Prepare Yourself to Speak in the Gates
The 2008 Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy • May 27-31

by Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., March 20, 2008

WITHERSPOON TOPICS INCLUDE • The Common Law and the Bible • Christianity and the Constitution • Symposium on the Defining Issues of the 2008 Elections • You May Not Take Our Arms: A Symposium on the Future of the 2nd Amendment • Symposium on the Defense of the Local Church • Biblical Medical Ethics in an Age of Eugenics • Parental Rights and the Future of Home School Freedoms • Choosing a Law Career and a Method of Legal Education • Much More

I remember my first day of law school vividly. The professor entered the classroom and proceeded to initiate me and my fellow students into the world of lawyers with the following statement, which I paraphrase below:

Welcome to law school. If you are here because you believe that the job of the lawyer is to advance the law of God, you may exit through the door over there. If you came to law school with some idealistic vision of bettering society by imposing your religious view of right and wrong on the American legal system, the door is over there. Law is not about higher truth or any other religious concept. Law is the consensus of the people. Your job is to accept that consensus and help your client do the best he can under the circumstances.

Though shocking at the time, I later came to understand just how perfectly this evolutionary and humanistic perspective represents the philosophy of the modern law school. Since the rejection of the biblical basis for law and the adoption of neo-Darwinian philosophies of legal training in the late nineteenth century at Harvard, the vast majority of law schools have been committed to an approach to the study of law which is at odds with biblical Christianity. The heart and soul of the worldview that drives this method is Darwinism. It is a philosophy that has served as the foundation for the training of more than one million lawyers in America today.

Nine years ago, I founded the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy to provide Christians with a victorious alternative to the evolutionary mantra foisted upon them by American academia. The goal was to establish a unique, world-class Christian boot camp for training men for leadership in a four-day crash course designed to equip students, attorneys, lawmakers, pastors, and fathers with a Reformation understanding of Scripture as the source book for law and liberty and the only sure foundation for addressing the challenging ethical questions of the twenty-first century. Since it’s founding, Witherspoon has graduated hundreds of students who have risen to leadership in their homes, their churches, and in the American legal system as attorneys — some have even been elected to state offices.

America is in a leadership crisis because our rulers have ignored God’s Word as the foundation for law and liberty. Sadly, few seeking office are offering hope for a return to the biblical principles that once made our nation great. More troubling still, most Christians involved in the political process and the legal profession are not prepared to lead in the ways of righteousness because they lack a full-orbed biblical worldview. While often well-intentioned, many are ill-equipped to champion a biblical approach to law and public policy because they are ignorant of America’s great Christian legal heritage.

Witherspoon students will be exposed to distinctively biblical training from leading Christian attorneys and historians. They will study the scriptural foundations for property, tort, and contract law; the influence of Christianity on the Constitution; the relationship between the case laws of Exodus and the Common Law; and the writings of Sir William Blackstone. Most importantly, our students — who have included home educators, future law students, lawyers, pastors, judges, and fathers just interested in being better leaders —have a rare opportunity to learn and discuss the practical application of distinctively biblical thought to family, church, and state, such that they can speak with authority from God’s Word to the defining issues of our age.

Distinguished Faculty Assembled for the 2008 Witherspoon School

This year’s Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy offers one of the most distinguished faculties and ambitious topic line-ups since the program was founded. Students who attend Witherspoon will study directly under Dr. Jerry Corsi, New York Times best-selling author, Harvard Ph.D. and expert on international law; Jordan Lorence, Esq., a staff attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund and a professor who specializes in constitutional law; Chief Justice Roy Moore, formerly of the Supreme Court of Alabama, a man whose biblically-based legal decisions and courageous stand on keeping the Ten Commandments in America’s courts has earned him the title of the most decidedly Christian supreme court justice in more than fifty years; Joshua Carden, Esq., co-author of amicus briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court; William Einwechter, author, pastor, and expert on understanding the application of God’s law in ethics; Robert Renaud, Oakbrook School of Law student, co-author of key law review articles and executive assistant to Doug Phillips, Esq.; Howard Phillips, a former candidate for President of the United States and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity under Richard Nixon; Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America; Dr. John Eidsmoe, author of Christianity and the Constitution; and Doug Phillips who will be lecturing on ethics, the common law, and biblical principles of public policy and analyzing the current political climate and role of Christians in making a difference for Christ.

Special Symposiums for Pastors, Fathers, and Lawmakers

God has called men to rise to leadership in the family, the church, and the state. The 2008 Witherspoon School includes important training on the biblical foundations of law and public policy and the relationship of Christianity to the Constitution and the American legal system. In addition, our special topics and symposiums aim to address the most timely and relevant issues of our day.

The Symposium on Defining Issues of the 2008 Elections

Topics include: A precise overview of the presidential candidates’ records on the top ten issues for the American family; biblical voting theory; constitutional solutions to the imperial judiciary; biblical just warfare theory and the U.S military policy; the future of pro-homosexual legislation; the biblical and social implications of America’s first female president; Our bio-medical ethical future — from abortion and stem-cell research to eugenics and designer babies; and American sovereignty and the North American Corridor.

You May Not Take Our Arms: A Symposium on the Future of the Second Amendment

For the first time in more than a century, the United States Supreme Court is preparing to rule on the meaning of the Second Amendment. In addition, both Republican and Democratic frontrunners for President have disturbing pro-gun control track records. At this year’s Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy, you will hear a distinctively biblical perspective from national experts on the right of the people to be armed.

Symposium on the Defense of the Local Church

The biblical, historical, and constitutional position for the Church in America presumes the autonomy of Christ’s church to be a self-governing, self-regulating institution. But legal and cultural trends threaten the peace of the church. Now legal experts and scholars prepare pastors and churchmen for a diversity of issues which threaten the peace of Christ’s church, including hate crimes and anti-sexual discrimination legislation, church discipline, parental rights and home school freedoms, the Internet and the local church, medical and religious liberties, and more.

Accommodations, Rates, and How to Attend

The 2008 Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy will be held in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at the historic Fredericksburg Hospitality House which is located in the heart of Central Park, a large shopping, dining, and entertainment area just off Interstate 95. The hotel is surrounded by well-known Civil War battlefields, including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, as well as The Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Historic Fredericksburg — which features 350 original 18th- and 19th-century buildings in a 40-block historic district with trolley tours, unique antique and specialty shops, and restaurants — is just minutes away. Tuition includes meals, beginning with breakfast on Wednesday morning and ending with lunch on Saturday, lodging for four nights starting Tuesday, all required books and materials, and admission. Students attending the Witherspoon School as individuals should expect to share a room with one other student. Each father and son group will be placed in a room with two beds.

Special Offer for Church Leaders

One of our goals at the Witherspoon School this year is to provide some of the most excellent (and hard-to-find) resources available to our students. If you serve in the office of pastor or elder and attend the 2008 Witherspoon School, we want to invest in the important work you are doing by helping you to build your library. Toward this end, we will provide you with a $50 coupon for the purchase of any resources on our book table. In order to keep an intimate and exciting atmosphere for students to engage directly with the professors, space is limited for this event. Sign up now to ensure your seat at the 2008 Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy.

Find out more about the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy