Editorial

There is a sharp public conversation brewing over evangelical attitudes on impeachment. Christianity Today editorialized that Christians should support removing…

Trump is not the first president to put conditions on aid to a foreign land, but he may be the first to do so in order to score petty political points.

Is it possible that the partisan quarrel about the rightness or wrongness of Ilhan Omar’s actions is really a hidden debate about the “Islamic Question” that still remains unresolved 18 years after September 11, 2001? As the election cycle heats up, Republicans and Democrats are likely to dance around this question’s two sub-questions: How do we deal with the Islamic world, and how do we deal with Islam inside our borders? The answers to both should be characterized by a single word: respect.

I am not, here, interested in debating the specific conditions on our southern border. This is its own crisis. What I am interested in is commenting on why comparing what’s going on down there to the Holocaust is foolish both historically and strategically. For what it’s worth, my objections apply to nearly any comparison made between the Holocaust and a current atrocity—real or perceived.

That Robert Kagan’s recent essay, “The Strongmen Strike Back,” has sparked controversy is an unfortunate commentary on our public understanding…

Religious diplomacy is important, but religious leaders should focus on representing the truths of their religion and the concerns of their constituencies rather than working toward meta-religious consensus. They will be most successful when their diplomacy is understated and narrowly-construed.

A disruptive foreign policy, such as the Trump Administration’s, is not necessarily disordering, and may even be warranted, especially when the status quo is unstable or unjust.  But to be justified morally, it must be creatively destructive, replacing the old order with a new one.

The Jamal Khashoggi affair presents the perfect opportunity for the United States to press Saudi Arabia for more progress on its horrendous human rights record. 

This is an axiom, as true for foreign policy as it is for our faith. We may not be bound by history, but we are damned if we ignore it. The root of conservatism is the tendency to see value in traditions not as ends unto themselves but as visible reminders of the sacrifices of those who have gone before.