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Global Warning 0
- May/June 2011
- May 1, 2011
As I write this, NATO is enforcing a no-fly zone to protect anti-Qaddafi forces in Libya. It at once evokes memories of despots reduced to hiding in spider holes, and the gunboat diplomacy once so effective for great powers. We have the bizarre image of the local despot holding forth on his fight against al-Qaida,
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The Fate of the Co-joined Twins 0
- March/April 2011
- March 1, 2011
Hence a certain tension between religion and society marks the higher stages of every civilization. Religion begins by offering magical aid to harassed and bewildered men; it culminates by gving to a people that unity of morals and belief which seems so favorable to statemanship and art; it ends by fighting suicidally in the lost
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The Medieval Not Quite Reformed 0
- March/April 2011
- March 1, 2011
Part Two in a Series. Click here for Part One, "The Christian Persecutory Impulse." In the first article we saw that Christian persecution neither originated with Emperor Constantine I in the early fourth century nor was inflicted on the church as part of efforts to extend imperial power. While persecution eventually was indeed imposed by
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The Rest of the Story 0
- March/April 2011
- March 1, 2011
Sunday laws have a long history in America. Originally imported from England during the Colonial era by the Puritans, their observance was strictly enforced among the Colonies. Sunday labor was prohibited, and worship at church was required. Civil penalties, varying from fines to whiplashings; and ultimately to death for habitual transgressors, were inflicted. In that
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Red Sunday in Washington 0
- March/April 2011
- March 1, 2011
It's not every Sunday that Washington archbishop Donald W. Wuerl can personally thank the U.S. Supreme Court justices and the vice president of the United States for coming to church. But on the Sunday before the first Monday of October each year, the day the High Court returns to begin a new term,
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The Right Thing 0
- March/April 2011
- March 1, 2011
On April 1, 2010, Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski signed HB 3686 into law, overturning an 87-year-old state statute that barred teachers from wearing religious garb in the classroom. Under the law, public schools will be required to make "reasonable accommodation" for teachers' religious beliefs that require the wearing of particular clothing. The bill overturns an
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