“The Christian Legal Army Behind ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’ A special investigation into the rise of Alliance Defending Freedom.”

“The Christian Legal Army Behind ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’ A special investigation into the rise of Alliance Defending Freedom.” Sarah Posner has this report in The Nation.

“First Amendment suit challenging Charter School Act proceeds”

“First Amendment suit challenging Charter School Act proceeds” The Indiana Lawyer reports here on a decision denying in part a motion to dismiss in Indiana Coalition for Public Education – Monroe County and South Central Indiana, Inc. v. Jennifer McCormick, James Betley, 1:17-cv-01295 (S.D. Ind. Nov. 29, 2017). Religion Clause reports here.

1747 Law in Luther’s Day

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5989964/height/90/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/c30000/” height=”90″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”custom”]Before Martin Luther became a monk, he was a rather successful student whose father encouraged his path into the study of law. Informed in part by his brief stint in law school and other encounters with lawyers in his day, he developed a distaste and distrust for the profession as a whole. Derek Nelson, coauthor of Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther, helps explain what a lawyer did in sixteenth-century Germany, what studying the law would have been like, and what Luther thought about the law. Continue reading “1747 Law in Luther’s Day”

1746 Building a Culture of Accountability

[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5968145/height/90/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/c30000/” height=”90″ width=”100%” placement=”top” theme=”custom”]When organizations lack accountability mechanisms, they can become stagnant. When someone suggests implementing some accountability or asks specific questions about current practices, the person responsible for that aspect of the faith community’s life often takes it as a personal attack. But when a community values accountability as a necessary part of good stewardship, moments of accountability can serve to improve the organization’s mission. Developing a culture of accountability takes time, but the process can be served by bringing in an outsider without personal connections to share what best practices look like. The three areas to focus on first in developing this culture are finances, child protection, and employee evaluation.

Continue reading “1746 Building a Culture of Accountability”