This is particularly relevant this election year. From http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/newdow/ October 18, 2006 – Boston College – Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life Every day millions of schoolchildren pledge allegiance to the American flag and “the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Michael Newdow […]
Legal Issues
Professor Steven Calabresi on Enforcing Morality (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy)
In this essay published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Steven Calabresi, the George C. Dix Professor of Constitutional Law, Northwestern University School of Law, comments on Judge Robert Bork’s thought-provoking book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, specifically focusing on governmental efforts to enforce morality. Calabresi argues that there is a place in the […]
RAW MATERIALS: This week’s Obama / Dobson broughaha
To help understand what’s going on between Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, we have assembled the raw materials and news stories about the subject. 1. Read Obama’s Speech from June 28, 2006 “Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a […]
“A Call To Renewal” – Barack Obama on the Role of Religion in Public Life
BARACK OBAMA TRANSCRIPT: ‘Call to Renewal’ Keynote Address Wednesday, June 28, 2006 Washington, DC Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here at the Call to Renewal‘s Building a Covenant for a New America conference. I’ve had the opportunity to take a look at your Covenant for a New America. It is filled with […]
Dobson says Obama has “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution and is distorting Bible; still won’t vote for McCain
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – In a soon-to-be-aired episode of his non-profit, tax-exempt radio program “Focus on the Family,” Dr. James Dobson accuses Barack Obama of pandering to the “lowest common demoninator of morality” with his “fruitcake interpretation” of the U.S. Constitution and distortion of the Bible. “Am I required in a democracy to conform my […]
Marriage Amendment: In California, your state constitutional rights are in the hands of your neighbors
There has been much discussion about the California ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages from a moral / social / religious perspective, but not much about the concept of overturning court decisions by majority vote. Vikram David Amar at Findlaw writes in a post entitled, “The California Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Opinion: The People […]
Pastors Challenge the IRS: Using the Pulpit to Promote Candidates
During this hotly contested election year, some church pastors are deliberately promoting candidates, knowing that the Internal Revenue Service could remove their tax-exempt status as the result. In Minnesota, Pastor Gus Booth, of the Warroad Community Church, not only promoted a candidate, but wrote to the Internal Revenue Service, told them what he was doing, […]
VIDEO: Interview with James Carroll about Christianity and Violence
Trinity Institute’s Bob Scott talks with James Carroll, author, activist and former Catholic priest about religion and violence. Discusses Constantine’s introduction of state power to the church, how the cross became a sword during the Middle Ages, and how this affects current conflicts between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
Wisconsin: Freedom from Religion Foundation Asks State to Halt Assembly Prayers
Last July, Wisconsin State Representative Terry Moulton led his colleagues in prayer: “In your name, and by the power of your spirit, I come against the Evil One. And I ask that he be cast from this place, this day.” Not necessarily the most ecumenical of prayers, and now the Freedom from Religion Foundation has […]
California Supreme Court to Decide A Case Where Medical Rights v. Workplace Religious Freedom
Soon after issuing its opinion that gay marriage cannot be prohibited under the Constitution, the California Supreme Court is about to issue a ruling in a case where a physician declined to provide fertilization services on a lesbian (unmarried) couple, but referred them to another clinic that did provide the service on the basis that […]