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Jack R. Van Der Slik

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Alien Justice

APRIL 2012: AS WE SEE IT by Jack R. Van Der Slik What may be loosely called American immigration policy confounds a number of distressing issues. It is difficult to judge the justice or injustice of the policy because it is an inconsistent patchwork of requirements. Even where substantive aspects of the policy are clear, its enforcement is inconsistent in ways that seem inequitable. Fair-minded citizens become dubious of governmental legitimacy when the consequences of enforcement produce irregularities of both…
Jack R. Van Der Slik
October 30, 2014
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A Mormon President

JANUARY 2012: AS WE SEE IT by Jack R. Van Der Slik In a ham-handed introduction of Rick Perry, Reverend Robert Jeffries crudely raised a religious challenge to Mormons seeking the US presidency. According to a CNN report, Jeffries said, "I...believe that as Christians, we have the duty to select Christians as our leaders....Between a Rick Perry and a Mitt Romney, I believe evangelicals need to go with Rick Perry." Among American privileges is the right to vote. With that…
Jack R. Van Der Slik
October 30, 2014
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Romney Is the One

OCTOBER 2012: AS WE SEE IT by Jack R. Van Der Slik It is one of the most precious rituals of American democracy. On November 6 our citizens will go to the polls and freely vote for their preferred candidates for president and Congress. Thank God for that freedom. We pray for people of good judgment to lead us in our nation's positions of high authority. With regard to the presidential contest in particular, I would like to suggest what…
Jack R. Van Der Slik
October 1, 2012
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Reformed Christians and American Grace

Maybe we take our Reformedness too seriously. You know that bumper sticker capsule, "Reformed and always reforming." Perhaps it makes us too critical of ourselves, our churches, our pastors, our denominational institutions and the like. Yes, it is true: Our two-services-on-Sunday habit is in tatters. The young people don't learn the Compendium answers like they once did. Our council rooms include married people who have been divorced. There is hardly anyone home in Home Missions. Christian school enrollments are down.…
Jack R. Van Der Slik
May 1, 2011
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On Legalized Gambling

Who would have expected that a lesson in promoting public morality would come to us from Russia, the heart of what the great communicator, Ronald Reagan, called the "Evil Empire"? Who would have guessed the point man for protecting imprudent citizens from exploitation would be Vladimir Putin? Here is the story in brief. In 2006, Putin proposed to end legalized gambling in Russia. With the demise of the USSR in 1991, enterprises good and bad sprang up all over the…
Jack R. Van Der Slik
January 1, 2010