For 10 years in the 1970s, the South Bronx area of New York City literally smoldered. An arson epidemic, compounded by government negligence, razed four-fifths of its homes and apartments and displaced half a million residents. Not only were once-proud, melting-pot neighborhoods being destroyed, the rest of the city and country seemed not to care.

Amid today’s tensions over a proper understanding of separation of church and state, University of Missouri law professor Carl Esbeck and Samford University historian Jonathan Den Hartog examine the origins of that foundational doctrine.

The U.S. wins no popularity contests in the Middle East, where it has fought on and off for nearly three decades. A Pew Research survey a little less than two years ago found that only 27 percent of respondents in Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey saw our country as a force for good. America probably has more enemies in the region today than it did at the time of the 9/11 attacks.