Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Reviews

November 20, 2024

What Is Liberalism?

“When the enemy is Hitler,” F.H. Buckley writes, “and the world is divided between Schmittian friends and enemies, everything is permitted.” Such divisive contemporary issues as Black Lives Matter, the Israel-Palestine war, and trans rights leave little room for compromise and much for demonization. Continue Reading...
November 19, 2024

The Hidden Ideology of Megachurch Marketing

As an unofficial member of “Weird Christian Twitter,” I had kept up fairly well with the onslaught of pastoral sex scandals this past summer. It was only a peek into an otherwise quite active stream of controversy over how abuse cases had been handled (or just ignored) by prominent evangelical leaders, from the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and from John MacArthur to Doug Wilson. Continue Reading...
November 15, 2024

How the West Moved Beyond Racism and Tribalism

John M. Ellis’ A Short History of Relations Between Peoples: How the World Began to Move Beyond Tribalism is an important book. It defends the values and history of Western civilization underlying the political and economic systems that have produced the prosperous and multifaceted world Westerners currently enjoy. Continue Reading...
November 07, 2024

China: Greatest Threat or Paper Tiger?

With the Russo-Ukraine War and Israel’s battles with Hamas and Hezbollah comprising most of corporate media commentary on U.S. foreign policy for more than a year, it’s easy to overlook that many wonks label China our nation’s top security threat. Continue Reading...
October 24, 2024

Conclave’s Art Is Great, but Its Doubt Is Dubious

The intersection of religion and politics has always fascinated Hollywood filmmakers, from Becket and A Man for All Seasons to The West Wing. And no wonder. Both religion and politics are two of the biggest commanders of loyalty in their followers, and therefore they wield an enormous amount of power. Continue Reading...
October 22, 2024

The Life-Giving Suffering of Things

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s dramatic monologue “Ulysses” has for nearly two centuries served as the great cri de coeur of all young men whose lives of mediocrity and utility leave them restless and unsatisfied. Continue Reading...