Clergy content casting Mary as the “main character” of the Christmas story, infers she possessed the power to abort Jesus. This recast provides a revealing case study of a broader theological and jurisprudential shift. Drawing on constitutional theory, natural law, Christian theology, and historical precedent, the Article argues that such framing reflects the ascendancy of a secular progressive humanist worldview grounded in radical personal autonomy rather than unalienable r

In December 2025, the White House released its National Security Strategy (NSS) , a document that does more than outline foreign-policy priorities—it signals a fundamental rethinking of the purpose of American power. Departing from decades of globalist assumptions, the Strategy rejects the notion that the United States exists to manage the world’s problems and instead reasserts a more traditional understanding of national security as the protection of a sovereign republic, it

By the Hon. William Wagner (Ret.) Executive summary Nigeria stands at a crossroads between social collapse and constitutional renewal. The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), in its statement “Peace in Nigeria: Moving from Fragility to Stability,” offers an urgent, morally lucid, and legally grounded diagnosis of Nigeria’s spiraling insecurity and repression. The instant Issue Brief amplifies this warning and calls the international community to attend to it. This

By Hon. William Wagner (Ret) WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom, Spring Arbor University Executive Summary Violent attacks and hate crimes against Christians in Europe rose sharply in 2024, according to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) —data first brought to international attention through reporting by The Christian Post. While the total number of incidents decreased slightly from the previous year, the severity

By the Hon. William Wagner (Ret.) WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom, Spring Arbor University Abstract This Issue Brief contends that Federal involvement in education rests on unstable constitutional ground and that renewed efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED) highlight, rather than resolve, deep structural questions about federalism, ordered liberty, and religious freedom. Drawing on constitutional text, original meaning, historical practice,

The Michigan Department of Education’s most recent revision of the Health Education Standards represents not merely administrative fine-tuning, but a wholesale ideological shift in the purpose and scope of health instruction in Michigan schools. The Board voted to approve the updated health-education/sex-education standards on Thursday, November 13, 2025. The magnitude and nature of these changes raise profound constitutional concerns—particularly regarding parental rights, l

Executive Summary   Some athletes claim legal protection for new classifications flowing from fluid gender identity formulations, rather than objective biological science showing sex as immutable. When this contemporary cultural clash challenged the advancement of fairness for women in sports, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) sought a just resolution.   An NAIA Task Force conducted a two-year study under the direction of the Council of Presidents.

Judicially active writing—what some call organic jurisprudence—erodes the Rule of Law by empowering judges to abandon their limited duty of applying the Constitution and laws, and instead to usurp the policymaking authority reserved to the elected Executive and Legislative branches. When lawyers encourage courts to create conclusions not textually grounded in statutory law or the Constitution, they bypass the democratic process and enable judges to substitute unprincipled jud

A proposal for a new Executive Order would require states to adopt free-market education policies as a condition of receiving federal funds is a decisive step toward empowering parents, protecting religious liberty, and ensuring educational excellence across the nation. At the heart of this proposed order is a simple principle: parents, not bureaucracies, should control education dollars. By mandating that state appropriations follow the child in the form of vouchers or educa

Governments increasingly infringe on parents' liberty to direct and control the upbringing of their children. Does the Constitution limit the exercise of government power in this area. Can government school officials, for example, secretly participate in the social gender transitioning of a child without notifying the child's parents? Fundamental Liberty, Strict Scrutiny, and the Deeply Rooted Legal History and Tradition of a Parent's Right to Direct and Control the Upbrin

Conversation censorship laws regulating professions (e.g., lawyers, physicians, pharmacists, counselors, etc) substantially interfere with a Christian person's religious identity and expressive exercise of their religious conscience. WFFC's latest White Paper focuses on Colorado's conversation censorship law that regulates counselors licensed by the State.  Under the law, the State of Colorado deliberately requires a Christian person to renounce her religious expression, cons

April 21, 2025 — Denver, Colorado — William Wagner presented testimony to the Colorado House of Representatives concerning a constitutional amendment recognizing the inalienable right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children. “The deeply rooted historical and legal traditions of this nation recognize what every parent knows the moment they hold their child for the first time …  It has been given to them the duty, responsibility, and right to

Presented by Prof. William Wagner to International Christian Professors 9 April 2025 Good morning, colleagues.  We come from over twenty nations with very different cultures, yet we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a distinct honor share this message with you today. As a fellow Christian and former judge, I stand before you not just with legal experience, but with a shared reverence for the One who authored both law and liberty. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Cor

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with chi

Prof. William Wagner authored a brief on behalf of Right to Life (MI) and the Wagner Faith & Free Center at Spring Arbor University. Debra A. Vitagliano v. County of Westchester, N.Y. (23-74) (2023) We filed the brief filed in support of a Christian citizen challenging a law making it a crime to express a pro-life viewpoint on the topic of abortion while on a public sidewalk in proximity to an abortion clinic. The issue before the Court is: Whether the Court should overrul

The Michigan legislature is considering a law to ban speech of counselors inconsistent with current ideological sexual orthodoxy. Here is Prof. William Wagner's analysis: The Proposed Law is Unconstitutional Ratified in 1791, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ....” U.S. Const. amend I. The Supreme

House Bill No. 4474 , transforms Michigan’s Ethnic Intimidation law (MCL 750.147b) into a law designed to criminalize speech. A companion proposal, House Bill No. 4475 adds the crime described in HB 4474 to a list of felony crimes. This legislation poses serious threats to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. As written, it clearly violates the First Amendment protections for Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religious Conscience, and conceivably could result in pro