When Shrugging is Not an Option
- May/June 2025
- April 30, 2025
Liberty is long on record as opposing so-called "blue laws." With varying amounts of cover these are laws with a religious basis. Invariably they uphold a particular view of faith and use the force of law to demand compliance. This article, like many of late, looks at blue laws through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia
READ MOREReligious Freedom or Religious Fundamentalism? By Bert B. Beach Originally, the term fundamentalism began to be used in the United States in the 1920s. At that time it referred to a traditionalist movement confronting "liberal religion," particularly "higher criticism," heavy concentration on the sociopolitical gospel, and godless evolution. Since then, it has become clear that
READ MOREAccording to physician-medical scholar Dr. Walt Larimore, author of 10 Essentials of Highly Healthy People (Zondervan), several studies demonstrate that religious faith and spirituality can and do have a positive impact on our mental and physical well-being. Please consider: Longer Life: "Between 1987 and 1995, a nationwide study of more than 21,000 adults showed a
READ MOREA central part of the "American Dream" has always been home ownership. Images of a white picket fence, a yard to cut, and a place to call one's own are as powerful today as they were in Mark Twain's Hannibal, Missouri. Renting—paying to be someone else's guest—has always conjured up images of second-class status, of
READ MORERoger Williams' passionate belief in keeping church and state separate is a puzzle to many evangelical minds. With intellectual roots firmly planted in the nourishing soil of the Old and New Testaments, he never strayed into the rocky fields of humanistic or pagan philosophy. Williams' authorities were Moses, Paul, and Jesus—not Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, or
READ MOREThe much-bandied about phrase "separation of church and state" means different things to different people. To those from the secular humanist persuasion, it means that the state can make no public acknowledgment of religion, have no religious displays, recognize no tax exemptions for churches, and goes so far as to regulate even religious expressions of
READ MOREOh, I admit it—my sense of humor sometimes runs to the ironic. And I blame my Australian origins for sometimes getting pleasure out of sarcasm (my wife keeps me in line here; she's always telling me that humor does not work that way in the United States). But all of that said I keep going
READ MOREThe 2008 presidential season is not only starting earlier than any in U.S. history; it is also setting a new record for the raising of issues that are largely, if not purely, theological. Recently on NBC's Meet the Press, former North Carolina senator John Edwards was asked, "Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?" On
READ MORE". . . to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.. . . "—Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom James Madison's famous tract opposing the appropriation of tax dollars for teachers of religion, known simply as the "Memorial and Remonstrance," criticized the idea
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