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God, Law & Liberty Podcast
God, Law & Liberty Podcast
Author: David Fowler
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© 2026 Family Action Council of Tennessee
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God, Law, and Liberty is a podcast featuring David Fowler, a licensed attorney, who served 12 years in the Tennessee Senate and, until retiring at the end of 2024, served as president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee. David is the author of The Politics of Loving God-Courageous Truths for Contentious Times and Recovering the Constitution-Using the Ninth Amendment to Restore Civil Liberty, along with other titles and monographs.
307 Episodes
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David uses a quote from William Blackstone’s famous Commentaries about common law that explains the two foundations for human law and how they were applied to various kinds of social issues. He uses it to test the legal arguments being made in court by leading pro-family advocates in defense of laws involving children and medical procedures affecting their reproductive systems. The contrast may shock you.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Our society and law have progressed from prohibiting access to contraceptives in 1879 to a Supreme Court argument this week about human sexuality to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley asking a Doctor if a man can get pregnant. Why has this "evolution" occurred and gone in only one direction? And why don't we ask "Why" questions anymore? It's all of one piece. Something fundamental may be missing in our thinking. [My reference to Kansas should be Nebraska]Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today I explain the dirty trick the U.S. Supreme Court played on the states to foist on them a new understanding of human meaning, a new anthropology. You will see how the Court degraded the high view of marriage expressed by a Massachusetts statute dating from 1879 to the constitutional protection of fornication in 7 years, from 1965 to 1972!Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today, I explain how the United States Supreme Court came to understand the word “liberty” in the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause and the changes in society's understanding of the cosmos that influenced it. Understanding the evolution of that word is critical to everyone who wants to understand our times and know better how to “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5 KJV). "Sons of Issachar" should not miss this one.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today, I pass on my answer to a great question asked by a Christian state legislator who listened to last week’s podcast about working to restore God’s “ordered liberty”: If we are to do that, how should we have argued for the bill not allowing men to compete in women’s sports? Equally important is what can we learn about ourselves by thinking through the two different approaches?Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today David explains how the thoughts of Puritan John Owen in his monumental work, Christologia, completely re-ordered his thinking about law and legal and public policy advocacy in recent years, and how those thoughts relate to the God’s creational intention for every Christian in the present. Creation, the image of God, the Fall, and the “ordered liberty” of government that rests on the child in the manger all come together in one glorious scriptural truth about Christ’s mediation in this final advent edition.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to record a prophesy that "the government shall be upon his shoulder"--a baby in a manger. Today, David examines what no one ought to overlook: Even SCOTUS knows that God prepared the Western world for His Son's Kingdom. But the Spirit also said the scope of his governance and its peace would increase. What are Christians and non-Christian to think of that part of the prophesy today? On that front, I say the news is still goodSupport the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The apostle Paul wrote, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Today I examine how reason led to an understanding of law by 50 B.C. that was ready for the law to become incarnate. Its the story we need to hear in our day, especially Christian lawyers. It's amazing! And I explain why the story of the person of Jesus is more important than ever.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we examine the test Isaiah provides us on whether our thoughts on winning are God's thoughts or conform to those of our age. And I will examine that test in light of a recent case argued before the United States Supreme Court by Christian lawyers and my wrong application of that test and compare them both to how Isaiah might have us apply that test to our legal and political arguments.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Part 2 of my 3 part Thanksgiving gift to you on "winning" in a society rife with exhausting rivalries. Today we look at what John Owen meant when he spoke of "loving the person of Christ"--what I submit is the key to how we think about winning and how we go about winning.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today's episode is Part 1 of my Thanksgiving gift to you. It responds to the fact that our society runs on rivalry. One person wins means the others lose; one group wins means the other groups lose. It's exhausting. I pray this gift will help you go back into your part of the world after the Thanksgiving weekend with joy and peace (Isaiah 55:12 ). And I pray it will jump start an Advent season filled with more of the same. Part 2 will come out Wednesday morning. Stay tuned.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we consider Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson's answer. to "what is a woman" at her U.S. Senate Confirmation hearing 3 years ago. . Her answer was ridiculed, but she said something important about law. Her answer will help us understand why lawyers no longer believe in law. And we will consider how she might have answered the question, “What is law?”Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today's episode expands on last week’s episode by explaining why I think Jesus might "double down" on his "woe" for today's Christian lawyers. The reason: lawyers are taught not to believe in law and that can hinder others in coming to know Christ. That was true of my experience as lawyer, legislator, and lobbyist. Blackstone, Kuyper, Holmes, and Einstein help prove my thesis.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SPECIAL REPORT: Don't be discouraged now by those who may have led you to believe the Kim Davis case out of Kentucky might be the one that SCOTUS would use to overturn its 2015 "gay marriage" decision, Obergefell v. Hodges. Don't let anyone "cover up" what I said was wrong with the case from the get go. And listen to the steps we can take now to get a good "Obergefell case" up to SCOTUS.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jesus had a pretty damning word in his day for some of the practicing lawyers among His people. Today, I explain why I think they apply to many Christians practicing law today and why the people of God need to know what they are doing. Why? Because Jesus said his people were being "hindered" by the lawyers of his day.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the recent contention over Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes and comments about the nation of Israel, that Tony Perkins and others in the sphere of public policy have now commented on, have you seen anyone address the application of the prophecy in Isaiah 49:1-3, particularly v. 3, “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified’”? I haven’t, so I will offer one that goes beyond mere semantical wrangling over a word.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview for a national Christian ministry recently commented on needing a certain win in the U.S. Supreme Court and on how to win. The question we examine today is whether his thoughts on the subject are his own or those informed by God's word. The answer depends on something I once never considered: Our knowledge of and love for the person of Christ.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we examine the belief of a “Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview” for a national organization about the importance of winning as a guiding principle. We examine this belief in light of the argument Christian lawyers recently made in favor of the unconstitutionality of state laws prohibiting "conversion therapy." We will also compare his belief that "the left" is being "ridiculous" against my belief that Christians are denying what they believe is true.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last week we examined the questions a Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview suggested for discerning “Who is a Christian?” and “Who is on our team?” Today we take that examination a step further. Is it possible that getting the “right answers” to worldview questions has obscured the good news of Christ, the actual gospel? Is it possible that the gospel is better news than we’ve imagined? David says the answer to both is “Yes!”Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we will examine two questions suggested by a Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview at a national political and policy organization to determine, according to him, "Who is actually a Christian" and "Who is on our team." Abraham Kuyper provided a critique to the two suggested questions, but the Apostle Paul provided the one question we really need to ask. Today's episode may explain why policy discussions rarely include Christ.Support the show: https://www.factennessee.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.




