Two recent items from the realms of faith, politics, and law deserve some reflection and applause.
First, the House of Representatives has resolved, the Secretary of State Kerry has announced, that ISIS is guilty of genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Syria. At a divisive moment in American history, I take comfort from this. It seems that a plurality on the right have lost their senses of civility and proportion, while a majority on the left have lost their moral bearings altogether. Yet the House resolution was unanimous, which suggests that Americans can still tell (at least some of) the difference between good and evil and can (at least sometimes) cooperate with mere opponents against a true enemy.
Second, International Justice Mission, a Christian organization that employs investigators and lawyers around the world to free the enslaved and oppressed, recently announced its largest anti-slavery sting operation ever. IJM and its collaborators rescued 564 men, women, and children from slavery in a brick kiln in India. Here is one particularly appalling fact (among many):
Nearly 200 children lived inside the facility—almost half under 5 years old. While some were allowed to attend school, IJM learned that most children over age 12 labored alongside their parents.
Now they are free.
Adam J. MacLeod
Adam J. MacLeod is a member of the Maine and Massachusetts (inactive) bars and an Associate Professor at Faulkner University, Jones School of Law. He is the author of “Property and Practical Reason” (Cambridge University Press) and dozens of articles in journals in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, many of which can be accessed at his website.
