Otes Manor House where John Locke spent the last fourteen years of his life via Wellcome Library, London (CC BY 4.0). John Locke insisted that toleration and a secular approach to politics would be good for religion. He argued that coerced belief results in hypocrisy and resentment, as well as belief that hinges on political…
Margalla Hills in Pakistan by Zach Khan (CC BY-SA 4.0). In early April 2026, Pakistan accomplished what few states in the contemporary international system have managed: it brought the United States and Iran, two nations defined by decades of mistrust, ideological divergence, and intermittent confrontation to the same negotiating table. This was more than an…
Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as Secretary of Defense (US-PD). On February 27, 2026, President Donald Trump launched Operation “Epic Fury.” Within a day, the United States had killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 170 people at the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, and, alongside Israel, begun a war with Iran. From the beginning, the…
Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC by G. Edward Johnson (CC BY 4.0). At a Nashville rally in 2015, Donald Trump declared that mass shootings like one that had recently occurred at an Oregon community college would never happen if teachers were armed and able to defend themselves and their students. He went on to…
Internal Revenue Service Building in Maryland from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive. This article is part of our series on Law, Religion, and The Johnson Amendment. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. On a Sunday morning in late October 2008, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Pastor Greg Moss of St. Paul Missionary Baptist…
The Reservation Tribal Office at Lake Superior via the National Park Service. From the earliest Supreme Court rulings to the annual presidential proclamations that mark National Native American Heritage Month, the United States has treated Native sovereignty as both a legal and moral question, one rooted as much in theology as in jurisprudence. The very…
Townsley-Murdock Immigrant Trail in Nebraska by Ammodramus (CC0 1.0) This article is part of our series on Law, Religion, and Immigration. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. Increased Immigration and Attitudes about Immigrants In a conversation with a colleague the other day, I pointed out that the percentage of foreign-born people in…
St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Roanoke, Virginia by Joe Ravi (CC-BY-SA 3.0). With the election of Leo XIV, who chose his name in an acknowledgment of Leo XIII, the pope of Rerum Novarum, Catholic Social Teaching (CST) might be back in an even stronger way. Hence, there were great expectations for the apostolic exhortation, Dilexi…
“Climate Angels at Extinction Rebellion Declaration Day Melbourne” by John Englart (CC BY-SA 2.0) “I don’t want the same world, just eco.” These are the words of an activist interviewed in the 2021 documentary, Rebellion, directed by Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot. The film tells the story of Extinction Rebellion (XR), arguably one of…
Russell Senate Office Building by Architect of the Capitol (US-PD). During his second term, President Barack Obama attempted to restart the Israel-Palestine peace process, following in the footsteps of every president since George H.W. Bush. Like other attempts, it fell apart quickly, much to the frustration of all. In April of 2014, then U.S. Secretary…