Power
Policy, governance, authority, human rights. Scripture watched empires rise and fall long before ours, and it speaks plainly about how power is used and misused. These reflections read the news of power against that long record.
The one fact a year of argument cannot bury
Charlie Kirk was shot dead on a campus a year ago. The anniversary comes wrapped in a memorial, a protest, a capital trial, and a fight over what it means.
A court called Jackson's water crisis grievous, then dismissed the case
Ten judges called the harm grievous and dismissed the case anyway. They may be right about the law. Amos asks a different question about the water.
A court made lighting a candle for the dead a crime
A Hong Kong court has criminalized the last public mourning of Tiananmen's dead. A government that must outlaw a candle has told you what it is afraid of.
Three men, three states, one day, and the church bells tolled
Three states put three men to death on one day. Across the South, churches rang the bell they toll for the dying. The question is who it tolls for.
Kabul celebrated five years while its women were shut out
Five years after the Taliban retook Kabul, the anniversary ceremony had no women in it. Outside, they described their erased lives to foreign reporters in whispers.
Forty thousand dead, and now the war ends on paper
After forty years and forty thousand dead, Turkey voted its enemies a legal path home. The bereaved are the ones asked to make room for them.
Born of War in Sudan, a Child With No Name on Record
A boy born in Darfur has no birth certificate, no number, no father the law will name. His mother holds a child the state cannot see.
Arizona Lets the Church, Not the Court, Define a Confession
Arizona's highest court ruled that churches, not judges, decide what counts as a confession. A father confessed to abusing his children, and the abuse went on for years.
Life Without Parole for a Shot He Never Fired
The driver gets a murder charge; the shooter pleads down and walks. Almost every state lets one man's killing land on another man's neck.
The Refugee Mother Wins the Case No One Rallied For
America built a campaign around one persecuted pastor. A federal judge just ruled for the mother no one organized for.
Hong Kong Raids Bookstores and Won't Say Which Books Are Illegal
Five booksellers arrested, and no list of banned titles. The government wants fear to do the censoring. Scripture was written by men who knew that strategy from inside a cell.
The Pastor Who Sent His Family to Safety and Flew Back
A man walked out of a Chinese prison on July 4. Eight of his colleagues did not. The decision that defines him was made eight years earlier, at an airport.
ICE Handcuffs a Nun in Her Habit Outside Mass
She wore the habit as a declaration. The agents who cuffed her had no category for what was walking past them.
Guards Shaved His Vow, the Court Left No Remedy
A Rastafarian's twenty-year vow was shaved off by guards who knew it was illegal. The Court agreed the law was broken, then ruled no one answers for it.
Hungary's winners wrote a term limit over their own heads.
After sixteen years of one man's rule, Hungary capped every prime minister at eight years, binding the winners as tightly as the leader they replaced.
Three Philadelphia men walked free after 28 wrongful years
Jermal Shuler, Marc Brittingham, and Rasheed Turner walked out together on May 26. New forensic evidence on the time of death undid a case built on a single witness.
Iran's opposition is being asked what mercy would cost
Five Kurdish parties unified. A London congress warned against revenge. James names the math nations almost never choose.
A Kalamazoo officer caught a baby dropped from a burning window
Moses promised arms underneath. On a Michigan sidewalk this month, that promise wore a uniform and held up its hands.
The Farm the Children Paid For
A church called it rehabilitation and vocational training. A federal court called it $670,000 in wages it never paid to children as young as 12.
Half of Solomon's Prayer
A governor asks a state to pray for rain. Scripture is unusually specific about who can pray that prayer, and what it costs to pray it honestly.
The Choice the Drone Cannot Make
Pope Leo XIV warned this week that AI-directed warfare risks "absolving humans of responsibility for their choices." Scripture has been watching that escape route since Genesis 3.
When the Buffer Excludes John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The Face of Man
A Seoul judge ruled against the wife of a former president. Eight days later, his body was found near the court.
The Blood That Remembers
Mladic's lawyers say his detention "no longer serves any purpose." Scripture treats murdered blood as a debt owed to God, not a utility calculation.
Ballots Cast in the Rubble
Palestinians voted in Gaza for the first time in twenty years. In Deir al-Balah, only one in five showed up. Exhaustion is not the same as surrender.
Sudan Starves While the World Pledges
Three years into civil war, a Berlin conference raised 1.5 billion euros for Sudan. Aid workers say pledges without access are ritual, not rescue.
Norway Draws a Line Around Childhood
Norway will force tech companies to verify age before letting children onto their platforms. The question is what childhood now requires protection from.
The Ceasefire That Changed Nothing
Trump extended the Iran ceasefire. Hours later, Iran’s navy seized two ships. The prophet Jeremiah had a name for peace declared while the siege holds.
She Went Where the Story Was
Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed in an Israeli airstrike during a ceasefire. Scripture remembers the cost of telling truth to power.
India's Census Forces a Confession
India's new census forces Dalit Christians to choose: declare your faith and lose legal protections, or hide it and keep your family fed.