7 Things I Learned About Dealing with Officials
I was fully prepared to breeze over a July 14 article in theguardian.com headlined “Ghostbusters in line for China ban due to supernatural theme.” But I read it, and I’m glad I did…
A MORE PERFECT UNION
Government in the Sunshine
In despotisms and tyrannies, people have no rights to be informed about the conduct of their leaders. That is not surprising, as neither their input nor their influence is wanted…
Faith, Facts, and Grocery Lists
Christianity rests on facts. And because the record of Christianity relies on the accounts of facts set forth in the Bible, that Book is continually at the heart of debates and arguments over the…
The Late Justice Scalia: Judgment Affirmed
Author Carl Sandburg popularized an old lumberman’s saying when he wrote, regarding the death of President Abraham Lincoln, “A tree is best measured when it is down.” The news that U.S. Supreme Court Justice…
The Iran Deal: Wheel of Misfortune
The Constitution of the United States sets limitations regarding international treaties. It is a hallmark of the bizarre state of politics in Washington that…
How to Walk and When to Stand
Since June 26, when five Supreme Court justices issued their majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, the millennia-old idea of religious freedom in America has…
A Word to the Church in Captivity
In June the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which gay rights activists won the constitutional right for same-sex marriage. Five of the nine justices granted that right, inventing it out of whole cloth…
Three Myths About Jihad
As the adage goes, “Ideas have consequences.” However, in these dangerous times of savage jihadism, bad ideas can have disastrous consequences. If they woo our Washington policy makers or…
What Terrorists Want
In November, four Israelis—three of them Americans—were slaughtered in a synagogue in Jerusalem when Palestinians armed with guns, knives, and axes burst in during prayer and…
The Hero Invasion
The city of Houston ignited a Bill of Rights uproar a few months ago, and the controversy is not likely to die down anytime soon. It started when the Houston City Council, at the urging of…
The Tax Man Cometh
A recent deal between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and an anti-faith activist group promises to threaten the religious free-speech rights of churches around the nation.
Highway to Nowhere
When the hot days of summer began to descend, two significant legal issues were heating up in Washington. One was the well-known case involving Christian-run Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc….
Free Speech and the Well-Traveled Road
This year the White House has promoted two disconcerting proposals that would cede more power over the Internet to the international community. The result would undoubtedly…
Telling Tales
Everyone loves a good story. Today, perhaps the most powerful storytelling takes place on the silver screen. And 2014 looks as if Hollywood is casting its attention…
Crimes of the Mind
Years ago I traveled to the Netherlands on a book tour for my novels. A well-known cartoonist had recently been arrested there and his computer seized by Dutch police…
Why We Believe
Last fall author Joseph Atwill made a splash in London when he claimed the Gospels were faked by the Romans to quell a possible Jewish uprising. The theory, preposterous as it is, goes like this…
The Biblical Bottom Line
I was watching a television talk show one evening that centered on a discussion between the host, a well-known skeptic, and a spokesman for the “evangelical” left. Political and social issues…
Watching Out for the Watchers
Earlier this year a former intelligence defense contractor named Edward Snowden made some stunning disclosures. His revelations pertained to federal government surveillance via two…
The UN Arms Treaty and the U.S. Constitution
Times have changed. In ancient days, the poet Virgil began the Aeneid—his famous ode to national duty and military exploit—with the celebratory words, “I sing of arms.” In April, the UN…
Providing for the Common Defense
To provide for the common defense is an artful, 18th-century phrase that some have tried to modernize to mean to “defend our country from other…
What Are We Searching For?
For several years Google has displayed on YouTube, its Internet video platform, an end-of-the-year review in images, photographs, and news…
The Big Convergence
Powerful evidence is mounting that we are in the middle of worldwide convergences—stunning unifications taking place across the planet on at least four fronts…
Diary of a Wimpy Church?
Now that national elections are over, I have taken the time to reflect on a consistent theme in American politics of late: the presence (or absence) of civility in campaign…
Ministry Freedom in the Balance
When I read the e-mail in May from a legal webcasting group that regularly advises lawyers on current, but usually mundane, employment issues, I knew it was one more bit…
The Death of Reason, the Burial of Faith
Radical New Testament critic John Dominic Crossan, touted by his publisher as being “widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time,” has written a new book called The Power…
The Nails and Streams of Liberty
The familiar words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence remind us we are endowed by God “with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of…
Dear Court: Clean Up Your Mess!
Do you remember as a child being told to pick up your room? Most of us do. There are advantages to orderliness. And when it comes to our most fundamental liberties…
Dangerous Absolutes
Although they knew God, they did not glorify [honor] Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise…
Be Careful Whom You Follow
A common thread in John Bunyan’s 17th-century Christian classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, involves his hero’s wisdom (or lack thereof) in choosing companions as he travels on his long road through life…
Being Right in a Rough World
When the news first broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, television captured images of college students celebrating in Washington, DC, and National Public Radio gave unenlightened coverage…
Beware the New Barbarians
An ultra-liberal movement is ripping its way through American culture. I call its purveyors the “new barbarians.” When we think of barbarian, we often picture Neolithic-looking creatures in animal skins, wielding giant clubs.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
The timing was striking. The article appeared in the December 5, 2010, issue of The New York Times. Harvard philosophy professor Sean D. Kelly wrote about what makes a “life worthy of…admiration.”
The Invisible Revolution
When I read the comment in Wired magazine last fall, I was so astonished I had to read it again. It reaffirmed my suspicion that there is a quiet, almost…
A More Perfect Union Nov/Dec 2010
Julea Ward was getting A’s in her classes. She had completed all of her required work for a master’s degree in counseling at Eastern Michigan University, but problems arose during…
A More Perfect Union Sep/Oct 2010
Now that the hotly contested Senate confirmation hearing of Elena Kagan is over and President Barack Obama’s nominee has become the 112th justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court…
A More Perfect Union Jul/Aug 2010
It all started when the Christian Legal Society (CLS), a fellowship group of Christian law students and lawyers, sought official recognition at the Hastings Law School, a part of the California…
A More Perfect Union May/Jun 2010
In January the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Although the 5–4 decision narrowly upheld freedom of speech, it also made obvious the two…
A More Perfect Union Mar/Apr 2010
Even the quickest glance at the text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution makes one thing exceedingly clear: each of the rights guaranteed therein—religion, speech, assembly, and freedom…
A More Perfect Union Jan/Feb 2010
On October 22 in Washington, DC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) convened a hearing process that may determine who will rule the Internet. What happens could affect the freedom of Christians…
A More Perfect Union Nov/Dec 2009
Now that Sonia Sotomayor has been sworn in as the newest associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, some reflections are in order. How much do we really know about…
A More Perfect Union Sep/Oct 2009
As part of my work with National Religious Broadcasters, I was involved in a small meeting in the Capitol Hill office of a congressional representative not long ago. Known in political circles…
A More Perfect Union Jul/Aug 2009
Thomas Jefferson once famously said, “Almighty God hath created the mind free….All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens [burdens]…are a departure from the plan of the Holy…