How the FBI Is Hobbled by Religious Illiteracy: As religion takes an ever-higher profile in America’s national-security concerns, the FBI will play a crucial role in determining how groups are treated. Steven Weitzman, Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his new book about the history of the FBI […]
In Religious Freedom Debate, 2 American Values Clash: This 7 min. audio clip summarizes the current debate about freedom of religion and nondiscrimination. Students will hear a concise overview that concludes with no resolution, preparing them for further study on how a constitutional democracy can manage and mismanage these and many other rights and values […]
What Kind of Freedom Does a Republic Promise? — Students can consider terms, themes, and biblical congruence and non-congruence in this essay that argues, A righteous republic is based on a certain vision of the common good—and not just any vision, but a vision that draws deeply on prophetic religion. That is what makes it […]
Black Churches Matter: Research Ties Attendance to Positive Outcomes: Several new studies build on past research to continue revealing how faith is associated with positive outcomes for black Americans amid the realities of discrimination and economic, political, and social inequality. In one study of black adults, neither education nor income predicted a sense of optimism—a hopeful attitude […]
A Film Editor In The Land Of Astrophysicists: Continental drift, worlds in collision, and microbes too small to see–all ideas rejected by science in earlier times. But this case study offers students some discussion on why and how science engages with some hypotheses and not others, and why this is both not-so-good and good.
An Essay by Mustafa Akyol, author of The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims (St. Martin’s Press, 2017): Jesus claimed to be the very savior–the Messiah–that his people awaited. But unlike other Messiah claimants of his time, he did not unleash an armed rebellion against Rome. He did […]
After the Exile: Poetry and the Death of Culture — The pagan was closer to van Dyke and Tennyson than we are. They have poetry, and we do not. We are a people now illiterate in a way that is unprecedented for the human race. We can decipher linguistic signs on a page, but we have […]
Good Intentions, Lack of Plans Mark Church Response to Domestic Violence: When it comes to domestic violence, Protestant pastors want to be helpful but often don’t know where to start. Most say their church would be a safe haven for victims of domestic violence. But many don’t know if anyone in their church has been a victim of […]
The Johnson Amendment on Nonprofit Speech: This topic presents an opportunity for students to evaluate a current issue on religious liberty, the Gospel as the church’s principal free speech, and the intersection of God’s left-hand kingdom and Gods’ right-hand kingdom. These two articles offer an introduction for comparing, contrasting, and fashioning an informed position. How […]
Protecting Minority Voting Rights: While concerns about minorities are frequently expressed via identity politics – politicizing divisions among citizens based on social or ideological similarities – I would suggest that we, as Christians, should look at minorities as a way to identify “the least” and to work to protect their political rights as we pursue justice […]
