Students of Freedom
- July/August 2006
- July 1, 2006
In 1994 the village of Barrow, Alaska, made a desperate decision. It seems that the harshest polar region in the state, 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle, had a citizenry that was especially prone to binge drinking. Results of this "inebriated disorder" appeared like clockwork on a biweekly basis. The relatively peaceful town would
READ MOREGlen Greenwood is an environmental specialist in the employ of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). He is also a member of the Board of Elders of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Lancaster, Ohio. For approximately 20 years he has been teaching Sunday school at his church. Glen not only loves God; he cares deeply
READ MOREIn a speech to the Notre Dame student body during the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign, New York governor Mario Cuomo addressed the issue of church-state relations and the growing activism of the so-called Religious Right. The governor said: "Are we asking government to make criminal what we believe to be sinful because we ourselves can't
READ MOREThe time: November 29, 2005. The place: Sweden's Supreme Court. The person: Pastor Ake Green. The issue: charges that Pastor Green committed a hate crime under Swedish law by preaching against homosexuality. The verdict: acquittal. After intense international pressure and the prospect that a conviction would likely be overturned by the European Court for Human
READ MOREWhy can't I be a good Catholic and dissent? Apparently, being a dissenter and a good Catholic are mutually exclusive. Why can't I be both? There is no "Thou shall not dissent" commandment. Yet today it appears that anyone who does not strictly follow or agree with the rules promulgated by Rome is considered to
READ MOREIn 1994 a 10-year-old boy attending Waring Elementary School, Saint Louis, Missouri, bowed his head during lunchtime to say a prayer thanking God for his food. A teacher noticed the boy praying and proceeded to embarrass him in front of the other students by removing him from his seat and taking him to the principal's
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