When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
The complicated legacy of Christianity’s political witness The story of Christianity and politics through the ages is a messy one. In their new book two renowned Anglican theologians, N. T. Wright from Britain and Michael F. Bird from Australia, take another look at this controversial tale, combing Scripture, history, and current events in search of
READ MOREFor decades state legislatures have been bound by the establishment clause of the First Amendment. So why are some scholars now calling for “disincorporation,” arguing that states should be free to make laws “respecting an establishment of religion”? The establishment clause of the First Amendment declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
READ MORE“Together we will make America stronger and prouder, safer, freer, greater, and more faithful to our God than ever before.” —President Donald J. Trump, speaking to faith leaders February 6 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. What are we to make of the first weeks of the new presidential administration? With headlines coming
READ MOREIntegralism’s challenge to religious freedomIllustration by Robert Hunt The twentieth century saw an explosion of secular political movements and secularization, suppressing and marginalizing religion in many parts of the world. In milder cases these secularizing movements only suppressed the political expression of faith, such as in Turkey and India; in the USSR and Mao’s China,
READ MOREThose who disparage the principle of separation of church and state face an inconvenient reality: the religious freedom legacy of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. In 1947, at the cusp of a cold war that would pit “one nation under God” against “godless Communism,” the U.S. Supreme Court entered the fray over the relationship between
READ MOREFor religious liberty to make sense, society must see religious belief as somehow special; something inherently worthy of legal protection. Is this view still defensible? Fifteen years ago, when Ross Douthat became the New York Times’ youngest-ever opinion columnist, religious belief in America and other Western nations seemed to be approaching its use-by date. It
READ MORESupreme Court Watch The recent addition of three major religious freedom cases to the Supreme Court docket means its 2024-2025 term could yield some blockbuster First Amendment decisions. In Mahmoud v. Taylor a group of Muslim and Christian parents is challenging a decision by a county school board in Maryland to end religion-based “parental opt-outs”
READ MOREMoney, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025), by Katherine Stewart. In her new book, Katherine Stewart builds a well-researched argument that democracy is under attack from an unlikely alliance of ultrawealthy financiers, intellectuals, and right-wing influencers. Stewart displays her skills as a veteran investigative journalist as she exposes
READ MOREAn enduring dispute in American public education concerns teaching about human origins and whether students must receive instruction solely on evolution or can learn about the Genesis account of creation in science classes. A recent Indiana case, Reinoehl v. Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, demonstrates how this dispute lingers on, almost a century after the first case
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