By Mark Waters On November 16, 1989, members of the Salvadoran Atlácatl Battalion—trained and armed by the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia—entered the campus of the University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador where they murdered six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her 15-year-old daughter. The priests served on the faculty of the University. Their primary
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By Mark Waters Recent political discourse is characterized by extreme misunderstanding or intentional distortion of the Islamic concept of Sharia. Lawmakers in Texas created a “Sharia-Free America Caucus” in Congress. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked the State Senate to consider legislation ensuring that Texans “are never held under the heel of ‘Sharia law.’” Attorney General Ken Paxton plans to investigate
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By Mark Waters A March 3rd article in military.com and multiple other sources stated that “a combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that President Donald Trump was ‘anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’.” By that
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By Mark Waters “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” This statement of wisdom, worded in different ways over the years, has been attributed and misattributed to a number of historic figures. The earliest verifiable source that I can find is the Rev. Charles F. Aked (1864-1941), an English clergyperson who
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By Mark Waters I am an avid supporter of the First Amendment including the separation of church and state. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” A state sponsored church would be an example of “an establishment of religion” as would the implementation of theocratic governmental policies. These examples also constitute
Read moreBy Dr. Mark Waters I’m concerned about the new IRS ruling that allows houses of worship to endorse political candidates. Endorsing candidates from the pulpit is packed with dangerous risks. A hidden risk that could have unintended consequences is that, unlike secular 501(c)(3) nonprofits, churches and affiliated organizations are not required to file IRS form 990. This publicly available form
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Dr. Mark Waters’ opinions in this article are his own. He is not speaking on behalf of his employer, McMurry University. By Mark Waters I am quite fond of McMurry’s Mission Statement, “Shaped by Christian principles, McMurry University challenges students to examine our complex world from multiple perspectives in preparation for lives of leadership, service, and professional success.” This statement
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By Mark Waters I’m Episcopalian, not Roman Catholic, so I can only imagine how I might feel if I were Catholic and was corrected publicly by the Pope. This happened last week to a well-known politician. The politician, who is Catholic, was scrambling for a “Christian” way to downplay the needs of immigrants and others around the world who are
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By Mark Waters The opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics had nothing to do with Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. The part of the ceremony under scrutiny depicted Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and joy, in contrast to the decapitation of Marie Antoinette. Thomas Jolly, the design artist of the Dionysian tableau, has clearly stated that it was not
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Spirit Of Abilene 