King’s Junior Writes Religious Freedom Report During Israeli Internship

King’s Junior Jordan Caruso ’15 landed two important internships this summer. The first was for Beth Gaines of California’s 6th Assembly District and the second was for the Jerusalem Institute of Justice. Caruso’s internship for Assemblywoman Gaines included communication coordination for every bill being processed for 2013 and 2014. When a constituent mailed in his opinion, Jordan would put his or her name on a support list for a particular bill. The Assemblywoman will correspond with these people based on the issues that mattered to them.”I applied for the internship with Assemblywoman Gaines after I applied for the Israeli internship,” said Jordan. “During my interview I told them I might need to leave for Israel halfway through the summer. They were fine with that and hired me. It turned out that I did land the Israeli internship, but my experience interning for the Assemblywoman was excellent preparation, and they asked me back for next summer.” The internship with the Assemblywoman was the perfect precursor to a more intensive position in Israel for Jordan.It was no more than a few days after Jordan ended his internship in California that he flew to Jerusalem for his next internship with the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.Jordan’s internship with the Institute was project-focused. He was assigned to JIJ’s Religious Freedom Report. He conducted independent research to understand the religious situation in Israel and interview people on the ground, such as religious leaders and victims of persecution. He spent most of his time focusing on Islamic harassment of Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “One intern focused specifically on discrimination against non-orthodox Jews in the rabbinic courts. Another intern focused on discrimination against evangelicals by the traditional churches in the West Bank.”Jordan compiled each intern’s research and co-wrote a thirty page report at the end of his internship.Jordan stayed in Jerusalem, and visited Haifa, Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jericho during his time in Israel.Dr. Dru Johnson teaches biblical studies at The King’s College and was in Jerusalem at the same time as Jordan, and he met up with Jordan for coffee. “Dr. Johnson showed me around the old city and the Mount of Olives, pointing out archeological digs and sharing the history behind them,” said Caruso. “Later I spent five hours or more on the Mount of Olives with a Jewish friend who was trying to find his family’s graves.”Jordan attributes his success in researching and writing his team’s report in Israel to learning logic from Dr. Kreeft at King’s. “Socratic dialogue helps tremendously in journalistic activity,” said Caruso. He said that Dr. Johnson’s scriptural epistemology helped him as well.”King’s has changed my life,” said Caruso. “My professors have shaped my thinking and the desires of my heart, specifically Dr. Johnson and Dr. Kreeft. I was able to apply the critical thinking skills I have begun to learn from Logic class and Epistemology class. I was also able to apply the rigorous research skills that Dr. Jackson equipped me with in his College Writing II class.”