Laws are never neutral. Every one of them points in a moral direction — so whose morals should point them?
For two decades Dr. David Haskell was a liberal Christian academic who kept his head down at Wilfrid Laurier University. Then the data stopped cooperating. Study after study showed that Christians who pray, gather weekly, and read their Bibles have unmatched outcomes in marriage, mental health, economic flourishing, and social trust. He followed the evidence, and it cost him his dinner-party invitations. It also produced a 600-page book with over a thousand academic references making the case that Christian norms and values should guide our laws — not because a theocrat says so, but because nothing else works.
In this conversation we cover:
Why the Church came to believe Christianity was true but not good, and what that silence has cost
What traditional conservatism actually is: the norms of Christianity applied to governance
Why you cannot keep the fruit of Christianity without Christians — and why a purely political project is doomed anyway
The two body blows of the twentieth century: biblical higher criticism and the post-war consensus
Both ditches of the nationalism debate — a nation is neither melanin nor mere propositions
What Robert Putnam’s research really says about diversity and social trust
The receipts: Woodbury’s Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy and Fogel’s Nobel-winning work on who ended the slave trade
Stigma, flags, and why the pride flag in every window is a sovereignty claim
Dr. Haskell’s counsel for what to do now: get off your hands
“Unless you really fear God, you will fear man. But as soon as God is your only fear, no one else can touch you.”
About the guest
Dr. David Haskell is a social scientist and cultural commentator. For over two decades he has been a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, cross-appointed to religious studies and journalism. He is president of Haskell Strategic Communications, an ordained pastor, and a research fellow with several think tanks. He is married with five children.
Get the book
Christ or Collapse: The Case Against Godless Government — [add purchase link]
Chapters
00:00 Opening — Psalm 72
00:41 Introducing Dr. David Haskell
02:01 Life on the “Cultural Endangered List”
04:07 A Liberal Christian Follows the Evidence
05:55 The Recipe for Flourishing: Stability & Satisfaction
08:36 Not Only True, But Good
10:52 Willing the Good: Why Silence Is Unloving
12:50 The Thesis: Restoring Traditional Conservatism
16:28 Can You Have Christian Values Without Christians?
21:24 Pragmatic Conservatism & the Pharisee Trap
25:55 Laws Are Moral Signallers
33:47 How 1960s Multiculturalism Became the Aberration
36:30 Higher Criticism & the Post-War Consensus
41:00 Nationalism, Young Men & a Country That Hates Them
46:00 Ethnos Is Not Melanin
50:00 Ordered Loves, Ruth & the Mosaic Code
55:00 What the Research Says About Diversity
59:00 The Propositional Nation — and Why We Don’t Enforce It
63:00 The Receipts: Woodbury, Fogel & Missionary Roots of Liberty
68:00 The Cure for Anti-Colonialism Is a Trip to Pakistan
70:00 Stigma, Shame & Flags in Every Window
74:00 Get Off Your Hands: What to Do Now
77:00 Closing — Isaiah 1
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