended for this to be a Christian nation. Here
READ MOREWilliam Wilberforce's legacy was possible for two reasons. First, he was a committed Christian. Second, he was also a member of the British Parliament. Because of the first, he had a burning passion against the institution of slavery. Because of the second, he was perfectly placed to do something about it. For seventeen straight years
READ MORESeparation of church and state means a lot of things. But it does not mean that the faithful have no voice in the public square. It certainly does not relieve believers from urging government to act with wisdom, justice, and righteousness. And it clearly should not bar personal involvement in matters of law and public
READ MOREIn the days of the early church they looked at the government—they looked at the dominant societal system, the dominant political economic system, and had a name for it. They called it Babylon. You say, "Are you suggesting that the United States is Babylon?" I contend that if you read the biblical book of Revelation
READ MOREEditor: Did it ever cross your mind that you might one day be chaplain of the U.S. Senate? Black: I never thought about being the Senate chaplain. One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 3:20, which says that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine according
READ MOREHow have the current justices decided establishment clause cases in the past? That should give us a good idea as to how the Court will rule in upcoming cases such as Newdow. v. U.S. Congress. In a previous article (November/ December 2003) we reviewed the factors that the Supreme Court is likely to consider in
READ MOREThe United Methodist Children's Home (UMCH) in Georgia learned an important lesson the hard way; you never can tell when government money will come back to haunt you, in the most unexpected and debilitating ways. UMCH, an admittedly church-related agency, accepts children referred to their care from the State of Georgia's Department of Family and
READ MOREEvery morning the president starts his day in the Oval Office, surrounded by attorney general John Ashcroft, FBI director Robert Mueller, and CIA director George Tenet, reviewing the threat matrix. The threat matrix provides details on who is trying to attack America, how they are trying to attack, their chances of success, and what is
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