When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
"I do not want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." Rev. Billy Graham, quoted in Parade, Feb. 1, 1981.
READ MOREIn early March the Florida legislature passed SB 98, a bill authorizing public school districts to adopt policies that would encourage prayer at secondary school events. Specifically the bill authorizes the use of student-led "inspirational messages, including. . . prayers of invocation or benediction." School events include "school commencement exercises or any other noncompulsory student
READ MORE"The public schools of this country serve the admirable function of bringing together on common ground students from a diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds. The introduction of public prayer into such a setting jeopardizes the sense of community and unnecessarily intrudes an emotional and divisive character." Rabbi David Polish, in testimony on behalf of
READ MOREFor the past few months the eyes of the believers around the world have been fixed on an Iranian death row "apostate" who has refused to recant his faith in Jesus Christ. Yousef Nadarkhani was first arrested in his hometown of Rasht, Iran, in October 2009, for violating the law by his protesting the mandatory
READ MOREHave you noticed that when some people speak of religious liberty, they mean something different from individual religious liberty? They use the same term but they mean something else. In fact, there are two distinct approaches to religious freedom: majoritarian and individual. Protestants and Enlightenment philosophers, from the founding era of our nation, tended to
READ MOREFrom earliest days I was taught to respect the Bible as God's holy Word. In particular that meant respecting the actual physical Bible. It was to be handled with reverence; never thrown away carelessly, and never stacked under lesser books. It was even suggested by some that I not mark up my Bible; but I
READ MORERecent events in America have shown that a strong secularism can lead to clashes with religious freedom. This, however, is not a new occurrence in the West. It is at least as old as the French Revolution, where the rallying cry "liberty, fraternity, and equality" was based on a dark philosophy that was anti-priest, anti-church,
READ MORETravel the world over and you are bound to stumble upon a hotel full of convention guests. A goodly number of travelers in airports at tourist hotspots are similarly garbed convention attendees. Conventions are big business and talk may not be so cheap, but they are an international commodity that easily devolves into on-the-office-account vacations
READ MORELast year I was on Pat Robertson's show, and we discussed our basic Christian faith—for instance, separation of church and state. It's contrary to my beliefs to try to exalt Christianity as having some sort of preferential status in the United States. That violates the Constitution. I'm not in favor of mandatory prayer in school
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