Andrew Klavan’s new book arrived in my inbox with providential timing. Only a few hours before I started perusing The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness, I’d signed a publishing contract for my first novel — a story of murder, prostitution, and the many debased things that fallen man is willing to do in pursuit of his ambitions.
But a tiny part of me blushed at the plot I was preparing to put down on paper — what would compel a Christian, a self-professed church lady no less, to tell such a sordid tale?  What compels other Christians to read them? Klavan, as might be expected from an award-winning crime writer and very public Christ-follower, has long been thinking about such questions and now provides an answer.
“We should look at the question from the other direction,” Klavan says, “what good does it do anybody to write about the world as it&#8217;s not?” And the world, as he details through the true stories of three notorious killers — including history’s first killer — can be a very dark place. Portraying that darkness accurately in our art, Klavan contends, is one way we can better recognize and appreciate the light.
As one endorser of The Kingdom of Cain said, the book is part meditation and part memoir. I’d add, it’s also part apologia, as Klavan makes an argument for the ultimate triumph of not just a generic goodness but a Christian goodness. Evil, he argues, in the tradition of C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain, is the unwelcome guest to the original state of creation, which, as we know from Genesis, was very good.
“The shall-nots of the Ten Commandments are not restrictions on our true selves,” writes Klavan, “They are a guide to clearing the path to our original nature so we can become who we truly are.” Another way to say it is that the world began with a moral order, and what goes against that order is the intruder. Klavan explains why this reality should inform the work of any Christian artist seeking to write words that ring true. “I will write about absolutely horrific things,” he says, “but always in the moral world.”
What does writing dark works in the moral world look like? He shows us.
While analyzing the great fictional works his three case studies inspired, Klavan’s insights give new relish to film classics, offering fresh revelations about their appeal to audiences. One of his chapters on 1950s cross-dressing serial killer Ed Gein dissects how he is reimagined in the film Psycho. Unlike the novel it was based on, the movie recognizes not just the psychological brokenness of its villain, but his spiritual deformity. What the Catholic Hitchcock “understood in his bones,” Klavan writes, “is that there is a tension between the things of the spirit and the things of the flesh.”
And so, the great director played up that tension, bringing about his female lead’s murder right as she is in a moment of redemption, preparing to make amends for stealing $40,000 from her employer. This elevates the story from simple scare fest to tragedy.
“[Lead female character Marion’s] work in the film is the work of the spirit,” Klavan writes. Through her death, Hitchcock picked up on an aspect of Gein’s history that Psycho’s initial author didn’t — &#8220;the struggle to reconcile religion with eroticism is real.” This is something Hitchcock subtly points to by having Norman Bates use a biblical painting of Susanna and the Elders, which depicts two spiritual leaders trying to sexually exploit a woman as she is bathing, as a peephole to spy on Marion undressing for the shower.
From the Book of Daniel to the Bates Motel — the baser impulses of men will ever be a threat to women.
Other works inspired by the Gein case, like The Silence of the Lambs, compel because they not only tell us truthfully of the violence associated with perverted sexual desire, they also mock the idea that the explanations for such violence will be provided by psychiatry rather than religion. Hannibal Lecter is simply the face of unapologetic evil — like the icy Nietzscheans Leopold and Loeb (whose story Klavan also details), there is no Freudian concept that will restrain his malevolence. He would have to become an entirely new creature for that, a magic that only Christianity can work.
The book is full of similar, worthy insights, particularly when it comes to works inspired by the story of Cain. It is clear that for Klavan, there is no joy like the joy of accurately representing the human experience, and humanity is sinful. You cannot tell compelling stories while hiding reality, something the Bible’s authors apparently knew very well, given the horrors that fill Scripture’s pages from incest, to gang rapes, to, well, crucifixion.
Too often, Christians forget the “true” part of the Apostle Paul’s admonition to think about: &#8220;whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.” Truth is sometimes ugly, but all truth is God’s truth, Klavan tells me, and will reflect God’s moral order. “Every honest story, every true story, has God,” he says
“Whether you believe or not, if you tell a true story, if you tell the truth about life, God will be there.”

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Andrew Klavan’s Dark World

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United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee presented his credentials last week to Israel’s President, Yitzchak Herzog, and immediately demonstrated why he is the right person for this vital position at this critical time. It is true that Ambassador Huckabee has visited Israel more than 100 times, in his capacity as a Baptist preacher leading his congregation and as a politician accompanying his constituents, but even more importantly, he understands Israel, its uniqueness, its role in history, its abiding friendship with the United States, and its challenges.
Huckabee declared at the reception that he returns to Israel with “absolute joy and an overwhelming sense of awe that I am in a land where G-d Himself said, ‘This is mine, and these are My people.’” Such sentiments are not often expressed in Israel and not articulated often enough by Jews but they provide the foundation for defining the rightful place of the State of Israel, its reason for existence, and even the relentless antagonism of its enemies. The land of Israel was not only the land of the Bible in ancient times; it remains the land of the Bible and awaits the fulfillment of the prophetic vision of the future. Perceived through that prism, Israel’s struggles against implacable foes take on a new light that is visible only to someone who shares Ambassador Huckabee’s perspective.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine another ambassador having visited the country to which he was posted 100 times before assuming the role. It means that Huckabee’s commitment to Israel’s security stems from his correct understanding of America’s place in the world and its capacity to foster good and promote peace and prosperity.
So, what should be on Ambassador Huckabee’s agenda, especially mindful that he is the U.S. Ambassador who should advance American interests in the region?
The Ambassador has been outspoken in recent years as to the non-viability of a Palestinian state in the land of Israel, now rendered especially incongruous and perilous in light of the Hamas massacre of October 7, the ongoing war, and the Palestinian Authority’s reluctance to condemn that war. As ambassador, he can thwart the subtle encroachment towards a Palestinian state favored by Europe and some elements in the United States by reiterating a number of steps taken during the first Trump administration. He can again shutter the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), located on Agron Street in the western part of Jerusalem, which was revived by the Biden administration in violation of U.S. and Israeli law and functioned as a quasi-diplomatic mission to the Palestinians. During the first Trump term, this office was closed, and its services provided out of the American embassy in Jerusalem to which it reported directly.
The OPA as currently constituted is an affront to Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. Ambassador Huckabee, together with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, can use his good offices to limit or halt the activities of the several European consulates that are located in Jerusalem and operate as missions to the Palestinian Authority in defiance of Israeli and international law. The ambassador can persuade, and certainly the U.S. government can act, to support Israel’s closure of these hostile outposts in the heart of Jerusalem.
<div id="attachment_914553" style="width: 840px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-914553" class="size-large wp-image-914553" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2206862784-830x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 25: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Huckabee, the former governor and presidential candidate, answered questions on Israel and its campaign against Hamas. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)" width="830" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2206862784-830x576.jpg 830w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2206862784-300x208.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2206862784-768x533.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2206862784.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px" />Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</div>
The Ambassador can urge the State Department to finally designate “Jerusalem, Israel” as an official place of birth on American passports. The State Department has long embraced the chimera that Jerusalem’s status as part of Israel — as Israel’s capital, no less — is somehow still subject to the outcome of negotiations. This policy should be repudiated and U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem who so desire should have their place of birth recorded as “Jerusalem, Israel.”
Ambassador Huckabee should also encourage the Trump administration to follow through on its temporary suspension of funding to UNRWA and make that suspension permanent. UNRWA, although barred by Israeli law from operating in Jerusalem, still maneuvers behind the scenes, controlling schools and in some cases economic development while advancing the interests of Hamas, with which it was integrally linked during the Gaza War. Cutting aid and resigning from UNESCO, another UN organization that is antagonistic to Israel and the United States, is also an American interest.
Additionally, for many decades under Democratic administrations, any type of residential or commercial building in Jerusalem by Jews – not by Arabs – drew immediate condemnations from the State Department. This too must end, and the ambassador is well positioned, as is President Trump, a real estate mogul, to take the lead in supporting Israel’s plans to construct new neighborhoods in Jerusalem and even to explore the expansion of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries to encompass satellite towns on its periphery.
To his great credit, President Trump has appointed two distinguished emissaries to Israel – David Friedman in his first term and Mike Huckabee in his current term. A person of faith, such as Ambassador Huckabee, deeply understands the centrality of Israel in the narrative of world history. But this ambassador also deeply understands the Israel of the future, and the pivotal role played by the city of Jerusalem, and even more how a secure and prosperous Israel will strengthen the United States and bring the world closer to the vision of peace on earth.
* * *
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Esq., is Senior Research Associate at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy (JCAP.ngo).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mike Huckabee speaks after being sworn in as ambassador to Israel.

Why Mike Huckabee Is The Right Man For Israel

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G.K. Chesterton <a href="https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/43811/stfrancisproblem.htm">wrote</a> of St. Francis of Assisi, “But after all, this man was a man and not half a dozen men. What seems inconsistency to you did not seem inconsistency to him.”
We should keep this same principle in mind today as we continue to pray for the repose of Pope Francis’s soul — and assess what we can learn from his legacy, both good and bad.
Much like the great saint whom he chose as his namesake and clearly intended to emulate, Pope Francis confounded caricature and was often misunderstood. In his life, and especially over the course of his pontificate, this quality often led to confusion for the faithful. No doubt, that pattern of confusion will be one hallmark of Francis’s papacy.
If we hope to learn from the life of Pope Francis, however, we must start by rejecting the mainstream media’s depiction of him as a “liberal” pope. Since his death, the New York Times has been filled with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/opinion/pope-francis-gay-muddle.html'" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headlines</a> regarding his perspective on “LGBTQ people,” women deacons, or the Church’s teaching on birth control. But while these may be important issues to the opinion writers of the New York Times, they were not central to Pope Francis’s work.
A much better place to begin is, well, the beginning: those early years of the pontificate when an energetic and vigorous Pope Francis set out to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy and put an emphasis on serving the poor and taking care of the sick.
<div id="attachment_913279" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-913279" class="size-large wp-image-913279" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-864x576.jpg" alt="VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 31: Pope Francis embraces a boy prior to his first 'Urbi et Orbi' blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica during Easter Mass on March 31, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis delivered his message to the gathered faithful from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square after his first Holy week as Pontiff. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Franco Origlia/Getty Images</div>
I will never forget when the Pope, in 2013, reached down and kissed a man suffering from neurofibromatosis, a rare disease which had left him disfigured with boils all over his head. And this was far from the only example. In his first year in the seat of St. Peter, Pope Francis made a point of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/26889/pope-francis-to-offer-hope-by-washing-young-inmates-feet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">washing the feet</a> of 12 young people at a juvenile detention center, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/27588/pope-francis-invites-homeless-to-dine-at-vatican" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inviting</a> 200 homeless people to dine at the Vatican, and living in a modest guest house rather than the Apostolic Palace.
With this radical humility, Pope Francis — the first Pope from the global South, where the Church continues to grow — reminded the decadent old continent that the cultural inheritance of Christendom is not in attending U.N. Conferences, but the corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the prisoners, bury the dead, and give alms to the poor.
Yet as much as Pope Francis loved the poor, he was not a humble Franciscan friar but a savvy Jesuit political operator whose initial attention to the corporal works of mercy — though never entirely lost — soon gave way to practical considerations about what would secure his power over the Church. And unfortunately, as he aged and became more entangled in the politics of the Vatican, Pope Francis became vulnerable to manipulation by his advisers as well as the media and indeed made many missteps that confused and divided his flock.
Examples abound. One week he would promote the blessing of “unions of persons of the same sex.” The next he would say that marriage will always be the union of one man and one woman. On one occasion, he declared that abortion was akin to “hiring a hitman,” while nevertheless appointing a pro-abortion economist to the Pontifical Academy for Life.
And because of his excessive reliance on the likes of Cardinal Blase Cupich — the radical progressive archbishop of Chicago whom he appropriately dubbed “the little woman” — Pope Francis was especially misguided in his approach to more conservative segments of the Church. He imposed serious restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, which is growing rapidly in the United States. And despite his frequent denunciation of “clericalism,” he upended, for no apparent reason, the constitution of Opus Dei, a prelature distinguished for promoting the role of the laity in the Church’s mission.
In short, rather than working with the young, vibrant, and faithful segments of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis attacked them, choosing instead to champion progressive prelates and priests like Father James Martin, a Jesuit who pushes the Catholic church to abandon the traditional definition of marriage.
<div id="attachment_720181" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720181" class="size-large wp-image-720181" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-864x576.jpg" alt="MALMO, SWEDEN - OCTOBER 31: Pope Francis gives a speech during the 'Together in Hope' event at Malmo Arena on October 31, 2016 in Malmo, Sweden. The Pope is on 2 days visit attending Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration in Lund and Malmo. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Michael Campanella/Getty Images</div>
In spite of his own opposition to these groups, however, Pope Francis’s pontificate witnessed a surge of conservative young people converting to Catholicism, in America and around the world. This Easter, dioceses across the United States <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/easter-converts-2024-by-the-numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> 30%, 40%, 50%, and even 70% increases in the number of converts coming into the Church on Easter Vigil. Young people seeking stability and rootedness account for most of these conversions, and the same phenomenon is happening in <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263349/france-sees-record-10384-adult-baptisms-in-2025-45-percent-increase-as-young-catholics-lead-revival" target="_blank" rel="noopener">France</a> and <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263329/surge-in-adults-entering-church-in-england-this-easter-prompted-by-internet-tradition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">England</a>, where a <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263239/catholics-now-outnumber-anglicans-among-gen-z-in-the-uk-study-suggestshttps:/www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263239/catholics-now-outnumber-anglicans-among-gen-z-in-the-uk-study-suggests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> shows that Gen Z Catholics now outnumber Anglicans two to one.
Amid this renewed interest in the Catholic Church, one of the great tragedies of Pope Francis’s papacy is that his misguided opposition to traditional religious communities and conservative political policies may have given many of these young Catholics the impression that a focus on serving the poor, feeding the hungry, and carrying out the other corporal works of mercy is somehow at odds with tradition and orthodoxy.
Let me be clear: this is not and never has been the case.
Christ tells his disciples in Matthew 25, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” The corporal works of mercy are essential for all Christians, regardless of denomination or political party. And beyond informing our personal faith, they also must guide our efforts to reclaim our institutions and restore our country.
Moreover, Pope Francis’s liberal posturing on things like the environment may obscure his urgent message to modernity. Consider the late Pope’s 2015 “global warming” encyclical, Laudato Si. While it did include entire sections on “pollution and climate change” which the liberal media fawned over and promoted, its deeper argument — that we have failed to “safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology” — was profoundly conservative and largely ignored.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis beautifully lays out how a “technocratic paradigm” has led us to accept “every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings.” And in pursuit of this “unlimited human power,” he argues, we have undermined the various conditions that help us flourish: destroyed God’s majestic creation, contracepted our God-given gift to create life, and dishonored God’s plan for men and women to be different.
This message — not misguided one-off statements on airplane interviews or liberal media headlines about hot button political issues — is what we should take away from Pope Francis’s papacy.
Modernity, despite all its advances, has robbed us of many of the most basic spiritual and moral resources we need to flourish and be truly happy. To recover them, we don’t need complex coding or advanced AI, but rather, as Pope Francis sought to remind us, simply to follow the lessons Jesus taught us about serving our fellow man.
Much like the early parts of his pontificate, Pope Francis’s final days reflected this message.
On Sunday, the Pope’s last day on Earth, he met with Vice President JD Vance, squashing their public spat. He used his Easter message to make an appeal for peace in the world&#8217;s most war-torn regions. And finally, he made one last loop through St. Peter’s square, stopping several times to bless babies brought up to him and wish all his “brothers and sisters” a “Happy Easter.”
May he rest in peace, mixed legacy and all — and may his brother cardinals be inspired to choose a successor capable of combining Pope Francis’s initial emphasis on the corporal works with a steadfast commitment to tradition, both of which were sorely lacking in the final years of the Holy Father’s life.
* * *
Kevin Roberts is the President of The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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What Can We Learn From Pope Francis?

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I believe that America’s core ideals are very much linked to its Christian faith. So as Easter has just passed, I thought this would be a good time to take a closer look at the state of the American church and then weep quietly and say it was a great country while it lasted.
Now, according to a Pew poll, 62% of Americans identify as Christian. This is a slight drop from the 1697 poll which showed 99.9% of Americans were Christian with one heretic hiding in the woods hoping some long-haired guy with a buckle on his hat wouldn’t blow his head off with a blunderbuss.
But today’s religious landscape looks different depending on political affiliation. For instance, on the political Left, 43% of those who identify as progressives say they have abandoned Christianity and become Episcopalians. Fourteen percent of progressives say they have renounced the corrupt beliefs of colonizing white men, have returned to the innocent and beautiful natural religion of indigenous peoples, and were preparing to sacrifice a virgin to the volcano God until they realized that by the time they were sure she was a virgin, she wasn’t a virgin anymore, and if they threw her into a volcano there’d be no one left who knew how to make breakfast.
Other progressives say they are sick of the sort of restrictive religions that ruined the 1950’s by making everything so great. Instead they have turned to more modern faiths with practices that reflect the moral progress of mankind. These practices include yogic meditation, ritual mindfulness, and tantric sex followed by butchering any unborn babies conceived during tantric sex, then celebrating the mass slaughter by dancing around a pole in a wild blood-drenched frenzy, getting a full body tattoo featuring goat-headed demi-gods with flaming eyes, then running naked through a forest while grunting inarticulately and listening to music that’s mostly composed of drumbeats and shrieking because classic rock is just the best.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show</a></h3>
Among Christians on the political Right, 17% say they believe in Christ so hard they’ll kill anyone who disagrees with them, 14% say their faith is so strong they might even be willing to go to church as long as porn is provided, and 8% say their worship mostly involves posting unspeakably cruel remarks on social media to people who aren’t as Christly as they are. Four percent of conservative Christians say they have abandoned their own egos for Christ’s sake and have thus elevated their souls into a state of suffering-yet-serene agape love, and are now hiding in the woods hoping some long-haired guy with a buckle on his hat won’t blow their heads off with a blunderbuss.
The remaining 57% of Right-wing Christians spend most of their time sobbing and whispering, “Oh God, I suck so bad, please, please, please have mercy on me and don’t send me to hell or California.”
As far as other American religions go, 94% of limousine drivers identify as Muslims, 16% of Christian women pretend they’re Buddhists, and 82% of Jews control 90% of everything except which parts of Ivy League campuses they’re allowed to walk on without one of their professors pointing at them and making that awful insect noise like Donald Sutherland at the end of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Approximately 29% of Americans have no religion whatsoever and they say that makes life much easier because they&#8217;re able to rotate their heads 360 degrees and spider walk across the ceiling, which comes in very handy when they’re trying to escape from the exorcist.
Around the world, the religious landscape is much more varied. For instance, in Great Britain, while 47% of the people identify as Christian, 70% of them say that Islam is also absolutely great, totally fine, really wonderful and not a problem at all, no, really, it’s fantastic, they’re not just saying that because they’d be arrested for telling the truth.
In France, 49% of the population were excited because they thought they belonged to a dark, obscure, mystery cult with elaborate secret rituals until they found out they were actually just Catholics.
And in China, 23% of high-ranking Communists identify their kidneys as Uiger.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Follow him on X: @andrewklavan
Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fourth installment, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613165536?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_3&amp;storeType=ebooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Woman Underground.</a>” His most recent nonfiction release is “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Cain-Finding-Literature-Darkness/dp/0310368340/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=nMYjR&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_r=133-8344803-2786917&amp;pd_rd_wg=7a8J3&amp;pd_rd_r=5791ea0f-6d96-4732-9d6a-3a4e6b348bb5&amp;ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness.</a>” (May 2025, Zondervan/HarperCollins).

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Progressives Abandon Christianity, Become Episcopalian

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The animated, bible-based film “The King of Kings” managed to perform almost as well in its second week as it did during the film’s premiere, bringing in $17.2 million over Easter weekend after a record-breaking $19.1 million debut.
The past weekend&#8217;s earnings represent only a 10% decrease in revenue, which is among the 50 lowest percentage revenue drops for any movie that had a theatrical opening, per <a href="https://screenrant.com/king-of-kings-movie-low-second-week-drop-box-office-milestone/">Screen Rant</a>. This is significantly better than the industry average second-weekend drop, which usually ranges from 50% to 60%.
“The King of Kings” came in third at the box office behind “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie.” The film has made just over $45 million, making it the second-highest-grossing movie for Angel Studios, behind 2023’s unexpected hit, “Sound of Freedom.”
In its debut weekend, “The King of Kings” also broke the record set by “The Prince of Egypt” for most money earned by an animated biblical film during its premiere. “The Prince of Egypt” (1998) went on to earn over $100 million domestically.
“The King of Kings” has been a massive hit with critics and audiences, too. It currently has a 65% critic score and 98% audience score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_king_of_kings">Rotten Tomatoes</a>.
The reviewer from The San Francisco Chronicle noted the film’s “whimsical Dickensian touches.” &#8220;The King of Kings” is based on Charles Dickens&#8217; book, “The Life of Our Lord.” He also called the movie “amusing and possibly enlightening Easter entertainment for younger children.”
Most moviegoers were generous with their praise. One reviewer said it was “a visually captivating animated film that brings the story of Jesus to life through the imaginative lens of Charles Dickens narrating to his son.”
“The film’s heartfelt message of hope, love, and redemption resonates strongly with faith-based audiences. A great film for all !! Tastefully done,” he added.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The King Of Kings | Official Trailer | In theaters April 11 | Angel Studios" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HDhet3EVRac?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Another agreed, writing, “This was so captivating! Entertains adults and kids. It is full of truth and light. I’d recommend to everyone!”
A synopsis of the film says, “A father tells his son the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice. The King of Kings invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love, and redemption through the eyes of a child.”

King of Kings

‘King Of Kings’ Holds Strong Over Easter Weekend With Surprisingly Low Revenue Drop

'King Of Kings' Holds Strong Over Easter Weekend With Surprisingly Low Revenue Drop

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Each Passover, Jews across the world recount the miraculous exodus of their ancestors from servitude under the Egyptian pharaoh, in pursuit of a life of ordered liberty in the Land promised to Abraham. This pharaoh enslaved the Jewish people, forcing them into hard labor doubly tortuous, as their taskmasters imposed assignments with labor itself as the ultimate end. The pharaoh even ordered the infanticide of Hebrew male infants in an attempt to cement his power over the Hebrews. The Passover dinner retells the story of our enslavement, the Ten Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians, and Hebrews’ miraculous deliverance. The ancient Hebrews left a tyranny that subjugated their spiritual and physical freedom to the dictates of a human regime at odds with the Divine.
Importantly, escape from tyranny wasn’t their ultimate aim. The ancient Hebrews embarked at this moment on a journey to their Promised Land. These tribes became the People of the Book — striving to form a civil society under the rule of law, complete with education of the young, the establishment of courts, protection of property, and concern for innocent life.
The American Founders certainly recognized that this “Season of Our Freedom” is relevant for the United States of America. The national motto proposed by Benjamin Franklin of “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” accompanied an image of Moses leading the Children of Israel across the miraculously parted Red Sea as they escaped the tyrant of their times. The Israelites desired to worship God freely, raise families, and enjoy the fruits of their own labor. The protections of our Bill of Rights guarantee us similar rights.
The Israelites and the Pilgrims both journeyed to a new land not just in pursuit of generic freedom — but freedom of a far deeper type. The foremost concern of the Pilgrims arriving on the shores of Cape Cod in 1620 indeed was freedom of religion and conscience. Like the Israelites, these early settlers forfeited many of the comforts of their prior home as they endured a harsh climate in unfamiliar territory surrounded by hazards. Those Pilgrims entered a covenant to “combine ourselves together into a civil body politick” — one with the family as society’s foundation, with national traditions and core values transmitted in the home.
<div id="attachment_906725" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-906725" class="size-large wp-image-906725" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-864x576.jpg" alt="Passover matzoh jewish holiday bread with kipah table background. " width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1217401397-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Cavan images. Getty Images.</div>
The Passover seder recognizes that the story of the Jewish people neither began nor ended with the Exodus story. In its recount, we recognize also that we must be active participants in maintaining our freedom. We recognize also that, in a sense, this deliverance happened to us personally. Through the long dinner, children at the table play a large role in reading the story, asking questions, and contributing to the conversation.
As the quarter-millennial celebration of our independence from King George III approaches, let’s take some lessons from the Passover celebration. Instilling an understanding of and respect for our founding in the next generation ensures they too will seek to protect our nation from corrosive influence. Yet, far too many children are apathetic or ignorant of the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution or even the basic functioning of our republic. Too few are taught of the sacrifices made by the Founders and the freedoms they sought to protect. Even worse, some educators attempt to poison young minds against the nation’s foundation. Parents possess the responsibility and an opportunity to instill this love of country. Honoring the flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, respecting the national anthem, commemorating Independence Day all instill pride in country—in addition to academic studies.
Let’s remember too that our freedom is not secure forever simply by virtue of our winning our own War for Independence. As we stray from the guarantors of our freedom — rule of law, the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers, strong families — the great promise of this nation “conceived in liberty” becomes threatened. At the Passover seder, we recall audibly and collectively that, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt.” Remembering life prior to liberty, celebrating our victory over tyranny, savoring our freedom, reflecting on what a life of liberty should mean, and involving the next generation in all of this will protect our freedom — both as Jews and as Americans.
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Joel Griffith and Paul Teller, both Jewish Americans, are Senior Fellow and Executive Vice President, respectively, of Advancing American Freedom, the issue advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Metal plate with matzah or matza and Passover Haggadah on a vintage wood background presented as a Passover seder feast or meal with copy space. Translation: Passover Haggadah

The Season Of Our Freedom: Lessons From Passover For Americans

Egypt

Founding Fathers

Jewish

Jews

Red Sea

The biblical-based film “The King of Kings” was released on Friday, and it’s already expected to break records. The Angel Studios production racked up $14.6 million in ticket pre-sales, per <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/04/king-of-kings-box-office-presales-1236366250/">Deadline</a>, putting it on track to surpass the massively successful DreamWorks film &#8220;The Prince of Egypt&#8221; (1998), which currently holds the title of best opening for a biblical film at $14.5 million. 
The outlet noted that one million tickets were sold in advance, thanks in large part to the studio’s “Kids go Free” campaign, which allows one free kid’s ticket for every adult ticket purchased.
“The King of Kings” debuts in more than 3,200 locations nationwide this weekend. A synopsis <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TaylorTheater/photos/a-father-tells-his-son-the-greatest-story-ever-told-and-what-begins-as-a-bedtime/1195472525696747/?_rdr">says</a>, “A father tells his son the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice. The King of Kings invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love, and redemption through the eyes of a child.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The King Of Kings | Official Trailer | In theaters April 11 | Angel Studios" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HDhet3EVRac?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“Just like the Prince of Egypt drew families to theaters, our Angel Guild has supported this film through presales and strong word-of-mouth since it entered the Angel ecosystem,” Brandon Purdie, Global Head of Theatrical Distribution &amp; Brand Development at Angel told Deadline. “Charles Dickens had a tradition of sharing this story with his family and we hope that The King of Kings will become a part of the Easter tradition for families around the globe.”
The Daily Wire was on the red carpet at the premiere this week to speak with the film’s creators and stars about working on the faith-based film. 
When asked what it’s like bringing the Bible back to the big screen, director Seong-Ho Jang said (via translator), “I felt the duty as a Christian to spread His word,” the director said, expressing surprise that no major studios were willing to take on the task. 
Jang said he considered it a “miracle” that major stars such as Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan signed on for the project. 
Voice actor Jim Cummings, who voices Pharisee Hillel, said he was convinced to do the project when his agent pitched it as “the greatest story ever told.” He also mentioned being an altar boy from way back, which he said made the project even more important to him. Cummings is best known for being the official voice of Winnie the Pooh since 1988. 
“The King of Kings” currently has a 66% critic score and 96% audience rating on review aggregator <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_king_of_kings">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. 
The reviewer from The San Francisco Chronicle noted the film’s “whimsical Dickensian touches,” which relates back to the fact that “The King of Kings” is based on the Charles Dickens book, “The Life of Our Lord.” He also called the movie “amusing and possibly enlightening Easter entertainment for younger children.”
Most moviegoers were effusive with their praise. One reviewer said it was “a visually captivating animated film that brings the story of Jesus to life through the imaginative lens of Charles Dickens narrating to his son.” 
“The film&#8217;s heartfelt message of hope, love, and redemption resonates strongly with faith-based audiences. A great film for all !! Tastefully done,” he added.
Another agreed, writing, “This was so captivating! Entertains adults and kids. It is full of truth and light. I&#8217;d recommend to everyone!”

Animated Biblical Film ‘The King Of Kings’ Poised To Break Box Office Records

Animated Biblical Film 'The King Of Kings' Poised To Break Box Office Records

Animation

Amid all the talk about tariffs with China, and how they steal America&#8217;s intellectual property and establish all kinds of trade barriers with this country, you might have missed this story. It&#8217;s not about economics, but at the same time, it tells you a lot about what authoritarian countries like China fear the most.
Beginning on May 1, China will accelerate its crackdown on religion, and Christianity in particular. Foreign missionaries will be banned from preaching unless they obtain formal approval from the government.
According to Chinese <a href="https://www.persecution.org/2025/04/04/china-moves-to-formally-ban-missionary-activity/">state media</a>, the goal of the new regulation is to protect &#8220;national security&#8221; and &#8220;political stability&#8221; by forcing people to attend official, state-run religious services with pre-approved messaging. Additionally, Chinese state media has recently boasted about the fact that religious groups — which the government calls &#8220;cult organizations&#8221; — have been increasingly shut down in China. At this point, one of the fastest ways to disappear in China is to deliver a sermon that upsets the ruling party.
Of course, this is the exact opposite of the result we were promised when the United States normalized free trade with China several decades ago. As Bill Clinton put it, “Membership in the W.T.O. will not create a free society in China overnight or guarantee that China will play by global rules. &#8230; But over time, I believe it will move China faster and further in the right direction.”
That hasn&#8217;t happened. Instead, China is now aggressively moving to crush Christians, for the simple reason that Christians believe in a higher power than their government. We have not introduced Western norms to China. We have not exported our values to them. Instead, despite the promises of free trade, China has successfully exported its totalitarian impulses to the West. One by one, Western countries are adopting anti-Christian crackdowns, to the point that they&#8217;re making it illegal for Christians to practice their faith.
What&#8217;s happening right now in New South Wales, which is a state on the east coast of Australia, makes this very clear. Earlier this month, something called the &#8220;Conversion Practices Ban Act of 2024&#8221; became law in New South Wales. This law, by its own terms, allows the authorities to arrest Christians for praying. That is not an exaggeration or an overstatement. It&#8217;s actually <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-2024-019">written</a> into the legislation. From <a href="https://antidiscrimination.nsw.gov.au/discrimination/conversion-practices/frequently-asked-questions.html#What4">the government</a> of New South Wales: &#8220;Praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity is unlawful. It is unlawful even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity.&#8221;
This again is in Australia, a western nation. Not China. Praying with someone who wants you to pray with them could land you in jail. That&#8217;s happening right now, in a supposed western democracy.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1573-member-exclusive?elementPosition=2&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
In other words, if someone wants to pray to God so that he can overcome his gender dysphoria — a condition that, by definition, causes significant mental distress — then his pastor cannot pray with him. In fact, his own family members cannot pray with him. If the police discover that any unapproved prayers have been occurring, they can kick down the doors of the church, or the family home, and haul away the violators. And then they&#8217;ll spend up to five years in prison for their crimes against the state: The crime of praying.
Just to emphasize this point, the government of New South Wales published the single most Orwellian video you&#8217;ll ever see. No matter how many times you&#8217;ve heard the word &#8220;Orwellian,&#8221; believe me, this qualifies. This is the government&#8217;s attempt to intimidate the millions of people who live in New South Wales, with their new law that bans prayer. 
Here&#8217;s how the video begins:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 prayer can be deeply harmful" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L09nr4CszAY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
First of all, by the terms of this legislation, every single gender activist in Australia is a criminal. They all believe, without exception, that you can choose to be &#8220;LGBTQA&#8221; (which is apparently the acronym now). There&#8217;s no other way to explain people who ping-pong between genders at will, or people who de-transition. In fact the concept of “fluidity” is now dogma in the LGBT religion. Fluidity — sexual fluidity, gender fluidity — means that you can change at will from one sexuality or gender to another. If someone identifies as a Bi-gender Toasterkin, and then a few weeks later decides he&#8217;s really a Demi-gender, half-humanoid alpaca, or whatever, then at some point, we can conclude that this person made a choice to identify in some arbitrary way. And every step of the way, gender activists — according to the tenets of their ideology — have no choice but to affirm everything. This is one of the reasons trans activists keep losing in court, by the way. They have to admit that, under their logic, so-called &#8220;Trans people&#8221; can choose, at any time, to be trans or not trans. And therefore, because &#8220;trans status&#8221; is malleable — again, malleable by definition, by THEIR definition —  they&#8217;re not entitled to civil rights protections, which only apply to immutable, unchanging traits.
As the video continues, things become even more dystopian.
There&#8217;s this line for example: &#8220;All people should feel welcome and valued and be able to live authentically and with PRIDE.&#8221; 
Yes, all people — every single one of them — should feel welcome and valued. They should all be able to &#8220;live authentically.&#8221; But this promise apparently does not apply to Christians who believe (as all of humanity did until 15 minutes ago) that men are men and women are women. Those Christians do not have the right to live authentically or &#8220;feel welcomed.&#8221; Instead, they can go straight to prison. Here&#8217;s more of the video, because again, as it goes along, things get worse and worse:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 introducing law" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/INw4m7qR-CI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is where they casually establish that &#8220;family members&#8221; — including a mother and father — can be incarcerated if they don&#8217;t affirm their child&#8217;s imagined gender identity. And of course they do it with a sing-songy, HR lady reading the voiceover. Scratch an HR lady and you will find a power-mad despot, every single time.
We&#8217;ve <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conversion-therapy-bans-are-an-outrageous-attack-on-free-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked</a> about so-called &#8220;conversion therapy&#8221; before, and how efforts to ban the practice are both unconstitutional and incoherent. In this country, the Supreme Court is about to hear a case concerning whether Colorado&#8217;s ban on conversion therapy violates the First Amendment. The problem is that bans on &#8220;conversion therapy,&#8221; in every case, are premised on the idea that sexual orientation cannot be changed. But in the same breath, the government of New South Wales will tell you that sex is extremely changeable. In fact, you can go to the doctor and change it tomorrow. See the problem? If you&#8217;re changing your sex, then you&#8217;re also changing your sexual orientation, under their logic. A man who supposedly &#8220;becomes&#8221; a woman, but retains his attraction to men, would become a lesbian, in their view. This is the logical problem with these conversion therapy bans that they simply have no answer for. It&#8217;s like dividing by zero. 
But now they&#8217;re using this phony logic to justify throwing parents and priests in prison. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 report , can lead to prison" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cq0cqMeI-IY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The scope of this law is so broad that you could probably claim I&#8217;m violating it, if my show is broadcast in New South Wales. They want Australians to snitch on each other if they get a whiff of anyone who dares to suggest that gender ideology isn&#8217;t real. In a lot of ways, it&#8217;s like the COVID lockdowns all over again. You might remember that, at the height of the &#8220;pandemic,&#8221; there was a nationwide manhunt in Australia when some guy sneezed in an empty elevator without a mask on. Now they&#8217;re going to have manhunts over unauthorized prayers.
If you don&#8217;t believe that, consider what just happened a few weeks ago to Billboard Chris. He was peacefully standing in a market in Brisbane, wearing a sign that expressed his opposition to the castration of children in the name of gender ideology. He only spoke to people who spoke to him first. He didn&#8217;t obstruct anyone&#8217;s movement or anything like that. People were walking around him the whole time. There&#8217;s no dispute about any of this; it&#8217;s all on video. Nevertheless, Brisbane police arrested Billboard Chris, on camera. Watch:
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They arrested him for standing in a public place with a sign. There&#8217;s no doubt that, if the sign had been pro-gay marriage or whatever, then none of this would have happened. If you watch the full video, the police can&#8217;t name a single other instance where they&#8217;ve jailed someone for peacefully protesting at that location. But Billboard Chris blasphemed Australia&#8217;s state religion, so they took him away in handcuffs. And now they&#8217;re planning to do the same thing to the clergy.
The other day, an Australian commentator named Evelyn Rae outlined exactly what&#8217;s happening here. Here was her assessment, which is worth playing — not only because she&#8217;s right, but also because it&#8217;s good to know that Australia hasn&#8217;t been completely captured yet. Here it is:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Evelyn Rae On China" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2--leJmbBx4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Everything Evelyn Rae just said also applies to many other countries. This is not a problem that&#8217;s limited to Australia. 
Here&#8217;s a <a href="https://reason.com/2024/10/17/british-man-convicted-of-criminal-charges-for-praying-silently-near-abortion-clinic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from Reason</a> late last year, for example. This is the kind of story that JD Vance mentioned in his recent address to European leaders.
<blockquote>A British man was convicted of criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion clinic. The man, Adam Smith-Connor, did not attempt to harass, intimidate, or interact in any way with those entering the clinic. Instead, he wordlessly prayed with his head bowed slightly. He wasn&#8217;t even on clinic property—he was outside the sightline of the clinic itself. &#8230; As a result, Smith-Connor was questioned by police and later charged with violating a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), a broad censorship order enabled by the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. Under this law, local authorities can obtain special status for some public places, allowing them to ban a huge range of conduct. In the name of limiting &#8216;anti-social behavior.&#8217;</blockquote>
Yes, prayer is considered &#8220;anti-social behavior&#8221; in England. These kinds of arrests are happening because — from Britain to Colorado to Canada to Australia to China — authoritarians in government detest any challenge to their authority. These government officials know that they&#8217;re not impressive people. Australia&#8217;s prime minister has barely held a real job in his life. Most of the country is represented by people like this. They&#8217;re petrified that their subjects might worship someone other than themselves. As a result, they&#8217;re now throwing Christians in prison for practicing their faith. This trend has accelerated in China, and it&#8217;s now spreading throughout the West. Christians are being forcibly silenced, at scale. They are being vilified and incarcerated for what they believe.
I began by saying this isn&#8217;t a monologue about economics or trade wars. That&#8217;s true. But as we consider how we&#8217;ll work with these countries in the future — as we negotiate trade deals and so on — the assaults on Christians simply cannot be ignored. These attacks are as unlawful and immoral as they are systematic. They are becoming a fundamental part of the culture of both our allies and our adversaries. For the benefit of billions of Christians, and to preserve basic constitutional rights like the freedom of speech, this coordinated assault on religion must end before it progresses any further.

Top view of group of people on therapy, praying and counselling concept.

This Might Be The Most Orwellian Law I’ve Ever Heard Of

Australia

China

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Conversion Therapy

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Transgender

The following is an excerpt from &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQQ47DR3">The Wake Up Call: Global Jihad and the Rise of Antisemitism in a World Gone Mad</a>,&#8221; by Israel Ellis (Post Hill Press/Wicked Son).
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<h3>A Conversation on Healing and the Battle for Humanity </h3>
October 7 should be a traumatic jolt for anyone who is a lover of life. We must stand united and resolved to make the world a safer place for the future generations that will follow. For if the lovers of life cannot heal the hate, we are truly lost at sea.
I met George, a doctor from Germany, at a healing retreat on Koh Pha Ngan, an island in the south of Thailand. During the first of our many conversations, I described some of the ideas that would later become these chapters, and in answer to his piqued interest, I went on to explain to him the events that took place in Israel on October 7 and the theater of the world since. We got around to the existential question on what it takes to save our world from itself, and both readily agreed in the simplicity that peace comes from love. And to love is to heal. Our conversation turned to philosophy and the infinity of the cosmos. It’s the kind of place that leads you into these thoughts. I brought up the biblical story of Jonah, the unwilling oracle, who warned the people of Nineveh, who repented without question because they came to understand the severity of the warnings and the opportunity to change. I asked George: Where is today’s Jonah to tell the haters wrong from right? To warn us of the consequences of hate?
The next morning George sat beside me and told me had he reflected on the prior evening’s discourse. “I agree,” he said with slow, carefully chosen words. “Both sides need to heal.” He saw my body tense up at the reference to “sides.” The idea of shared moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas is a typical red herring of those that will not fully condemn Hamas and stand for Israel. George gently raised a placating hand and asked me for patience. “Can you for a moment accept that there is a part of Hamas within you?” I caught my breath.
We sat in silence while I pondered this and took effort to examine George through a different lens. He has no connection to Israel; he is not affected by what happened on October 7 except that he is a lover of life and a healer and he is saddened that this event has happened in a world he deems has turned itself upside down. He lives his life in a bubble, not intentionally, but rather because he was born into it; a privileged Western bubble with all the trappings, including the luxury to question his existence and the next steps in his life. He is a good person. He is not committed to any specific ideology, except for his life and those of his patients. He is not a liberal nor does he consider himself a conservative. He will not take up a placard and join a protest. He believes that all people should live together in peace. He stays out of business that is not his to judge, because he knows his opinion will have no effect on the outcome.
It occurred to me that his apathy is part of the challenge the world faces; he places his complete trust in his government to manage the situation. He corrected me when I suggested this, and instead claimed it is humanity itself that he trusts. “Humanity will eventually find their way, they always do,” he said.
But I disagreed. “This is not a stream of water trickling through the path of least resistance,” I said. “To avoid long and painful consequences, we sometimes must act to protect humanity from and for itself.”
The impossibility of the situation Israel finds itself in is a predicament for the free world. To counter the epidemic of Global Jihad will require some sacrifice of liberty, and this can be a slippery slope. And yet, it has already begun. The UK has the most extensive and sophisticated closed-circuit video monitoring system of its kind in the world, complete with facial recognition and AI capabilities. There are few places left in London where you can escape someone watching you. This invasion of privacy is the compromise for security. But this does nothing to weed out the problem of radicalization by its roots. These bandaid solutions will only drive the Jihad further underground into the metaphorical and literal tunnels. The only long-term solution depends on overhauling how the next generation comes to see their world. Confronting the hold that the radicals have institutionalized over young people, dismantling the arenas for hate, and policing the spread of lies and calls to Jihad, is of the most critical importance. Like the cameras in London, it is not pretty to impose law and confront hate.
<div id="attachment_901781" style="width: 383px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-901781" class="wp-image-901781 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/71mKLbBu7OL._SL1360_-373x576.jpg" alt="Post Hill Press/Wicked Son" width="373" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/71mKLbBu7OL._SL1360_-373x576.jpg 373w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/71mKLbBu7OL._SL1360_-194x300.jpg 194w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/71mKLbBu7OL._SL1360_-768x1187.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/71mKLbBu7OL._SL1360_.jpg 880w" sizes="(max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px" />Post Hill Press/Wicked Son</div>
I returned to the present with the clang of a spoon against my metal cup. George waited for my answer. Can I accept that there is something of Hamas in all of us? It is a difficult question, because on the face of it it seems a bizarre and hurtful theory by someone who knows little about the situation on the ground. But I have come to respect George, and I knew he was not playing with me. What he asked me is if we are all capable of playing the part of Hamas if we were wearing the shoe on the other foot.
I looked across at George and asked him thoughtfully if he has siblings. “Yes,” he answered, not really sure of where I was going with this. “I have a sister, she is eight years younger than myself.” I asked him if he ever felt jealousy toward her. He assures me that he did. When she first arrived home, the focus of his entire world shifted to her. “Did you ever have evil and violent thoughts about how to deal with that? Did you plan to kill her?” I asked, to his wide-eyed look. Of course, this is extreme, but relevant. “I love my sister to this day,” he stammers. “I would never harm her.” He takes a slow breath in and admits “regardless of how much she may have infuriated me as a young boy.”
In the story of Cain and Abel. Cain, the older brother, is jealous at the acceptance of Abel’s’ sacrifice to God, and in response he kills him. Cain is new to all these powerful emotions, being only the third person to ever live, he has no context for dealing and how to manage these feelings. Leading up to the act, he could not have understood the consequences of his actions, yet as his brother lay unmoving beneath him, he realizes immediately by some intuitive force that he has committed a grave transgression. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” he responds to God, when questioned of Abel’s whereabouts, a clear defensive diversion away from the moral consequence of what he has done. There are direct lessons that can be interpreted from this story; the moral wrongness of murder, the accountability, the shame and regret, and the divine justice that follows.
In my own paraphrasing of Genesis 4:11-12, I quote; “Cain, the earth received your brother’s blood from your hand, thereby the ground will give you nothing in return, and you are banished and will walk the earth without home.” This is a very clear and powerful statement that is made, one that neither Jews, Christians, or Muslims will disagree with. A person who commits murder will become a wanderer, a refugee wherever they go. They are Cain, who was deserving of justice, even though no lawbook had ever told him murder was wrong.
What happened on October 7 was a collective sociopathic act that crossed a line from which there can be no return, not just for the Hamas terrorists that came armed with guns and bombs, but for the people of Gaza who supported the invasion and followed in its wake, rampaging through residential areas, pillaging, burning, and committing barbaric acts of rape and live dismemberment. The people of Gaza, everyday citizens, came to set fire to buildings with people still inside. If you poll Gazans today, the majority will support Hamas and celebrate the events of October 7. If you survey the Palestinian people in the lands controlled by the PA, chances are there will be a strong empathy for the Gazans whose immorality brought them to their own destruction. If you poll the Pan Arab world, you will likely find an alarming number of people in support of Hamas. 
The October 7 attacks ignited global outrage, revealing deep-seated hatred and a disturbing lack of empathy. Those who march in support of Israel’s destruction or celebrate Hamas’s violence are morally complicit in these heinous acts. Like Cain, who committed the first murder despite having no explicit prohibition, these supporters cannot claim ignorance as a defense for their actions. And this is the difference between a terrorist, a terrorist sympathizer, and a fundamentally good person. The masked people holding placards celebrating Hamas and chanting for the genocide of Jews, participating in protests and encampments, these are not just the useful idiots of Hamas, these are useful evildoers for Hamas.
* * *
Israel Ellis is <a href="https://israelellis.com/in-the-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an entrepreneur</a> and the father of an IDF soldier. He is the author of &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQQ47DR3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wake Up Call</a>&#8221; (Post Hill Press/Wicked Son).
This excerpt is published by permission from Post Hill Press/Wicked Son.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT

‘Am I My Brother’s Keeper?’: Cain, Hamas, And The Aftermath Of October 7

'Am I My Brother’s Keeper?': Cain, Hamas, And The Aftermath Of October 7

Anti-Semitism

Books

Gaza

Hamas

Islamic Jihad

October 7

This is the second part of an edited <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/michael-knowles-live-at-yaf-ordo-amoris-the-hierarchy-of-political-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a>, titled “‘Ordo Amoris’: The Hierarchy of Political Love,” delivered by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> at the YAF Freedom Conference in San Diego, California.
* * *
Saint Thomas’ reasoning is, as always, clear and persuasive in his discussions of the order of charity. In the “Summa Theologiae,” Secunda Secundae, Question 26, he writes, “There must needs be some order in things loved out of charity, which order is in reference to the first principle of that love, which is God.” This expression alone proves editor of The Yale Review James Surowiecki had no idea what he was talking about when he <a href="https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1885302779058557080" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that the ordo amoris is not in the Gospels.
Not only is the ordo amoris in the Gospels, but it is also the principle articulated in the most famous line of the Gospels, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A37-39&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matthew 22:37-39</a>: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is, in other words, an order of charity — a hierarchy of love — and this order is the very foundation of Christian morality. We must love God first, and only then and upon that basis do we love everything else. And this order does not just comprise two categories. It isn’t just “God” and “everyone else.”
We find further scriptural evidence of the order of charity in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%205%3A8&amp;version=RSV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 Timothy 5:8</a>: “If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” A man does not necessarily disown the faith — he is not necessarily worse than an unbeliever — if he does not care for some random guy on the other side of the world. We have greater obligations to those who are closest to us.
This moral insight is attested to both by philosophy and religion — reason and revelation — and yet many liberals deny it. And we know they deny, not just because of their snarky tweets about JD Vance, but also from social science. Shortly after the ordo amoris debate kicked off, a graph went viral on social media.
<div id="attachment_886629" style="width: 678px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-886629" class="wp-image-886629 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML.jpg" alt="Heatmaps indicating highest moral allocation by ideology, Study 3a. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Note. The highest value on the heatmap scale is 20 units for liberals, and 12 units for conservatives. Moral circle rings, from inner to outer, are described as follows: (1) all of your immediate family, (2) all of your extended family, (3) all of your closest friends, (4) all of your friends (including distant ones), (5) all of your acquaintances, (6) all people you have ever met, (7) all people in your country, (8) all people on your continent, (9) all people on all continents, (10) all mammals, (11) all amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, and birds, (12) all animals on earth including paramecia and amoebae, (13) all animals in the universe, including alien lifeforms, (14) all living things in the universe including plants and trees, (15) all natural things in the universe including inert entities such as rocks, (16) all things in existence. SOURCE: “Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle.” Adam Waytz, Ravi Iyer, Liane Young, Jonathan Haidt, Jesse Graham. National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31558713/" width="668" height="281" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML.jpg 668w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/41467_2019_12227_Fig5_HTML-300x126.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px" />SOURCE: “Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle.” Adam Waytz, Ravi Iyer, Liane Young, Jonathan Haidt, Jesse Graham. National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine.</div>
It’s from a 2019 <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31558713/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> titled, “Ideological Differences in the Expanse of the Moral Circle.” The graph depicts heat maps “indicating highest moral allocation by ideology.” The “moral circle rings” extend from the center outward. Care for “your immediate family” is in the center, followed by “all of your extended family,” then “all of your closest friends,” then “all of your friends (including distant ones),” then your acquaintances, people you’ve ever met, your countrymen, people on your continent, all people, all mammals, all other animals, all living creatures (including amoebae), all potential life in the universe (including aliens), all living things (including plants and trees), all non-living things (including rocks), and finally all things in existence.
The study found that conservatives, being normal, tend to care more about the things closest to them; they tend to care more about their immediate families than they care about rocks. Liberals, being the sort of people who hug trees and hate their dads, tend not to care more about things closer to them. The study found that “the more liberal people were, the more they allocated equally to humans and non-humans.” A distinguishing feature of Right-wingers is that they are more likely “to morally prioritize humans over nonhumans.”
Some libs have attempted to argue that conservatives simply misunderstand the study. They argue the study shows that conservatives don’t care more about their families than liberals do; it’s just that liberals care more generally. Now, even if that were true — and it’s a perfectly plausible hypothesis given liberals’ frequent inability to control their emotions — it would still be extremely disordered to care more about strangers than about one’s own parents. Even if they cared more overall — which, it turns out, they don’t.
Liberals really do care more about rocks and trees than they do about their own families. We don’t need a chart or study to show us that. Just ask a liberal about climate change and abortion. Liberals will rend their garments over environmental threats to the coral reef, but they’ll dance in the streets to celebrate the murder of their own children through abortion.
And, it turns out, the study shows as much. Because the study “constrained the number of units that participants could assign to each group, forcing participants to distribute moral concern in a zero-sum fashion” (i.e., the more concern they allocate to one circle, the less they can allocate to another circle). And the researchers did this because research suggests that’s how people really do distribute “empathy and moral concern.” Of course: It’s a finite world. We only have so many hours to worry. We only have so many tears to shed.
But just to prove how deep this moral perversion runs on the political Left, the researchers conducted another study to test what would happen if they did not constrain people to zero-sum moral thinking. And what they discovered was that “even when participants’ allocations were not constrained, the same pattern replicated.” Conservatives, the researchers showed, exhibit “greater concern and preference for family relative to friends, the nation relative to the world … and humans relative to non-humans.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
So what conclusion are we to draw from this? Is it just a matter of preference? “Conservatives love their family and friends; liberals love trees and rocks” — de gustibus non disputandum est! No accounting for taste! I don’t think so. Any reasonable person knows that one should care more for his children than for rocks and trees. If liberals do not, it is because they have made a moral error.
And the liberals didn’t even necessarily fall into this moral error because they’re wicked. More likely, I think, they fall into it because they’re trying (and failing) to be good. I suspect most of the time it actually comes from a place of love. But that love is misplaced. It’s out of order. And disordered love tends to evil, just as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
G.K. Chesterton explains the phenomenon with regard to his friend, the socialist atheist George Bernard Shaw.
“Bernard Shaw,” Chesterton <a href="https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/439/orthodoxy2-3.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “has a heroically large and generous heart; but not a heart in the right place. And this is so of the typical society of our time. The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues.”
“When a religious scheme is shattered,” he concludes, “it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad.”
Our nation’s — our whole civilization’s — religious scheme has obviously been shattered. The vice president invoked Thomas Aquinas, and our political elites were left drooling and scratching their heads.
The scheme has been shattered, the virtues have wandered, and these wandering virtues — these errant loves — have caused our present political ills. The only remedy is to restore order — not just to our streets and our communities but to our loves — if for no other reason than that without order, without caring for ourselves and our own, we can’t properly care for anyone else either.

MixCollage-04-Mar-2025-09-54-AM-7123

Restoring The Order Of Love: The Remedy To Political Ills

Environmentalism

JD Vance

Michael Knowles

U.S. Politics

Young America's Foundation

This is the first part of an edited <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/michael-knowles-live-at-yaf-ordo-amoris-the-hierarchy-of-political-love">speech</a>, titled “‘Ordo Amoris’: The Hierarchy of Political Love,” delivered by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">Michael Knowles</a> at the YAF Freedom Conference in San Diego, California.
* * *
It’s always nice to be in San Diego. I feel even better about it now that we have a functioning southern border again. We’re less than 20 miles from Tijuana. But since January 20, our odds of running into face-tattooed foreign gangsters in the Gaslamp Quarter has dropped precipitously. 
The ones who are still here are most likely in hiding right now. They know that at any moment, Tom Homan might leap out from behind a corner with a big butterfly net and drag them all back to Mexico. This is a happy turn of events. But some on the Left seem not to realize it. Some of the Left argue — and even some on the squishy Right argue — that rounding up and deporting even the very worst illegal aliens in our country is somehow anti-American.
Now, whatever you think about mass deportations, it’s silly to argue that it’s anti-American. Deporting people is a tried-and-true American tradition, whether we’re talking about Indian Removal in 1830; the Palmer Raids in 1919 and 1920, which deported foreign communists; deportation of Japanese nationals after Pearl Harbor; Operation Wetback in 1954, which deported well over a million people in a single year; the deportation of Haitians and Cubans who had arrived during the Mariel boatlift in 1980; or any other number of deportations. 
One can argue over the necessity or prudence of those various deportations, most of which, ironically, were carried out by prominent Democrat presidents. But no one can argue that deportations aren’t American. As a simple matter of history, mass deportations are as American as apple pie.
The “anti-American” charge vanquished, opponents of immigration enforcement will next argue that deportations are somehow “un-Christian.” This claim is contradicted by the plain text of scripture. Deportations or worse — usually worse — are frequently carried out with approval in the Bible. Just ask the Canaanites. (Or the Amorites. Or the Hittites. Or the Perizzites, the Hivites, or the Jebusites.)
Now, in fairness, scripture also instructs us not to oppress or mistreat foreigners who live in our lands. “Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him: for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2022%3A21&amp;version=DRA">22:21</a>). Quite right. But what exactly does it mean not to “molest” or “afflict” the stranger? We are not left idly to wonder. Scripture tells us.
Just 10 chapters prior in the Book of Exodus, we read, “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you” (Exodus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2012%3A%2049&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">12:49</a>). Further, in Deuteronomy, we read, “Cursed be he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner” (Deuteronomy <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2027%3A19&amp;version=RSV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">27:19</a>). To hear the open borders crowd tell it, it’s the enforcement of the law which oppresses the foreigner. But scripture says the opposite. 
Scripture tells us that it’s lawlessness which oppresses the foreigner. The injunction not to oppress the foreigner does not run contrary to justice; rather, it is bound up in the execution of justice. God demands that the civil authority give the foreigner his due; He doesn’t demand that it give him more than his due. He tells us that there must be one law common to native and foreigner alike; he does not insist that foreigners be given a more lenient law, that foreigners be given special privileges over and above those afforded to citizens. Civil authorities must give appropriate care to foreigners, but they have to care for their own citizens too.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
So how do we determine the right balance between hospitality to foreigners and the enforcement of justice owed to citizens and foreigners alike?
Our Vice President JD Vance took a stab at that question on TV, and his answer sparked a national debate. Vice President Vance <a href="https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2025/02/full-time-vice-president-part-time-public-theologian/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “There’s this old school — and I think a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” 
It’s a simple enough concept. Let’s say you’re walking by a public pool, and you see a random little kid drowning. Any decent person would immediately jump in to save the kid. (That actually happened to my father a few years ago at his apartment complex. He saw the kid, he jumped in, and he pulled him out of the water.) Everyone applauds. You’re a hero.
Now imagine you’re walking past the same pool — it’s a very large pool — and you see two kids drowning, each at a different end. One of the toddlers is that same random kid and the other is your own son. You, being a decent person, want to save both. But you help your own son first. In fact, if you did not — if you were to ignore the cries of your son and go to help the other boy first — everyone would not applaud when you climbed out of the pool. You would not be a hero. You would have made a moral error. Because you, as a father, have a greater responsibility to your own son than you do to someone else’s son.
This is common sense. But is it Christian? Immediately after Vance made those remarks, a former U.K. government minister and current Yale professor, Rory Stewart, said no. He <a href="https://x.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1884952501197078922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “A bizarre take on John <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015%3A12-13&amp;version=ESV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15:12-13</a>”— which is “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” “Less Christian,” Stewart wrote, “and more pagan tribal. We should start worrying when politicians become theologians, assume to speak for Jesus, and tell us in which order to love.” 
This comment was ironic, of course, because Rory Stewart is also a politician presuming to speak for Our Lord, albeit with far less knowledge and seriousness than JD Vance. Vance shot back. He <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1885073046400012538?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, “Just google ‘ordo amoris,’” which means “order of love,” a concept developed most notably by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Just a quick pause for a moment. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful it is that we have a vice president lecturing leftists on moral philosophy in Latin? I knew the second Trump administration was going to be good. I had high hopes. But even I did not have “vice president explicating scholastic philosophy in Latin” hopes. I remember in 2016 when many on the Right yelled at me for supporting Trump on the grounds that he wasn’t a “true conservative.” Now his vice president is invoking Saint Thomas Aquinas in Latin on X. How much more conservative do you want him to get?
But I digress. At this point in the conversation, after Vance had dunked on the U.K. politician-turned-Yale professor, another Yale figure — James Surowiecki, editor of The Yale Review — decided to chime in <a href="https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1885302779058557080" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to claim</a> that “ordo amoris is not in the Gospels.” He claimed, “It’s an essentially Aristotelian concept that Aquinas, cleverly if unconvincingly, imported into Catholic theology.” 
Now, up until this point, I was aware that very few people presently associated with Yale had even a passing familiarity with the Bible. But with that comment it became clear that these Yale luminaries don’t even know their Aristotle! What is going on in New Haven? This is embarrassing.
The ordo amoris — or the ordo caritatis, as Saint Thomas would call it — is not “essentially Aristotelian,” and Saint Thomas — among the clearest thinkers who ever lived — did not import that or any other concept “unconvincingly” into Catholic theology. Aristotle touches on the concept broadly in Book IV of “Nicomachean Ethics,” where he writes that “the liberal man” — liberal in this case meaning “generous” — “like other virtuous men, will give for the sake of the noble, and rightly; for he will give to the right people, the right amounts, and at the right time, with all the other qualifications that accompany right giving.”
Early Christian writers, notably Saints Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Bernard of Clairvaux, also discuss this order of charity, all before Saint Thomas, who brings the concept to its fullest expression in the “Summa Theologiae,” Secunda Secundae, Question 26, where he <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3026.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writes</a>, “There must needs be some order in things loved out of charity, which order is in reference to the first principle of that love, which is God.”
So, we are obligated as a matter of reason to love God before ourselves, then to love ourselves before our neighbors, then to love our neighbors more than our own bodies, then to love those neighbors nearer to us more than those further away from us, then to love those connected to us by ties of blood more than others, and so on.

MixCollage-02-Mar-2025-08-03-PM-3563

The Hierarchy Of Love: Balancing Hospitality And Justice

Catholic

Illegal Immigration

San Diego

Love is a deep and profound concept, both at an individual level and in society at large. Though a marriage based on companionship and attraction was not a readily accepted idea until, arguably, the Victorian era, the first marriage ceremony took place over 4,000 years ago. The evolving and historical practice of marriage — and love’s role in it — is perhaps most easily mapped through literature, as it reflects societal norms of its time. To name a few, both Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) parsed thoughts on love, the book of Numbers tells of Zimri and Cozbi’s story (and subsequent demise), William Shakespeare constructed an entire play around star-crossed lovers with “Romeo and Juliet” (1597), C.S. Lewis drew on the Greeks and Christian commentators&#8217; thoughts to describe the types of love in “The Four Loves” (1960), and the “Twilight” series spent 274 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list in the early 2000s.
The stories of star-crossed lovers — Zimri and Cozbi, Romeo and Juliet among them — have enticed people to believe and even engage in relationships set up for failure, usually in the name of passion. After all, no records document Zimri and Cozbi as married, and Romeo and Juliet knew each other for all of 24 hours before their marriage ceremony. But what of relationships set up for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">success</a>? Vampire Edward and human Bella certainly seemed to be on a star-crossed path headed for doom, but they took matters into their own hands, setting themselves up for success. They found a way to make their relationship work “till death do us part” — or, in their case, for the long haul of immortality.
In more recent years, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson has contributed to history’s collection of tales on love and marriage, the most obvious of which being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his series “Marriage”</a> in which he draws on both his clinical and personal experiences. In it, he teaches how to avoid a star-crossed path and, instead, pursue one that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leads to fulfillment</a>. Love is a complex notion. It takes a brilliant mind to discuss the role of one’s values in the act of love, to acknowledge the extent to which it affects consciousness, and to analyze how love can be applied practically in life. As an acclaimed clinical psychologist, author, educator, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, Dr. Peterson is that mind. Yet he is not of mind only. He is one of heart. Peterson approaches the subject of love as a father and husband, having married his wife in 1989 (two years before earning his PhD in clinical psychology). Even after all he has accomplished in his career, he still proclaims his marriage, his intimate relationship, to be the best part of his life.
You can divide your life into thirds: an intimate relationship (that is, marriage), family, and career — according to Peterson’s rule of thumb. In the present day, society generally views the trajectory of love between significant others as one which culminates in marriage. He believes a “profound and properly integrated and oriented intimacy” is found in the state of marriage, with love being a beautiful and foundational element to it. And he addresses love as both a verb and a noun. Merriam-Webster defines love as a verb meaning “to hold dear; to feel passion, devotion, or tenderness for; to take pleasure in; to touch or handle in a tender or loving manner.” The noun “love” is defined, “as in affection; darling; liking.” Essentially, marriage is an opportunity to act out love reciprocally in relation to the person with whom you have fallen in love.
In his “Marriage” series, Peterson parses thoughts on love in marriage, describing love as:
<h3>A Permeated State</h3>
Love is a “grace, a gift of God,” and when you fall in love, you experience what it is like to care for someone and receive care in return. When you enter into marriage, you engage in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an act of faith</a>. In a marriage, you are given an opportunity, a chance to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrange your life</a> with the person you have fallen in love. Then the “state of love” permeates the relationship and all that you do together.
<h3>Continual</h3>
Your conscience is an indicator of behavior. One way of learning how to pay attention to your conscience (i.e., behavior) is by devoting yourself to another person within the confines of marriage. In marriage, your conscience becomes an indicator of behavior in relationship to your partner in the long run. Since you will be with your husband or wife for years of your life, you have to treat them in a manner that is “reciprocal and productive, that grows positively over decades.” A productive, positive, decades-long relationship is made up of moment-to-moment interactions, and it is from these moments that continual love blossoms in a relationship. And you have the opportunity to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve yourself</a> in relation to your partner.
<h3>An Infinite Wellspring Of Mystery</h3>
When you fall in love with someone, Peterson explains that you see an infinite wellspring of mystery. It is granted as a gift, a gift you are willing to devote yourself wholeheartedly. Together, you can foster that infinite wellspring to continually pour forth. Sometimes, people think they are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bored with their partner</a>, but Peterson clarifies this, explaining that they are usually bored because of what they have forced the other person to become or because of their own lack of creative imagination on the intimate front. After all, people are infinite mysteries.
<h3>The Precondition For Marriage</h3>
Falling in love with someone is the precondition for marriage. You find them attractive, then you fall in love — both of which Peterson says are worthy of gratefulness. Your long-term partner is significantly more interesting than any plethora of short-term, shallow relationships, and life with an intimate relationship (marriage) is far more fulfilling than walking through life alone. The caveat? Living together is not commitment enough because “trying someone out” before marrying them — the equivalent of giving them a trial run — still allows for an option to leave. True commitment begins when you formally and publicly ally and bind yourselves <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">together</a>.
<h3>Support During The Worst Times Of Life</h3>
Once married, you will go through the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/success" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worst times</a> of your life with your husband or wife. But you are better situated to survive those times with a companion who loves you. When the storms come, you are part of a joint arc because you are committed to each other in a fundamental manner. You can share in contending with the harsh realities of all dimensions of life.
In the end, you can be oriented toward love and life more abundant. But how do you know you are in love? How do you know you can be married? How do you know you are ready? Peterson’s answer is: You don’t know. You decide. That is the act of faith.

MixCollage-14-Feb-2025-02-21-PM-9969

Jordan Peterson On Love And Marriage

DailyWire+

Dr. Jordan Peterson

Marriage

Relationships

Shakespeare

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