Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and, that we may receive what we ask, teach us by your Holy Spirit to ask only those things that are pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the same Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

–Joshua 1:1-9

Almighty and everlasting God, whose precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of thy servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord’s service; let thine ears be open unto our prayers; and prosper with thy blessing the work of our hands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today's the feast of St Benedict, 6th Century founder of the Benedictine Order and one of the patron saints of Europe. He holds his Rule in glass by Moira Forsyth, 1964 in Norwich Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/SXxyMV48iY

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) July 11, 2026

Grant, O blessed Lord, that thy Church in this our day may hear anew thy call to launch out into the deep in the service of thy glorious gospel; that souls for whom thou hast died may be won for thee, to the increase of thy kingdom and the glory of thy holy name.

#Sunrise on Saturday over the Potomac River and DC! @capitalweather @StormHour pic.twitter.com/sxDtaXfGdW

— Jeanne Stuart McVey (@RiverGirl707) July 11, 2026

But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

–Romans 10:14-21

Good Morning and a happy weekend (Packwood) pic.twitter.com/sdFWPCVRcP

— Terry (@No1GhostDog) July 11, 2026

Adroit, acerbic, and dry in his selective use of examples, Norman instanced Dr Robert McAfee Brown, Professor of World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Addressing the World Council of Churches in 1975, in the guise of a penitent who now realised that he was a sinner, the Professor confessed his embodiment of “racism, sexism, classism, and imperialism”, and spoke of Jesus as a “liberator”, to be “identified with the demands of oppressed people”.

Another instance nearer to home was that of a sincere Anglican cleric interviewed on the radio, extolling the Sex Pistols’ song to change the world order as a model of true “Christian prophecy”.

Unconvinced by this unlikely juxtaposition, Norman highlighted the lacunae in the punk-rock gospel: nothing about the Christ who was the Lord of history or the sin that affects liberator and oppressor alike; silence concerning the need for the repentance and forgiveness, which are fundamental to prayer and spiritual maturity, or any acknowledgement of the final judgement of all human actions. Absent, too, was the unique Christian teaching concerning the place and ultimate end of humanity, along with any serious critique of secular visions of the future for the forsaken of this world.

The lecture series was praised for its clarity, intellectual depth, and the way in which it had facilitated a serious discussion of the relationship between Christianity, politics, and contemporary society.

Read it all.

Edward Norman, who died in April, deplored the politicisation of Christianity, writes Rod Garner https://t.co/Bs176KKzH4

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 10, 2026

Most churches are trying to solve a retention problem when what they actually have is an alignment problem. When you address alignment, retention follows suit.

Every church is capable of moving the needle in this area.

Stop expecting guests to figure out what you haven’t clearly communicated or culturally reinforced in the church.

When what you promise and what you deliver are the same thing—across your website, your Sunday experience, what you ask of them, and your follow-up—guests don’t need to be convinced to come back to the church. They just do.

Pick one of these four alignment gaps and work on it this month. Then add the next. You don’t need a bigger team or a bigger budget. You just need better alignment.

Read it all.

Guests don't stop coming back to your church because of what happened on Sunday. They stop coming back when what they experienced didn't match what they expected: https://t.co/3QqQfU7r4F

— Tyler Harden | Church Consulting (@tylerdharden) July 10, 2026

The church has been an indispensable part of these United States, not least by advocating for abolition, civil rights, and the sanctity of life. The American literary canon is full of biblical allusions, and our legal system’s conception of rights rests on the reality that they are an inalienable gift from God.

For those searching for meaning in America today, however, I want to offer a framework from a congressional address by the African Methodist Episcopal reverend and US congressman Richard H. Cain from January 24, 1874. Cain artfully detailed the role of a free and diverse citizenry in the American experiment:

I believe Almighty God has placed both [Black and white] races on this broad theater of activity, where thoughts and opinions are freely expressed, where we may grasp every idea of manhood, where we may take hold of every truth and develop every art and science that can advance the prosperity of the nation. I believe God designed us to live here together on this continent, and in no other place, to develop this great idea that all men are the children of one Father. We are here to work out the grand experiment…by the development in us of the rights that belong to us, and the performance of the duties that we owe each other. Our interests are bound up in this country. Here we intend to stay and work out the problem of progress and education and civilization.

Cain understood that none of us were placed here by chance. God has filled our every step on this land with purpose (Acts 17:26). In Christ, he has removed “the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14), and as Christians, we should work tirelessly to ensure, in Cain’s words, that there’s “no antagonism between the races, no friction that should destroy their peace and prosperity.” That kingdom unity is an imperative for us, and the sins of other Christians don’t relieve us from this duty.

But as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the American church is in grave danger of negligently missing the moment. Christians should be leading in social innovation to address the opportunities and dangers of artificial intelligence, to remedy the devastating childhood literacy crisis, and to make peace in a war of the sexes that’s exacerbating our loneliness epidemic. Instead, the church is stuck relitigating questions settled long ago. We’re still debating whether social justice can be biblically sound, long after the abolition and Civil Rights movements unequivocally answered in the affirmative. We’re still imagining that a political party or the right president can save us, pretending government can fix communities full of broken families. 

Read it all.

At our country’s 250th anniversary, Christians can—and must—model charitable unity amid diversity, @JustinEGiboney writes.https://t.co/ocE9pvUofw

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) July 4, 2026

The questions that define civilizations don’t always announce themselves cleanly. They can arrive wrapped in the language of progress—faster, smarter, more efficient—until one day we realize that what has arrived isn’t what we wanted.

In the case of artificial intelligence, choices made in boardrooms and research labs will have far-reaching consequences. We need to understand that clearly, before the changes become irreversible. Even more, to make serious decisions about our future, we need to state the moral definitions of what it means to be human and the limits on AI’s influence on the social order.

AI development is outpacing ethical deliberation, and people are already being harmed. We’ve seen teens counseled toward suicide, a proliferation of child sex-abuse material and communities strained by sprawling data centers. And that’s only what’s come to light. This technology is permeating our lives in ways beyond our awareness. The risks of AI superintelligence run from economic upheaval to the concentration of power in the hands of whatever corporation or government wins the AI technology race.

At the same time, we have to see clearly the good of AI. 

Read it all.

We need a Christian vision for the future of AI. The development of the technology is beginning to outpace ethical deliberation, writes @revwalterkimhttps://t.co/mFl7oPAl8C

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) July 10, 2026

July 9: Feast of Everild (†c.700). Wessex noblewoman who went north to become a nun with her companions Bega and Wulfreda. They settled on land owned by St Wilfrid called Bishop’s Farm, which he gave them. There they founded a convent. St Everilda's Church 📸Frederick Weeks pic.twitter.com/t00fnYh9Xy

— North Ages (@NorthAges) July 9, 2026

Set a watch, O Lord, upon our tongue, that we may never speak the cruel word which is not true; or being true, is not the whole truth; or being wholly true, is merciless; for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

Happy Friday everyone!#FlowersOnFriday 🌸#PinkFriday 🩷 pic.twitter.com/YOuJGWpLZW

— Margaret O'Connell🌻 (@MargaretOC6) July 10, 2026

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.

Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law shall live by it. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

–Romans 10:1-13

Walking on twisty paths into distant hills, through waving grasses that shine gold in the last light of the sun. These are the tiny moments in life that can bring the biggest pleasure, for those who stop to look, to watch, to notice. I'm so glad I've been blessed with the gift of… pic.twitter.com/N54vlPM6zk

— peaklass (@peaklass1) July 10, 2026

The Church of England this week welcomed an announcement of a government consultation in the autumn on the potential for including religious education (RE) in the National Curriculum.

Earlier this year, the National Society praised the Government’s announcement of a £4-billion investment in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, which, it said, chimed with its “core mission” (News, 23 February).

The Church says that it will respond to the consultation on RE in the autumn, and that the National Society, which is the education office for the C of E and the Church in Wales, will work closely with its diocesan partners in the mean time.

RE currently sits outside the national curriculum, and decisions about what is taught are taken locally. But the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has now announced that consensus has been reached among those “representing the full spectrum of religion in this country”, including the Church.

Read it all.

The Church of England this week welcomed an announcement of a government consultation in the autumn on the potential for including religious education (RE) in the National Curriculum 🍎✏️#RE #Curriculum #churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/4AiKVtHW6o

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 8, 2026

A pediatrician recently asked one of Emily Harrison’s children a logical question during pre-exam paperwork: Do you have a smartphone?

Doctors often ask children practical questions, such as whether they’re getting enough sleep, have seen changes in their appetites or have started playing sports. These days, they may ask about anxiety or depression.

A smartphone question makes sense after years of research into how these devices, and social media programs, affect mental and physical health. The question is why are church leaders not discussing these issues in sermons and education programs, said Harrison, author of the Dear Christian Parent online newsletter. 

“This is a safety issue, yet we’re hesitant to say it’s a safety issue,” she said, reached by Zoom.

Read it all.

Mental health professionals and parents say they're worried about children spending too much time on devices. What we know about potential harm and how to start making changes.https://t.co/LvDFwuypix pic.twitter.com/YzF5BmmbwC

— WMUR TV (@WMUR9) July 8, 2026

‘Our cover this week features the most stunning such warning [for Russia] so far.

It comes from Andrey Melnichenko, the world’s fertiliser king and Russia’s biggest industrialist. Mr Melnichenko is hardly a member of the anti-Putin opposition. Far from criticising the invasion, he is an insider whose factories have supported the war economy.Nor is he being high-minded. Having run his companies outside Russia, Mr Melnichenko returned in 2023 as the scope for global business shrank. Like most oligarchs, he has lived by Mr Putin’s rules—make money, but keep your nose out of politics. He is talking now because he and his fellow tycoons can no longer afford to ignore the rot in a country they watched descend into tyranny.

Mr Melnichenko issued his warning over nearly 60 hours of interviews with The Economist and more guardedly in an essay we are publishing online. It is the first time an oligarch in Russia has spoken out at such length. We are giving him space not because we agree with all his views or because he is a champion of democracy and human rights. Instead, he is a pragmatist who wants his firms to thrive. That is why his call could resonate in a country where wars gone wrong, including the defeat to Japan in 1905, have led to campaigns by industrialists for political change.

Mr Melnichenko’s words go far beyond the war, to the bleak outlook for Russia and its neighbours. 

Read it all.

A leading oligarch speaks out, warning of the looming disaster facing his country https://t.co/C3SKtbT1L4

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 9, 2026

Wendell Gilliard spent the hottest days of his childhood summers praying for a cool breeze.

Gilliard, a state lawmaker who represents parts of the peninsula and West Ashley in the S.C. House of Representatives, grew up in Charleston’s low-income housing before it had air conditioning. His family would cool off by purchasing a large block of ice and setting it in the middle of a room surrounded by fans and open windows.

“ That was our air conditioning,” Gilliard recalled. “Mom would always say, ‘ You need to stay still and pray for a cool breeze.’   Then, when everybody stayed still in that one room, you would notice the curtain would pick up from the breeze, and everything changed.”

Charleston Housing Authority properties now have air conditioning, but many households across the state still don’t. As South Carolina enters the dog days of summer, heat-vulnerable residents — who are predominantly elderly, those with chronic illnesses and the “homebound,” per the S.C. Department of Public Health — face life-threatening risks.

Read it all.

July through mid-August are historically the hottest time of year in South Carolina. For some households, the dog days of summer can be deadly — a risk that's growing with each passing year. https://t.co/DTeNvoEZck

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) July 9, 2026

Gracious who called your servant Hedda to lead the diocese of Winchester in ages past, grant that we, like him, may through your Holy Spirit seek to lead a faithful life of love, wisdom and concern for the church’s unity and witness, through Jesus Christ our Lord who with you an the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen (moved from yesterday).

July 7: Feast of Hædde (†705), bishop of Wintancæstir (Winchester). He was educated at Streanæshalch (Whitby) and consecrated by Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, in 676. Bede remarks on his prudence and innate wisdom. pic.twitter.com/sbvpDDP75k

— North Ages (@NorthAges) July 7, 2026

O God, who in thy fatherly love hast called us that we should inherit a blessing: Give to us also, we pray thee, the blessing of wholesome speech and loving deed; that following always that which is good, we may do and suffer all that thou willest; in the name and strength of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.

How lovely is this church? Some places carry the whispers of people long after they are gone.

All Saints', Billesley, Warwickshire once stood at the heart of a medieval village. Today, the village is gone and it stands alone in a copse. pic.twitter.com/9DfUfW7bh8

— Andy Marshall 📸 (@fotofacade) July 9, 2026

“And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to possess; all your men of valor shall pass over armed before your brethren the people of Israel. But your wives, your little ones, and your cattle (I know that you have many cattle) shall remain in the cities which I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your brethren, as to you, and they also occupy the land which the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan; then you shall return every man to his possession which I have given you.’ And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are going over. You shall not fear them; for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’

–Deuteronomy 3:18-22

Is there anything better than a South Downs sunrise?

📍Ditchling Beacon
📸 Billy Callum pic.twitter.com/l0xVo3f4MP

— South Downs National Park (@sdnpa) July 9, 2026

[Gavin] Francis consistently challenges the labelling effect of standard diagnostic manuals, and the danger of “diagnostic creep”. “If we were able to hold the labels more lightly, aware of the human tendencies they oversimplify, would we be able to create a society more accepting of difference? Might it be less stigmatising, but also more hopeful, and more open to recovery?”

Religion appears from time to time. People who attend religious services evidently have a 20 per cent lower rate of depression than others. There is something priestly in the role of psychiatrist, “in that it concerns questions of doubt, faith and love”. More fundamentally, the author conveys a marvellous sense of wonder at the miracle and mystery of the human body and mind: “Wonder fosters humility, compassion and reverence for life — the cornerstones of all the major world religions, and fundamental qualities for the effective practice of medicine.”

Those involved in pastoral care can learn much from Francis’s account of his practice, and not least his insistence on the central place of kindness and compassion.

Read it all.

"Those involved in pastoral care can learn much from Francis’s account of his practice, and not least his insistence on the central place of kindness and compassion"

📚 Philip Welsh welcomes a GP’s reflections on mental-health issues#books https://t.co/LHAmMaRnUM

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 7, 2026

Someday real soon, most of us — starting with young adults — will carry an always-on AI. This agent will help us navigate our journeys, answer our questions, tutor and teach us new skills, remember people we have met before, remind us of what we once knew before, offer advice and recommendations, do simple errands, and remember everything we say and do. Before long, it will know us better than we know ourselves. It will be our exoself.

While we will use more than one agent, we’ll primarily favor just one that knows us best. Always-on means this agent is listening, watching, tracking, present during all our waking hours, and maybe even while we sleep. We will allow this intimate access to our inner life because it gives us superpowers: knowledge, judgment, decisiveness, confidence, and most important, speed. We will feel productive, creative, smart, capable, and on top of it when it is on. When it is off, we will feel amputated.

This entity is clearly not our self. But at the same time, this always-on AI will be so close to us, understanding us so well and so deeply — better than almost any human could — that it will not be an other, or an outsider either. It can model us too well to be an other. It will be an exoself: something in between our self and an other self. Neither us, but also not outside of us. A new category.

It won’t feel strange, because we don’t feel strange wearing eyeglasses all day, or hearing aids, or carrying a computer in our pockets. Machines like this have been moving closer to us since they were invented. Smart machines started out as room-sized apparatus, then moved nearer as appliances alongside a desk, then onto the desktop in front of us, then onto our laps, then into our pockets — and soon, they will sit on our skin, perhaps on our heads. We already see prototypes of smart glasses, where the exoself can perch, whispering into our ears and illuminating our eyes.

Read it all.

I write about the controversial idea of an "exoself" as if it were inevitable: https://t.co/nds5pW2b0r

— Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) July 7, 2026

As you read this sentence, circuits in your brain are adjusting your posture, controlling your breathing, and transforming lines and curves on the screen into recognizable words. Most of this processing is invisible to you. But some of what takes place in your brain you do have access to—an image that pops into your head, or a deliberate plan you make about where to go shopping. Neuroscientists and philosophers sometimes refer to the latter type of brain activity as “consciously accessible,” to distinguish it from all the other processing that goes on unconsciously. This activity has special properties: we can describe it, control it, and use it for deliberate reasoning, in contrast to all the automatic processing that goes on without our awareness.

In a new paper, we present evidence that a similar distinction has emerged in modern language models like Claude. We find that Claude has developed a small collection of internal neural patterns that, compared to all its other internal processing, play a special role.

We call the collection of these patterns the J-space—named after the technique we used to find them, involving a mathematical concept called the Jacobian. Each J-space pattern is linked to a particular word. But when one of these patterns lights up, it doesn’t mean the model is saying that word—just that the word is on its mind. If you’ve heard of language models having a “scratchpad” or “chain of thought”—text they write to themselves while reasoning—the J-space is something different. It operates silently, in the model’s internal neural activations, allowing the model to think about a concept without writing it down. Notably, the J-space wasn’t designed or programmed by us, but instead emerged on its own during Claude’s training process.

Read it all.

Wow! Unexpected results from Anthropic's experiments in exposing the inner thoughts of Claude. They call its unconscious a J-space. The short video they made is good place to start. https://t.co/07cr8aJlxr

— Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) July 8, 2026

The Ukraine war may be entering a dangerous new phase as an embattled Russia appears to be weighing whether to escalate the conflict with limited strikes or military incursions against European NATO countries such as the Baltic states or Poland — betting that the United States wouldn’t intervene.

“I’d say escalatory risk is real, and growing — mostly because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is under growing pressure at home and losing on the battlefield,” said former CIA director William Burns in a message to me Monday. The United States has been sharing warnings about the growing danger with European allies for the past month, officials told me.

We’re watching a demonstration of how wars can leap the bounds of what strategists call “agreed battle” and become global catastrophes. With Russia caught in a meat grinder in eastern Ukraine, suffering more than 30,000 casualties a month to Kyiv’s drones, the danger is that Putin will try a breakout against the NATO alliance that he claims is his real adversary — at a moment when the United States is less engaged than at any time in the alliance’s history.

Read it all.

Europe braces for a Russian provocationhttps://t.co/roGYB9LLbN

— Tarık Oğuzlu (@TarikOguzlu) July 7, 2026

God of grace and might, we praise thee for thy servants Priscilla and Aquila, whom thou didst plenteously endow with gifts of zeal and eloquence to make known the truth of the Gospel. Raise up, we pray thee, in every country, heralds and evangelists of thy kingdom, that the world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today is the feast of Saints Aquila and Priscilla, early Christians who are mentioned in the New Testament. They lived, worked, and traveled with the Apostle Paul, who described them as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus”. They are considered patrons of love and marriage. pic.twitter.com/5Y2z3Rq6iW

— Chess Valley RC (@ChessValleyRC) July 8, 2025

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Good morning from the #WelshMarches. Already warm and the pasture looks baked and dry. A layer of mist in the distant valley. pic.twitter.com/ZbiWoNajQd

— Anne O'Brien (@anne_obrien) July 8, 2026

I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.

–Romans 9:1-5

Poppies at Little Bay Islands #photography pic.twitter.com/OgaYh0lJjo

— Mike Parsons (@mikep_lbi) July 8, 2026

Read it all.

ACNA news: Abp Wood's parish states they have continuously cooperated with the prosecution & defense, they haven't threatened the jobs of employees who may testify, & the court should issue a "corrective public statement" to their document that said the parish was uncooperative. pic.twitter.com/mTBXIWNMXL

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) July 8, 2026

From the start, 250 years ago, America’s founders believed that their republic would shine out as an example to all humanity. But the republic was also an experiment, and they feared that it could soon collapse into disorder or tyranny. Such has been the dance throughout America’s extraordinary history. Slavery and xenophobia, corruption and robber barons, civil war and world war have all jostled the republic even as America rose to become the beacon of the free world.

On July 4th Americans are celebrating their semiquincentennial. All those syllables rebut the founders’ gloom. Far from succumbing to tyranny, America saved the world from tyrants three times over. Glorious disorder created a dynamism that has long sustained America as a superpower. Dominance comes with temptations, but the United States has by and large held out republican virtues as the salvation of people everywhere.

Yet this birthday comes at another anxious moment in America’s story. Virtue is under threat and talk of decline is in the air. Even as citizens celebrate together, public life is scarred by division. America is demolishing the world order that it created after the defeat of fascism in 1945. The restless republic is opening a new chapter, but does that signal retreat, as some Americans worry, or instead herald a renewal?

Read it all.

America saved the world from tyrants three times over. Its economic dynamism has long sustained it as a superpower. By and large it has held out republican virtues as the salvation of people everywhere https://t.co/19Rn9DI67F

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 6, 2026

During his 1984 trip to China, President Ronald Reagan spoke to Chinese college students of America’s commitment to the “self-evident truths” of its founding. Reading from the Declaration of Independence, he affirmed America’s foundational moral principles: All humans are created equal, and valued equally, by God. God grants every person on earth certain inalienable rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

President Reagan emphasized the importance of religion in living out these truths: “[Our faith is] why we wish well for others. It’s why it grieves us when we hear of people who cannot live up to their full potential.” Americans, he said, have even used their freedom to fight and die while protecting the freedom of others. 

He told the students that their American peers had “committed to memory” the self-evident truths of the Declaration. His implicit message was that America’s students know that human equality, freedom, and dignity are given by God and not by the state. The state’s duty is to secure the inalienable rights of its citizens, especially religious freedom.  

No American president could truthfully make such a statement today. Two hundred and fifty years since our nation’s founding, the public conscience has begun to replace its fidelity to inalienable rights and religious freedom with a state-enforced commitment to radical human autonomy. The reasons for this authoritarian shift are not new, but its emergence in the mainstream is led by the Democratic Party and our elite educational institutions.  

Read it all.

https://t.co/4E3naneYGj Two hundred and fifty years since our nation’s founding, the public conscience has begun to replace its fidelity to inalienable rights and religious freedom with a state-enforced commitment to radical human autonomy.

— Public Discourse (@PublicDiscourse) July 1, 2026

In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said America was “conceived in liberty.” Today we might call that our country’s unique selling proposition. While other nations emphasized biological unity, America in the 20th century finally became a liberty theme park where people of all skin colors and ethnicities could together enjoy the thrill rides of building families and careers. 

On our national roller coaster, we’ve had the right to wave hands as long as we do not hit the noses of our neighbors. George Washington defined this liberty theme park well in a Bible-oriented letter to a Jewish synagogue in 1790: “Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid” (an allusion to Micah 4:4).

Legal racial segregation has disappeared, but on our 250th anniversary tomorrow, we should remember a roadblock that appeared shortly before our 200th: In 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled that unborn children had no right to life. A redefinition of liberty followed in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 1992 defense of abortion: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” 

Earlier, liberty meant “live and let live”—but live within a common reality that does not include file cabinets marked “my facts” and “your facts.” That’s not true now. Post-Kennedy and within postmodernism, we feel entitled to live with internet algorithms that feed us only the news we feel fit to imprint on our brains.

Read it all.

https://t.co/AKOUNAujbW Still a Restless Nation, Unless We Rest in God

— Ken Ragsdale (@ken_ragsdale) July 4, 2026