Paul’s nephew, Taylor Police Officer Corporal Matthew Edwards, was killed in the line of duty on July 23, 2010. Three time convicted felon Tyress Mathews was found guilty on five counts in Matt’s death on November 11, 2010, including the premeditated murder of a peace officer which carries a mandatory life sentence without parole.
In a monologue after the verdict, Paul argues that both the murdered police officer and his murderer are alike guilty before God:
Paul talks with Lisa Sharon Harper and David Innes about their book: Left, Right, and Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics:
Lisa Sharon Harper, director of mobilizing at the progressive Christian justice organization Sojourners, represents the left, and D.C. Innes, associate professor of politics at The King’s College, stands in for the right.
“Both of us are Christians. And so what we have in common is greater than all our differences,” Innes and Harper write. “Yet differences there are, and in this book we elaborate on our political differences. How can two people who share the same fundamental life-transforming Christian principles think so differently when it comes to politics?”
The authors tell how they arrived at their current political stances, both led by their understanding of Christian teachings. Innes, an ex-pat Canadian Tory turned American Republican, says “the Christian view of man prompted me to move toward the modern Republican view of politics as the most prudent way for fallen people to live with one another politically.” Harper, whose ancestors are African, Native American, and Puerto Rican, says her evangelical faith shapes her liberal perspective on today’s issues: “We the people will be called to account for the effect of our public policies on the least of these in our society. Did we bless or did we curse?”
From their divergent perspectives, Innes and Harper explore how Christian faith shapes one’s participation in the political process. They argue their positions on issues including poverty, health care, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, terrorism, and the environment, in a robust yet respectful give-and-take.
Timothy Goeglein spent nearly eight years in the White House as President George W. Bush’s key point of contact to American conservatives and the faith-based world and was frequently profiled in the national news media. But when a plagiarism scandal prompted his resignation, Goeglein chose not to dodge it but confront it, and was shown remarkable grace by the president. In fact, Bush showed more concern for Goeglein and his family than any personal political standing.
So begins The Man in the Middle, Goeglein’s unique insider account of why he believes most of the 43rd president’s in-office decisions were made for the greater good, and how many of those decisions could serve as a blueprint for the emergence of a thoughtful, confident conservatism. From a fresh perspective, Goeglein gives behind-the-scenes accounts of key events during that historic two-term administration, reflecting on what was right and best about the Bush years. He was in Florida for the 2000 election recount, at the White House on 9/11, and watched Bush become a reluctant but effective wartime president.
Goeglein, now the vice president with Focus on the Family, also looks back at how Bush handled matters like stem cell research, faith-based initiatives, the emergence of the Values Voters, the nominations of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito-in which Goeglein had a direct role-and debates over the definition of marriage.
Paul’s interview with Timothy Goeglein on Wednesday, November 2, 2011:
Sam Nadler is president of Word of Messiah Ministries, an outreach which develops leaders for world-wide impact for the gospel among the Jewish People. He served as president of Chosen People Ministries and started the Jews for Jesus outreach in New York City. Sam is a Jewish believer in Jesus who was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish home in Queens, New York. As he began looking at the Old Testament prophecies, they seemed to point to Jesus as the Messiah. He soon came to faith in Jesus and realized his Jewishness wasn’t just some accident of nature, but that God had a plan and purpose, not only for the Jewish people as a whole, but for Sam personally. He received a doctoral degree from Southern Evangelical Seminary and has authored several books including Messiah in the Feasts of Israel, The Messianic Answer Book, Feasts of the Bible and devotional commentaries on Jonah and Ruth.
Paul spoke with Dr. Nadler about his new DVD Study on The Feasts of the Bible on Wednesday, November 2, 2011:
On November 2, 2011 Paul spoke with National Religious Broadcaster’s VP and General Counsel Craig Parshall about the recent decision of the FCC to invalidate closed-captioning waivers for more than 300 mostly religious broadcasters and the financial burden they face as a result:
From Multichannel News: The FCC Invalidates Captioning Waivers for Nonprofit/Religious Broadcasters
The Federal Communications Commission has reversed over 300 closed-captioning waivers for primarily religious nonprofit broadcasters, saying it was wrong in 2006 to have extended what was in effect a blanket waiver to nonprofits that indicated the captioning requirement was an undue burden.
In an Oct. 20 order, the commission ruled that the criteria under which the those waivers were granted, the majority (238) — without any notice or comment — was “not supported by the [1996 Telecommunications] Act, its legislative history, or the Commission’s implementing regulations and Orders.”
Those criteria were that they were nonprofits and that the programming itself was “not remunerative.”
“[W]e conclude that it was not appropriate to grant exemptions in reliance on the non-commercial nature and lack of remunerative value of Angler’s and New Beginning’s programming. Rather, in conducting the undue burden analysis, all of the petitioners’ available resources should have been taken into consideration, not just the resources allocated for the programs for which exemptions were sought,” the FCC said in reversing the waivers.
It also said that there was no categorical exemption for nonprofits and because the waivers had established a presumption that the extent to which captioning might curtail other activities was an appropriate factor in determining an undue burden.
The FCC said that those 300-plus could all re-file for individual waivers under the new standard.
“Providing closed captioning of video programming is essential to ensuring equal access to television programming by Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing Americans,” said an FCC spokesman.
“The Commission’s rules provide procedures for petitioning the Commission for an exemption from the closed captioning rules where compliance with the rules would be economically burdensome,” said an FCC official on background. “This will expand access to television programming to millions more Americans while preserving the opportunity to apply for an exemption.”
The FCC’s reversal comes as it prepares to adopt rules for implementing the 21st Century Video Accessibility Act, which updates closed captioning and other accessibility technologies for the digital age.
“The FCC determined that the Media Bureau had used the wrong standard, and the wrong process, for considering requests for exemptions from TV closed captioning requirements,” said National Religious Broadcasters senior vice president and general counsel Craig Parshall. “Hundreds of small and medium-sized broadcasters, many of them carrying Christian content, who had been granted exemptions are now get letters from the Commission directing them to go back to the drawing board and file new applications within 90 days. Our main concern is two fold: First, Christian communicators who can afford closed captioning need to do so, our message is too important not to share with the hearing impaired community. But second, the FCC and the Media Bureau need to make sure that the process is ultimately fair to the smaller TV folks, who are in the clutches of a financial stranglehold because of the economy.”