No Magic Wand: The Idealization of Science in Law is the title of a new book by David Caudill and Lewis LaRue, from which we excerpt for this article. Anyone concerned with how science is either idealized or neglected in the courtroom-or in legislation and administration-should read this book.

James Skillen, introduces and comments on the eight brief paragraphs of the Center's second Guideline for Government and Citizenship—this one on the task of “Government.”

Ed Kagi writes to the editor to “vent his spleen” on the “mis- and malfeasance” of federal, state, and local governments on everything from Katrina to Iraq. The editor responds empathetically and urges a long-term approach to fundamental reform.

Bruce Wearne explains the Australian government's shamelessness in handling the apparently fraudulent scheme in which the Australian Wheat Board took part through its role in the United Nation's Oil for Food Program in Iraq.

This is a letter from the Center's Stanley Carlson-Thies, on behalf of the Coalition to Preserve Religious Freedom, to Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The president has done much, but he still needs to deliver on unfulfilled promises.

Religion and the Death Penalty offers thoughtful essays both in support of and in opposition to capital punishment. It is a helpful and important read on this controversial issue. Contributors include Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Avery Cardinal Dulles, Stanley Hauerwas, and seventeen others.

Yes, for more than 50 years the Christian Labour Association of Canada has been doing what unions do, but in a distinctive way. Read its history in this new book, In Pursuit of Justice: So Far, So Good, by Ed Grotenboer.

In his Editor's Watch, Skillen applauds and raises critical questions about a new statement called “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.” Will action follow?