RealClearReligion Articles

Since at least the 1960s, the idea of a Shia cleric-led government had been occupying the mind of the Shia cleric Ruhollah Khomeini. In 1980, his wish came true. For nearly 50 years, Iran has suffered under an authoritarian system led by Shia clerics. As a heap of despotism, the Regime violates every Shia principle of governance and is regularly indicted by human rights organizations for its violent crackdowns on dissent, forced disappearances, and mass executions. In the West, the Iranian Regime has become the scapegoat of “Sharia Law” and Islamic governance. However, while the...

For decades, the Middle East has been a significant hotbed of conflict, plagued by international wars, civil unrest, and ongoing battles between geopolitical and ideological rivalries that often transcend national boundaries. Although it is often considered a Middle Eastern country, the Islamic Republic of Iran bridges the gap between the Arab world and Central Asia. Iran also has some unique distinguishing features, such as its distinct Persian culture and the use of Farsi rather than Arabic as the official language. Regionally, Iran is a military powerhouse, having one...

The United States may not be in the midst of a spiritual revival, as President Donald Trump touted during the State of the Union Address, Feb. 24. The data is mixed, with religion being viewed as “very important” to less than half of Americans, as a recent Gallup survey found.  Nevertheless, for the nation to prosper and bind together, religiosity is not only a crucial aspect of civil society, but vital to its sustainability. This sentiment was expressed by none other than the country's first president, George Washington. Although private in his own religious convictions and...

On the banks of the Rhine rises one of the most recognizable structures in Europe — a cathedral whose story spans centuries of faith, ambition, and human effort. For more than six centuries, the cathedral stood unfinished, its half-completed towers a familiar landmark along the Rhine. Cologne Cathedral towers above the surrounding city, its twin spires climbing 515 feet (157 meters) into the sky. Begun in the High Middle Ages and completed only in the nineteenth century, it stands today as one of the most ambitious stone building projects ever undertaken. When construction was finally...

It seems that virtually every week that goes by, there is an attack on our national patriotism in one way or another.  In the historic town of Winchester, Virginia, (not far from Harpers Ferry, WV), the town council has decided the Pledge of Allegiance is not needed for their regular meetings. The Daily Caller writes, “A Virginian public commission voted on Feb. 17 not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before its business meetings, according to The Winchester Star.”  They add, “Commissioner Leesa Mayfield, who opposed the measure to add it, said she had nothing...

Apparently, that bastion of former unbiased news coverage, CNN, is promoting an upcoming installment of “The Whole Story” titled The Rise of Christian Nationalism, set to air on Sunday, March 8. According to Pamela Brown, their chief investigative correspondent, she has been working on this project for several months and will also expose Christian classical education, along with this alarming rise in “Christian Nationalism,” as one of the great threats to our democracy. To sustain her conclusion, she points to the “radicalization” of Christianity...

Memento mori, “remember you will die.” From Greek and Roman philosophers to Christian ascetics and medieval monks, acknowledging that death comes for us all prompted contemplation about how to live a life of virtue and promote justice. But while many in the modern West complain about the state of our society, how often do we think about or discuss our pending deaths? For most of human history, death was something people confronted in their daily lives. Deaths of infants, mothers in childbirth, friends and family from disease, the loss of a child or parent to war, and passing of...

In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received over 20 million reports of online abuse. Too often, when people — myself included — hear those statistics, they don’t make the impact they should. It’s easy to forget that each of those 20 million reports has a real person on the other side. A victim with a story.  Imagine what would happen if every church in the United States made it a priority to help these abused children. If each of the estimated 400,000 churches from coast to coast mobilized a small team to minister to...

At the collegiate and professional level, many teams utilize a sports scout to identify and evaluate talented athletes. They actively seek out potential prospects who possess the necessary skills, physical attributes and competitive drive to succeed at higher levels. Once identified and chosen by the scout, the athlete still needs to prove themselves and demonstrate their skills and ability to make the team. Athletes are keenly aware of these scouts and keep a watchful eye for them when practicing and competing. They focus on proving themselves and standing out, which could lead to...

In February 1777, Thomas Jefferson helped establish an evangelical church. What? Yes, that Thomas Jefferson. It was called the Calvinisitical Reformed Church of Charlottesville. And it met in the local courthouse. Why, that’s enough to give the ACLU apoplexy. This was less than a year after he wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. It’s important to understand that the early Thomas Jefferson was much more faithful to his professed Christian faith than we are led to believe. Yes, he harbored serious doubts later in life. But the...

Just in time for America’s 250th anniversary, Bunni Pounds and the team at Christian Engaged are gearing up for a massive Scripture-based event this spring — “America Reads the Bible.” I spoke with Bunni Pounds for a radio segment about this upcoming event. She told our listeners:  “On April 18-25, we’re going to be in Washington, D.C. We’re going to have 475 of our national leaders reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation over the course of seven days.”  These leaders will include actress Candace Cameron Bure who said that the...

The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness (1898) by Briton Rivière, a British-born artist, prominently hangs above my home office desk. I bought the print after encountering it in a daily Lenten devotional, Born of Fire, written by Father Innocent Montgomery, CFR, and published by the Knights of Columbus. To me, the scene elicits conflicting emotions: guilt and loneliness, but gratitude and joy. More importantly, the work captures the heart of Lent: rediscovering our true identity. After his baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus Christ was “full of the Holy Spirit, returned from...

Quite honestly, I don’t follow sports. In fact, I was leading a church service during the Super Bowl. We all have different tastes, but when it comes to watching sports games on TV, I’m like the bank examiner in “It’s a Wonderful Life!,” who said in a different context: “Well, they do those sort of things, I suppose.” But even I couldn’t escape news of the anti-American halftime show at the Super Bowl with Bad Bunny versus a patriotic counterpart put on by Kid Rock, et al. for the late Charlie Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA. It was Bad...

Serving overseas in the Foreign Service, I heard many questions about the United States, some prompted by headlines, Hollywood, or social media. Asked about religion and religious liberty, I found that the common mantra, “in America we have separation of church and state” did not answer earnest questions from local counterparts. So in conversations — or in classrooms — I often told stories. Here are three.  Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin remains an American classic, and I shared passages in his memoir. It was usually...

A few years back a Mr. Tom Scholl, who identified himself as a pastor of churches in Ohio and New York, as well as holding positions in several ecumenical organizations, wrote a 3-part article for our local newspaper, The Telegraph (Macon), entitled "What the Koran says about Christianity," which I found more than a little disappointing. It could have been an apologia about the charitableness of Islam using selective passages from the Koran and at least a bit philanthropic to many associated elements of Christianity. But his very prejudicial apologia went further than the expected arguments...

Minnesota is a Sanctuary State, meaning that illegal aliens can flaunt our immigration laws, even though every nation has to have borders to remain a nation. But as we all know, there was no sanctuary for those in the sanctuary of Cities Church in St. Paul a couple of weeks ago. Just last week, Don Lemon — a former CNN anchor who was present during the sanctuary riot — was re-arrested for his role in the chaos that erupted when belligerent protesters commandeered a Sunday morning worship service. Lemon claims he was just acting as an impartial journalist at the...

Ronald Reagan is remembered for many great speeches — from A Time for Choosing to his address at the Berlin Wall. In those moments, he spoke to the defining crisis of the generation: the struggle between American democracy and liberty and the Soviet Union’s “Evil Empire.” Yet a lesser-known speech Reagan delivered at the centennial celebration of the Knights of Columbus (KofC) — the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization — on Aug. 3, 1982, in Hartford, Conn., speaks powerfully to today’s moral conflict: that the...

We are a month into one of the most significant years in our nation's history. In 2026, we celebrate an incredible milestone: 250 years of freedom, democracy, and unity in diversity. It is this unique combination of characteristics that has made the United States the greatest nation in the world. This country has a long, proud history of welcoming people who are committed to the common good and the flourishing of America, regardless of nationality or station in life. This is a rare and beautiful thing, and it has opened up opportunities for millions of people who otherwise may have been...

Over 160 years ago, John Stuart Mill described silencing opinions as a “peculiar evil”, a warning that speaks volumes to today’s belief that moral ills can be decreed out of existence. In Australia, that temptation has now taken legislative form and risks handing extremists exactly what they seek.In the wake of the attack on Jewish communities at Bondi Beach, the Australian government has rushed through the most intrusive hate speech laws in the Western world. They assert that by widening speech offences and the powers attached to them, regulators will be able...