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  • The Palmer Raids0

    A tale of immigrants, free speech, and mass hysteria in the Land of the Free.  New York City, November 1919  A mathematics class is not typically a setting for subversion. Bespeckled teacher Michael Lavrowsky was busy conducting an algebra lesson for Russian immigrants at Manhattan’s Russian People’s House. Then 50 years old, the studious Lavrowsky

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  • The Curious Case of a Misunderstood Idea0

    The secular state—a hallmark of Western liberal democracy—is under attack from both ends of the political spectrum. What does this mean for religious freedom? A renowned Australian theologian investigates.  Religious liberty is paramount for any multicultural democracy. That is because religious liberty interlocks with other liberties relating to freedoms of speech and association. The right

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  • Jokers, Clowns, and Purists0

    Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; here I am, stuck in the middle with you,” sang Scottish folk-rock band Stealers Wheel. It’s a song that has been used by everyone from Quentin Tarantino to Sacha Baron Cohen to put a bit of punch into their movies. It also pops up with

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  • Free to Tweet?0

    Content Moderation, Religious Freedom, and the Digital Public Square If religious freedom is advocated only for pragmatic reasons, it can and will be sacrificed to expediency.”1 Those words, spoken in 1983 by the late evangelical theologian and ethicist Carl F. H. Henry, were prophetic. They foreshadowed much of what was to come after his death

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  • ‘We Need to See Each Other Differently’0

    In the high-stakes world of international religious freedom advocacy, simply changing laws isn’t enough.  In 1998 the U.S. Congress took an extraordinary step toward recognizing the importance of international religious freedom. Along with other measures, Congress created an independent, bipartisan body called the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF. Its task? To monitor

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  • Connecting the Dots0

    As a child of the pre-digital age, I’ve completed my fair share of connect-the-dot puzzles. You start at number one and draw a line to number two and by the time you get to number 300 or so, you’ve magically created an elaborate picture.  The speech given by Russian president Vladimir Putin on February 21

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