When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
Thomas Jefferson, in an unsent letter from Monticello, dated September 27, 1809, to a James Fishback that addressed his own views on the proper roles of church and state, provided a rather extraordinary response line. He passionately observed that &”among the Mahometans we are told that thousands fell victims to the dispute whether the first
READ MORESince September 11, 2001, I have made it my practice to wait as long as possible before writing the editorial. The dynamic of history, particularly the dynamic of church-state history, has changed. Things happen quickly. So I wait to see what develops as Liberty nears press time. This issue made its way through the various
READ MOREI first heard about the health-care religious liberty furor while listening to a White House press briefing. Under new health-care insurance requirements, church-run hospitals might be required to provide employees with insurance coverage for contraception! Roman Catholic hospitals were objecting that this denied their rights of religious freedom. The Roman Catholic position on contraception takes
READ MOREAmericans are increasingly concentrated at opposite ends of the religious spectrum—the highly religious at one pole, and the avowedly secular at the other. The moderate religious middle is shrinking.&” So say professors Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, a comprehensive and evenhanded account of American
READ MOREOn January 11, 2012, the Supreme Court delivered a historic reaffirmation of the First Amendment guarantee of &”free exercise&” of religion and ban on religious establishments. The Court’s clarity in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC is signaled by the clear and unanimous decision. The decision shields churches and other religious organizations from discrimination lawsuits by ministerial employees,
READ MOREThen Chuck and Stephanie Fromm began having people over for Bible studies, the last thing on their minds was the possibility of being cited and fined by the city they lived in, but that’s exactly what happened. As residents of San Juan Capistrano, California, they are hardly new in town. They moved into the city
READ MOREHouston Baptist University scholar/educator Louis Markos, writing in From Achilles to Christ (InterVarsity Press), gives the example of Sophocles’ play Antigone as an affirmation there is a higher, universal, immortal law written in humanity’s heart, mind, and conscience. In Antigone Creon, the governor of the state, has commanded that no one may bury his nephew,
READ MOREThe Christian in politics should be judged by the standard of whether through his decisions and actions he has advanced the cause of justice. The Christian in politics should be distinguished by his alertness to protect and defend the rights of individuals, or religious institutions and other institutions, from violation by the state or by
READ MOREIn an unusually candid speech early last year, a former president of the World Bank made a startling prediction. James Wolfensohn told Stanford Graduate School of Business students that the world is poised on the edge of a major global power shift. He told them that the next few decades will see today’s leading economic
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