A Christian scholar and author has taken the experience of growing up under the influence of a stepfather who cherished the objectivism philosophy of Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) and his biological father who became a follower of Jesus Christ, to write a book about two world views that he feels can come together for the good of society.

Mark David Henderson's book, The Soul of Atlas, begins by asking the question, "Do the two most influential books in modern culture, the Bible and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, share common ground?" Henderson has a unique closeness to the subject of Rand's book – his stepfather (who he simply calls John in his book) produced the movie version of Atlas Shrugged.

"You can imagine these two men having the kind of influence they've had in my life, I was sort of struggling with asking the question, 'Is there a world view that would kind of mesh these two?' And I have to conclude that there probably isn't something called 'Christian objectivism' or 'objective Christianity' because these are not like chocolate and peanut butter where you can sort of mix them," Henderson recently told The Christian Post. "But it was very important to me to reconcile these worldviews as a sort of an intellectual exercise and also to reconcile these two men who, I guess, I [still] long for their approval and long for them to come together because they've shaped my life." more >>

A legal effort by the faith-based organization Alliance Defending Freedom launched last year has resulted in 30 of the nation's public universities and colleges changing their policies to ensure that students' First-Amendment freedoms are protected, including Christian students' right to free speech and choice of leadership.  

"Public universities should encourage, not censor, the free exchange of ideas," said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. "This effort has given public universities and colleges the opportunity to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms of their students without any costly litigation. The objective has been to inform officials of how their policies conflict with the Constitution, as reinforced by numerous federal court rulings, so that the schools can make changes."

Among the problematic policies are various speech codes and zones that place unconstitutional restrictions on student speech, policies that force student clubs to accept voting members and officers that don't agree with the clubs' beliefs, and policies that allow non-religious student groups to use student activity fees but exclude religious student groups even though the students in those groups have contributed to the fees, according to ADF. more >>

Our education system is crumbling on the local and federal level in ways that you may not expect-infiltrating to the very levels of personal privacy that we try to safeguard for our children.

John Dryden, a Chicago area teacher of more than 20 years, got into trouble this April after he told his students at Batvia High School that the Fifth Amendment protected them from filling out a school-sponsored survey he was asked to distribute.

The school's survey, comprised of 34 personal questions, was designed to ask students' about their "emotional well-being," including their drug and alcohol use. The one page questionnaire had their names printed on top. Parents were only given a two-paragraph summary of the survey and were not told it would contain their child's name. more >>

As states and curriculum companies rush to fit new Common Core requirements, to take effect Jan. 1, 2014, Tea Party and conservative groups across the nation are rising to oppose the new federal educational standards.

"We're seeing a political awakening of the American people," Emmett McGroarty, senior fellow at the American Principles Project, told The Christian Post. "This issue is waking them up to the fact that they've lost that particular type of liberty that comes with citizen-directed government."

He listed twelve states – Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah – in which groups have voiced opposition to the new standards. Activists in these states "want these decisions to be made by their local representatives." more >>

As science and technology continue to improve, is the decline of religion inevitable? By no means, says researcher and author Mary Eberstadt.

In her new book How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization, Eberstadt, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, tests the traditional understanding of secularization, and finds them wanting. "The going theories have come up short," she said, addressing the Heritage Foundation Thursday.

"I think that secularization has been misunderstood as some kind of linear process driven by loss in the idea of god," she told The Christian Post in a Friday interview. "If my argument is correct, secularization is not inevitable." more >>

A Florida school district is facing outrage after a private security company conducted eye scans on students without notifying parents.

A Polk County School spokesman confirmed to Fox News that students in three schools were scanned – but the program has since been stopped and the iris scans that were already collected have been destroyed.

"I have a letter from the security company telling us everything has been destroyed," said Rob Davis, the district's senior director of support services. "We never intended for this to be something forced on parents." more >>