The Pokey Finger of God

When I was very young and I was learning about government for the first time, my initial judgment was that our government was carefully contrived to make it as difficult as possible for one person or group to hold power for very long, while simultaneously preventing anything from ever getting done. I recall also making [...]

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Over the last few years, there seems to be more public arguments over the place of religion in politics. Lawsuits have been filed to move monuments inscribed with Biblical text from public grounds, and more recently, the phrase “under God” in the pledge has come under attack. The phrase “separation of Church and State” is [...]

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Supreme Court Preserves ‘God’ in Pledge The Supremes weaseled out of making an official declaration on the Newdow pledge case, however, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist agreed with the outcome of the case, but still wrote separately to say that the Pledge as recited by schoolchildren does not violate the Constitution. Justices Sandra Day O’Connor [...]

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Claiming to be “the Christian Voice in the Nation’s Capital,” the [Apostolic Congress] members vociferously oppose the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and Solomon’s [...]

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I’ve let a number of unconnected threads of news and history mingle about in my brain for a few weeks now, and have recently come to the realization that a number of social issues of note these days can be traced back to an attitude taken by a multitude of self-described “religious” people. Let’s narrow [...]

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Recently, the San Marcos school district announced their intention to begin drug testing for all students participating in extracurricular activities. The stated purpose was to force kids to choose between drugs and sports (or chess club, choir, or whatever). The coach of the football team, who was the one who initiated the new plan, said [...]

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Roy Moore, the Alabama judge who refused to move the Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse has been suspended (with pay, natch) for not fulfilling an order by a federal judge. “Roy’s Rock” will be moved by Monday, if not sooner. A few years ago, a local homeless lawyer unsuccessfully sued to get the [...]

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