I am not a Catholic, but I am a huge fan of Pope Benedict XVI. I have read two of his books and studied closely his watershed address at Regensburg in 2006, which established a new foundation on which to debate the theological and philosophical conflict between Islam and Christianity. I have also applauded his […]
Rope Some Dopes
How do you turn “Obama’s Huge Blunder” (see the February issue) into a political win and paint the inept Republicans into a tight corner? Answer: you set a trap that they cannot avoid by converting a major issue involving the first amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the long-established freedom of conscience […]
Religious Liberty Watch
The staff of the Manhattan Declaration, a non-partisan statement of conscience in defense of human life, traditional marriage, and religious freedom, to which I am a signatory, does a good job of tracking trends in religious liberty in America and lately they report a rash of transgressions—teachers being removed from classrooms for expressing opposition to […]
The Perversion of Religious Freedom
Let’s take a quick look at the “religion clause” of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The genius in this phrase is striking and it is a major foundation of the idea that produced American exceptionalism. No […]
A Regensburg Moment
The recent release of the book, Son of Hamas, by Mosab Hassan Yousef has caused quite a stir across the Middle East. Yousef is the son of the founder and leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and in his book he discloses that he has served as one of the top spies for Israel’s […]
American Genius
A recently released study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, contrary to the analysis offerred by some observers, should give Americans renewed comfort in the founding concept that has, probably more than any other single element, fostered American exceptionalism among the nations. This concept, based on the dual U. S. Constitutional guarantees of […]
What Has Atheism Ever Produced?
Like many observers, I have wondered at the motivation for the rash of atheistic books that have achieved best seller status over the past year or so. All of a sudden, they are everywhere, and the electronic media has picked up the lead with follow up interviews and debates pitting their author/celebrities against surrogates for […]
Enter Benedict with the Tough Questions
I’ve often thought that Pope Benedict XVI has his current job primarily because he was far and away the best choice to lead the Catholic Church’s primary mission of this century—to salvage Europe for Christendom—and because this mission cannot be separated from its corollary, which is to determine how Western Christian culture can coexist with […]
By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them
In recent weeks, we have been treated to an intellectual discussion on the nature of our enemy that, frankly, is long overdue. More often in his public appearances, President Bush has referred to them as “Islamic fascists”, setting aside at least momentarily the characterization of our conflict as a “war on terror”, a term which […]
The Hazard of Moral Neutrality
Recently, I was struck by reports that graduating seniors from Christian high schools in California are having difficulty getting accepted by some University of California system affiliates because some of their high school courses are deemed to be biased in favor of Christianity. According to the journal First Things, one university said that “religion and […]