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Religion & Liberty: Volume 31, Number 2

Editor's Note: Spring 2021

    While political fortunes ebb and flow, our destiny remains in our own hands. That balanced approach to the newly installed Biden-Harris administration guides this issue of Religion & Liberty, which is a special one for me.

    Alexander W. Salter offers his first contribution. “We’re in the midst of a constitutional revolution,” he warns. “Constitutional drift refers to the tendency for de facto government to diverge from de jure government,” he writes. He offers little hope, except that this nation will experience a new birth of freedom, one individual at a time. 

    Heritage Foundation scholar Mike Gonzalez turns his gimlet eye on critical theory, the “bizarre ideology,” which “has, sadly, become our new state religion.” 

    Up-and-coming young author Chris Nagavonski notes how enormous (and often deceptive) new spending bills threaten both our economic standing and our place in global affairs.

    The Discovery Institute’s Wesley J. Smith warns that “something authoritarian this way comes”: a coordinated attempt to force Christian medical providers to perform abortions, gender reassignment surgeries, and assisted suicides. Preserving the right of Christians and other faithful believers to express their values in their work life is “the next civil rights struggle.” 

    Bradley Birzer and Ray Nothstine glean insights from the lives of Russell Kirk and Eugene McCarthy.

    We pause to remember Walter Williams and take a somewhat tongue-in-cheek view of how “socialism” can succeed. 

    On a personal note, this is my final issue as Executive Editor. You will appreciate the way economics motivated my decision to decline another year at the Acton Institute. Although our journey together comes to an end – or at least a pause – with this issue, the quality of the talented writers in these pages gives me solace. Please join me in recommitting yourself to the Lord, to liberty, and to the U.S. Constitution understood through the original intent of our Founding Fathers. Please stay in touch. And until we meet again, God bless. 

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    Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.comNational Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.usand The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.