Showing titles in Church & State

On July 2, 1822, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina. He was convicted of plotting what might have been the largest insurrection against slaveholders in US history. Witnesses claimed that Vesey appealed to numerous biblical texts to promote and justify the revolt.

The dramatic and fascinating story of Chai Ling, commander-in-chief of the student protesters at Tiananmen Square and witness to the massacre of thousands of Chinese civilians. Risking imprisonment and possible death, she was on the run in China for 10 months while being hunted by the authorities. She eventually escaped to the U.S., completed her education, found true love, and became a highly successful entrepreneur. But her newfound passion for God led to her life's greatest mission.

The most patriotic thing you can do for America is pray for America. In times of division and disaster, our country has a long history of turning to God. Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of a 14,000-member church in Dallas, Texas, and a Fox News contributor, believes it should be no different today. "When we seek God's help and pray about the issues that affect our lives," writes Jeffress, "we influence the fate of our families, our churches, and our nation. It has happened before in history, and it can happen again."

When Ronald Reagan warned that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction, was he pointing to Generation Z? Today’s young adults have been indoctrinated since preschool in the lie that America is fundamentally unjust. They have watched their parents hand over their freedom to big government, and they themselves are captivated by a deceptive ideology of unprecedented radicalism.

This provocative audiobook addresses one of the most enduring puzzles in political philosophy and constitutional theory - why is religion singled out for preferential treatment in both law and public discourse? Why, for example, can a religious soup kitchen get an exemption from zoning laws in order to expand its facilities to better serve the needy, while a secular soup kitchen with the same goal cannot?

The separation of church and state is often treated as a historical principle—something rooted in the Enlightenment, debated by the Founding Fathers, and enshrined in the Constitution. But this idea is not just a relic of the past. It is a vital safeguard of freedom, and it’s under threat today. In a time when Christian Nationalism is on the rise, religious influence is creeping into politics, and civil liberties are being eroded, defending the secular foundation of democracy is more critical than ever. The United States was founded on a radical idea: that people of all faiths—and ...

Using his unique lens as a critical race theorist and law professor, Khaled A. Beydoun captures the many ways in which law, policy, and official state rhetoric have fueled the frightening resurgence of Islamophobia in the US.

Revolution? Oligarchy? Or homecoming? Americans are approaching a "zero hour" for the republic and its distinctive view of ordered freedom. America is caught between two revolutions and alternately suppresses and squanders freedom with a prodigal carelessness, with little understanding of the responsibilities that freedom requires. Os Guinness warns that if America abandons its distinctive ideals and ideas, we will have carved into the chronicles of history yet another example of the failure of a free society.

Where God Was Born observes that at the birth moment of the biblical religions, all of the faiths took from one another, exchanged ideas, recognized their commonalities, and were open to peaceful coexistence. Offering a rare vision of God that can unite different faiths into a shared allegiance of hope, this is a brave, challenging, and profound work that addresses the most important issues of our time.

In Islam and World Peace, the message is that oneness is the most important aspect of Islam. Protecting our neighbors from danger is primary, and then embracing them—that is Islam. Sufi teacher M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen—revered by thousands from all social, religious, and ethnic backgrounds—demonstrates that Islam teaches us we must not kill each other. Instead, we must wage war against evil qualities within ourselves. He emphasizes that Islam is equality, peacefulness, and unity—and seeks to join us together as one, accepting of all.

News reports cover the tragic events - the bombings, the massacres, and the suicide attacks. Our newscasters take time to explain who the players are - from Hezbollah to the Iranian Quds, from ISIS to the Palestinian National Authority. But what is behind these events that fuels atrocity after atrocity?

David Headley, the American Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. One day he would drink champagne at the most extravagant clubs; on another he would prostrate himself in prayer in remote Pakistan and pledge fidelity to Allah.

Zionism and the Black Church is a discussion of Africa's ancient connection to Israel and the Jewish people, and the historic Black-Jewish synergy in America. It explains the foundation of spiritual Zionism among Black people, and why that foundation will always inform Black support for Israel. It uncovers the origins of an anti-Israel ideology that targeted the Black and African communities beginning in the 1960s, and how that strategy became a mainstay in school curriculum and political policy.

The world is becoming less religious. Since 2007, there has been a pervasive decline in religious belief and most of the world's people now say that God is less important in their lives than they said he was in the quarter century before 2007. Many factors contributed to this dramatic shift, but as Inglehart shows, certain ones stand out. Utilizing a massive global database, Inglehart analyzes the conditions under which religiosity collapses, and explores its implications for the future.

Jesus told a parable that has been a guide for me over the years. If you can develop the four characteristics inspired by the parable of the four soils, you will discover your calling and bring about so much good in our broken world. A spiritually receptive, tenacious, intentional, and proactive person will experience the presence and peace of God and have a hundred times the impact.

Beating Guns provides a provocative look at gun violence in America and offers a clarion call to change our hearts regarding one of the most significant moral issues of our time. Best-selling author, speaker, and activist Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin show why Christians should be concerned about gun violence and how they can be part of the solution.

The proclaimed hope of America rings most hollow for Native peoples, people of color, the rural poor, and other communities pressed to the margins. Author Jonathan Walton exposes the cultural myths and misconceptions about America's identity. Focusing on its manipulation of Scripture and the person of Jesus, he redirects us to the true promises found in the gospel. Walton identifies how American ideology and way of life has become a false religion and reveals that orienting our lives around American nationalism is idolatry.

April 13, 2006. A Jerusalem Post headline reads: "Jericho man murdered over home sale." The 42 year-old father of eight was kidnapped, shot seven times, thrown into his car, and set on fire, because he had sold his Jerusalem apartment to Jews. Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and make it off limits to Christian and Jewish believers. In this revealing book, Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, reminds us that the war on terror is also a war on faith.

Religion lurks in the floorboards of our daily lives, whether we want it to or not. A departure from more traditional approaches to "Religion 101," Religion Is Not Done with You gives thought-provoking context to the basics of religious studies by challenging listeners to consider the origins of their assumptions about religion and broaden their perspectives on what religion is and does. Religion scholars and Keeping It 101 podcast duo Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Megan Goodwin offer their straightforward, plainspoken overviews of religious studies theory.

In Just Faith, progressive Christian activist and writer Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons explains how a strong religious left has accompanied every major progressive advance in our society, and he resurrects the long but forgotten history of progressive Christianity in the United States that can and must link arms with progressive Muslims and Jews to make the moral case for pluralism, human dignity, and the common good. Graves-Fitzsimmons provides a blueprint for this type of resurrection based on his advocacy work at the intersection of religion and American politics.