On the eve of the Republican primaries in Michigan and Arizona I would like to direct an urgent appeal to Sen. Rick Santorum: “Please keep talking about Satan; somebody’s got to do it!” http://www.uwesiemon.blogspot.com/2012/02/faith-matters-santorum-was-right-to.html Read more

Last week, the Maryland Senate passed the Civil Marriage Protection Act by a 25–22 vote. The Maryland House of Delegates had passed the bill on Friday, February 17, by a 71–67 vote, and Governor Martin O’Malley has vowed to sign it. This bill will grant the legal status of marriage to any two non-related consenting adults, irrespective of their sex. Why is this important, and how does it affect even those who do not live in Maryland? Isn’t it best... Read more

In testimony yesterday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of New York’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, and Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, said the recent HHS directive in Obamacare treats some religious organizations as entitled to First Amendment protection and others—those that serve other faiths—as not meriting protection. This distinction is alien not only to Christianity, but quintessentially to Judaism, whose essence lies not only in “wrapping... Read more

Many expect that the Supreme Court will soon overturn the traditional marriage laws remaining on the books in forty-three states, a prospect that would have been unthinkable only a decade or two ago. What happened? http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/02/4484?utm_source=RTA+Dyer+Marriage&utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email Read more

February 22, 2012 Do Jews Have a Mormon Problem? By Elliot Jager The religious values of presidents seldom satisfactorily explain their attitudes toward the Jews. Franklin Roosevelt’s Episcopalian faith could not have foretold his hard-hearted policies during the Holocaust. Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter, both Baptists, went in opposite directions, with Truman quick to grant Israel diplomatic recognition and Carter conspicuous in his anti-Israelism. Who knows to what extent Barack Obama’s affiliation with the United Church of Christ provides any... Read more

The book’s thesis is deceptively simple: demands for legal “equality,” “human rights,” and “non-discrimination” are regularly permitted to trump religious freedom. This dynamic is widespread, and is proceeding without reflection upon any of the following: humans’ intrinsic need for religion, national religio-cultural heritages, and religion’s role in provoking a taste for human equality in the first place. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/02/4784?utm_source=RTA+Alvare+Equality+Freedom&utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email Read more

The fundamental problem with the mandate is that it coerces some people into doing what they think is wrong, and this problem remains regardless of whether the coercion excuses the actions of the people being coerced. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/02/4817?utm_source=RTA+Miller+HHS&utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email Read more

The Roman city of Tiberias, long beloved of archaeologists but overshadowed in the public eye by Israel’s more famous or politically combustible ancient sites, is finally emerging from underneath soil, rubble and the remains of an old garbage dump along the Sea of Galilee. http://www.jidaily.com/aPL1Y/e Read more

An ancient example of resistance to a tyrant’s attempt to coerce violations of religious conscience provides an interesting perspective on resistance to the Obama administration’s recent healthcare coverage mandate. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/02/4777?utm_source=RTA+Paulsen+HHS+Pork&utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) – He’s considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. But Sir Isaac Newton was also an influential theologian who applied a scientific approach to the study of scripture, Hebrew and Jewish mysticism. http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2012/02/15/israeli_library_uploads_newtons_theological_texts/ Read more