Most of us don’t remember that Arlen Specter was considering a run for the presidency in 1995.[1] Specter ran for president because he didn’t like the “exclusionary attitudes” of Christian conservatives, especially their pro-life agenda. He believed then, like he believes now, that the Republican Party is “so captive to the demands of the intolerant right that we end up re-electing a president on [...]
On Thursday, September 24, 1789, the First House of Representatives voted to recommend—in its exact wording—the First Amendment of the newly drafted Constitution to the states for ratification. The next day, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New Jersey proposed that the House and Senate jointly request of President Washington to proclaim a day of thanksgiving for “the many signal favors of Almighty [...]
Maryland public school students are in a rude historical awakening this Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving means thanking anyone or anything except God. I suppose that thanking the devil would pass Public School muster as long as the kiddies didn’t ask about his origin since such an inquiry might lead them back to God. These public school children, who are being denied the right and historical reality of [...]
One of the more pleasurable parts of what I do at American Vision is traveling around the country and meeting people who are working out the implications of the gospel and the kingdom of God. It’s heartening to hear how the ministry of American Vision is having an impact. The most rewarding experiences I have is meeting with young people who are part of the growing Christian private, church, and h [...]
Chantal Stepney is a senior at the University of Georgia. An article she wrote appeared in the November 16, 2004, issue of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She takes issue with anti-Bush types on campus who want to flee America for a better life in Canada where they can get “free health care.” Some of her friends thought that finding a piece of land in Namibia to start a family in Afr [...]
Similar counsel was given to Michael Corleone from his father in the Godfather saga. It turned out to be very good advice. It looks like Arlen Specter is going to get the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is not as bad as it seems. Specter got the behind-closed-door message that his pro-abortion obstructionist philosophy would not be tolerated. Having a bad guy as chairman can h [...]
Those familiar with recent history will remember that one of the attack groups that got Chief Justice Roy Moore removed from office was the Southern Poverty Law Center located in Montgomery, Alabama. Richard Cohen, a lawyer for the SPLC, led the charge against Moore. After their success in getting Moore removed, the SPLC, the ACLU, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the s [...]
Garrison Keillor, the soft-spoken, folksy host of “A Prairie Home Companion,” has shown his dark side with comments he made during a speech at Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and during his radio monologue the Saturday after the election. According to a transcript of the show, Keillor said, “I am now the chairman of a national campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to take the rig [...]
The homosexual community is seeing red. Former President Clinton is blaming Kerry’s loss on the homosexual marriage issue. After an analysis of the vote in Pennsylvania, I’ve concluded that Bush would have won the Keystone state if Arlen Specter’s conservative primary opponent had been on the ballot. Many pro-life and anti-homosexual marriage voters did not turn out to vote becau [...]
Now that moral issues have hit the liberal Left like a ton of red bricks, they are trying to figure out how to extricate themselves from the weight of the pile. They are being counseled to talk about values. Good enough. But whose values? What values? Unless they change their views on homosexuality and abortion, to name only two value-laden issues, they can only talk about values. Those on the Lef [...]
Fallout from the election continues. Garry Wills, author of numerous books and articles on America’s cultural mood, has entered the debate over what went wrong when most voting Americans rejected John Kerry and elected George Bush. Here’s how Wills states it in his New York Times article “The Day the Enlightenment Went Out” (Nov. 4, 2004): “Can a people that believes more fervently in the Virgin B [...]
One distraught voter drove to Ground Zero and killed himself after he learned that John Kerry had lost the election. He was only 25. It’s a shame that government has become a god to so many. The disillusionment that comes when your god turns out to be a well-constructed fiction can be devastating. While no editorial writers have done themselves in over the election results, many of them are [...]
In yesterday’s web article, I issued a call to action to put the brakes on Arlen Spector’s elevation to the head of the Judiciary Committee. Apparently others had the same idea. Spector has backed off his comments, even denying that he ever said them. There is a new day in Washington as the media pundits are falling all over themselves trying to figure out the “values vote.&rdquo [...]
Surveys conducted after the election show that morality topped the list of important issues that brought voters to the polls. This astounded the press in England. Europe no longer has a moral center. In time, if population trends continue, Eurabia will be a reality in 30 years. Islam, as twisted a religion as it is when practiced by its extreme elements, believes in moral absolutes. Muslims have a [...]
As I write this, Ohio, Nevada, and New Mexico are still too close to call, at least that’s what the news guys tell us and the Democrats pray is true. The numbers are against John Kerry. He should concede, walk away with dignity, and save the country another agonizing post-election fiasco. My blood pressure can’t take it. Of course, the networks love it. They want to hold everyone in su [...]
Election day is here! I have been criss-crossing the country teaching, debating, doing radio interviews, and answering emails on the road by Christians who want to know what to do in this election. Some are pushing third-party candidates claiming that this is the only “righteous” way to vote. Why is it that these guys have to run for president? Why not run in some local races to show t [...]
On June 28, 1787, Benjamin Franklin delivered a stirring speech to those at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that struck a profound prophetic note that serves as a disturbing warning to all who would dismiss God as the sovereign authority over the nations: All of us who were engaged in the struggle [in the war for independence] must have observed frequent instances of a superintending [...]
God established civil government to be an avenger who brings wrath upon those who practice evil. The civil government’s power to use the sword is legitimate in certain limited cases. The Bible has mandated that the power of the sword is to keep the peace, to protect those who do what is right. Civil rulers are said to be “ministers of God” similar to the way pastors are “ministers of God. [...]
The Bible is opposed to centralism, whether it’s political (United Nations) or religious (World Council of Churches). The tower of Babel and God’s scattering of those who were involved in its design were judged because of the potential corruption that is inherent in religious and political centralism. “The tower of Babel (Gen. 11) was [a] representative pagan architectural struct [...]
Can a biblically-based government (including the civil sphere) operate within the conceptual framework of pluralism? While it depends on the definition of pluralism, let me say that the modern concept of pluralism is one of the most pernicious inventions of the twentieth century designed to eliminate the Christian religion. All sorts of evil acts are done in the name of “pluralism.” Ho [...]
