Vladimir Putin often repeats the claim that Russia and Ukraine are “one people.” Yet, his annexation of Crimea in 2014 and his subsequent “little war” in eastern Ukraine have pushed Orthodox religious folks in Ukraine farther away from his dream. What is his dream? Namely, to portray his government as a reincarnation of the old czarist empire where the Russian Orthodox Church served the interests of the Russian czar. Church and state were inextricably linked in czarist Russia. The Kremlin used the church as an instrument of its old imperial control. Putin has the same vision for Russia in 2018. But the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is not buying into Putin’s dream.

What is a citizen? When the Founders of this Republic wrote the Constitution during the summer of 1787, they did not include a definition of citizenship in the Constitution. During the early decades of the history of the American Republic, various laws were passed that heightened the ambiguity of what does citizenship mean and what are the requirements for citizenship?

The significant tax cut passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year is a source of pride and joy for the Republican Party and especially for President Trump. The Republican Congress is now seeking to make these tax cuts permanent

Few have noticed what I believe to be one of the more momentous developments of 2018—the growing Russian footprint in the Middle East. Vladimir Putin has a major naval base in Syria, at least two airbases and a diplomatic clout with many Middle Eastern governments not seen since the days of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Ed Stetzer, who holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and is executive director of the Billy Graham Center, asks this poignant question: “How can we spiritually lead our people struggling to respond in a culture charged by political polarization and fed a diet of cable news and social media?

Last year (2017) we celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, thereby beginning the Protestant Reformation. Most historians agree that one of the contributing causes of both the appeal and the subsequent spread of Protestantism was a crisis of confidence within the Catholic Church: corruption, immorality, nepotism, simony and other factors which describe a decadent church out of touch with its people. In many ways, a similar crisis of confidence is brewing within the Roman Catholic Church today.

The death of John McCain on 25 August 2018 appropriately led to a series of memorial services in his home state of Arizona and then in our nation’s capital. Because he was a naval hero, he was buried at the US Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland. Few people in American history deserve the title “hero” but John McCain is certainly one of those.

In June, the United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council, which UN Ambassador Nikki Haley described as “a protector of human-rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias.”  This UN Council is quite frankly a sham.  Aaron Rhodes, author of The Debasement of Human Rights: How Politics Sabotage the Ideal of Freedom,
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In mid-July, the Israeli Parliament, by a vote of 62 to 55, enacted a basic law, “with the weight of a constitutional amendment, declaring Israel ‘the nation-state of the Jewish people,’ built on national self-determination ‘unique to the Jewish people.’ It prioritizes Jewish building and downgrades Arabic from an ‘official’ language alongside Hebrew to one with a ‘special status.’”

We live in an age where incendiary phrases such as “fake news,” “alternative facts,” and harsh, accusatory, bullying speech are the new normal. In addition, because of the internet and our civilization’s commitment to free speech, radical, extreme views on almost any subject are readily available to everyone. Tragically, there is therefore very little room for critical analysis of what is being said or what is being argued. It is almost impossible to have a reasoned, well-thought-through discussion about anything today.