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Homeless Soul Sleeping on the Streets

‘It’s the Bond Between All of Us That Holds Us Together’

The fabric of American society is coming apart at the seams. Numerous books, editorials and podcasts have testified to that fact. Now, with federally recommended and state-mandated social distancing, communal bonds are simultaneously more strained and more urgently needed. Faith becomes something practiced privately or livestreamed. Family may feel smothered when sheltering together, distant if sheltering apart. If the COVID-19 crisis has illustrated anything, it has shown, by dint of absence and suspension, how important social bonds are. In reestablishing them, one could hardly look for better inspiration than Christopher Rufo’s America Lost. Read More ›
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Darwin’s Corrosive Idea

In the case of Darwin’s idea of unguided evolution and of a planet of life formed from blind, merciless material processes alone, West notes a range of consequences and impacts, on how we see the sanctity of human, how we understand morality and spirituality, and much more. In an interview with Sir David Attenborough, in 2013, the famed evolutionist called Read More ›

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We Need to Bring Back Real Debates in America

The televised Democratic presidential sound byte pageants will not be true debates by any realistic standard. They are reminiscent of the 2016 Republican primaries that started with 16 candidates preening on a platform and enduring “gotcha” questions by reporters/moderators trying to get themselves into the news story. Until the nominee field narrows, these shows are almost a parody of real debates in the Lincoln-Douglas or Oxford Union manner. That’s too bad. We need to bring back real debates in America, and not just among candidates. Name the issue (climate change, foreign interference in our elections, abortion, immigration, tariffs, privacy online, the future of artificial intelligence, the meaning of “free speech,” whatever): Americans are badly divided. Since media and politicians often operate in inward-looking communities, they tend to ignore or distort views that differ from their own. In this environment, mere calls for greater civility don’t work. What can work is facing issues straight on and together. Read More ›