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Andrew T. Walker

Andrew T. Walker is associate professor of Christian Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Fellow with The Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of the forthcoming Faithful Reason: Natural Law Ethics for God’s Glory and Our Good.

neighbor love

The Wax Nose of Neighbor Love 

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Loving one’s neighbor is a moral imperative. How best to do so, however, is more complex than just recklessly citing this principle as immediate justification. All my point amounts to is a plea for caution. 
Praying hands is in the dark with light on the hands.

Fidelity to God: Our Highest Good

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As we begin this inaugural Fidelity Month, we recommit and rededicate ourselves to God. You were made to know God. He is your ultimate happiness. Knowing God is not a rejection of creaturely good. It is vantage point that allows us to enjoy creaturely good as intended “from the beginning.”
Photo of a church's roof with a cross on top

Three Responses to “Hopeful Realism”

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The evangelical embrace of natural law must continue to mature, and “hopeful realism” is a meaningful step forward in this respect. However, a postliberal would be quick to detect some slippage in the authors' statements about the most important common political good that must guide any functional society: its religious vision. Additionally, one area for further development in their proposal is a more explicit basis for how their proposal is “evangelical.”
Mask on a bible

Should Christians Claim Religious Exemption from Mask Mandates?

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Religious freedom is not a get-out-of-jail-free card that lets us evade whatever laws we dislike. Nowhere does the Bible hint that we have the individual authority to examine all laws, determine which are good and which are not, and select, à la carte, which are binding and which are not.
Bill Lee

Common Sense Conservatism: An Interview with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee

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Used to be the Democrats called themselves the “Party of the Little Guy.” Today, I think that’s us. As the Democrats move farther and farther to the left, I think they’re scaring normal people. If their party keeps acting crazy, scaring regular people, and we don’t—if we just act on principle with a smile on our face, articulating a vision that allows Americans to thrive, while they keep pushing the latest idea from the Harvard Faculty Lounge—well, I think our vision will win out.

Why We Opposed an Anti-Abortion Resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention

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The resolution on abortion that was passed at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville was well-intended but woefully flawed. It offers no exception for the life of the mother, and it opposes incrementalism. Those two items are serious shortcomings that would lead to the loss of more innocent lives, not fewer.
Bible on American Flag

Protecting Christian Political Theology from the Shibboleth of “Christian Nationalism”

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It is hypocritical for secular critics to accept only those religious claims that conform to liberal sentiment and to label any disfavored religious claim as Christian Nationalism. Christianity cannot be permissible to polite society only when it meets with the approval of its cultured despisers.
Doctor with crucifix

Why We Plan to Get Vaccinated: A Christian Moral Perspective

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It is not possible to properly love a person and act so as to unnecessarily jeopardize their health. If by the minimal burden of wearing a mask, we can potentially protect others from grave illness, then it seems we have a moral obligation to wear a mask. The same can be said for COVID-19 vaccinations. If by being vaccinated we can protect others from illness, then we have a corresponding obligation, given our Lord’s command to love neighbors, to be vaccinated. Vaccinations not only protect me, but also protect other vulnerable members of society.
Andrew T. Walker

Introducing our New Contributing Editor, Andrew T. Walker

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Through being a Public Discourse reader, I’ve made friendships I would not otherwise have made. The joy of any movement is the relationships it fosters, and my life would be less fulfilled were it not for the intellectual camaraderie that is enjoyed by many within the Public Discourse readership.

Is Billy Graham the New Jim Crow?

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Laws like the Equality Act fail to acknowledge the reasonableness of Christian belief, assuming that only irrational bigotry can animate those who hold traditional views on marriage and sexuality. This loss of reason and regression to emotion-based policymaking is at the heart of our civic mistrust and zero-sum policy prescriptions.

Ben Shapiro and the West’s Moral Vision

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One might expect a book by Ben Shapiro to be about the task of “owning the libs” or “drinking liberal tears.” In fact, the reader comes away with a starkly different impression. In The Right Side of History, Shapiro argues that the cultural and political malaise of contemporary America is due to its being severed from its Judeo-Christian roots.

How a Once-Secular Iranian Muslim-Turned-Atheist Turned Catholic

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The story of Sohrab Ahmari is one of extremes. By turns, he was a rebel, Iranian expat, an atheist, a bohemian dissident, an anti-Mormon provocateur, a communist, a lawyer, a teacher, a libertine, and finally, a Christian.

The Merit Badge of Surrender: How the Boy Scouts of America are Succumbing to the Gender Revolution

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With the recent decision to drop “Boy” from their fabled name, the Boy Scouts undermine the very foundation for their existence and exacerbate our society’s confusion about sexual difference and gender distinction.

Forcing Pro-Life Pregnancy Care Centers to Advertise for Abortion is Unjust and Unconstitutional

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Pregnancy care centers are being targeted by the state of California for respecting the intrinsic worth and dignity of women and children, even when it is unprofitable to do so.

Parental Rights: A Casualty of the Transgender Revolution

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If the medical establishment deems “transitioning” in the best interest of a legal minor and the parents object on moral or religious grounds, legal precedent now exists that suggests that parental rights can be severed in the interest of countenancing transgender orthodoxy.

What’s in a Name? Why Christians Should Be Wary of the Word “Transgender”

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The Christian worldview accepts the validity of people’s testimony that gender dysphoria is a real experience resulting in heartrending distress. The Christian worldview cannot, however, countenance the idea that men can become women or that women can become men.

Reclaiming Hope—and Intellectual Honesty: A Christian’s Insider View of the Obama Administration

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Reclaiming Hope is an excellent book that deserves a wide reading, especially by rising activists and statesmen seeking to find ways to make their faith relevant in an increasingly post-Christian world.

National Geographic‘s “Gender Revolution”: Bad Argument and Biased Ideology

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Accepting the claims of transgender ideology requires papering over one’s conscience and making a mockery of the “law written on the heart” that our bodies bear witness to in our complementary design.

Religious Liberty Crisis Averted in California

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The war is far from over, but a recent battle in California shows that pluralism, religious liberty, and traditional values can be defended where there is a will to mobilize and resist.

Religious Liberty and the Fracturing of Civil Society

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A humane civil society requires an ecosystem of religious freedom.
Public Discourse

Contra Mundum Pro Mundo: A Review of The Colson Way

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A new book captures the heart of Chuck Colson’s message: love your country, but love your God more.
Public Discourse

The Equality Act: Bad Policy that Poses Great Harms

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If passed, the Equality Act would empower the government to discriminate against those who do not accept a sexually permissive understanding of human nature that denies sexual complementarity.
Public Discourse

Democracy Isn’t the Problem: The Benedict Option Meets the Buckley Option

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The “Benedict Option” isn’t the only way for Christians to confront the reality of an increasingly hostile and secular culture.
Public Discourse

The Value of Children: Economics, Faith, and the Problem of Underpopulation

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The overpopulation crisis predicted by Malthusians has failed to materialize. Instead, developed nations face serious underpopulation. To solve this problem, we must rediscover the importance of children.
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