Worth Your Time

A couple of columns I came across this past weekend are worth your time.

First, Christian Nationalism IS real. Far more real than the sneaky “CRT” conspiracy a lot of people hold to while they declare they are NOT Christian Nationalists.

David French gives a solid example of what this looks like in real time in Russia.

When advanced nations collide in sustained combat, it’s not just armies that confront each other, but systems and civilizations. Hidden strengths emerge. Hidden weaknesses are exposed. And as we watch history unfold in eastern Ukraine—Russians retreating on the battlefield, Russians fleeing their own country en masse to avoid the fight, and a panicked Putin threatening a genocidal response—we are watching in real time a profound and meaningful example of the fatal weakness of Christian nationalism.

We hear rhetoric and observe action (such as with Ron DeSantis in Florida) that you should be in power as a Christian so you can reward your friends and punish your enemies.

The government—goes the argument—is the last institution still open to defenders of the faith, and it is to the government they must turn to, for example, “reward friends and punish enemies.” 

We are in trouble. We probably won’t wake up. Maybe future generations will read all this and be warned.

The second piece is on loneliness and the battle of being isolated from Tish Harrison Warren.

How do we get out of this sense of isolation? Connect again with people. We have to learn to get back out.

The moment that you start to tell your story vulnerably to someone else, and that person meets you with empathy — without trying to fix your loneliness, without trying to fix your shame — your entire body will begin to change. Not all at once. But you feel distinctly different.

COVID didn’t do this. We’ve been practicing for generations. COVID only highlighted it.

These are pieces worth reading. Or not. But maybe in the future someone will find it and realize there’s another way of living.

One can hope.