UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> this morning that two million people have now fled Ukraine as conditions <\/span>worsen<\/span><\/a> by the day. How did you react to this news?<\/span><\/p>\n I fear that you and I are becoming accustomed to this unfolding tragedy and thus inured to the suffering we see in our daily headlines. This is understandable, as humans can <\/span>withstand<\/span><\/a> only so much bad news.<\/span><\/p>\n In this sense, Ukraine may be turning into another version of the coronavirus pandemic. We <\/span>learned<\/span><\/a> yesterday that the global COVID-19 death toll has passed six million. If one of the six million was someone close to you, I suspect you feel very differently about this report than those who have been spared such tragedy (so far).<\/span><\/p>\n Humans naturally filter the news through the lens of personal self-interest. For example, when I saw a <\/span>headline<\/span><\/a> about a \u201cgiant spider\u201d infestation spreading across the southern US, I scanned the article to learn whether these insects are poisonous or not. (They are, but their bite is so tiny that they are reportedly not much of a threat to humans.) I did the same with <\/span>news<\/span><\/a> about a COVID-19 roadmap for the future, new DNA <\/span>tests<\/span><\/a> to detect diseases, and a <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> that women who visit a crisis pregnancy center are less likely to get an abortion.<\/span><\/p>\n Since, like you, I engage the culture through the prism of personal relevance, an article explaining why Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine is the beginning of a \u201cnew Cold War\u201d that will affect every American caught my immediate attention.<\/span><\/p>\n Ukraine and Russia have been engaged in conflict for many centuries. (For the history of their often-fraught relationship, I recommend Mark Legg\u2019s excellent article on our website, \u201c<\/span>Why does Russia want Ukraine?<\/span><\/a>\u201c).<\/span><\/p>\n However, as geopolitical analyst Elliott Abrams <\/span>explains<\/span><\/a> in an article titled \u201cThe New Cold War,\u201d this time is different: \u201cA fully rearmed, aggressive Russia and a rich, aggressive, and technologically advanced China [are telling] us that the international order that has lasted since 1945 must end, and American predominance with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Abrams points to the Vladimir Putin\u2013Xi Jinping joint statement on February 4: \u201cThe new inter-State relations between Russia and China are superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era. Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no \u2018forbidden\u2019 areas of cooperation.\u201d He then comments: \u201cThis is a clear announcement of a new alliance meant to go beyond the Cold War\u2014in part by creating a partnership that will lead to a very different outcome this time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In Abrams\u2019 opinion, responding to this \u201cnew Cold War\u201d is a challenge that \u201cwill test our nation to its core.\u201d He believes the US should support Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invaders with money and weapons, then redeploy our European forces east to protect the nations that have borders with Russia and (now) Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n Next, he believes we should rally our allies across the globe, match China in advanced military technology, modernize and expand our nuclear arsenal, and enhance our energy production to support Europe as it weans itself from Russian energy sources.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Abrams, this \u201cnew Cold War\u201d is fundamentally a battle between dictatorial autocracy and freedom. For context, he notes that Ronald Reagan \u201calways understood that the Cold War was more than a conflict among states; it was even more fundamentally an ideological conflict between the forces of liberty and the powers that would snuff it out nation by nation until our own was in jeopardy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Abrams concludes: \u201cThis new struggle has been thrust upon us by Russia and China; there is no escaping it. Strength will be rewarded, and weakness will be punished. The days of easy American preponderance have come to an end; for the next few decades we will have to work hard to keep the global balance of forces from turning against us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In such a global conflict between totalitarianism and freedom, you and I have a foundational role to play.<\/span><\/p>\n George Washington famously <\/span>observed<\/span><\/a> in his 1796 <\/span>Farewell Address<\/span><\/i>: \u201cOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.\u201d Our first president added that \u201creason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Consensual democracy depends upon consensual morality, but as Gen. Washington noted, morality requires religion. C. S. Lewis explained why in <\/span>Mere Christianity<\/span><\/i>: \u201cYou cannot make men good by law; and without good men you cannot have a good society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The good news is that \u201cif anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:17). Any of us who turns to Christ as our Savior and surrenders daily to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) can manifest his character (Romans 8:29; Galatians 5:22\u201323) in ways that empower our democracy and enrich the common good.<\/span><\/p>\n The bad news is that this new \u201cCold War\u201d over freedom is coming at the worst time in American history for such holistic faith.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>fastest-growing religious demographic<\/span><\/a> in America is that segment of our population that professes no religion. Gallup <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> last year that the percentage of Americans who claim membership in a church, synagogue, or mosque has fallen below 50 percent for the first time in our nation\u2019s history. As I document in my latest book, <\/span>The Coming Tsunami<\/span><\/i><\/a>, our culture brands Christians as outdated, intolerant, oppressive, and dangerous on a level unprecedented in our nation\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\nThis challenge \u201cwill test our nation to its core\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n
Why liberty needs God<\/b><\/h2>\n