His passion in the classroom was the minor prophets – particularly the biblical books of Amos and Micah. He spoke of justice, and mercy and humility, and how being “religious” did not mean anything if you didn’t “defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.” (Deuteronomy 10:18)
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?
I saw it as soon as we walked out of the store from our back-to-school shopping; a big red pickup with a big Confederate Flag flying from the back. Immediately, I felt uncomfortable and wished that I wasn’t parked so close to it.
By Jason Hines, Ph.D., J.D. [dc]I[/dc] am slightly ashamed and embarrassed that it takes incidents like what happened in Charlottesville yesterday to drive me back into the writer’s chair. I guess the very thing I have criticized has affected me. It becomes monotonous to continue to write 500-1000 words about how everything is going…
The Supreme Court will hear a wedding services case involving a bakery owner who refused to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding for religious reasons.
There are several reasons why the Supreme Court may decide to hear this case when it declined to hear previous religious exception cases.
A Christian geologist sued the National Park Service (NPS) for denying a permit to collect and study rocks which could support a creationist hypothesis.
In a narrowly drafted opinion, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled that the government could not compel a Christian printer to promote messages that violated his religious beliefs.
Last Thursday, President Donald Trump marked the National Day of Prayer with an executive order that at most expressed the administration’s desire that the Department of the Treasury should not unnecessarily threaten the tax-exempt status of religious non-profit organizations if they engage in political activity. Despite stating during the campaign that he would “destroy” the Johnson Amendment, the administration ultimately made a benign gesture affirming existing law while describing its parameters and limits.
[dc]L[/dc]ast week the Fort Des Moines Church of Christ voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against the state and the city of Des Moines over language in a brochure that they interpreted as interpreted as requiring churches to accommodate transgender bathroom access. The law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the Iowa Civil…