by Richard Nelson | May 6, 2015 | Blog
The 64th annual National Day of Prayer will take place Thursday, May 7, at various spots across the United States. The theme of this year's event is “Lord, Hear Our Cry.” It is true that we, as a nation, talk to God quite often. There is a significant...
by Richard Nelson | May 4, 2015 | Blog
When Fayette County Judge James Ishmael issued a ruling last Monday reversing the Lexington Human Rights Commission's 2014 decision that Hands On Originals violated Lexington's fairness ordinance by refusing to print tee shirts for the Lexington's Gay and...
by Richard Nelson | May 1, 2015 | Blog
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard lively oral arguments over the constitutionality of state laws that keep marriage between a man and a woman. Opposing attorneys jockeyed for position on the social issue of the decade—an issue whose stakes are...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 30, 2015 | Blog
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize homosexual marriage. Here are a few poignant questions: "[Thinking marriage is the union of a man and a woman] has been with us for millennia....
by Richard Nelson | Apr 29, 2015 | Blog
There are some topics that are so unbelievaly heinous, they probably don't even deserve mention. When they pass from taboo into the realm of public policy, however, they must be dealt with. Last week, lawmakers in Denmark approved a law banning people from having...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 28, 2015 | Blog
I invite you to join many Christians around the nation in praying today as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments over the power of states to define marriage between one man and one woman. #PrayForMarriage is more than a prayer for legal victory (though it isn’t...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 27, 2015 | Blog
Natural disasters, while always tragic, have a way of snapping us back to reality. The suddenness of a tornado or a monsoon or a tsunami, even if they were forecasted ahead of time, serve as fierce reminders of how the elements can change our lives in an instant....
by Richard Nelson | Apr 20, 2015 | Blog
We, as human beings, have a right to protest. We also have a right to walk away, however, and choose not to affiliate ourselves with practices we do not believe in. This second right seems to have been lost on liberal Catholics in San Francisco, who placed a full-page...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 15, 2015 | Blog
Photo: by Debra Sweet, Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 The following is an edited version of the transcript of conversation between abortion talking points Safe, Legal, and Rare. Legal: Good evening, friends. Thanks for joining this conversation Safe and Rare:...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 15, 2015 | Blog
Photo: by Debra Sweet, Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 The following is an edited version of the transcript of conversation between abortion talking points Safe, Legal, and Rare. Legal: Good evening, friends. Thanks for joining this conversation Safe and Rare:...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 14, 2015 | Blog
What are the most terrible effects of terrorism? The most obvious is loss of life. A shooter took the lives of nearly 150 people at Kenya's Garissa University just a few days ago. A second incident in Kenya Sunday, however, was indicative of an equally tragic...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 13, 2015 | Blog
Seven years ago, scientists at the University of Leeds conducted a study which discovered that it takes a minority of just 5 percent to influence a crowd’s direction – and that the other 95 percent follow without realizing it. While the study was performed...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 9, 2015 | Blog
Photo by Davidlud, Wikimedia Commons Consider this a brief, concluding postscript to my 4-article (!) conversation about religious freedom and the RFRA. I want to give a final (Lord willing) admonition to my fellow Christians, specifically those who may be...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 7, 2015 | Blog
“St. Paul Preaching in Athens,” Raphael In the sincere hope, dear reader, that soon we may speak of other things, let me linger just a while longer on religious freedom, liberalism, and public conscience. I’m compelled to do so now by Conor...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 4, 2015 | Blog
Frank Bruni New York Times columnist Frank Bruni doesn’t believe that Christians who are opposed to same-sex marriage are genuine. That’s the obvious upshot of his new piece “Bigotry, the Bible, and the Lessons of Indiana.” Rather than building...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog
To say that something more important is happening in Indiana than the Final Four, may sound like heresy to the faithful congregants of the Big Blue Nation in this sacred week of NCAA tournaments. But the uproar over the recently passed Religious Freedom...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog
The United States and Christianity have long been synonymous with one another. The nation's founding documents are filled with references to the Christian God and his providence. As a result, the protection of religious freedom in the U.S. has been a long-held...
by Richard Nelson | Apr 1, 2015 | Blog
To say something is happening in Indiana bigger than the Final Four, may sound like heresy to the faithful congregants of the Big Blue Nation in this holy week of NCAA tournaments. But the uproar over the recently passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)...
by Richard Nelson | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog
If there’s anything in store for American political discourse more absurd or uninformed than the arms race over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, I cannot fathom what that might be. The entire kerfuffle is pathetic, from the blatant...
by Richard Nelson | Mar 30, 2015 | Blog
It's difficult to believe five years have passed since the Affordable Health Care Act was signed into law by President Barrack Obama. Even with the passage of time, many of the details of “Obamacare” seem to be shrouded in mystery. As if a piece of...
