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.) “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 9:1 Each Thanksgiving, we American citizens do something quietly radical: we pause a nation that never stops moving, and we give thanks—publicly, communally, and often in language that acknowledges God. That custom is older than stuffed turkey and older than the football. It is woven into the culture and the deeply rooted cultural history and

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,

Dr. Rubina Feroze Bhatti, a renowned Pakistani human-rights and peace activist, is this month’s featured speaker at the Christian International Professors Forum, hosted jointly by the Instituto dos Juristas Cristãos do Brasil and the Wagner Faith & Freedom Center at Spring Arbor University. Known for her decades of work advancing communal harmony, gender equality, and the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan, Dr. Bhatti brings a deeply practical and hard-won perspective

November 1, 2025 Washington, D.C. / Abuja The United States Department of State announced that Nigeria has been designated a Country of Particular Concern (CPC)  under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, citing what it called “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.”  President Donald Trump, in a social-media post on October 31, asserted that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being kil

October 31, 2025 In this compelling episode, Hon. William Wagner (Ret) exposes the ongoing humanitarian and religious freedom crisis facing Christians in Nigeria. Over the past six years, more than a million Christian families have been displaced  and an estimated 29,000 believers have been killed  amid violent attacks amidst government inaction. Wagner examines why the U.S. State Department’s “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC)  designation matters—and how reapplying it to

The Hon. William Wagner, Distinguished Chair of the Wagner Faith & Freedom Center at Spring Arbor University, participated in the 2025 Education Freedom Legal Network (EFLN) Annual Summit held October 23, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. The EFLN—an initiative that convenes attorneys, scholars, and policy advocates focused on protecting and advancing the freedom to educate—brought together leaders from across the country for a day of high-level strategy and collaboration.  Advan

Kaley Chiles is a devoted Christian woman, licensed by the State of Colorado as a counselor. Pet. App.212a-14a.  Her conversations and guidance aid, support, and comfort those with whom she speaks. Pet. App.215a.  As part of her identity as a Christian, and as a matter of religious conscience, Kaley believes that individuals thrive when living in alignment with their biological sex as designed by their Creator. Pet. App. 212a-14a . Kaley merely desires to communicate "in a m

Lansing, MI — October 13, 2025  — The Honorable William R. Wagner, WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom, joined a distinguished group of speakers at a special training session for state school board members. Sponsored by the Mackinac Center, Salt & Light Global, and the Leadership Institute, the event brought together thought leaders and policy experts to equip board members with foundational knowledge and practical tools for effective governance. Professor Wagner del

Hon. William Wagner Speaks at Duke Law on Constitutional Virtue and Judicial Restraint Durham, N.C. — The Federalist Society at Duke University Law School recently hosted Hon. William Wagner (Ret.), the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University, for a keynote lecture titled “The Virtue of True Meaning and the Tyranny of the Few.” One of the nation’s top law schools, Duke provided a distinguished forum for Professor Wagner’s address on the relatio

LANSING, Mich.  — The Hon. William Wagner (Ret.), former chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Religious Liberty Law Section, called on the Michigan Supreme Court to uphold constitutional guarantees of Free Exercise of Religious Conscience and Due Process while opposing proposed amendments to Michigan’s Code of Judicial Conduct and Rules of Professional Conduct. The Michigan Supreme Court is considering ADM File No. 2023-35 , which would revise Canon 3 and Rule 6.5 to prohibi

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

The Wagner Faith & Freedom Center at Spring Arbor University was honored to co-sponsor the 2025 Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) Law and Public Policy Conference, held in Dallas, Texas. This premier gathering of Christian scholars, legal practitioners, university presidents and human resource leaders engaged pressing cultural and constitutional questions shaping public life today. As part of the conference, the Honorable William Wagner (Ret.), Distinguishe

Each September 17, we pause to honor the wisdom of those who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787. The Constitution they drafted was not merely a framework for government—it was a covenant designed to preserve liberty by restraining power. The Framers, mindful of human fallibility, understood that unchecked authority threatens the unalienable rights endowed to every person by their Creator. They therefore divided power horizontally among three coequal branches, and vertically bet

The Ben Franklin Fellowship Working Group on Human Rights just published a short white paper that is worth the read. It offers a vigorous defense of the natural rights foundation of the United States’ political order, situating the Declaration of Independence within the broader Lockean and Stoic traditions. It emphasizes that governments exist not to create rights, but to secure those unalienable ones—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—through which human beings atta

Comment praises Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposed rule (RIN: 2900-AS31(P)) as a measure that protects the dignity of human life and restores good governance under the rule of law. SPRING ARBOR, MI  — William Wagner, Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University, and others, filed an official public comment today in strong support of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), proposed rule  “Reproductive Health Se

Religious Oppression in Turkey