Displaying the Ten Commandments in the Public Sphere: Even When it is Unconstitutional it is Constitutional (by Matt Bussell)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. On June 27, 2005 the United States Supreme Court ruled on two court cases dealing with displays of the Ten Commandments: McCreary County v. ACLU (http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/03-1693/) and Van Orden v. Perry (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1500.ZS.html). Instead of resolving the debate about the constitutionality of Ten … [Read More...]
Skiing With Jesus May Not Be Illegal – But Could It Be Unconstitutional? (by Saul Barcelo)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. For the last 59 years, skiers in the Whitehead Ski Resort in Montana have had the privilege of skiing along Jesus Christ for no extra cost. However, that could change in the near future, thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation who filed a lawsuit asking for the removal of the statue of Jesus (Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Chip … [Read More...]
ACLU Hopes to Draw “Bright Line” Between Religion & Secular, Charter Schools (by Katie Kubitskey)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. It’s not often that one sees a conservative Christian journalist and a church-state watchdog organization playing for the same team. However, the two joined forces in 2009 to raise a case against the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a public charter school that both parties accused of promoting Islam. The accusation was brought to the public eye in an … [Read More...]
Easter: A Reflection by John Cobb
John B. Cobb, Jr., Ph.D., has held many positions including Ingraham Professor of Theology at the Claremont School of Theology, Avery Professor at the Claremont Graduate School, Fullbright Professor at the University of Mainz, Visiting Professor at Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Chicago Divinity Schools. His writings include: Christ in a Pluralistic Age; God and the World; and co-author with Herman Daly of For the Common Good which was co-winner of the Grawemeyer … [Read More...]
The Inherent Tension in Law and Religion (by William H. Floyd)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. There’s an old saw about prayer in schools which seems to have originated among liberal politicians in the 1980s: As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in schools. Apart from its sly attempt at humor, the line also reveals distinct understandings about prayer. The form of prayer brought on by exams is an individual one, even … [Read More...]
Pushing the Edges: New Media and Religious Communities (by Hannah Heinzekehr)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Monica A. Coleman. In February, Goshen College, a Mennonite-affiliated liberal arts school, announced that it was going to be launching its new iCore Technology initiative by offering a new IPad 3 to every incoming freshman in fall 2012. The college believes that this initiative will help new students learn to integrate “cutting edge” technology with education, and will also help … [Read More...]
Endorsing Religion? Obama Administration argues for Cross on Public Land (by Katrina Myers)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to allow a 43-foot-tall cross that serves as a war memorial on public land to remain atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego. The administration reasoned that the cross has been there since 1954 and does not endorse religion. This request follows last year’s ruling in Trunk v. City of San Diego, in … [Read More...]
Does Your Mom Get It? (by Sheri Kling)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Monica A. Coleman. Just the other day, during a panel discussion on “Creating Women’s Theology,” Dr. Monica A. Coleman (who co-authored a book by the same name) said this was the first of her texts that her mother really understood. After all, Dr. Coleman is typically writing about things related to process theology and philosophy, and anyone who’s read Alfred North Whitehead … [Read More...]
Call for Theo-Bloggers: Philip Clayton’s New Book
Over the coming weeks, a number of theo-bloggers (feel free to join in!) will be posting responses to (CST Dean) Philip Clayton and Steven Knapp's new book The Predicament of Belief. This "blog tour" is setting up for something that the popular theological podcast Homebrewed Christianity has been wanting to try: a Theo-Nerd book party. Here's the idea: HBC will collect all blogger's questions for Dr. Clayton, have a party at his house, make him sweat asking them in a live podcast, … [Read More...]
Sticky Denominations? (by Jennifer Gutierrez)
This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Monica A. Coleman. Why are mainline denominations dying? I was recently in a trustees meeting for one of these denominations. The trustees were grilling a representative from the committee that works with campus ministry. The overall concern of the trustees seemed to be that their investments in campus ministry over the years had not yielded significant returns. They were … [Read More...]
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