Items included on this page come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
30 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himself: A shuttle engineer for the Challenger has carried a burden of guilt for thirty years. Says Bob Ebeling, “That was one of the mistakes God made. He shouldn’t have picked me for that job. But next time I talk to him, I’m gonna ask him, ‘Why me? You […]
Waste not, hunger not: Forty percent of the food produced in the U.S. ends up in landfills. Meanwhile, people are hungry. Daily Table tries to address both problems. Two questions and a caveat: How does Daily Table manage to sell fresh food at such inexpensive prices? Why does Daily Table sell food instead of giving it away? There are […]
Three Myths About the Crusades and What They Mean for Christian Witness: Paul Robinson sorts through the news, media, literature, and film portrayals of the Crusades to examine the fiction in the popular imagination and provide some alternate informed discussion. Helpful for classes in history, journalism, and media.
The Secret Ingredient of Our Poverty Relief: Economists are showing that hope makes a statistical difference in developing nations but that hope comes in two forms. Wishful hope or “hope that” is important but lacks human agency. We hope that something will happen, but believe we have little or no influence over it. Aspirational hope, or “hope […]
EEOC Fiscal Year 2015 Enforcement and Litigation Data: In fiscal 2015, the agency received 89,385 charges of workplace discrimination. Of those, only 3,502 (3.9%) charged religious discrimination. A further breakdown of the data shows that the EEOC found no reasonable cause in 68% of the cases of alleged religious discrimination.
A Seismic Shift in Bioethics: How moral norms trump even scientific evidence and technology — This position paper can serve as an introduction or polemic piece for examining how scientific and technological developments influence social norms and ethical perspectives. Useful for courses in bioethics, science and technology, sociology, religion, and business.
Court Rules Against Fontbonne Academy Constitutional Claim: In a decision being called the first of its kind nationally, a state judge has ruled that an all-girls Catholic school in Milton discriminated against a gay man when it rescinded a job offer after learning he was in a same-sex marriage. This case is emerging as the […]
Free Exercise, Penance, and Delaware Court: The State of Delaware sought civil penalties against both a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation and the individual elders in an abuse case. The defendants sought summary judgment against the charges on religious freedom and priest-penitent “privilege” grounds. A Delaware Superior Court judge denied the motion. The decision is an illustration of what happens […]
On Supreme Court Case: Why We Can’t “just sign the form” — Sister Constance Veit, communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor, offers an explanation. “Form 700 is neither a simple declaration of conscientious objection, nor an “opt out” regarding the HHS Contraceptive Mandate. Form 700 is a permission slip. Signing Form […]
Putting The Body Back In Biology: Natasha Myers’s book, Rendering Life Molecular, examines science as a cultural practice. She explores the ways in which scientists’ intuitions, attitudes and expectations are shaped by their shared work together in the setting of their scholarly communities. Her focus is on the protein, chains of amino acids and amino acids produced by DNA […]
