“For example, they want to write off all social conservatives as throwback Puritans, with crabbed, pinched faces, worrying desperately that somewhere, somebody called that number on the bathroom wall, and is having a good time. The answer is to cultivate a sunny Calvinism, a Chestertonian Calvinism. Chesterton himself would of course be annoyed at my …
By Saying “Boo!” For Example
“Jesus tells us to rejoice when we are slandered, because, He says, our reward is great in Heaven. But there is another reason to rejoice. There are many times, particularly with the issues that swirl around in our culture wars, when these slanders arise, not from our enemy’s malice, but from their fears. Instead of …
Not the Point
“Survival should never be the goal, stalemate is not the goal, absence of collision is not the goal” (Rules, p. 36).
So to Speak
“It is permissible to flee persecution, what Calvin once called getting the heck out of Dodge” (Rules, p. 35).
No Time for Commies
“Some of us don’t want to give the commies the time of day — they slaughtered over 100 million people over the course of the last century, and, looking ahead to the next century, they would be happy to do it all over again. Some of us don’t think we should be the ones with …
Like an Out-of-Control Office Christmas Party
“Much has been made of the Puritan opposition to Christmas, but more than a little bit of the problem was caused by how Christmas used to be celebrated . . . The problem was actually comparable to us objecting to the drunkenness and fornication at Mardi Gras, only to be told that we have a …
A Common Caricature
“One of the most common caricatures of the Puritans is that they were a lot of ecclesiastical killjoys, and that if their eyes were any closer together, they would each be on the other side” (God Rest Ye Merry, p. 75).
Universal Authority Cannot Be Privatized
“The star appeared in the sky to announce the birth of one who would hold a universal scepter, and such scepters are not held privately, or stored in closets” (God Rest Ye Merry, p. 72).
Actual Victories Needed
“We don’t want culture warriors who can be lured by the trappings of victory without any actual victories — the equivalent of big hats, missile parades, and sunglasses” (Rules, p. 24).
True Separation
“When the Constitution actually mandates with regard to religion is two-fold: one, the non-establishment of a national church by an act of Congress, and two, non-interference with the free exercise of religion by Congress. Got that? No Church of the United States, comparable to the Church of Denmark, or the Church of England. When the …