Historic Voices: Global History and Culture

(Bonus) Justice Alito explains the majority decision on the Hobby Lobby religious freedom case.

(Bonus) This short overview of the Hobby Lobby Case presents the major questions and issues decided regarding religious liberty.

S05-E01 W e feature U.S. Supreme Court Justice Alito and audio summary of the SCOTUS decision concerning Burwell v. Hobby Lobby regarding religious freedom of businesses. The court case examined whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allows a for-profit company to deny its employees' health coverage of contraception to which the employees would otherwise be entitled based on the rel...

(Bonus) The nativity of Jesus , nativity of Christ , birth of Jesus is described in the biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew . The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea , and  his mother Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph , who was descended from King David and was not his biological father, and that his birth was caused by divine intervention . The nativity is the bas...

(Bonus) The Church of the Nativity , or Basilica of the Nativity ,   is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the West Bank , of  Palestine . The grotto it contains holds a prominent religious significance to Christians of various denominations as the birthplace of Jesus . The grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity, and the basilica is the oldest major churc...

(Bonus) Bethlehem  is a city in the central West Bank , Palestine , about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem . Its population is approximately 25,000,   and it is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate . The economy is primarily tourist- driven , peaking during the Christmas season, when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity .   The important holy site of Rachel's Tomb is at...

S04-E05 The Reverand Billy Graham delivers one of his classic messages on the real meaning of Christmas. It seems today that commercialization and lives much too busy during the holiday to remember the real meaning. Join us for Dr. Graham's message of hope and inspiration.

(Bonus) George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer who is remembered for his innovative work in radio, theatre , and film. He is considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. While in his 20s, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project , including an adaptation of...

(Bonus) Lionel Barrymore ( April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen, and radio as well as a film director.   He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931), and remains best known to modern audiences for the role of villainous Mr. Potter in Frank Capra 's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life . He is also particularly remembered as Eben...

(Bonus) Charles John Huffam Dickens ( 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era .   His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. Hi...

(Bonus) A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in 1843. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

S04-E04 Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is a story of the redemption of an old man who finally understood the message of Christmas and his connection to all humanity. Enjoy the voices of distinguished actors Orsen Wells and Lionel Barrymore in this classic story. Also, enjoy the documents that give more of the backstory on the story and the actors who portrayed the classic characters. Merry Ch...

(Bonus) The territorial evolution of the British Empire is considered to have begun with the foundation of the English colonial empire in the late 16th century. Since then, many territories around the world have been under the control of the United Kingdom or its predecessor states. When the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the union of the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of Eng...

(Bonus) The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the...

(Bonus) Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms. He acceded to the throne on 8 September 2022 upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. As Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay from 1952 to his accession, he was the oldest and the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, and the longest-serving Prin...

S04-E03 We feature King Charles III ( formerly Prince Charles ) as he speaks publicly for the first time since the passing of his mother. In his brief message, King Charles both morns for the loss of his mother and the loss of the longest-serving monarch in the history of the United Kingdom. This is his first message as the new King of England and in it he shares a glimpse of his vision for the fu...

(Bonus) Large numbers of British civilians engaged in trekking during the WWII Blitz. This involved leaving cities at night to sleep in nearby towns and rural areas. The practice was most prevalent in provincial cities during early 1941. While the British Government was concerned that trekking indicated that civilian morale was under strain, the practice was generally motivated by a desire to avoi...

(Bonus) The evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to protect people, especially children, from the risks associated with aerial bombing of cities by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. Under the name "Operation Pied Piper", the effort began on 1 September 1939 and officially relocated 1.5 million people. There were further waves of official evacua...

(Bonus) Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her life and served as monarch of 15 of them at the time of her death.[a] Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch and the lon...

S04-E02 We feature Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth ) in her first radio speech. In 1940, at just 13 years of age, Princess Elizabeth spoke briefly with listeners throughout the commonwealth and the U.S through a BBC children's radio program. It was a morale-boosting message to fellow young people affected by the devastating German air attacks and threats of invasion during the early pa...

(Bonus) Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. (born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served since January 31, 2006.  He is the second Italian-American justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, after Antonin Scalia, and the eleventh Roman Cathol...

(Bonus) Abortion in the United States and its territories is a divisive issue in American politics and culture wars, with widely different abortion laws in U.S. states. Since 1976, the Republican Party has generally sought to restrict abortion access based on the stage of pregnancy or criminalize abortion, whereas the Democratic Party has generally defended access to abortion and has made contrace...

(Bonus) Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and state abortion laws, and caused an ongoing abortion debate in the United States about whether, or to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide...

(Bonus) This document contains the opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the Hobbs v Jackson case challenging abortion law. The majority opinion written by Justice Alito on behalf of the court majority begins on page one. The dissenting opinions by the minority begin on page 148.

(Bonus) Transcript of the 2021 Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v Wade abortion ruling from decades ago.