by Nick Gier Life begins in contemplation of law as soon asthe fetus is able to stir in the mother’s womb.—Sir William Blackstone, legal hero of Thomas Jefferson Today, I celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which allowed…
Donald Trump Declares War on Brown People:Masked Marauders Arrest Thousands of Innocents
by Nick Gier All Latinos, U.S. citizens or not, are fair game to be seized at any time.—Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor In 1951, the United States was a signatory to the U.N. Refugee Convention, and in 1980 Congress passed…
Abortion, Persons, and the Fetus
From Nicholas F. Gier, God, Reason, and the Evangelicals(University Press of America, 1987), chapter 11.Copyright held by author. Read at bit.ly/4oJrqc5 Read more of Gier’s articles on abortion “Abortion in Early America and Millennia Before” “The Bible, the Fetus, and Abortion” (bit.ly/4oJrqc5 ) “How…
Brave Vets Never Fired a Shotbut Saved Countless Lives
by Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho In October 2024 Cheryl and I flew to the East Coast for a family reunion. Cheryl’s mother was the oldest of 10 children, and there are now four surviving uncles (88, 98,…
LAOZI, ZHUANGZI, AND NIETZSCHE
Excerpts from chapter 11 in N. F. Gier, Spiritual Titanism: Indian, Chinese, and Western Perspectives (SUNY Press, 2000) Daoism protests not so much against gods who transcend the world as against humans masquerading as gods. –Ellen Chen1 There are two…
Deism is the Religion of the Declaration of Independence
by Nick Gier, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Idaho Philosophers of religion such as myself have high regard for Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas. He supported the role of reason in all human discourse, and he had great respect for…
Palestinians Forced Out of Homes in the West Bank
by Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho They despise Hamas and abhor violence. They want to live a normal life. —Israeli peace activist on West Bank Palestinians David Shulman—Israeli peace activist, renowned scholar of comparative religion (my field), and…
GLOBAL PEACE INDEX: NORWAY #1; USA #96
Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho (ngier006∂gmail.com) Note: Some data may be out-of-date. U.S. figures may well be worse. Read selected chapters of The Virtue of Non-Violence Peace is not just the absence of conflict; it is the presence of…
Violence in the History of Tibetan Buddhism
By Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho (ngier006∂gmail.com) Read a summary of Gier’s book The Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective at nfgier.com/1171-2 The tune of the flute changed to the song of the arrow. –The Fifth Dalai…
Canada Outsmarts Trump on Greenland and Tariffs
by Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho Canada’s playbook transforms (Trump’s) tariffs from a tool of retaliationinto a (Canadian) lever of strategic resilience and foreign policy muscle. —The Canadian Press, July 13, 2025 Six months ago, the Danish government…