This is behind the WaPo paywall but hopefully a few excerpts are sufficient. I specifically wonder what some of the dedicated Christians on RF such as @KenS have to say about the points in this piece.
Personally while I might not agree with David French on any number of topics, I find his approach refreshing and positive.
A conservative Christian quietly battles against right-wing hysteria
The latest iteration of the right-wing culture war is fueled by a messianic, seemingly unshakable terror that the all-powerful cultural left is laying waste to all our institutions...
...
One exception to this is David French, the conservative Christian writer and First Amendment lawyer. He has quietly carved out a niche as a leading foe of these new right-wing crusades, arguing that they betray classically liberal principles and liberal democratic constitutionalism.
...
David French: Look back at the last 20 years of the conservative legal movement, and you’ll see a host of lawsuits brought against speech codes on campuses. You’ll see a long-term effort to vindicate the free speech rights of private corporations. You had a long-running effort to protect the free speech and free exercise rights of public school teachers.
...
In about a 12-month span, you’ve seen a dramatic reversal. You see an increasing effort on the part of red-state legislators to adopt speech codes, most applying to K-through-12 schools. You have seen an effort to regulate the speech of private corporations.
...
The root of it is a kind of cultural panic, a thought that conservative political views, religious views and cultural views are in retreat everywhere. That the culture wars are irretrievably lost. That all that’s left to the right is the exercise of raw political power.
...
On every one of those fronts, I say, “Good news!” Divorce has been decreasing. The percentage of kids being raised with their parents is increasing. The abortion rate is lower. If you look at these markers of cultural health, time and again you’ll see they’re actually improving.
...
In more culturally conservative areas of the country, the percentage who identify themselves as very religious far outstrips the percentage even in countries that the most panicked far-right-wingers embrace, like Hungary. Even the least religious American state is more religious than Hungary.
...
I’ve encountered people who get actively angry at the mere recitation of statistics indicating that catastrophe is not imminent.
...
What makes the state of Total War even worse is that it’s motivated by a sense of perpetual persecution and victimization. What is the injury that Disney has inflicted? The injury for which Disney must be punished is opposition. It’s just speech.
Disney’s speech is not victimizing Florida.
Personally while I might not agree with David French on any number of topics, I find his approach refreshing and positive.
A conservative Christian quietly battles against right-wing hysteria
The latest iteration of the right-wing culture war is fueled by a messianic, seemingly unshakable terror that the all-powerful cultural left is laying waste to all our institutions...
...
One exception to this is David French, the conservative Christian writer and First Amendment lawyer. He has quietly carved out a niche as a leading foe of these new right-wing crusades, arguing that they betray classically liberal principles and liberal democratic constitutionalism.
...
David French: Look back at the last 20 years of the conservative legal movement, and you’ll see a host of lawsuits brought against speech codes on campuses. You’ll see a long-term effort to vindicate the free speech rights of private corporations. You had a long-running effort to protect the free speech and free exercise rights of public school teachers.
...
In about a 12-month span, you’ve seen a dramatic reversal. You see an increasing effort on the part of red-state legislators to adopt speech codes, most applying to K-through-12 schools. You have seen an effort to regulate the speech of private corporations.
...
The root of it is a kind of cultural panic, a thought that conservative political views, religious views and cultural views are in retreat everywhere. That the culture wars are irretrievably lost. That all that’s left to the right is the exercise of raw political power.
...
On every one of those fronts, I say, “Good news!” Divorce has been decreasing. The percentage of kids being raised with their parents is increasing. The abortion rate is lower. If you look at these markers of cultural health, time and again you’ll see they’re actually improving.
...
In more culturally conservative areas of the country, the percentage who identify themselves as very religious far outstrips the percentage even in countries that the most panicked far-right-wingers embrace, like Hungary. Even the least religious American state is more religious than Hungary.
...
I’ve encountered people who get actively angry at the mere recitation of statistics indicating that catastrophe is not imminent.
...
What makes the state of Total War even worse is that it’s motivated by a sense of perpetual persecution and victimization. What is the injury that Disney has inflicted? The injury for which Disney must be punished is opposition. It’s just speech.
Disney’s speech is not victimizing Florida.
