FOREWORDBy George Weigel There is an irony in asking C.S. Lewis how Christians should talk about political issues. As A.N. Wilson recently wrote in a newspaper, "C.S. Lewis never read a newspaper in his life. It did him no harm, though it did lead to some confusion–as when he had a passionate argument with his brother, ruefully admitting at Read More ›
INTRODUCTION By John G. West, Jr. Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute Many people today seem to think that religion in politics is somehow a new phenomenon. It isn’t. Religion has never stayed out of politics, especially in America. During the Revolutionary War, ministers urged their congregations to resist King George. During the early 1800s, clergy and laity alike spearheaded campaigns Read More ›
CHAPTER 1: HOW SHOULD PEOPLE OF FAITH TALK ABOUT POLITICAL ISSUES? Christians and other people of faith often disagree about how to articulate their moral concerns in the public arena. Some call for framing policy questions explicitly in terms of "Biblical values" or the "Judeo-Christian tradition," while others advocate a more secular approach, stressing"family values" or "natural law." As Read More ›
Chapter 2: HOW CAN PEOPLE OF FAITH APPLY MORALITY TO POLITICS? In ancient and medieval political philosophy, prudence was the crown of the moral virtues because it showed one how to apply the other moral virtues in particular cases. The virtue of prudence remains of critical political importance today. Even if we know the moral standard to apply to Read More ›
CHAPTER 4: WHAT ARE THE THREATS TO FREEDOM IN MODERN SOCIETY? C.S. Lewis expressed concern about how the modern state could undermine human freedom and dignity if policymakers adopted the approach of modern social science. At the same time, Lewis also doubted the ability of any government to permanently reshape and subordinate a nation’s citizenry. The essays in this Read More ›
CHAPTER 5: HOW SHOULD PEOPLE OF FAITH BECOME INVOLVED IN POLITICS? Should Christians or other people of faith form their own political parties, or should they work through the existing party system? Should they form exclusively religious political groups, or should they form political coalitions with people outside their faith traditions? What are the dangers and temptations religious adherents face Read More ›
http://www.boundless.org/2000/departments/pages/a0000367.html About 10 years ago, I came across a delightful article in the Italian journal, Rivista di Biologia. Titled “Be Cautious, Mr. Bates,” the article challenged the Darwinian explanation of how the Viceroy butterfly came to look so much like the Monarch. The most interesting part of the article was the way the authors chided biology professors for presenting speculative Read More ›
Biologists might consider Darwin’s theory of evolution to be well- established. But Phillip Johnson considers it nothing less than a fraud. The Berkeley, Calif.-based lawyer has spent the past few years challenging what he considers to be the fallacies in Darwinian theory. “Most scientists are fair-minded,” Johnson said. “But they deal with only a limited sphere – their own experiments Read More ›
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/014/18.20.html Baylor University in October terminated well-known Intelligent Design scientist William Dembski as head of the Michael Polanyi Center for Complexity, Information, and Design. The center was placed in limbo, without a name or certain future at the university in Waco, Texas. Dembski, who retains his Baylor professorship, says he was overwhelmed by politicking within Baylor. The Polanyi Center’s critics Read More ›
As any statistician knows, Vice President Al Gore’s plan to recount votes in Democratic-majority counties has been intrinsically unfair. During the last three weeks, Gore’s lawyers mounted a full-court press to force hand recounts in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Most recently, they sought a court order to hand count some 10,000 ballots in Miami-Dade County that did not Read More ›