Two and a half years ago, President Obama declared, as America exited Iraq, that Iraq was now a ?sovereign, stable and self-reliant? state. Today, radical jihadists are destroying Iraq. Over the last two weeks, Iraq has been invaded by fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Steven Wise, a 63-year-old animal rights legal scholar, and the Nonhuman Rights Project (Nh.R.P.) are seeking to establish the legal personhood of animals. It has only been in the last 30 years that the distinct field of animal law (i.e., laws and legal theory for and about nonhuman animals) has emerged.
May 22, 2014, marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s ?Great Society? address, delivered at the spring commencement for the University of Michigan. Johnson?s speech remains the most ambitious call to date by any president to use the power of the national government to effect a far-reaching transformation of American society.
In 1796, when George Washington decided not to seek a third term as president, he warned the young Republic about the dangers of foreign entanglements. His counsel produced the policy of isolationism.
Nearly two years ago, a well-known historian of early Christianity from Harvard Divinity School, Karen L. King, argued that a scrap of papyrus of a Coptic gospel text [30 Coptic words in eight fragmentary lines of writing] was authentic and raised the possibility that Jesus was married.
About two years ago, Vladimir Putin began his third term as President of Russia, with his declared objective being to launch a 21st century resurgence of Russia. Rhetorically, he has embraced Russia?s imperial past, which has brought him into conflict with the West, especially the United States. Ukraine is the most recent manifestation of this resurgence. There are two key elements of his worldview that are germane to his actions in Ukraine and to his vision of a resurgent Russia.
Over the last twenty years especially, homosexuality has been reframed as an issue of rights. The debate over same-sex marriage has been redefined that way as well. Overall, both issues are now viewed exclusively as a civil rights issue. One of the primary results of viewing these as civil rights issues is the tendency to limit First Amendment rights, especially the freedom of speech and the freedom of religious expression. In other nations, we are already seeing this occur. In England, a Catholic school was forbidden to fire its openly gay headmaster. In Canada, the Alberta Human Rights Commission forbade a Christian pastor from making ?disparaging? remarks about homosexuality or even repeating biblical condemnations. Such blatant challenges to free speech are not quite yet occurring in America, but we are almost there.
Since America was founded as a nation, religious liberty and freedom of conscience have been cherished values. In many ways, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is testing those cherished values. For that reason, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. is challenging one of the key parts of the ACA on the basis of religious liberty. The Supreme Court recently heard the case and will hand down its decision no doubt sometime in June. What is behind the Hobby Lobby challenge of the ACA?
Vladimir Putin?s annexation of Crimea in Ukraine has upset the world order established after the fall of the Soviet Union. Its ramifications are still being analyzed, but it is at best unsettling, at worst destabilizing. Can we discern Putin?s worldview? Can we figure out his motives and goals in Crimea? Several thoughts:
With the flight of the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, a few weeks ago, Vladimir Putin moved his troops into Crimea, in southern Ukraine, and thereby created an international crisis. It is an act of aggression. It is a provocation. It is an act of bullying by a weak, narcissistic autocrat. But it is also one of the most serious developments in this already troubled young 21st century. This crisis says much about Putin, much about the European Union (EU) and much about the US. Let me explain.
