Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Rule of Law

July 09, 2015

The Economy of Order: Justice Requires Love

“Seeking justice isn’t a matter of designing the right programs or delivery systems… Seeking order means acting in accord with a true vision of our brothers and sisters.” –Evan Koons American society and public discourse seem to be stuck in a state of feverish discord, rightly concerned with severe acts and systems of injustice, even as we continue to dig deeper cultural divides over everything from healthcare to sexual ethics, race relations to religious liberty, immigration to foreign policy. Continue Reading...
June 26, 2015

The Same-Sex Marriage Decision: Ruling by Judicial Fiat

The U.S. Supreme Court decided today that it is unconstitutional for a state to declare that marriage is only between one man and one woman. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires states to redefine marriage, but the Court decided that the Due Process Clause prohibits defining marriage as it has been defined for millennia just as it found a right to an abortion in the same Due Process Clause over 40 years ago. Continue Reading...
June 15, 2015

5 Facts About the Magna Carta

Today marks the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta. Here are five facts about this English document which helped to establish the rule of law: 1. Magna Carta (Latin for “the Great Charter”), also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Latin for “the Great Charter of the Liberties”), was a peace treaty between King John of England and rebel barons that was sealed on June 15, 1215. Continue Reading...
May 21, 2015

Why It’s Every Citizen’s Job to Interpret the Constitution

A few days ago I mentioned Michael Stokes Paulsen’s crash course on how to interpret the Constitution. Paulsen outlined five techniques of constitutional interpretation that courts and commentators employ: (1) arguments from the straightforward, natural, original linguistic meaning of the text; (2) arguments from the structure, logic, and relationships created by the document as a whole; (3) arguments from history, original intention, or purposes behind an enacted text; (4) arguments from precedent; and (5) arguments from policy. Continue Reading...
May 14, 2015

Rule by Law, or When the Quasi-Law is King

For much of human history, the dominant legal principle was rex lex—“the king is law.” In the 1600s, though, that view was subverted, mostly by Christian thinkers like Samuel Rutherford, who claimed lex rex—“the law is king.” Continue Reading...
May 07, 2015

Return to Duty: Three Tips from John Witherspoon on ‘Hearkening the Rod’

In the spring of 1776, John Witherspoon preached his first sermon on political matters, about a month before he was elected to the Continental Congress. The sermon, “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men,” is a fascinating exploration of how God can work through human crises, and how even the “wrath of man” can lead us to glorify God in unexpected ways. Continue Reading...
April 28, 2015

The Economic Effects of the Baltimore Riots May Last Decades

Of all the disheartening scenes of unrest coming out of Baltimore this week, few have been as dispiriting as the image of a church project that was set ablaze. For the past eight years the Southern Baptist Church in East Baltimore has been working on a project that would provide a community center and low-income housing in the form of 60 senior-citizen apartments. Continue Reading...