Is Julian Assange the new Martin Luther?
The significance of the Protestant Reformation lies not so much in the proliferation of new, and non-Catholic, theologies: Early Christianity was a wild cacophony of conflicting views of Jesus. It took centuries for orthodoxy to emerge. For well more than a millennia this orthodoxy was maintained by use of censorship and institutional power. But the printing press changed all that. There could have been no reformation without the printing press. Access to the Bible in the vernacular made the competing versions of the truth possible. So if you...
December 7, 2010
There was a time in the northeastern United States when an innkeeper could expect a few curious customers to respond to signs reading: "George Washington slept here." The man must have laid his head to rest somewhere during his founding travels. Why not at Aunt Sally's bed and breakfast? This is a form of marketing unique to the region, I suspect. It's hard to imagine a similar sign drawing tourists in, let's say, Texas or California.
But the world is changed. We are now everywhere and all at once. The Internet makes the illusion of omnipresence seem almost real. When I press this...
December 6, 2010
Those of you representing folks accused of sex offenses know the power of mere words. An accusation standing alone, without corroboration, can condemn a person whether they have committed a crime or not. Often these words come from children. And once a child makes a claim, the state abandons its critical apparatus and works to foster an environment in which accusations are treated as "disclosures." We give tremdndous power to children by treating them as oracles of shameful truths.
There will come a time in which our incredulity about the words of children looks as troubling as the...
December 5, 2010
One of the oddest things I have noticed in recent years is just how many of the prosecutors I respect and admire have strong religious convictions. More than one has announced after a trial that they will be praying me. I have assembled a nice library of gifts from these folks. I suppose I ask for the material. I wear my fascination with historic figure of Jesus on my sleeve. Give me a scent of your take on the divine, and expect questions.
But I am a man of unclean lips. I cannot even say "I believe, help though my unbelief." When a prosecutor intones about the law as an instrument of...
December 5, 2010
December 4, 2010
Wikileaks matters because government lies, and the United States Government is no exception. Liars don't want the truth exposed, so they prosecute...
December 3, 2010
We missed a tremendous opportunity to conduct an experiment of great significance in our courts. That’s because we didn’t have a crystal...
December 2, 2010
It will be many years before a record is fully assembled about what role the media played in creating a death-chamber in the New Haven courtroom that...
December 2, 2010
Information knows no national boundaries; it flows, like the truth, across borders, and into the minds of those prepared to receive it. That is why...
November 29, 2010
Zealotry is an equal opportunity destroyer of peace and tranquility. Mohamed Osman Mohamud apparently wanted to destroy ours with a well-placed bomb...
November 28, 2010
The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to two men in 1901: Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross, and an international pacifist named...