Beware of Sunday School Teachers!

The following article was written in 1996 in response to an article that former President Jimmy Carter wrote on the topic of “Judge Not” as it relates to homosexuality and abortion. I decided to revive it for two reasons. First, it’s been reported that Carter’s son Jack may run for the Senate in Nevada. He is described as a “social liberal with conservative Southern roots.”[1] That’s exactly what [...]

The Pledge of Allegiance Goes to Trial

Many who are arguing for “under God” to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance are doing so by declaring that the phrase has no particular religious meaning for our nation today. This was the view of Solicitor General Theodore Olson when the Pledge issue first came before the Supreme Court in 2004. “Olson argued that the phrase is viewed as an ‘acknowledgment’ of religion’s role in the lives of Americ [...]

The Censors are at it Again

The official emblem of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is adorned with three crosses. A federal lawsuit alleges the crosses, which are religious symbols, are unconstitutional because they appear on public property. **“**The crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens,” said the lawsuit filed by Paul F. Weinbaum, a member of the recent [...]

Katrina's Potential Silver Lining

The blame game will continue as politicians and political action groups jockey for position and funding for the upcoming elections in 2006 and 2008. Acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, and just plain hard work will be rightly honored. Religious organizations will gain new respect from the people being ministered to in both body and spirit. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will probably be rebuilt after [...]

The Right and Wrong Way to Topple a Dictator

Pat Robertson has put his foot in his mouth again by calling for the assassination of the president of Venezuela. A minister of the gospel and the leader of a world-wide Christian ministry should not be calling for the death of the head of state of any nation. A better approach would be to meet with international church leaders to promote a comprehensive biblical worldview around the world. Effect [...]

Privacy Right Unlisted, but Undefined

With the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, it seems that everyone is reading the Constitution again. This is good. The Left is apoplectic over the thought that with an “arch conservative,” or an “extremist," to use Patrick Leahy’s description, on the court, our rights will be taken away from us. Of course, if Congress would do its job, there wouldn’t be fights over nominees. Co [...]

Prayers Under Attack, Again!

The ACLU has a great racket going on. It sues city and county governments over sectarian (Christian) prayers and the posting of the Ten Commandments and then gets paid for its efforts when judges rule in favor of the ACLU’s arguments. Nearly two years after an anonymous resident sued Barrow County in Georgia to remove a framed copy of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse breezeway, county comm [...]

The Suicide of the Left - Literally!

I can’t help responding to and laughing at the report that Helen Thomas, the so-called “dean of the White House press corps,” says she would not be able to live if Vice President Cheney were to run for the highest office. “The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself. All we need is one more liar.”[1] Promises, promises! Of course, Thomas is the one lying. [...]

The Left Needs a Fact Checker

In his 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul R. Ehrlich made predictions about the future of our planet based on his understanding of population growth and projected food supplies. Ehrlich’s work was not new. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), a British political economist and mathematician, proposed that population growth would outstrip any increase in food supplies in his day. Malthus theorized th [...]

"Raising Arizona" and Socialist Dreamers

In the movie Raising Arizona (1987), H.I. (Nicholas Cage), an ex-convict, and Edwina “Ed” (Holly Hunter), an ex-police officer, are a down-and-out married couple who desperately want a child. Unable to have a child of their own, they decide to take one from the Arizonas who just had quintuplets. According to the paper, it’s “more than they can handle.” H.I. reasons that since the Arizonas have so [...]

The Appearance of Truth

When error comes, it always rides in on the wings of truth.[1] Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971), Premier of the former Soviet Union, described a time in the Communist republic’s history when a wave of petty theft was sweeping through the government-owned plants. To curtail the stealing, guards were placed at factory entrances to watch the laborers as they entered and departed. At the Leningrad timber [...]

The Real Global Warming Problem

July 7, 2005—7–7—was an unlucky day for Britons. Islamic terrorists had planted bombs on their transit system killing dozens, injuring hundreds, and bringing transportation and financial markets to a standstill. While rockers were singing their guilty and hypocritical hearts out at “Live 8” to bring awareness of Africa’s poverty plight and debt load to a fed up world, and the world’s superpowers w [...]

A Court Without an Anchor

There will certainly be a battle for the next Supreme Court appointment. All types of questions will be asked on current social issues. Views on abortion and homosexual marriage will dominate the discussion. These are peripheral issues. They are meaningless without a anchor point. Why even ask such questions if there is no God watching our decisions? Ted Kennedy will lead the charge and will objec [...]

The Bible and the Death Penalty in the New Testament

A lawyer asked me to respond to some arguments raised by another lawyer who claimed Jesus did away with the death penalty in the NT. The objections against the death penalty are in bold. My commentary follows**:** In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said you have heard it said an eye for an eye, but I say to you turn the other cheek, etc. Therefore Jesus repudiates capital punishment, and it is the [...]

The United Church of Christ and Homosexual Marriage

The United Church of Christ is about to sanction homosexual marriages, if the president of the errant denomination gets his way. The Rev. John H. Thomas, addressing about 200 UCC delegates, made an emotional appeal that called for “full civil and religious equality for same-sex couples.” The article reports that many “of the people in attendance wept during Thomas’ speech.”[1] I went to the UCC we [...]

Murder in Iraq and America

“Shots rang out across the city Saturday night and Sunday morning—from the Far North Side to the Far South Side—with preliminary reports of nearly two dozen people shot. The overnight tally—which is unofficial—included two shootings on the same corner, a fatal shooting near the Taste of Chicago and several on the West Side, where detectives were swamped. ‘We’re just spinning up here,’ one de [...]

Is America About to Follow Europe's Example?

Will America suffer the same fate as Europe and the rise of what Karen Armstrong calls “secular fundamentalism”? We seem to be headed in similar direction with the secularization of our schools and courts. Christianity in America, like Christianity in Europe, is under attack. We see it every day. Judges are being scrutinized for their religious beliefs, especially on abortion and homosexuality, an [...]

Dick Durbin Wants Sergeant Schultz to be in Charge of Gitmo

Dick Durbin, a Democrat Senator from Illinois, has compared the prisoner-of-war conditions at Guantanamo to Pol Pot’s murder of about 1.5 million Cambodians, Adolf Hitler’s genocidal madness that left 9 million dead throughout Europe, and Stalin’s Gulag where about 20 million met their death in order to bring about a more equitable society. These were not enemy combatants hell-bent on destroying A [...]

Jesus and the Air Force Academy

It seems that Jesus is alive and well at the Air Force Academy. For some people’s tastes He’s too alive. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen writes that there is “a culture of militant Christianity, of intimidation and outright bigotry” at the Academy. One former chaplain called it a “‘systematic and pervasive effort’ at religious proselytizing in which both students and faculty participated.” [...]

Segregating the Church from the World

There are some Christians who take themselves out of the battle over worldviews by using the Bible to make their case. They believe the Bible teaches that Christians should stay above the fray of social involvement. I’ve dealt with many of the arguments for this position in Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths.[1]A pastor in Auburn, Alabama, takes an approach that secularists have used to silence the chur [...]