Mel Gibson’s $55,000,000 film will have Adventists re-exploring this part of their history and considering the future of conscientious objection.
Category: History
Why the 14th Amendment and Federal Courts are Essential to Protecting Religious Liberty
Have you ever wondered what legal mechanism existed that permitted the legalization of slavery in the United States after the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791? How it was that men, women, and children were held in bondage after Francis Scott Key wrote the famous words, “land of the free, and the home of the brave” in 1812? How segregation persisted in law until the late 1960s?
If Theocracy was Good for Ancient Israel, Why Isn’t It Good for America?
(The following is taken from an appendix to the book Patriarchs and Prophets). “The question has been raised, and is now much agitated, If a theocracy was good in the time of Israel, why would not a theocratical form of government be equally good for this time? The answer is easy: A theocracy is a government…
Christianity’s Misguided Battle with Atheism and Secularism
By Brent Buttler – Christianity’s ongoing battle with atheism and secularism is not only misguided, but also not what God intended for His church. [dc]I[/dc] recently heard a story about the evangelist Billy Graham. What piqued my interest was how almost overnight he transitioned from relative unknown to household name. One day in 1949…
Gibson Filming Project Based on War Hero Who Refused to Carry Weapon
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa, and director and actor Mel Gibson is working on making a film based on the life of one of the soldiers, Seventh-day Adventist conscientious objector, Desmond T. Doss, who won a Congressional Medal of Honor for saving dozens of lives while refusing to carry a weapon.
South Dakota to U.S. Supreme Court: Overturn Roe v. Wade
“The right and duty to preserve life cannot co-exist with a right or duty to destroy it. The right and duty to preserve and protect the cherished relationship between mother and child cannot co-exist with a right and duty to destroy it.”
– South Dakota House Concurrent Resolution, HCR 1004, passed 2/5/15
Hard-fought religious freedom something to celebrate this Thanksgiving
Households throughout the United States are celebrating a presidentially designated Thanksgiving Day. It provides us an opportunity to reflect on the blessings we enjoy as a nation and personally.
The history of this holiday goes back to the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., in the late autumn of 1620. Although the New World saw intermittent European activity after the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, in the minds of many, American history truly began with the Pilgrims.
Because most of the occupants of the Mayflower had belonged to a persecuted religious minority in England — Congregationalists, part of the dissenting church movement — they came seeking freedom to practice religion in concert with each individual’s own conscience. But the Pilgrims’ quest was by no means the only reason America came to be viewed as a shelter from religious persecution and intolerance.
Rediscovering Agape: Why the Reformation is Not Over
Agape love is the central premise of Protestant Christian theology. According to The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics, “Luther’s rediscovery of the primacy of agape was the linchpin of the Reformation and the rediscovery of genuine Christian ethics.” (See G. Meilaender and W. Werpehowski, The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics, 2007, p. 456.)
Many confuse the concept of agape love with the concept of caritas, or charity, but these are two separate ideas. The concept of agape love is the love of God reaching down to save humanity through grace, while caritas is about humans reaching upward toward God through works.
One-third of Americans reject evolution, poll shows (Reuters)
Excerpt: NEW YORK (Reuters) – One-third of Americans reject the idea of evolution and Republicans have grown more skeptical about it, according to a poll released on Monday. Sixty percent of Americans say that “humans and other living things have evolved over time,” the telephone survey by the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life…
Marriage Proceedings: Making Sense of the Same-Sex Marriage Cases (Liberty Magazine)
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two highly anticipated rulings in same-sex marriage cases. First, the Court ruled that the federal government has to legally recognize the marriages of same-sex couples in those states that have legalized them. In a second decision, the Court declined to hear an appeal in defense of a California ballot initiative that had banned same-sex marriage on grounds that the nongovernmental party bringing the appeal lacked standing. For reasons discussed below, both decisions represent incremental steps that will ultimately lead the Court to consider whether same-sex marriage should be a right nationwide.