UPDATE: Hunter Baker is the author of The End of Secularism which comes out with Crossway Books in August 2009.
Hunter Baker, J.D., Ph.D. serves as contributing editor to The City and to Salvo Magazine. In addition, he has written for The American Spectator, American Outlook, National Review Online, Christianity Today, Human Events.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and a number of other outlets. His scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of Law and Religion (“Competing Orthodoxies in the Public Square: Postmodernism’s Effect on Church-State Separation”), the Regent University Law Review (“Storming the Gates of a Massive Cultural Investment: Reconsidering Roe in Light of its Flawed Foundation and Undesirable Consequences), and the Journal of Church and State. In 2007, he contributed a chapter “The Struggle for Baylor’s Soul” to the edited collection The Baylor Project, published by St. Augustine’s Press. He has also been a guest on a variety of television and radio programs, including Prime Time America and Kresta in the Afternoon.
As a law student in the late 1990’s, Hunter Baker worked for The Rutherford Institute and Prison Fellowship Ministries where he focused primarily on defending the constitutional principle of religious liberty. Prior to beginning doctoral studies in religion and politics at Baylor University in 2003, he served as director of public policy for the Georgia Family Council. While at Baylor, Baker served as a graduate assistant to the philosopher Francis Beckwith and the historian Barry Hankins. He assisted Beckwith in the editing of his landmark book Defending Life which has now been published by Cambridge University Press. He also provided research assistance to Hankins in his forthcoming biography of Francis Schaeffer.
Baker currently serves on the political science faculty at Houston Baptist University and is the special assistant to the president, Robert Sloan. He is married to Ruth Elaine Baker, M.D. They have a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Grace.
Hunter,
I’m the producer for a libertarian/conservative college radio talk show. Would you be interested in doing a radio interview on your column in the Religion and Liberty journal about libertarians and conservatives? If so please email me at jkmiles@bgsu.edu and we can set up a date.
J. Miles
Producer
Political Animals
WBGU 88.1
Bowling Green Ohio
I sent you an email, Jonathan.
Mr. Baker,
I just read your article in the New Republic titled Huckabee, Darwin & Democracy. My comment is regarding the hypothetical quote in the final paragraph: “Stay away from this wicked person, my son. He has inadequate respect for the marriage of molecules and random chance…”
This statement makes clear the fact that you have not read (or, with all due respect, understood) a single thing about evolution. If you had you would surely understand that it has nothing at all to do with “random chance.” In fact, it is based on an entirely opposite principle; cumulative change through an extremely long process of natural selection. Your editors should have corrected you on this point, but they are probably apologists for the theocratic fringe right just like seem to be. I suggest you actually read The Origin of Species (or any other text found in the mountains of evidence for the fact of evolution) before you embarrass yourself further. Excuse me if that is a bit rude, but your article is incredibly offensive to rational, thinking people.
Thank you,
Tim McGrath, concerned secular conservative
Mr. McGrath, I understand how evolution works. I think it is fairly clear from the portion of the piece you quoted that the statement was hyperbolic in nature.
Dr. Baker -
I wanted to thank you for the wonderfully constructed thoughts placed in the recent Art of Manliness blog.
Since obtaining my Masters degree in 2002, I have been contemplating the next step in my spiritual and secular walk. For the last 9+ years, I have worked at various newspapers and am currently employed with Gannett as a Market Research Analyst. Since newspapers are beginning to implode with recent changes in our audience targets, web migration and overall economy, I am beginning to turn inward to reexamine the things that drive my life: God, family, people and teaching.
On the side, I am a youth past (along with my wife) and have grown passionate about teaching our youth the core values of Christianity and ethics. It has become clearly evident to me (finally, at 36) that it is time to go back to obtain my Doctorate and begin teaching at a Christian college or university. The great state of Texas has always been in the back of my mind (even in my youth) as a place where I would eventually settle down. I believe that I may now use your interview as a catalyst to apply to Baylor University and begin the next chapter in my life.
Thank you for the encouraging words and for taking the time to share your experiences. I want to reach “the brass ring” (as you mentioned) and do it for a Savior who, through grace, brought me to where I am today. God bless you as you continue to progress in academia at Houston Baptist University and with your published works.
I hope to meet you in the future!
In Christ -
Kreig
Thanks, Krieg. I’m very glad to have been an encouragement to you. Any time you have questions, feel free to send me an email at hunterbaker-at-gmail-dot-com. (spelled it out to avoid spambots)
Did you come across Dr. Monsma at Baylor? He does some church/state studies stuff, and I was his student in undergrad (Pepperdine).
Hello. Not sure if this the right place to ask, but are you working on a book entitled “Secularization of Christian Higher Education? I thought i heard a relatively recent interview you had with Dr. J of the Ruth Institute where your soon-to-be-released book was discussed in the context of Notre Dame’s conferring, to their eternal shame, an Honorary Degree for President Obama.
Mark Doud
Good day Mr. Baker,
My name is Erica Wanis and I’m the Director of Research at the Center for a Just Society. You may have seen our Chairman Ken Connor’s articles on Townhall.com, Crosswalk.com, Catholic Exchange, or any of several conservative website and blogs that regularly pick up his pieces. The Center for a Just Society is a non-profit, web-based organization dedicated to advancing and defending Judeo-Christian principles of human dignity and social justice in law, policy and the public square. Our desire is to bring attention and an alternative voice to issues pertaining to social justice.
As part of this effort we seek outside contributions, to be featured in the “Forum” section of our site. We greatly admire your contribution to the conservative and Christian conversation, and would be delighted if you would consider submitting an article between 600-1200 words for publication in the Forum. Though we are a small organization, we are able to offer an honorarium of $70 for any article we publish.
Thank you for your attention and consideration!