In our blog, read about the political and cultural issues affecting Tennesseans written from a conservative perspective. Commentaries are typically written by David Fowler, an attorney who served in the Tennessee state Senate for 12 years before joining FACT as President.
Christian Statesman or Pharisee?
Jan 13, 2023 by David Fowler
Christian Statesman or Pharisee? The Practical Difference the Answer Makes for Legislation
The legislature convened this week, and I confess, I look at what is about to unfold in a whole new way. In the last few weeks, culminating with an insight ...
The Perils of Power Politics—Abortion and the Tennessee Legislature
Jan 6, 2023 by David Fowler
The Perils of Power Politics—Abortion and the Tennessee Legislature
Power politics is basically all progressives, liberals, conservatives, and conservative Christians know. It is all I knew until recently, and its habits are hard to break. I...
New Year More of the Same
Dec 30, 2022 by David Fowler
A new year is about to dawn. In terms of law and public policy will it bring more of the same or something new? In Tennessee we will learn soon enough from the disposition of Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1, pre-filed by the House and Senate Majority Lead...
Getting Christmas Right
Dec 23, 2022 by David Fowler
As I signed a few hundred letters a week ago with a Christmas-themed postscript containing the word “joy,” I began to wonder, “What is joy? Is there an objective meaning to ‘joy’ that is not dependent on a person’s...
Evangelical ‘Religious Liberty’ is Messed-Up
Dec 15, 2022 by David Fowler
It seems to me the chief ground offered by Christian policy organizations for opposing the Respect for Marriage Act, namely, religious liberty, is demonstrative of a fundamental problem among the “Christian right.” I think it is time that...
Liberals Sound the Alarm. Will Conservatives Hit the Snooze Button? Again?
Dec 8, 2022 by David Fowler
A Fox News story on Monday noted that the more progressives think through the Respect for Marriage Act the more their “joy diminishes.” Their reason for discontent is one to which conservative policy makers and legal advocates, Christians...
A Christmas Perspective on “Gender-Affirming Health Care”
Dec 2, 2022 by David Fowler
Matt Wash exposed the fact that at least one major hospital in Tennessee is providing “gender affirming care” to minors, i.e., mutilating healthy parts of a child’s body, to change their appearance and ostensibly to address incongru...
Thanksgiving from One ‘As Mad as a Wet Hen’—Me.
Nov 25, 2022 by David Fowler
Tuesday morning, I had a great sense of thanksgiving flood over me in the absolute strangest context. I was as mad as the proverbial wet hen with some people—good people—who have been grinding me down over the import to the work of God in...
An Open Letter to Clergy and Church Leadership
Nov 17, 2022 by David Fowler
I had just begun to read my Bible Wednesday morning when my spirit began “crying out to God” as Christians put it. Yet I could not gather in my mind or form in my mouth words to express the multitude of disconsolations weighing on me beca...
Monday’s Eulogy Provides Tuesday’s Election Lesson
Nov 11, 2022 by David Fowler
On Monday, I gave the eulogy for the interment of my 91-year-old father’s mortal remains. Little did I realize that preparations for his eulogy would provide a fresh insight into Tuesday’s election and its outcomes. And, no, thoughts of t...
Commentary