The logical fallacy behind the wall of separation between church and state has been hidden in plain sight for over two centuries. A little logic reveals the misconception and explains its power to legalize prejudice. Because the wall is founded on an inadvertent delusion, we should expect to find symptoms of that error on both sides of the wall. And…Continue reading The Fallacy that Became a Wall of Separation
Tag: #churchAndState
The establishment and and free exercise clauses of the first amendment to the US Constitution. That group of legal and political issues having to do with the relationships between these two institutions.
The Failed Promise of Secularism
Because we believe in secularism, “believers” and “non-believers” are unable to meet on equal terms. The result is that “believers” acquiesce to the political arguments of “non-believers” whose positions seem clearly secular. However, we shall see that secularism is founded on flawed semantics and has not only become unsustainable but the source of religious bigotry. Like Newton’s laws, secularism has…Continue reading The Failed Promise of Secularism
How My Insights Come at Me
A few nights each month, some distant thought comes to the shore of my consciousness like a huge wave approaching from far out at sea. As my sleep shallows, the wave rises up in a great breaker and crashes down in a rushing, jumble of thoughts and I have to run to my desk and capture them for if I…Continue reading How My Insights Come at Me
How My First Media Interview Works
My first media interview was this morning and you can listen to it right here (scroll to the bottom). This first interview is just the first step up the publicity ladder as I work my way to the big media like NPR, Fox News, or CNN? Ha! CNN would never interview a guy with an argument that established natural rights…Continue reading How My First Media Interview Works
Touring the Rights Cave, Hierarchy Cavern
There were a lot of rocks in the first cavern of the cave of rights, and we have discussed the rights of those rocks. Today we’re moving into the lesser life forms cavern to see the hierarchy of rights found throughout nature. Then we’ll tour the next cavern and discuss rights in conflict. I have a funny story to tell…Continue reading Touring the Rights Cave, Hierarchy Cavern
What I Learned from the Writers Conference
I had a great experience at the Write Here in Ephraim authors conference last weekend. They had “boot camp” on Friday, and we each brought 10 pages of something we had written. We took turns reading our stuff and then all the authors in the circle would comment and critique one another’s work. Here’s what multiple-book-author Kathryn Elizabeth Jones said…Continue reading What I Learned from the Writers Conference
The Introduction to the Book
The two worst topics to bring up if you want to keep your friends are religion and politics: the other labels for church and state. Not only that, this book is about rights: “I have a right to …”, “He has no right to …”, etc. So here we talk about three big issues: rights, religion, and politics and the fog…Continue reading The Introduction to the Book
Jack Phillips: Victim of Church and State
Under the Confusing Wall Between Church and State Jack Phillips of Lakewood, Colorado refused to bake a cake to celebrate a gay marriage. The citizens who wanted the cake took the matter to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. This is a case in point for the book I’m writing about separation of church and state. Laws designed to separate church…Continue reading Jack Phillips: Victim of Church and State
Church and State: an Oxymoron
The US Constitution has been successful because the founders based it on a frightful respect for the wiles and greed of powerful people. They examined governments ancient and modern and weighed their advantages and disadvantages. Their goal was to create a government that channeled human nature. The ongoing quest for religious freedom under the moniker “separation of church and state”…Continue reading Church and State: an Oxymoron
Human Rights: How to Know Them
A simple way to identify natural human rights is to ask the question, “Can this creature do so and so? If the answer is yes, then the natural right is obvious. If he can do it, he has the agency, the authority, the power, and therefore the right to do it. That’s an easy and powerful way to discover a…Continue reading Human Rights: How to Know Them