Trust
Trust isn’t a virtue—it’s a measure of other people’s virtue.
Distrust
Distrust sows distrust. It produces the spiritual state that Emile Durkheim called anomie, a feeling of being disconnected from society, a feeling that the whole game is illegitimate, that you are invisible and not valued, a feeling that the only person you can really trust is yourself.
Vetocracy
vetocracy. Power to the people has meant no power to do anything, and the result is a national NIMBYism that blocks social innovation in case after case.
Pointless
Few things are more pointless in the church than raving against “critical race theory” and other fad ideologies that most have never heard of and fewer understand. Teach the kingdom of God every week and fads won’t matter…
Phoenix Preacher
He is us…
…should be careful about our righteousness. For Trump wasn’t some evil alien interloper foisted upon us by external forces who was finally defeated by the forces of right and light. He is us—or at least is a genuine product of our system and our society as it stands today. We can, and should, try to be better. But we should never delude ourselves into thinking we can be good.
— Damir and Shamir
No great accomplishment to be young..
It is no great accomplishment to be young. Every non-young person still alive managed to pull off this feat. The great stuff about being young that we jaded oldsters take for granted or no longer enjoy—high energy, passion, childlike discovery of new things, fast metabolisms, ease of urination, the ability to sleep really late, etc.—do not amount to profound or unique wisdom. We are all born amazingly ignorant. At birth not only do we not know the difference between shit and Shinola, we have to be taught—carefully taught—not to crap our pants. Broadly speaking, this ignorance has only one reliable remedy: getting older.
Jonah Goldberg
True morality
The nature of true morality does not consist in our sentiments – how we feel or imagine ourselves to think about right and wrong. It does not even consist in how we act. Rather, true morality consists in who we are. Another way of describing this is to understand true morality as the acquisition of virtue, the forming and shaping of our character in the image and likeness of Christ. Mere moral rules and norms in the hands of a person whose character is flawed is similar to a child with an AK-47. The outcome is always predictable.
Fr Stephen Freeman
Unprepared
The pandemic caught us unprepared — logistically and medically, but also morally unprepared. It arrived at a time of deep polarization and partisan rancor. Four decades of deepening inequality have driven us apart. Resentment of the elites whose policies produced these inequalities led to a populist backlash. The pandemic arrived at just the wrong moment — amid toxic politics, incompetent leadership, and fraying social bonds.
Michael Sandel
the Partisan mind
“avoid the partisan mind.”
The partisan mind creates an identity around party affiliation. Yes, you might join the party because it agrees with you on a key and important idea (such as opposing abortion or defending religious liberty), but when one adopts the partisan mind, the health of the party becomes inseparable from—and often, as a practical matter, superior to—the value of the idea.
David French
Father of lies
Satan is called “The Father of Lies.” The devil traffics less in lasciviousness than in falsehood. I think this is so because life is, fundamentally, about moral navigation. And if you can’t see the world and yourself truthfully and accurately there’s no way to chart a course.
This seems to be one of the reasons why our world is so lost and sick. No one knows what is true anymore.
Richard Beck
Shame
a definition of shame, I would say it is the lack of courage to see ourselves as God sees us.
Archimandrite Zacharias
Math of politics
Politics has a math of its own. Whereas a scientifically minded person might see things this way: One person who says 2+2=5 is an idiot; two people who think 2+2=5 are two idiots; and a million people who think 2+2=5 are a whole lot of idiots–political math works differently. Let’s work backwards: if a million people think 2+2=5, then they are not a million idiots, but a “constituency.” If they are growing in number, they are also a “movement.” And, if you were not only the first person to proclaim 2+2=5, but you were the first to persuade others, then you, my friend, are not an idiot, but a visionary.
Jonah Goldberg
Sacred cows
Anything considered above criticism will soon become demonic. Remember that the first exorcism of a demon in Mark’s Gospel is found not in a brothel or bar but in the synagogue (Mark 1:23–28).
Richard Rohr
Effective political peacemaking
effective political peacemaker displaying characteristics like:
Truthfulness – Respecting common facts of reality, and transparency, not deceptiveness
Trust – Respecting others, dependability, earning other’s respect
Tolerance – Forbearing with diversity and differencesTenderness – Empathetic, compassionate, gracious
Toughness – Perseveres wisely with courage, and stamina, not as a childish bully but after the manner of a true civil servant.
Jim Abrahamson
Recommended listen for the week
“I Don’t Know if I Should Say It, but, well…”: A Conversation with Charlie Strobel
https://omny.fm/shows/tokens-podcast/i-don-t-know-if-i-should-say-it-but-well-a-convers