Who Accredits the College Degree? — The Illinois Board of Higher Education forbids non-accredited religious schols from offering a “degree” because they don’t meet accreditation standards. Illinois-based Bible colleges have now filed a federal lawsuit accusing the state board of overstepping the First Amendment and infringing on their rights to free religious exercise and free […]
Luther on Justice
Luther on Justice — This brief essay examines Luther’s perspective on justice from his early writing in the Heidelberg Disputation to his work in Bondage of the Will: “Luther knows that the question about God’s justice (that is, about the apparent lack of God’s justice in our experience of this fallen and incomplete world), rages […]
Notre Dame, Ave Maria, and a Professor’s Case Study on Natural Law with Students
Notre Dame, Ave Maria, and a Professor’s Case Study on Natural Law with Students — The writer uses his students’ analysis to take a position in the dispute over the Diocese of San Francisco’s asserting Catholic doctrine on sexuality: “The poor and the children of the poor need champions for their cause, and rescue from […]
The Trans-Human Techno-utopian Vision
The Trans-human Techno-utopian Vision — This column by Ross Douthat reviews a dialogue in Edge.com with Yuval Harari and Daniel Kahneman about re-engineering human nature: “In terms of ideas, in terms of religions, the most interesting place today in the world is Silicon Valley, not the Middle East.” It’s in Silicon Valley that people are […]
The Millennials: Institutionalizing Ethics as Subjectivism and Emotivism
The Millennials: Institutionalizing Ethics as Subjectivsm and Emotivism — For most millennials morality is all about personal circumstances, said Robert Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute (funded by the Ford Foundation) The new PRRI research looks at the views of U.S. adults ages 18 to 35 on issues such as sexual behavior, gender identity, […]
A Case to Watch on Mental Disabilities and the Death Penalty
A Case to Watch — The Supreme Court has created a short list of categories of those who cannot constitutionally be executed, including juveniles, the mentally insane, anyone who commits a crime other than murder, and, most recently, an individual who is mentally disabled. In an upcoming case, the Court will struggle again to clarify […]
How the U.S. Compares With Other Countries on Religious Restrictions
How the U.S. Compares With Other Countries on Religious Restrictions — The U.S. has moderate levels of both restrictions on religion and social hostilities toward religious groups, ranking somewhere in the middle range of the nearly 200 countries analyzed in the report.
Trying to Sort Out the Indiana RFRA
Trying to Sort Out the Indiana RFRA — This update offers some background and discussion on why the Indiana Restoration of Religious Freedom Act is drawing attention. This report compares the Indiana law with recent legislation in Utah and other states’ efforts to manage the concerns of both religious groups and advocates for same-sex marriage. […]
Business Against Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Business Against Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act — The risks a new Indiana law range from potential workplace lawsuits on religious grounds to a broader and deeper business chill in the state, with money-making conferences and major corporations threatening to pull out, difficulty attracting key job creators like tech companies and a wide-ranging ripple effect […]
From the Internat’l Desk: Chinese Pastor Jailed Over Cross on Church
From the Internat’l Desk: Chinese Pastor Jailed Over Cross on Church — A Christian pastor who defended local churches when the Chinese authorities removed church crosses was sentenced to one year in prison by a court in Zhejiang Province. An internal government policy paper made it clear that the local government wanted to crack down […]
