Geoff W. Sutton Blog

Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will review an abortion case. As an  npr broadcast  informs us, this is the week, 47 years ago, that the court made the Roe v. Wade decision. The Disestablishment of Christianity in America Like others, I think the 1973 decision was the “Wake-up call” for American Evangelicals who could see a trend toward a more secular American society. I suggest the recent beginning of the trend was the 25 June 1962 decision by the Supreme Court that judged a New York prayer as a violation of the establishment clause in the U.S. Constitution ( See Engel v. Vitale ). The next year, 1963, the court ruled against Abington school district’s practice of saying the Lord’s Prayer and reading the Bible ( See Abington School District v. Schempp) . A Tough Yet Sweet Pill to Swallow The small pill that started a revolution. I’m exaggerating of course. But it’s hard to ignore the contribution of the birth control pill to undoing the power of sexual pu...

THE FLAMING RHETORIC OF RIGHTS How many similarities do you need to link one rights movement with another? Freedom for U.S. slaves was a lengthy process and even after they were emancipated, civil rights were not codified in law until a century later. A key word here is law because attitudes are slow to change even when laws set limits on behavior. The battle against racism continues. Leaders supporting and opposing same-sex marriage and other rights and protections for sexual minorities have referred to the civil rights movement. Some assert similarities. Others point to differences. The statements are often intensified by emotional rhetoric shrunken to bite-sized statements suitable for T-shirts and video clips. The civil rights arguments are not just academic because the reasons come with powerful emotions attached. One can easily imagine students being asked to write an essay about the subject. And I can imagine some professors having a difficult time gradin...