All About Character
- January/February 2004
- January 1, 2004
In the Middle East the freedom to practice various faiths is something rare; usually subject to the whims of rulers and clerics. But we are in an era of change. The government of Dubai has encouraged local Christian churches to grow, the Saudi government has dismissed anti-western Muslim clergy, and Iraqi Christians sense hope even
READ MOREIn 1960 playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee immortalized the Scopes "monkey trial" in their classic drama Inherit the Wind. The play told of the legal battle that took place in Dayton, Tennessee, over the teaching of evolution in public schools. Nearly 80 years after Clarence Darrow put fundamentalist religion on the witness stand
READ MOREMost presidents in American history have integrated religion into their political speeches in what scholars have dubbed civil religion. This has especially been the case in wartime, as war seems to inspire in people a need to know that God is with us. One of the president's roles is to assure the American people that
READ MOREIt is time to acknowledge the atrocious treatment that people of faith receive around the world. It is time to send the governments of these nations clear messages that they cannot persecute people of faith while the world stands silently by. It is time to acknowledge that China, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan each
READ MOREfter midnight on the last day of the 2003 legislative session, the California legislature adopted a controversial measure to require religious institutions to provide the same benefits to domestic partners of employees as are provided to spouses as a condition of contracting with the state. Authored by an openly lesbian assemblywoman from San Diego, Christine
READ MORERemember all those pictures of Iraq you've seen on TV? Believe most of it, but not all. A few things are better than reported; some others are a lot worse. Very little here is normal. Iraq is hot, dirty, hot, chaotic, hot, stressful, hot, dangerous—did I mention hot? The afternoon highs run 115 to 120
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