The Treaty of Tripoli and “Christian America”

“The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”   Advocates of church-state separation will happily agree with the statement above. It states what they clearly recognize to be the case, that the United States...

Three things to watch in 2009

The late sportscaster Skip Carey had the same response to any question involving speculation about the outcome of a yet-to-occur competition: “That’s why they play the game.”Yet speculation is not soothsaying (that suggests one can see into the...

Christmas ponderings

Spending Christmas evening with my parents brought to mind a simpler time when Christmas was a big deal for children, but not quite the production it often is today. Laptops and iPods were still in the distant future, and the most advanced technology under the tree...

Hopes and Prayers for the New Year

New Year’s celebrations have traditionally become a time for us to gather up our hopes and prayers for the coming year and express them in resolutions. I confess to being a resolution maker.             Not just about the little things like losing weight and...

A Tale of Two Attitudes

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the...

A joyful Christmas

“Come to Bethlehem and seeChrist Whose birth the angels sing;Come, adore on bended knee,Christ the Lord, the newborn King.”[Art by Rembrandt; words from “Angels We Have Heard on High”] John D. PierceDirector of the Jesus Worldview Initiative at...