Multiplying Divisions - The Federalist and Religious Factions
- September/October 2019
- September 1, 2019
James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” gratifyingly concluded his role with an amendment-less Constitution in September 1787, then headed for New York to work on The Federalist Papers. Yet it was only the next summer when he would voice to his Virginian constituency a promise to propose a bill of rights at the First
READ MOREOn March 21, 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that protects freedom of speech on college campuses. Perhaps no one understands the need for this executive order better than Matthew Vitale. A student at the University of California at Riverside, he was verbally and physically accosted by another student who was offended by
READ MOREThe Christian Right is not a monolithic movement but one with diverse expressions and voices with no one single representation. Some years ago Paul Weyrich, one of the chief architects of the Christian Right, voiced his assessment of the “culture wars.” He feared that the war was lost and that Christians should establish their own
READ MOREThe waters are stirring more than ever throughout American communities. They have been for quite a while. One afternoon way back in the mid-1980s I was startled to see curious brochures placed besidesweekly service bulletins on the welcoming table at my local church. As I flipped through the pamphlet, it was apparent to me that
READ MOREAny member of Congress’ door should be open to the values and views of religious liberty. I get excited about religious freedom. We should be able to stand on the guard of human rights and religious liberty all day long, every day of the year, to prevent people from losing their lives: from losing their
READ MOREThese are not normal times. We seem to be living through times the Pauline prediction that “what can be shaken will be shaken” (see Hebrews 12:27). I use a Bible text advisedly, because so many people of faith seem to have committed themselves to shaking the system of secular laws to bring about moral renewal.
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