(1) The Separation of Church and State is a Myth, by Senator Mike Lee (Young America’s Foundation)
The phrase “wall of separation” is not found anywhere in the First Amendment. Instead, Black found it in an obscure letter from Thomas Jefferson who Black claimed played a “leading” role in the “drafting and adoption” of the First Amendment.
(2) Trump and Evangelicals: Strange Bedfellows, by Gary S. Smith
Most prognosticators predict that Trump, despite having been the front-runner for months, will not win the Republican nomination. People, they argue, become more pragmatic and thoughtful the closer they get to voting. Thus far, while Jerry Falwell, Jr., Franklin Graham, and some prosperity preachers have praised Trump, few evangelicals have publicly criticized his outlandish and harmful statements about Muslims or refugees or some of his policies as contradictory to Scripture. It is time to do so. Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “deep down, maybe they [the Gospels]” influence his decision-making. Clearly, evangelicals and others who desire candidates whose views are directed by biblical values have better choices.
(3) Pence Backing Religious Freedom in LGBT Rights Debate (AP)
The Republican governor said in his half-hour televised State of the State speech before legislators that no one should be mistreated because of “who they love or what they believe.” But he also said that “no one should ever fear persecution because of their deeply held religious beliefs.”
(4) How To Read Calvin’s Institutes And Why You Should Seriously Consider It, by Justin Taylor
J.I. Packer writes: The 1559 Institutio is great theology, and it is uncanny how often, as we read and re-read it, we come across passages that seem to speak directly across the centuries to our own hearts and our own present-day theological debates. You never seem to get to the book’s bottom; it keeps opening up as a veritable treasure trove of biblical wisdom on all the main themes of the Christian faith.
(5) A Misplaced Grief: The Vatican and David Bowie, by Fr. George W. Rutler
Young people are embarrassed when their mothers try to be “cool.” These youths may tread wrong paths unadvisedly on occasion, for such is the indiscretion of nascent years, but they want their mothers to be mature and not adolescent. Mother Church appears ridiculous as Adolescent Church, as in the case of the Holy See lamenting David Bowie. The insatiable desire for approval by pop culture is beneath the dignity of the Church as the Mother of Nations.
…Christ was a carpenter and his apostles were mostly fishermen and none of them was what is called today a “metrosexual.” I am not sure what that term fully means, but it embraces anyone who weeps for paragons of degeneracy and paladins of vice.
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