Three Michigan pastors launched a Federal lawsuit challenging recent 'hate crime' legislation as unconstitutional. If any references denouncing homosexuality or condemning it as 'deadly' behavior fall under this so-called crime definition, then reading certain portions of the Bible would make criminals out of preachers and Sunday school teachers.
The American citizenry is being battered from multiple attacks and from multiple directions. It is overwhelming. The rapid fire onslaught of domestic and foreign crises seems to be pressing our national capacities and resolve. Our country's lungs are burning from exertions and it's muscles are aching from last efforts. Our existence is in the balance.
I would argue that we, like our patriot forebears, have also endured "patient sufferance." For at least a half-century, we have patiently endured the erosion and abridgment of our freedoms and liberties.
An MIT or Harvard degree in Macroeconomics does not necessarily make one a good advisor of financial policy or a qualified predictor of national growth and decline. In fact, most recently, “enlightened” economists have gotten it wrong time and time again!
Every soldier and public servant covenants by solemn oath to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, “foreign and domestic.” We sing, “land of the free and the home of the brave”, thousands of times a day across this country. We pledge allegiance, “to the republic”, in countless venues, and a myriad of times in our life. Are such commitments poppycock? Is our rhetoric without understanding or truth? I have personally preached a score of sermons related to the commitment of good citizenship and the uniqueness of our heritage, charging good Christians to be good Americans. I have weighed the times and the seasons, the costs and the ramifications. It is time to stand up and be counted for right, and align clearly against wrong in our National life.
Today at least nine nations have a nuclear weapon in their arsenals. Only one, however, has used this weapon in warfare: the United States of America.
What does the word 'public' in public education really mean? If it means free access for children of American citizens, that's great. If it means free daytime childcare for illegal aliens then let's redefine the word. Or better yet, let's get back to the original definition all together.
Soon U.S. legislators will again consider the inclusion of “gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation” into current hate crime legislation. This legislation while inconsequential to many Americans has the potential to affect large societal change. According to a recent Gallup Poll the majority of Americans including self-identified Bible supporters are in favor of expanding current hate crimes legislation to now include “gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” The inclusion of these terms creates new social groups in America on par with those identified by race, ethnicity, or sex. Should voluntary lifestyle choices be placed on the same status as identifiers in which the individual has no choice?
Added on 05 January 2010
30 April 2009
Professor Dreisbach's principal research interests include American constitutional law and history, First Amendment law, church-state relations, and criminal procedure. He has written extensively on these topics. He has authored or edited five books and numerous articles in scholarly journals. Among the courses that Professor Dreisbach teaches are American Legal Culture, Issues in Civil Justice, Civil Justice Systems and the Constitution, and The Constitution and Criminal Procedure.
30 April 2009
A man named Demas once left his chosen path of Christian service because he “loved this present world.” The minefield of choices lying astride of God’s prescribed path was a danger two millennia ago and prompted Paul of Tarsus to warn young Timotheus that, in the last days, men would be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” (II Timothy 3:4). These last days are certainly more perilous than ever and the proliferation of pleasures have compounded the difficulty to pursue right paths an hundred fold.
29 April 2009
Idolatry, in the sense of setting up a golden calf and dancing around it, is not a predominant ideal in American culture; however, the fact that an overwhelming majority of American households own and regularly watch a television (sometimes multiple), even dedicating an entire room of their home to, it seems to parallel the notion.
29 April 2009
The country of Iran is referred to throughout the pages of Scripture, not as Iran, but as Elam, Media, and Persia. It has been inhabited since near Creation with scientists dating the habitation of the land to 4000 BC. The first mention in Scripture of this country is by way of its apparent post-flood pioneer, Elam the son of Shem.
28 April 2009
I recently spent an enjoyable afternoon with a former colleague that I taught with for 3 years. As we were catching up on our lives and some of the lives of our students, he informed me that one of my former students was on a search for truth by testing all of the World’s major religions to embrace their truth. Without dismissing him entirely, let me say anyone on that quest is to be admired on an elementary level. Most people live a lifetime and never ponder the great questions of life.
02 April 2009
The Biblical world view naturally held by America's founders, and so successfully ingrained in the national psyche in succeeding generations, is a national phenomenon unparalleled in history. Such a pervasive viewpoint fueled America's decision making and action taking for centuries. It is the not-so-secret reason behind the United States meteoric rise to superpower status, economically and militarily.
02 April 2009
The William Carey Society, under the leadership of Dr. Phil Stringer and others, has begun a catalogue of current Bible translation projects.
31 March 2009
Today the special relationship between Israel and the U.S. dies yet another death. In late 2007 the Bush administration became the first American presidency to make a two state solution with a divided Jerusalem official policy. Despite a full court press called the Annapolis Plan executed in 2008, all ended in abysmal failure.
27 March 2009
The book of II Chronicles, among other things, relates the actions of various kings of Israel and Judah. The following is a list of kings. Just like any list of leadership in nations, there were good, bad and mixed leaders. In the secular worlds, good leaders are primarily known as leaders that got their nations through tough times, both economically and militarily. They may also have pursued agenda's of grandeur or destruction.
27 March 2009
If the U.N. building is a temple of global identity, then the Meditation Room is a ‘Holy of Holies’ to the adherents of it’s esoteric, pantheistic neo-pagan spirituality. The room was designed by the then Secretary General of the U.N. Dag Hammerskjold, and opened in 1957 as a “meeting of light, of the sky, and the earth . . .”, “dedicated to silence, . . .and stillness . . .” , “where the doors may be open to the infinite lands of thought and prayer.” (Hammerskjold in his own words).
