Creation, Fall, and Coronavirus by C. C. Pecknold

Creation, Fall, and Coronavirus by C. C. Pecknold

Thus Israel’s faith in creation, which is also the Church’s faith, carries with it a doctrine of providence. God has created the world, and he governs the world. This is the faith that breaks through Babylonian darkness and the fear of apocalypse. The Christian faces suffering differently because we see the Creator and creation through the Word made flesh, through Christ Crucified, through the hope of the Risen Lord who is our way and our end.

A beautiful reminder...

Them the People by Kevin D. Williamson

Them the People by Kevin D. Williamson

The destructive nature of socialism comes not from its tendency to trample on democracy (though socialism often does trample on democracy) but from its total disregard for rights — rights that are, in the context of the United States and other liberal-democratic systems, beyond the reach of mere majorities. We have the Bill of Rights to protect freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the free exercise of religion, etc., not because we expect that majorities will reliably support and protect these rights but because we expect that majorities will be hostile to them.

Great takedown of the the idea of Democratic Socialism.

We Need Christian Nationalism Because Religious Neutrality Has Failed by Matthew Cochran

We Need Christian Nationalism Because Religious Neutrality Has Failed by Matthew Cochran

Christian nationalism is not an attempt to requisition the state to teach Christian theology—it would be even less competent at this than it is at all other types of education. Neither is it in any way an incitement to the largely hypothetical violence over which the statement’s authors wring their hands.

 It is simply American Christians who believe that their religion is true and their nation valuable contending for their own convictions about goodness, truth, and beauty rather than for others’. We are not “merging” our two identities, as the statement alleges, but holding onto both of them in everything that we do.

Far from destroying American democracy and religious liberty, Christian nationalism embodies the very same spirit that built that heritage of ours in the first place.

Interesting take on a very controversial subject.

The Perverse Panic over Plastic by John Tierney

The Perverse Panic over Plastic by John Tierney

But politicians and environmentalists have other ideas. They’re doubling down on their mistakes by banning more plastic products and demanding alternatives that are more expensive, less convenient, and worse for the environment. Even experts familiar with the facts succumb to magical thinking. Yes, they acknowledge, we shouldn’t be exporting our plastic waste to Asia, but the solution is to recycle it at home. And yes, that’s impractical today, but everything will change after we create a “circular economy,” which merely requires a transformation of society. Guided by wise central planners, manufacturers will redesign their products and retool their factories so that everything can be reused or recycled, and consumers will painstakingly sort everything into just the right recycling bin, and we will all live happily ever after in a world with “zero waste.”

This iconoclastic piece goes a long to explaining our outsized focus on "the environment."

Flannery O'Connor Versus the Marvel Universe by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Flannery O'Connor Versus the Marvel Universe by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Yet, her violence is not of the same kind as the superhero variety. She does describe the violence of the world, but she juxtaposes it with the grace of God. Like Joseph tells his brothers, what you meant for harm, God meant for good. Or, think of Jesus on the cross—the violence that we commit, God can work through for his redemptive purposes. Of course, we have to separate this reading of violence that then concludes violence is a good. It is not, but in a fallen world, violence is inevitable. What is not inevitable but miraculous is God’s grace, which does not let the violence be the end of the story. In O’Connor’s stories, grace always has the final word.

I love this exploration of Flannery O'Connor and her use of violence to display God's grace.