Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski

Those Pesky Balkans … We’d Better Pay Attention!

For many Americans the Balkan issue was settled by the Dayton Accords of 1995, which ended the wars entailed in the break-up of Yugoslavia. Little public attention has been paid to the area since then though, as is well-known, the structure of government in Bosnia-Herzegovina is unstable due to the challenge of the autonomy of Republica Srpska, the status of the Croatian sector of Bosnia-Hercegovina and renewed intervention by Turkey in the region.

Who are America’s allies in the Balkans?

Believe it or not, Christmas Carols in the Washington Embassy of Romania which, once-upon-a-time, was the instrument of a strident Stalinist-style government that was overthrown in 1990! I say once-upon-a-time because, though not so long ago, it seemed to me like a fairy-tale.

Dare to be Daniel

The other morning I awakened with the refrain of a childhood hymn that I have not heard for over eighty years coursing through my brain: Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm, And dare to make it known.

Canadian Christians and the election

Since the end of World War II, Canadian society has been radically secularized, much more so than American society. What can be the impact of Canadian Christian voters on the election of May 2, especially in view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s evangelical faith, and the likelihood that Canadian Christians proportionately vote in larger numbers that their generational secular counterparts?

Canada: People for such a time as this in the Balkans

Canada and Canadians, especially new Canadians from the Balkans, have an unprecedented opportunity to foster the concept of an open society, democratic institutions, free market economies, the education of large reservoirs of brain power, and the separation of political power from religion in the Balkans.

Canadian Elitist Academic Intolerance

Canadian Association of University Teachers, (CAUT) Canada's monopolist, liberal fundamentalist academic elites are at it again--rather, they've never stopped. Their intent? Not merely to discredit Canadian Christian colleges, but to destroy their standing as accredited, degree-granting institutions.

Justice and Social Justice

What comes to mind when you hear or read the words Social Justice? I suppose, like me, you conjure up visions of people in somewhat worn clothing, hand stretched out for food, while a guilt-ridden society wonders how could we have come to this? I remember a young mother standing at the end of a traffic island here in Oceanside, CA, holding a sign begging for help. I was able to do a quick U-turn, swung back to her and handed her a $20 bill. Was she really in need, or was it a scam? How could I know? Nevertheless I felt the burden of need. I think that's the way most of us in Canada and America think: "help is needed out there, I feel helpless to do anything about it, but surely we must do something!"

Justice, The social contract and freedom

Currently America is being ruled in an imperial manner masked as democratic rule of law, while being anaesthetized in a hi-tech lounge where We Know What Is Best For You is boomed into its brain through the most advanced head-phones, while visions of a comfortable future promised by the Ruling Class dance in the virtual reality goggles strapped to its head. Have Americans decided to give up freedom for a promised idyllic kingdom? Hopefully the mid-term elections of Nov. 2, 2010 registered a resounding No!

Justice: Then and now

Let us consider the ways in which the prophet Amos applies the principle of justice, first with regard to the actions of nations and, second, with regard to public policy and the actions of individuals within society.

Justice: America’s heritage from the Prophets

Two major streams of thought merge into our understanding of the nature of justice: First: Socrates dialogue about justice in Plato’s The Republic; and, second, justice as a key-feature element in the teaching of the biblical prophets.

Bonhoeffer and Lessons for Today

Why the silence from icons of the religious and political left? Eric Metaxas gives us nearly 600 pages (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy) that debunk liberal myths since World War II that Bonhoeffer was one of them, demonstrated by his much misquoted statement, in a letter from prison in 1944, that "religionless Christianity" is the hall-mark of true Christian faith.