The Liberty Blog

There is growing angst about a small Florida congregation that plans to make a spectacle by burning the Qur’an this coming September 11.  The stated purpose of this showmanship is to maintain their right of religious expression and to send a message to the Islamic fundamentalists that they – this one, small Christian church in America – is not going to be intimidated. “We feel it's maybe the right time for America to stand up,” says more... (120 Comments)

Yesterday, Federal Judge Vaughn Walker struck down California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.  He ruled that the Proposition, which had been passed by a majority of Californians in 2008, serves no legitimate government purpose.  He held, rather, that it deprives same-sex couples of the fundamental right to marry, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. This ruling was predictable. Several months ago, as the trial was more... (64 Comments)

The last political hurdle to the establishment of a Muslim community center two blocks north of the World Trade Center in New York City was overcome yesterday, when the NYC Landmarks Commission rejected pleas to determine the status of a mid-nineteenth century building’s historic significance based on the religious identity of its owner. It unanimously determined that the building lacked historic significance, and refused to impose restrictions on the alteration more... (52 Comments)

Judge Vaughn R. Walker held today that the Proposition 8 initiative that California citizens voted for in 2008 “does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples.” Read the case here. He also noted that it “fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial more... (29 Comments)

It has been twenty years since the Supreme Court issued its decision in the peyote case, profoundly disrespectful of the rights of free exercise of religion. In the interim, there has been at least some hope that the courts would eventually come to realize the value of preserving religious freedom, and make a course correction. For this legal observer, these hopes were dashed by the recent decision involving a student chapter of the Christian Legal more... (41 Comments)

Twenty years ago people said it was impossible. The US having diplomatic relations with Vietnam? No way! Yet here I was at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC attending a reception honouring 15 years of that very thing. I marvelled at the cordiality of the people in more... (2 Comments)

Many of us did it when we were young and in school. Not all our friends wanted to but those who were willing to abide by the rules joined. That’s how it was done – how we made our own club with our own rules. It wasn’t complicated. But try to do that in law school. That is a different kettle of fish altogether. There the obvious more... (4 Comments)

Representing the Adventist Church in political circles is one fraught with potential misunderstanding. The political context can be polarizing at times. Politics, known as a “blood sport,” often demands that a person or organization be in favor of one political proposal at the expense of another. While at the same time politics is an “art of compromise” - a compromise of one’s own view or principle to arrive at an agreement. more... (7 Comments)

President Obama continued the tradition set in place by President Eisenhower in 1953 attending the National Prayer Breakfast. There has been some controversy over that practice. The Boston Globe, for instance has called it “Bad Religion.” “[T]he tradition amounts to a religious festival of American Christian nationalism,” writes James Carroll, “...this overtly theological claim on God’s favour goes to the heart of the imperial hubris that has led to one foreign policy more... (3 Comments)

There is nothing like a pro-life message in a TV ad during the Super Bowl to ignite the blogosphere and the editorial pages of the nation. For weeks the “pro-choice” community were proclaiming the unfairness of CBS allowing Focus on the Family air a pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow. Much ink and cyberspace was taken up in polemics even before the ad was made public – but it was the idea of such more... (5 Comments)