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Essays

The Religious Foundation of American Politics
At its most foundational level, this war over ideas is over the place of religion in public life. In recent years, some people have used the concept of "separation of church and state" as a principle to eliminate religious perspectives from public places and public education. These people emphasize that ours is a "pluralistic" society. However, others contend that religion, and specifically the Bible and Christianity, has an important role to play in our political system and public issues. As a result of these two opposing views, there continues to be a debate about the proper place of religion in the public square. To settle the dispute, something must be known about the foundation upon which our government is built. Knowing how something is designed is crucial to its operation...

Truth & Consequences

Christianity and Politics
When Wisconsin public high school senior Rachel Horner provided the school faculty with the lyrics of a song she planned to sing at her graduation ceremony, they came "unglued." The reason? The song mentions God three times. The school principal told Rachel that "God" might offend some of the audience and would violate the "separation of church and state." The principal suggested Rachel replace references to "God" with "He," "Him" and "His." When Miss Horner filed a federal lawsuit, the school...

Read Any Good Books Lately?
A federal judge ruled last January (2008) that a southeastern Missouri school district's long-standing practice of allowing the distribution of Bibles to grade school students is unconstitutional. This is the latest salvo by the courts to secularize our society. The misguided notion that the public square and especially the public school must be scrubbed clean of any references to Christianity continues to gain force. There are, however, many educators who would disagree with this conclusion, as the following article, written by a friend, Kim Kinney, demonstrates...

Separating Secular Humanism and the State
Secular Humanism is a well-articulated worldview. This is evident from the three Humanist Manifestos written in 1933 and revised in 1973 and again in 2000. According to their own pronouncements, Secular Humanists are atheists who believe that the scientific method is the primary way we can know about life and living, from understanding who we are as humans to questions of ethics, social issues, and politics. However, apart from the specifics of what Secular Humanists believe, the pressing issue is this: is Secular Humanism a religion?

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