As the left becomes increasingly extreme in its use of the coercive power of government, hopefully Americans will realize that religious liberty remains the firmest bulwark against this secular inquisition. Continue Reading »
Though I was on the verge of growing up, the Civil War Centennial revealed to me the reality of the past; it enchanted me, and wove a spell. Continue Reading »
Birmingham has been known as the “City of Perpetual Promise,” but the promise is only perpetual because the city never quite lives up to it. Continue Reading »
A new paper suggests young Americans are giving up on democracy. When we discard our traditions, we can fall for many things, including, apparently, authoritarianism. Continue Reading »
When I heard Hillary Clinton’s statement at the recent 2015 Women in the World Summit that “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” for the sake of giving women access to “reproductive health care and safe childbirth,” at first I was confused. She has spoken often about being a Christian and having a rich prayer life, and I have no reason to doubt that she has real religious commitments. I wondered how someone who attends church regularly, prays, and therefore presumably knows something about the value and the sanctity of religious belief could say something so hostile toward religion.Then I thought of Harvey Cox’s The Secular City. Something about her statement rang that bell. I have no idea if Secretary Clinton read Cox’s influential and popular 1965 book, or assuming she did, if the book influenced her thinking. Tracing the particular influences behind anyone’s conceptions is rarely a simple matter. What struck me, though, was the possibility that I have been missing something big: it is likely that many of those who denigrate religious beliefs aren’t drawing just on secular, anti-Christian ideologies, but on liberal Christian ideas about God. What I assume to be anti-religious animus might in some cases actually issue from a particular form of religiosity. Continue Reading »
NCAA President Mark Emmert has announced a new commission to study how its handling of fouls called in men’s basketball can help state governments determine the proper balance between religious freedom and civil rights: Continue Reading »