The Arrival of Pilgrim Fathers by Antonio Gisbert (Public Domain) Protections for the religious freedom and internal affairs of religious organizations are largely a matter of judge-made First Amendment law. While the Supreme Court has acted to protect institutional religious freedom in important cases, many American jurisdictions take a narrow view of this right and…
Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces Patriot on Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). In an interview at the beginning of 2024, the far-right Russian ideologue, Alexander Dugin, sought to justify Russian military aggression as a mission of redemption. In fact, he likened Russia’s so-called “special military operation” to the Passion of Christ. He said, “Our…
Why ‘School Choice’ is a Strange Term: Educational Pluralism and International NormsAshley Rogers Berner The following is an excerpt from Ashley Rogers Berner’s new book, Educational Pluralism and Democracy, Reprinted with permission from Harvard Education Press. The United States needs a new conversation about education. Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of…
A Field Sermon by Anna Ancher (CC0 1.0). Since Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices beginning in 2017, the Court released a series of rulings that have had a profound impact on the rights of historically marginalized groups, as well as environmental protection. Regarding immigration rights, the Court ruled in Trump v. Hawaii…
Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Bury, England. Photo by Michael Beckwith (CC BY 3.0). Religion is one of the five categories of protection—along with race, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group—designated by the international and domestic refugee regimes. Migrants who claim a “well-founded fear of persecution” on account…
Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee by DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0) We Have Come Into His House is an essay published in two corresponding parts. The first part specifically examined recent Florida legislation that has restricted and restructured the way classrooms in primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions within the state may explore topics relating to race and racism.…
Old Florida State Capitol, Tallahassee by DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0). We have come into His house to gather in His name to worship Him” – Bruce Ballinger “We request Black teachers of Black studies. It is not that we believe only Black people can understand the Black experience. It is, rather, that we acknowledge the difference…
Nuremburg Trials Protocols by David Shay (CC BY 3.0 DEED) Prologue Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman (b. 1910, d. 2008) was a unique figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Besides his well-known intellectual brilliance, he was involved with nearly every important Orthodox organization in America for many decades and then moved to Israel to be the…
Oklahoma City’s Skyline by Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau (CC BY-SA 3.0). The school choice movement spurred on by Milton Friedman’s highly influential 1955 essay, The Role of Government in Education, affords parents greater opportunities to select where their children can be educated. A key component in this movement are charter schools. Charter schools…
Street sign of Max Weber Square. Cholo Alemen on Wikimedia (CC-BY-SA-3.0) Editorial Note: Page numbers in the text refer to the prior publication linked in the text. In an earlier article in this publication on Robert A. Yelle’s book, Sovereignty and the Sacred, I claimed that Yelle fails to take seriously the distressing theoretical and…