From KUOW.org in Seattle, this in-depth human-interest analysis can serve as a case study for issues of law and religion, adolescent age-of-consent, health care decisions, and similar two-kingdoms tensions. Dennis Lindberg was 14 when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He refused to received blood transfusions, which ultimately led to his death three weeks after he was […]
Unbelief As A Belief System: Core Tenet For Christians’ Fight For Religious Rights: This 6 min. audio clip from All Things Considered can serve as a brief intro to the discussion of whether current forms of secularism amount to another religion with its own set of faith convictions. For some additional brief reading, see Timothy […]
From the New York Times (picked up from The Column): More than two dozen religiously affiliated colleges and universities across the United States have received exemptions from the federal civil rights protections provided under Title IX since 2014, documents show, waivers that activists said allow them to discriminate against students and employees on the basis […]
Chaplains, produced by Martin Doblmeier (who also made the film Bonhoeffer), raises a fundamental issue for Christian chaplaincy: What is its ecclesiology? When a Catholic or Baptist serves as a chaplain for the U.S. military, he or she is a soldier no less than any other person wearing a uniform. Sure, the church ordains and […]
Why We Cannot Compromise — an essay on whether civil consensus is possible in some areas of cultural dissent: the West is increasingly incapable of engaging in true debate, achieving broad consensus, and reaching compromises about our most important controversies. Students in political science, theology, the social sciences, and communication can consider when discourse is possible […]
The Tradition Project: Through the project, the Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s College aims to develop a broad and rich understanding of what tradition might continue to offer in cultivating virtuous, responsible, self-governing citizens. The project seeks to develop a broad understanding of what tradition might continue to offer for law, politics, and responsible […]
From the Max Planck Institute: “Random connections do not suffice to explain the observed layout of the brain. Current research concludes that initially random connections in the visual cortex are reorganized to a precisely determined layout using self-organization. Random wiring, in the end, plays a small role.” The Discovery Institute’s response, who reject the idea of […]
In this case study, a Lutheran husband and wife filed a lawsuit against the ELCA Eastern North Dakota Synod and Norman Evangelical Lutheran Church, claiming they were defamed and discriminated against and charging that their congregation treated them maliciously after they expressed their opposition to gay marriage. Students can assess the case for its 1 Cor 6 implications, […]
Belgian doctors call for end to euthanasia for mental suffering: a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, philosophers and others are asking the government to remove the option for euthanasia on the basis of psychological suffering alone. For the first time since the adoption of the law in 2002, a decision to allow euthanasia –the De Moor/Van Hoey case […]
New Churches Draw Those Who Previously Didn’t Attend: America is launching new Protestant churches faster than it loses old ones, attracting many people who previously didn’t attend anywhere. And on average 42 percent of those worshiping at churches launched since 2008 previously never attended church or hadn’t attended in many years. Students can discuss and gain […]
