Sweden’s road to secularism: By politics alone

Sweden’s transformation from a pious Lutheran nation to one of the most secular states in the West is among the most arresting in history. Few appreciate how this followed the Church of Sweden having its governance, and then its doctrine, changed by politicians to reflect statist orthodoxy. Continue Reading...

The dangers of Catholic anti-liberalism

Korey D. Maas, associate professor of history at Hillsdale College, has written a timely warning to American Catholics at Public Discourse titled, ‘The Coming Anti-Catholicism.’ Maas begins his essay with a recounting of the early history of American anti-Catholicism, its mitigation in the 1960s, and its troubling resurgence in recent years: The combined effects of Camelot and the Council were to make political anti-Catholicism gauche almost overnight. Continue Reading...

As Notre Dame burns, France called to re-set world ablaze

Like most big stories, the world discovered last night’s fire devouring Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral at breakneck speed on social media. Images and video reached billions within a few minutes, nearly as fast as the dramatic flames took to completely engulf the ancient roof and send its tallest spire hurdling into a billowing smoky abyss. Continue Reading...

Why do pastors receive a tax exemption for housing?

A federal court of appeals recently upheld the constitutionality of the ministerial housing allowance. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled unanimously that the sixty-five year old tax provision does not violate the First Amendment clause that prohibits government establishment of religion. Continue Reading...

China rewrites the Bible

It’s no secret that as the Chinese economy enters a slowdown, the Chinese government has been taking an ever-more authoritarian approach towards virtually every aspect of life in the People’s Republic. Continue Reading...