4/26/2022

This past week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with John Agresto’s reflections on the crucial connection between civic education and liberal education. A member of the board of the Jack Miller Center and a longtime professor and college president, Agresto writes, “A true civic education cannot exist without a deep and serious understanding of our principles, history, literature, religious traditions, and culture, with all its difficulties and its accomplishments.” He looks to Thomas Jefferson and John Witherspoon, two important American Founders, whose stands for American independence rested upon a deep and abiding education that creates well-rounded human beings. Liberal education matters in the 21st century just as it did in the 18th century, because “we Americans are collectively all rulers,” and our knowledge and beliefs “shape not only our individual lives but our civic lives.”

In the latest piece on our ongoing “Making Citizens Series,” American Civics editor Mike Sabo highlights the Matthew J. Ryan Center at Villanova University. As director Steven McGuire argues, the Ryan Center was founded in order “to take seriously American history, traditions, and principles and to promote the study of free societies.” Through a vibrant fellowship program, inviting key speakers, an alumni program, and more, the Center looks to form patriotic citizens who can think for themselves.

At RealClearReligion, James Patterson looks at Christian nationalism on both the Right and the Left. Patterson says that commentators who define Christian nationalism as “primarily evangelical Protestants who support former President Donald J. Trump and believe that America is or ought to be a Christian nation” are missing the opposing view from the Left. The problem with Christian nationalism, he argues, is not with Christianity but with the nationalistic idea that the “federal government” should impose “a single interpretation of the Christian religion onto the broader public.” The solution is to stop ramping up political battles and to work toward the “de-escalation of state power.”