What is the future of conservatism? This is a live question as conservatives look over the long horizon and consider a future beyond the figure who has dominated politics for the last decade: Donald Trump. To be sure, the 47th president still sees much to accomplish in the years ahead, but the ideological feeding frenzy is sure to pick up after the midterms. Will conservatism be defined by neo-conservatives, paleo-conservatives, populist conservatives, or social conservatives? Will Ronald Reagan’s three-legged stool coalition concerned with national security, family values, and fiscal restraint be reconstituted for a new era? What role will right-wing influencers play, given their flexible ideological commitments?
This riddle is wrapped inside a larger enigma, the question of what America’s future will be. As this experiment in ordered liberty lurches toward her 250th birthday, these political debates are wrapped up in the varied perspectives on what lies ahead for America, ranging from the pessimistic to the pollyannish. For Christians, who will play an influential role in shaping the future, this conversation is important.
One such leader, my friend Timothy Goeglein, offers what he considers the vital virtues for America’s future flourishing. Goeglein, who has been active at the intersection of faith and politics for over three decades, boils his answer down to three essential ingredients: faith, family, and freedom. Those comprise the subtitle of his new book, What Really Matters, a compilation of his best columns from outlets such as The Washington Times.
Goeglein, who for the last two decades has served as the vice president for external and government relations at Focus on the Family, believes that freedom is symbiotic with the family and with faith. In other words, America must nurture the latter in order to experience the former. He writes, “Family and religious faith … are the true stabilizing factors in any society, and a stable society is a primary goal of conservatism.” This is not altogether different than the wisdom of the men who founded America.
Consider John Adams’ well-known maxim, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” It’s backed up by mountains of social science data that points to the family and to faith as key contributors to America’s flourishing. Brad Wilcox, professor of sociology and director of the National Marriage Project at University of Virginia, has long documented the negative impact, across a range of social factors, of the decline of the family, synthesized in his well-received book, Get Married. And even some non-believers have seemed to urge a return to a more church-going American populace.
Click Here to Read More (Originally Published at World Magazine)
Daniel is the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including The Dignity Revolution, Agents of Grace, and his forthcoming book, In Defense of Christian Patriotism. Dan is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Angela, have four children.
