Eric Patterson

How should we think about veterans and military service more generally? C.S. Lewis, a World War I veteran who was wounded in combat, provides some answers.

Eric Patterson opened Providence’s Christianity and National Security Conference in Washington, DC. His talk gave an introduction to Christian realism and considered Afghanistan as a case study.

James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, first explored the moral decision-making of national security stewardship in his 1960 short story “For Your Eyes Only.”

With the West on the run, increased activity by terrorists, and the Taliban inexorably exerting control across the country, we need to be aware of what is happening to real people, right now in Afghanistan.

Let’s take a look at the players, the victims, the outbidding cycle, and why ISIS-K is likely to ramp up the violence in Afghanistan. All of this suggests much more violence that will target Christians and Shia Muslims, as well as more oppression of highly (Western) educated people, women, and others who may not bend to the new social order.

With the debacle unfolding in Afghanistan, what is the schema that political leaders have in mind?

What would President Roosevelt say of President Joe Biden and his Democratic administration abandoning the Afghan people? Perhaps Biden, and many in the West, have turned away from winning because they have lost a sense that victory, even an unsatisfying partial victory, is politically and morally viable.

As the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 looms, President Joe Biden has rushed to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. What are we to make of all of this?

Human rights advocates, when looking at Nigeria’s north and central regions, fear an accelerating disintegration of Nigeria’s society and institutions. We all should be concerned that, if current trends are not arrested, Nigeria may implode, with global economic ramifications. A new wave of Nigerian displacement and emigration would rival those associated with Libya, Syria, and Iraq.

For the July 4th weekend, Eric Patterson and Mark Melton discuss what C.S. Lewis teaches Christians about patriotism and “love of home,” particularly in The Four Loves.