This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Something seems to be changing in American culture. Some have described it as a “<a href="https://a.co/d/07YhPOKQ">vibe shift</a>,” like a tangible sensation of spiritual change in the air, perhaps not all that different from the way a sailor might sense when the winds are about to turn. But last month, new data came out that give a specific shape to one key dimension of this shift. The polls point to an unprecedented spiritual reversal happening with young men in America, and one that has turned very suddenly.
Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/708410/rise-young-men-religiosity-realigns-gender-gaps.aspx">released numbers</a> in April showing that the share of American men ages 18 to 29 who say religion is “very important to them” jumped from 28% to 42% between 2023 and 2025. That&#8217;s a 14-point swing in two years — a 50% proportional increase, and the single largest shift in our lifetime on how young men relate to religion. This vibe shift erased a nearly 25-year decline in religious interest in just two years.
While the change is statistically unprecedented, if you have been watching the culture rather than the polls, none of this should surprise you. The polls are just catching up.
The statistical decline of traditional religious participation and the rise of those who claim to believe in “nothing at all” began in the mid-1990s. The New Atheist decade that followed made a specific wager: Strip away “superstitious” beliefs of our bygone religious past, and civilization will march onward in an unfettered path of progress. But by the 2010s, as we moved into an era of intense cultural tumult dubbed the “Great Awokening,” it was obvious we were not getting that promised utopian outcome from our anti-religious experiment.
What we got instead was a “meaning crisis” and a generation of young men who grew up feeling the weight of hopelessness. They watched as deaths of despair skyrocketed, institutional trust declined, and civilization slowly descended into ruin as Marxist and postmodern ideologies rushed to fill the religious vacuum.
They were handed a world stripped of the timeless guiding stories upon which everything good in American culture had been built, and they were told that all guiding stories — including the stories of scripture — were just propaganda power plays or backwards superstitions. The colloquial phrase for the result was simply “the young men are not okay.”
What the data now suggest is that a critical mass of young men have decided this anti-God experiment has run long enough. Young men are tired of not being okay.
The early signals were everywhere. Jordan Peterson sold out theaters lecturing on Bible stories with millions more watching on YouTube, hungry for someone to show them a story that could give their lives meaningful direction. Tom Holland’s &#8220;Dominion&#8221; became the book that thoughtful young men discussed in dorm rooms, with its thesis that the moral foundations of the modern West — human dignity, universal rights, concern for the downtrodden — is Christianity all the way down, whether we remember it or not. Justin Brierley, who spent 15 years hosting debates between Christians and the New Atheists, began to notice that young men weren’t listening to the New Atheists anymore. He covered the precipitous decline of New Atheism’s influence in &#8220;The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God.&#8221;
If anyone has been paying attention to the most popular podcaster on the planet, they’d notice a similar religious arc happening with Joe Rogan. Not that long ago, Rogan sounded like the average red-blooded American male of the old cultural moment: bemused by traditional religion and comfortable with the assumption that faith was something smart people had outgrown. In the last several years, his posture has shifted so visibly it has become a running theme of his show. Guest after guest, from biblical scholars such as Wesley Huff to Christ-curious comedians, get invited to wrestle seriously with the question of God rather than brush it aside. In 2025, Rogan himself started attending church, something <a href="https://x.com/paulanleitner/status/1874246583820157084?s=61&amp;t=GEWkhsehIN24AI-EHnUXaQ">I predicted</a> would happen in 2024. 
There were other signs in pop culture that, in strange ways, hinted at a coming spiritual turn. In late 2023, young men started playing old Creed songs again without an ounce of cynical irony — songs drenched in a sincere, hungry religiosity the 2000s had trained everyone to mock. In 2024, Creed had its highest-grossing year as a band, propelled primarily by young men who were too young to listen to the band&#8217;s religiously tinged albums when they first came out.
The popular stories that filled our screens began to reflect the ache men had for a positive vision of male heroism rooted in sacrificial love and the pursuit of something bigger than oneself. They made &#8220;Top Gun: Maverick&#8221; and &#8220;F1&#8243; enormous hits — films that refuse the postmodern move of telling you the male hero is an oppressive force of the patriarchy. More recently, they embraced &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-makes-a-story-where-doing-the-right-thing-still-matters">A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</a>,&#8221; a story about an earnest young man who wants, with his whole heart, to be genuinely good in a franchise famous for insisting that wanting to be good is how you get killed. They cheered for &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ryan-gosling-breathes-new-life-into-a-tired-genre-with-project-hail-mary">Project Hail Mary</a>,&#8221; whose “hopecore” message is built on a man named Grace laying down his life for the sake of the world.
None of these pop culture signposts are as explicitly “religious” as a Sunday school lesson, but what do they all have in common? They show that young men are hungry for hope, meaning, and purpose in their lives. They reflect a shift from the spiritual “closedness” of the last two decades to a fresh spiritual openness, and a growing appetite for timeless religious themes of virtue, sacrifice, and the quest for a higher purpose.
Is this a full-blown religious revival? Revival probably isn’t the best word to describe what’s happened. Young men’s interest in traditional religion has spiked, and some have started to fill the church pews. I suspect more will follow. What it does point to should be encouraging for anyone who cares about the future of America.
Young men are increasingly willing, in numbers now measurable, to entertain the possibility that the religious wisdom we had discarded was something we needed, but did not see the need for until we tried to live without it.
For 25 years, the trend line pointed in one direction, and even some of the most devoted church-going observers assumed it would keep tailing downward. It did not. It broke. In the span of a few short years, a generation of young men looked around at the trajectory of an anti-God culture and, with something like collective intuition, decided they had had enough.
***
Paul Anleitner is a cultural theologian whose work focuses on the role of culture and story in our quest for meaning. He is the author of “Based on a True Story: Vibe Shifts, the End of Deconstruction, and the Reboot of Meaning.”

Worshipper praying on a church

Young Men Are Finding Their Way Back To Something The Culture Tried To Replace

Christianity

Faith

Religion

Upstream

Across the board, trust in our institutions in the United States is at an all-time low.
Trust in the media is at an all-time low. Trust in church is at an all-time low. Trust in the scientific establishment is at an all-time low. Trust in government is at an all-time low. And, of course, trust in academia is at an all-time low.
Because of our lack of trust in institutions, Americans also mistrust one another.
You might think that it would be the opposite, that we mistrust one another, and therefore we mistrust our institutions.
That’s not the case. Our institutions shape us, and the way that we interact with the world is through the mechanism of institutions.
If you grew up in a religious community, going to church helped shape you. The rules of the church helped shape you. The people you spent time with shaped you. The institution of your family shaped you. Your school or university shaped you. 
As we lose faith in all of those institutions to shape us, we are incapable of coming together anymore.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-ep-2416-2-university-of-austin-speech"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Institutions tend to foster a common orientation, which is why Alexis de Tocqueville was such a big fan of them. It&#8217;s why in Democracy in America, he made the suggestion that one of the things that made America so different from all other countries was the plethora of social institutions in which Americans were enmeshed. He noted that in most other countries, people had formal institutions that they were forced to interact with, but in America, everybody was a member of a social institution or many social institutions — and that created this extraordinary social fabric that was durable, that allowed for innovation, that allowed for freedom. 
Without trust, there can&#8217;t be freedom at all. If the institutions that provide the shaping function that set the rules for our lives, the way we interact with the world, die, so does the social fabric. And then, when the social fabric dies, we stop attributing decent motivation to each other.
Instead, we start engaging in what the philosopher Alistair MacIntyre called “emotivism”: the belief that everybody except for you is motivated by something nefarious. Instead of having a political conversation, what you do is attribute a motive to the person&#8217;s policy.
You shouldn&#8217;t be attributing motivations to other people unless you have good evidence that their motivation is malign.
But that&#8217;s what we jump to when there is no trust.
I trust my wife. I&#8217;m not worried that when she criticizes me, it&#8217;s coming from a terrible place. I trust the people that I go to synagogue with. If they have a critique or we have a disagreement, I don&#8217;t immediately jump to, “They do it because they hate me.”
“You&#8217;re doing it because you hate me” is the death of politics, because if that&#8217;s the case, then how exactly are we supposed to live together and work together and create policy together?
Religious institutions used to be truth-making institutions, but the question of whether those institutions ought to pursue truth has been supplanted by the idea that they ought to do politics. In many cases, they have become progressive bastions where people go to eat pizza and play guitar rather than unite with some eternal value.
That is why many people don&#8217;t attend anymore. Why go there when you can go to a sports event instead?
We saw the scientific establishment move from evidence to narrative, most obviously during COVID. The result for an enormous number of people was to completely discard science in favor of nonsense that has zero evidence to back it.
The slide from truth to narrative is almost invariably followed by a slide from narrative to conspiracism or nonsense.
The move from seeking the truth at universities to “We are going to engineer a population of discontented people who believe that the system must be turned on its ear” led people to stop trusting the universities.
The American government was built to pursue one fundamental principle above all: epistemic humility, the idea that you might not be correct.
If you think you&#8217;re always correct, you might want to be a tyrant. 
Humility with regard to other people in your society, the idea that maybe they&#8217;re right on occasion, maybe you&#8217;re wrong on occasion, has to be rooted in trust of our fellow citizens.
We have checks and balances in the United States government to prevent it from swinging side to side to stop radical things from happening. That is legitimately the point of the American government. Unless we have a very broad agreement on something, it should not happen. That is why we have a bicameral legislature. It is why we have three branches of government.
But when that wears away, when we hate each other, what we end up with is a battle to the death in the blood sport of politics.
We get angry at the checks and balances because it&#8217;s not possible that people who oppose me are correct; those people are malign. “Those people want bad things to happen to me and to my family, and so I&#8217;m going to grab the government. I&#8217;m going to kill the filibuster. I&#8217;m gonna stack the Supreme Court. I&#8217;m going to add states willy-nilly to the United States Senate, and then I&#8217;m just going to run right over everybody.”
In the absence of rebuilding trust in the institutions, you end up with a war of all against all on the governmental level. And things will not go well.
When you get rid of the fundamental epistemic humility of the government, checks and balances give way to a centralized tyranny.
If you don&#8217;t trust your neighbor and you think your neighbor is taking advantage of you, you might say that the government should just do what you want it to do. Grab that brass ring and do exactly what you want with that power.
In order for a solid debate to take place, there must be a fundamental sharing of values and rules of the road. There ought not to be debate about fundamental propositions, because if you are having to debate individual value — such as the idea that individual human beings have individual worth — you&#8217;re arguing with something outside the system.
If you have to argue with somebody about the worthiness of truth, that is not an argument that can ever be won, because truth itself is an assumed value.
This is why, in the Declaration of Independence, when the Founders said that there are certain rights that are self-evident, they didn&#8217;t mean that they prove themselves. They mean that these are the fundamental building blocks of a society. And if you question them, the society crumbles.
Only a carefully cultivated moral culture that values truth and evidence and logic and moral decency, that actually protects free speech and property rights and equal rights under the law, is capable of restoring our institutions.
We shouldn&#8217;t be debating about fundamental moral matters, things like “lying is wrong.” If I have to debate you about that, there&#8217;s no debate.
Individual human beings have moral worth, and their autonomy has moral value.
Those are the values that we begin with, and those are the values that need to be embodied in institutions.

Rotten_Core

The Rot Spreading Through America’s Core

When A Nation Forgets Its Foundations

Ben Shapiro

Church

Family Values

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Opinion

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
When news broke last month that a Minnesota district would include Islamic prayer rooms in its new high school buildings, many commenters drew the wrong conclusion. Some expressed legitimate concerns about the scale of Muslim migration, but others seemed committed to accusing the district of hypocrisy.
“Separation of Church and State for 1 religion only it appears,” one X user <a href="https://x.com/lanedrivinsmoke/status/2046246050508263593?s=46">snarked</a>.
To which another <a href="https://x.com/jacktomczak/status/2046275017302757521?s=46">replied</a>, “What do you mean? Christian and Jewish kids can use this room too.”
They both have a point. The blueprints include foot-washing stations for Islamic ritual ablutions, which makes it pretty obvious which religion these <a href="https://alphanews.org/plans-for-prayer-room-and-foot-washing-station-at-minnesota-schools-go-viral/">prayer rooms</a> are designed to serve. At the same time, there’s nothing stopping Christian students from using these rooms. They just won’t do it. And that should set off alarm bells for Christians.
A quick example should suffice to illustrate what I mean. One day last spring, when I was between jobs working as a substitute teacher at a local public middle school, a few Muslim students approached my desk and let me know they’d be leaving class to pray in a room set aside for that purpose.
A few minutes later, the conclave in Rome elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. I’d been monitoring the election closely (<a href="https://spectator.com/article/betting-on-a-papal-conclave-felt-mildly-degenerate/?edition=us">because I had money on it</a>), so I saw the news right away and decided to share it with my students, of whom a plurality, if not a majority, were Hispanic. 
And because I still had the prayer room on my mind, I mentioned that I’d be happy to let any Catholics among them leave class briefly to pray for their new pope. In response, I got nothing but blank stares.
I realize this is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. The obligation to pray at five set times each day is one of the five pillars of Islam. There’s no comparable Catholic tradition of laypeople interrupting their day to pray for a newly elected pope (or for any other reason).
But maybe that’s the problem.
American Christianity has become invisible in the public square. We don’t wear headscarves, grow forelocks, carry <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan">special daggers</a>, or stop what we’re doing to flop down on prayer rugs. Our Sabbath-keeping is a joke compared to how the Jews do it.
We don’t even fast much anymore. In 1966, U.S. Catholic bishops “ended the obligation to abstain from meat on the Fridays outside of Lent” as long as “some other form of penance or work of charity was done,” the <a href="https://dio.org/catholic-times/hey-father-what-is-the-history-of-no-meat-on-friday/">Catholic Times explains</a>. That leaves a grand total of seven mandatory meatless days per year. Whoop-dee-doo.
Evangelical Protestants, meanwhile, tend to define their faith as a liberation from man-made rituals and religious obligations. They might endorse fasting as a valuable personal discipline, but the idea of requiring everyone to fast in the same ways on the same days sounds too much like works-based righteousness.
Why Christianity has adapted itself to secularism more fully than other religions is a tricky question. Tom Holland addresses it at length in his book &#8220;Dominion,&#8221; but the short answer is that this transformation is the product of the Christian West’s unique history and of Christianity’s own internal logic.
The reasons might be complex, but the negative consequences are obvious. 
First, Christians lose cultural influence. A religion that’s willing to make demands on secular institutions can often extract concessions. Muslims get foot-washing stations in public schools. Jews get “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator">sabbath elevators</a>” that stop automatically on every floor so they don’t have to break their law by pushing an electronic button. <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/features/how-a-catholic-businessman-put-the-filet-o-fish-on-the-mcdonald-s-menu?amp">Catholics got the Filet-O-Fish</a>, but that was back in 1963. Today, with the fasting rules relaxed, McDonald’s would have little reason to introduce it.
Second, Christians internalize the idea that there’s nothing different about them. This is especially true during adolescence, the stage when <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9167890/">peers become a bigger influence than parents</a>. If faith is part of a tween&#8217;s home life but doesn&#8217;t matter at school, it will naturally become less important to him over time.
Third, non-religious people come to regard Christianity as thin and ephemeral, something anyone can simply “<a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/taylor-swift-calls-gop-sen-marsha-blackburn-trump-in-a-wig-in-new-documentary/">identify as</a>” without any skin in the game. Remember, these &#8220;nones&#8221; don’t see what happens at mass or mosque. They’ve watched their Muslim friends, even those for whom religion is mostly cultural, suffer through Ramadan fasts. But what do their Christian friends do? Try to be nice to people? That’s fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t exactly scream “<a href="https://biblehub.com/john/1-46.htm">come and see</a>.”
Fortunately, I have a solution: Catholics should use the noon <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayers/angelus">Angelus</a> as a ministry to members of their church who attend public schools. This medieval devotion consists of ringing a bell, followed by a few scripture verses commemorating the Annunciation and a few Hail Marys. The whole thing takes about two minutes.
Implementing the Angelus in public schools would be easy. All you’d need is a bell, a parent, or a mature student to lead the prayers, and an empty room reserved from 11:55 to 12:05. If the school won’t give you a room, sue them. You’ll win.
For Protestants, a shortened version of <a href="http://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/07-Midday-Prayer.pdf">the midday prayer service from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer</a> would be just as workable.
It is, of course, possible that some kids would attend these services just to get out of class. But that’s a feature, not a bug. 
Carving out space for Christian worship in public schools would strengthen the faith of devout students, but it would also give nominal adherents a stronger sense of themselves as Christians while showing non-believers that Christianity is a religion worth taking seriously.
The reason Muslims have public school prayer rooms and we don’t isn’t because administrators favor Muslims over Christians (though I’m sure they often do). It’s because Muslims demand them and we don’t. It’s time for that to change.
***
Grayson Quay is the author of &#8220;The Transhumanist Temptation&#8221; and a former editor at the Daily Caller.

GettyImages-682359680

Why Public Schools Are Making Space For Faith And Christians Aren’t Part Of It

Public Schools

In a move that underscores a commitment to religious freedom and moral accountability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Tuesday that they have successfully replaced a statue of Jesus in the southern Lebanese village of Debel. The original religious monument had been damaged by a lone Israeli soldier, sparking immediate condemnation from Israel’s military leadership and a swift effort to make amends.
The IDF’s Northern Command spearheaded the restoration, working in &#8220;full coordination&#8221; with the local Christian community to ensure the sacred symbol was replaced.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A short while ago, in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon, the damaged statue was replaced by IDF troops. The Northern Command worked to coordinate the replacement of the statue from the moment it received the report of the incident.
The IDF… <a href="https://t.co/nGh1s1iia1">pic.twitter.com/nGh1s1iia1</a>
&mdash; Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/2046597268904558765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
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In a <a href="https://x.com/IDF/status/2046589834341351758">statement</a> released on X, the IDF expressed &#8220;deep regret&#8221; over the incident, characterizing the destruction as a &#8220;moral failure&#8221; that contradicts the fundamental values of the Jewish state and its military.
Beyond merely replacing the physical property, Israel took decisive disciplinary action to uphold its standards of conduct. The soldier who damaged the statue and the individual who filmed the act have both been removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days of military detention. Furthermore, the remaining troops present during the incident have been summoned for clarification discussions, with the Chief of the General Staff reinforcing that such behavior &#8220;far exceeds any acceptable standard.&#8221;
This swift restorative justice stands in stark contrast to the treatment of Christian institutions in many neighboring Muslim and Arab states. While Israel officially recognizes ten Christian denominations and grants them internal autonomy, other nations in the region continue to enforce systemic prohibitions. In Saudi Arabia, the construction of public Christian churches remains strictly forbidden under a rigid interpretation of Islamic law. In Somalia and Yemen, open Christian worship is virtually non-existent, often carrying the threat of execution by extremist groups like al-Shabaab or the Houthis.
The honorable conduct displayed in Debel also highlights a growing global disparity in religious safety. While Israel took immediate steps to punish its own for a single act of vandalism, Christian communities elsewhere face far more lethal threats. In Nigeria, militant groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP continue to bomb and burn churches, with over 3,400 Christians killed in 2025 alone. Similarly, in Pakistan, &#8220;mob justice&#8221; frequently leads to the destruction of dozens of churches over mere rumors of blasphemy.
By taking responsibility for the actions of a few and working with Lebanese locals to restore their religious heritage, Israel has demonstrated a Western-style tolerance that remains rare in the Middle East. The IDF has pledged to reinforce procedures regarding religious symbols for all troops, ensuring that the protection of faith remains a cornerstone of its operational ethics.

Silhouette of soldier saluting with Israel flag on background of sunrise or sunset. Armed forces of Israel concept

After Jesus Statue Is Vandalized, Israel Takes Swift Action

Global Politics

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Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

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World

President Donald Trump continued his ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV this week, posing a pair of pointed questions about the Vatican’s opposition to the war in Iran in what marks another sharp rhetorical blow.
In a Monday <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/20/us-news/trump-reveals-his-2-burning-iran-questions-for-pope-leo-after-pontiffs-ongoing-opposition-to-war/">interview</a> with the New York Post, Trump challenged the pope directly: “Why does the pope think it is fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and to kill 42,000 unarmed protesters?” — though the pope has not publicly expressed support for Iran obtaining nuclear weapons or committing violence against protesters. Trump framed the conflict as a necessary step to prevent long-term catastrophe, adding, “You can’t allow them to have a nuclear weapon because they will use it and millions of people will be dead, including Italians and Catholics around the world.”
The comments are the latest flashpoint in a weeks-long back-and-forth that has steadily intensified as the Iran conflict has unfolded. Pope Leo has repeatedly condemned the operation, calling for restraint and urging an end to what he described as the “madness of war.” 
During a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-bishops-echo-pope-blast-trump-for-war-against-iran">Palm Sunday Mass</a>, the pope warned against leaders who pursue armed conflict with “arrogance,” adding that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” While he did not name Trump, the remarks were widely interpreted as a direct rebuke of the U.S.-led campaign.
Trump has rejected that framing, arguing that the administration’s actions are rooted in deterrence rather than escalation. He has publicly dismissed the pontiff’s position as naïve and “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-accuses-pope-leo-being-terrible-foreign-policy-over-pontiffs-anti-war-comments">terrible for foreign policy</a>,” maintaining that allowing Iran to continue its nuclear program would invite far greater destruction. 
“This is one of the most important wars,” Trump said, reiterating his view that crippling Iran’s military and enrichment capabilities is essential to preventing a wider conflict.
The broader context of the spat reflects two fundamentally different frameworks for approaching the conflict: The Vatican has emphasized humanitarian concerns, the risk of escalation, and the moral cost of war, consistently calling for de-escalation and dialogue. Trump, by contrast, has framed the conflict in terms of necessity and prevention, arguing that failing to act decisively now would lead to far greater loss of life later.
Some actions by the Trump administration have also drawn attention for their religious framing.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a prayer at the Pentagon on March 25 invoking the name of Jesus Christ in support of Operation Epic Fury, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-prayer-violence-pentagon">asking</a> that U.S. forces deliver “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” 
Then earlier this month, Trump posted — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-slammed-for-outrageous-post-depicting-himself-as-jesus-christ">and later deleted</a> — an image to Truth Social that depicted him as Jesus Christ. The president later said he believed the image portrayed him as a doctor, but the episode has only added more layers of complexity to an already fraught relationship with the head of the Catholic Church.
The Vatican has not yet responded to Trump’s latest remarks, but, much to the chagrin of ​​Republican Catholics, there is little indication the temperature will drop anytime soon.

Donald Trump and Pope Leo

Trump Has Some Questions For Pope Leo

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After a viral photo showed an Israeli soldier severely damaging a Christian icon in Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces immediately investigated the incident, and finding the story factual, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the action in harsh terms, while reminding others that Israel always welcomes Christians and makes a home for them.
The Israel Defense Forces issued this statement:
<blockquote>
Following the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon. The IDF views the incident with great severity and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops.
The incident is being investigated by the Northern Command and is currently being addressed through the chain of command. Appropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings. Furthermore, the IDF is working to assist the community in restoring the statue to its place. The IDF is operating to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure established by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and has no intention of harming civilian infrastructure, including religious buildings or religious symbols.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Following the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon.
The IDF views the incident with great… <a href="https://t.co/U6P3x8KWBb">https://t.co/U6P3x8KWBb</a>
&mdash; Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/2045973415643767091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Netanyahu declared:
<blockquote>
As the Jewish state, Israel cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshippers of all faiths. All religions flourish in our land and we view members of all faiths as equals in building our society and region. Yesterday, like the overwhelming majority of Israelis, I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon. I condemn the act in the strongest terms. Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender. 
While Christians are being slaughtered in Syria and Lebanon by Muslims, the Christian population in Israel thrives unlike elsewhere in the Middle East. Israel is the only country in the region that the Christian population and standard of living is growing. Israel is the only place in the Middle East that adheres to freedom of worship for all. We express regret for the incident and for any hurt this has caused to believers in Lebanon and around the world.
</blockquote>
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As the Jewish state, Israel cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshippers of all faiths. All religions flourish in our land and we view members of all faiths as equals in building our society and region.
Yesterday, like the…
&mdash; Benjamin Netanyahu &#8211; בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/2046166181258650016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar added:
<blockquote>
The damaging of a Christian religious symbol by an IDF soldier in southern Lebanon is grave and disgraceful. I commend the IDF for its statement, for condemning the incident, and for conducting an investigation into the matter. I’m confident that the necessary strict measures will be taken against whoever carried out this ugly act. This shameful action is completely contrary to our values. Israel is a country that respects the different religions and their sacred symbols, and upholds tolerance and respect among faiths. We apologize for this incident and to every Christian whose feelings were hurt.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The damaging of a Christian religious symbol by an IDF soldier in southern Lebanon is grave and disgraceful.
I commend the IDF for its statement, for condemning the incident, and for conducting an investigation into the matter. I’m confident that the necessary strict measures…
&mdash; Gideon Sa&#39;ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) <a href="https://twitter.com/gidonsaar/status/2046098060590076132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Unlike the Arab countries that surround it, in Israel, the Christian population is <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/christian-population-in-israel-is-around-184000-and-growing/">growing</a>. In March 2025, Joseph Puder, the founder and director of the Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel, <a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/joseph-puder/where-are-the-christians-of-bethlehem-and-the-middle-east#:~:text=Between%20October%202000%20and%20November,a%20Christian%20city%2C%20Bethlehem%20exemplifies">noted</a>, “In 1950, two years after Israel’s independence, there were 36,000 Christians in Israel. Today, there are 187,900 Christians in Israel, making it, as of 2021, the only country in the Middle East with a growing Christian population.”
He added:
<blockquote>
While the number of Christians in the Jewish state grows, a different story is occurring in areas controlled by the Palestinian Arabs, including Gaza. The Greek Orthodox Church recently said that “Terrorist attacks against Christians, assaults on churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties in the Palestinian Authority &#8230; have become daily occurrences, and their severity clearly intensifies during Christian holidays.”
</blockquote>
In January, Open Doors International released its annual <a href="https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/world-watch-list-2026-christian-persecution-at-all-time-high-in-15-nations/#:~:text=Syria%20suffered%20the%20largest%20single,Assad%20regime%20in%20December%202024.">World Watch List</a> of the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians, with Muslim countries dominating the list. They reported:
<blockquote>
North Korea maintains its top spot on the list for the 24th year, with a persecution score of 97; followed by Somalia, second on the list with a persecution score of 94; Yemen, third at 93; Sudan, fourth at 92; Eritrea, fifth at 90; Syria, sixth at 90; Nigeria, seventh at 89; Pakistan, eighth at 87; Libya, ninth at 87, and Iran, 10th at 87.
Rankings continue respectively with Afghanistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Mali, Burkina Faso, China, Iraq, Maldives, Algeria, Mauritania, CAR, Morocco, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Niger, Tajikistan, Laos, DRC, Mexico, Tunisia, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Turkmenistan, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Oman, Mozambique, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Egypt, Comoros, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Colombia, Chad, Jordan and Brunei.
</blockquote>
Israel was nowhere on the list.

Israeli Authorities Announce Rescue Of Four Hostages From Gaza

Netanyahu Doesn’t Mince Words In Response To Vandalism Of Christian Icon By IDF Soldier

Benjamin Netanyahu

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman described the moment he called for the ship&#8217;s chaplain at the end of the historic lunar mission, saying that even though he did not think of himself as terribly religious, he &#8220;broke down in tears&#8221; when he saw the cross on the officer&#8217;s collar.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-what-nasas-artemis-ii-commander-stole-before-he-left-the-capsule">Wiseman</a> and his crewmates sat for a joint interview that aired on Fox News on Thursday evening, and the mission commander tried to explain what had been going through his mind at the time as he struggled to grasp the enormity of what he and his team had just witnessed.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman reflects on being MOVED to tears by the Christian cross after returning to Earth from the historic expedition:
&#8220;When I got back on the on the ship — I&#8217;m not really a religious person — but there was just no other avenue for me to explain… <a href="https://t.co/yk2JBIkxrN">pic.twitter.com/yk2JBIkxrN</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2044852432891527539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;When I got back on the on the ship — I&#8217;m not really a religious person — but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything,&#8221; Wiseman said of the moment they were retrieved from the Orion capsule after splashdown.
&#8220;So, I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute, and when that man walked in, I&#8217;d never met him before in my life. But I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It&#8217;s very hard to fully grasp what we just went through.&#8221;
Wiseman also issued a challenge to the world, saying that it was very easy in today&#8217;s society to get used to a more passive existence – but that progress depended on embracing hard work.
&#8220;We&#8217;re starting to lose scope as a society that you do have to go do things. You have to go do really hard, really challenging things,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have got to get our hands out there and engaged — our hands, and our minds have got to be engaged.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NOW: Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman shares an inspirational message to those who want to become astronauts and all of society as a whole:
&#8220;We&#8217;re starting to lose scope as a society that you do have to go do things. You have to go do really hard, really challenging things.&#8221;… <a href="https://t.co/yNjI4QTGaN">pic.twitter.com/yNjI4QTGaN</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2044857455054655769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, in contrast, took every possible opportunity throughout the mission to express his faith and to point to God. He delivered a brief Easter message from space, and then <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/artemis-ii-pilot-gets-a-front-row-seat-to-the-universe-and-then-points-straight-to-god">another one</a> just before the mission lost contact.
&#8220;Christ said in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are … He said the second … that is to love your neighbor as yourself,&#8221; Glover said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
JUST IN: Astronaut Victor Glover shares the Gospel from Artemis II before losing communication.
&#8220;Christ said in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are.&#8221;
&#8220;He said the second &#8230; that is to love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;
The… <a href="https://t.co/9xErKPxmQU">pic.twitter.com/9xErKPxmQU</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2041296734312423857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
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US-CANADA-SPACE-ARTEMIS II-NASA

The Christian Symbol That Brought The Artemis II Commander To Tears

Artemis II

Christian

NASA

U.S.

victor glover

A sharp uptick in religiosity among young American men is reversing decades of cultural trends, with new polling showing the largest year-over-year increase in religious engagement for any age group in more than two decades, an outcome many on the Right have been working toward for years.
According to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/708410/young-men-religious-young-women.aspx">new survey from Gallup</a>, 42% of men aged 18 to 29 now say religion is “very important” in their lives, up from just 28% two years prior. The 14-point jump marks the steepest increase measured across any demographic group in the poll’s recent history and returns young men to levels of religiosity not seen since the early 2000s.
The surge has also upended a longstanding gender dynamic. For decades, young women consistently reported higher levels of religious commitment than their male peers; that gap has now reversed, with young men surpassing young women in the importance they place on religion, holding a slight edge in religious affiliation, and matching them in attendance at religious services.
Gallup’s data show the increase is not merely attitudinal, as religious service attendance among young men rose seven points over the same period, reaching 40%, their highest level in more than a decade, bringing them into parity with young women and closer to older male cohorts than at any point in recent years.
The poll finds that the rise in religiosity is concentrated heavily among Republicans, with young Republican men driving much of the increase. That political alignment hints that the trend is not simply an ideological shift, but part of a broader cultural realignment among younger Americans.
For years, conservative leaders, media figures, and grassroots organizations have placed renewed emphasis on religion, tradition, and moral structure, particularly in response to what they describe as a vacuum of meaning created by secular institutions. That messaging has been especially targeted toward young men, a demographic often described as politically disengaged and culturally adrift in the social media era.
The late Charlie Kirk was among the key forces in the movement, consistently urging young men to reject modern nihilism in favor of the &#8220;ancient and the beautiful.&#8221; Shortly before his death, he <a href="https://www.christianitydaily.com/news/charlie-kirk-beautiful-to-see-young-men-reengaging-with-church.html">delivered a call</a> that resonated with the very men now appearing in Gallup&#8217;s data: &#8220;Find yourself back to church &#8230; that will reorient your life. Do what the church tells you to do: Find a woman, marry her, provide &#8230; have more kids than you can afford.&#8221;
The data now suggest that his effort bore fruit. While the broader trajectory of American religiosity remains in decline — with overall levels of belief, affiliation, and attendance near historic lows — young men have emerged as a clear exception. Their return to levels of religious importance last seen in 2000-2001 stands in stark contrast to women of all age groups, as well as older men, who remain at or near their lowest points in Gallup’s long-term tracking.
At the same time, young women have moved in the opposite direction. At just 29%, they are now the least religious demographic measured, widening a gap that now extends beyond religion into politics and culture more broadly. The result is a striking divergence: one cohort moving back toward faith, structure, and institutional religion, while another continues to drift away.
Gallup’s own analysis suggests the answer may lie in politics as much as in theology. The sustained increase in attendance among young Republican men since the late 2010s, as well as the more recent acceleration, indicates that religious engagement is increasingly intertwined with political identity. That dynamic has amplified the impact of the shift. With nearly half of young men now identifying as or leaning Republican, gains within that group are large enough to reshape the overall trend line. It marks a major victory for the conservative movement’s central argument — that cultural renewal requires a return to faith and tradition.
The data offer early signs that such a shift may already be underway among a key demographic.
Whether that trend continues or expands beyond its current base remains to be seen. For now, however, the numbers point to a clear break from the recent past: after decades of steady decline, young men are moving back toward religion in measurable and historically significant ways.

intersection of religion & politics: rear view of rows of wooden pews with religious liturgy books stored in pew racks in church

Young Men Just Surged In One Key Area And It’s Flipping A Decades-Old Gender Gap

Gender

Polls

Republican Party

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Artemis II pilot Victor Glover went a long way — 252,756 miles, to be exact — to make an impression, and boy, did he ever make one. A devout Christian, Glover praised God from the heavens as he and his compatriots completed their lunar mission — and his faith resonated in shockwaves back on Earth.
While many are accustomed to watching celebrities or sports figures answer victory — and sometimes defeat — with prayer and a call to glorify God in all things, those words are more striking when they come from scientists because so often culture teaches us that science and faith must be at odds with each other.
But Glover says otherwise, loudly and boldly — and when he&#8217;s given a microphone, even hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth, he says it again.
The naval test pilot holds three master&#8217;s degrees in flight and engineering fields, and he explained in a 2023 <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-artemis-ii-pilot-victor-glover-reframes-race-question.html">interview</a> that his faith feeds his academic and career pursuits.
&#8220;My career is fed by my faith. Anytime I do something that’s pretty risky, I pray. Before I fly, every time I fly. Definitely when you go sit on top of a rocket ship,&#8221; he said. &#8220;In the military, there’s a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. There aren’t any on top of rockets, either.&#8221;
Throughout Artemis II&#8217;s mission, Glover took every opportunity to share his faith — particularly in the context of God&#8217;s creation, to which he&#8217;d just been given a front-row seat.
On Easter Sunday, he gave an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/artemis-ii-pilot-pauses-during-lunar-mission-to-deliver-powerful-easter-message">impromptu speech</a> from aboard the Orion capsule.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 JUST IN: Artemis II pilot Victor Glover just gave this BEAUTIFUL Easter message
&#8220;So far from Earth, looking at the BEAUTY of creation.&#8221;
“When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us&#8230;this amazing place.&#8221; ❤️🙏🏻<a href="https://t.co/cjZscnGz2A">pic.twitter.com/cjZscnGz2A</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2040566651788157186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You know, when I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created, it’s — you have this amazing place, this spaceship, you guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth,&#8221; Glover said, adding, &#8220;You’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos. Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you, and I’m trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special.&#8221;
&#8220;In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe, you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together,&#8221; he said.
Just before they circled around the moon and lost contact with Mission Control, Glover once again took the microphone and brought the conversation back to his faith: &#8220;Christ said in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are &#8230; He said the second &#8230; that is to love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
JUST IN: Astronaut Victor Glover shares the Gospel from Artemis II before losing communication.
&#8220;Christ said in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are.&#8221;
&#8220;He said the second &#8230; that is to love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;
The… <a href="https://t.co/9xErKPxmQU">pic.twitter.com/9xErKPxmQU</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2041296734312423857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When the crew finally splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of their lunar mission, Glover&#8217;s first public comments were once again rooted in his faith: &#8220;I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with — it&#8217;s too big to just be in one body.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 WOW! Artemis II pilot Victor Glover spreads the gospel after a safe return home from space
This dude is a MASTERCLASS!
&#8220;I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the… <a href="https://t.co/VnCljIxdqX">pic.twitter.com/VnCljIxdqX</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2043079388887953721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When Glover was granted a hero&#8217;s welcome at home, his thoughts remained on shining the light outward. &#8220;Some of us have never met before. And you know whose fault that is? Ours. So let&#8217;s choose to do this. Let&#8217;s be this more. Let&#8217;s be neighbors,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if you heard me say it, but God told us to love Him with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Astronaut Victor Glover shares the gospel to a crowd who welcomed him back home to Houston, Texas.
People were seen lining the streets to welcome Glover back home.
“Some of us have never met before. And you know whose fault that is? Ours. So let&#8217;s choose to do this. Let&#8217;s… <a href="https://t.co/xMLozkJtLr">pic.twitter.com/xMLozkJtLr</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2043704154120724796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The response was overwhelming: People everywhere heard him, and they loved what they heard.
&#8220;Loves Jesus. Loves his wife. Loves his daughters. Literally new fav astronaut,&#8221; commentator and Daily Wire contributor Elisha Krauss <a href="https://x.com/ElishaKrauss/status/2043513849769574698">posted</a>.
&#8220;It&#8217;s really beautiful to see someone in the government, in the military, and most definitely in the public eye giving glory to God for a mighty achievement. Our society needs so much more of this,&#8221; another <a href="https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2043396363002765561">responded</a>.
&#8220;Victor Glover is currently my favorite American,&#8221; journalist Olivia Rondeau <a href="https://x.com/rondeaulivia/status/2043405151730643408">added</a>.
&#8220;No need to send poets to the Moon, we have NASA Astronaut Victor Glover,&#8221; someone else <a href="https://x.com/OwenSparks/status/2041273387801030964">observed</a>.
But Glover himself said it best: &#8220;We need Jesus — whether on Earth or circling the moon.&#8221;

US-SPACE-ARTEMIS II-NASA

Artemis II Pilot Gets A Front-Row Seat To The Universe And Then Points Straight To God

Space

Yesterday was Divine Mercy Sunday. This special day for Catholics around the world builds on the Gospel accounts of the resurrected Jesus&#8217;s appearances to his inner circle of followers. His most common and consistent message to his followers after rising from the dead?
“Peace be with you.”
Not long after Pope Leo closed the holy Easter Octave on this important liturgical day by leading an evening peace vigil at the Vatican, President Donald Trump <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-pope-leo-xiv-02f6b4554ea4b83af02af15987ae1f2d">tore into the Holy Father on social media</a>, calling him “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible on foreign policy.”
In many ways, the post was classic Trump: the most powerful man in the world was not just writing with the random capitalizations and uppercase blocked phrases, but offering a series of unhinged attacks interspersed with increasingly questionable accounts of his own record. (How many times do we have to hear that someone who won the 2024 election by 1.5 percentage points did so “IN A LANDSLIDE”?)
Even as a Catholic who hated this post on multiple levels, parts of it do remind me of what makes Trump genuinely appealing to so many, even now. He refuses to play pietistic games and directly criticizes those whom he feels deserve it. He does so with a performative self-assuredness that, even as it misleads, makes easy, sweeping analysis more complicated because it often brushes up against something true. (He was not wrong to speculate that Pope Leo is probably not pope today if someone else were president.) Despite hurting so many people with his words and actions, he is also at times genuinely funny and engaging, not least because he puts his humanity on full display. His supporters (and sometimes even his detractors) love this humanity, especially when contrasted with the inauthentic, poll-tested, AI-scrubbed, robot-like affect we get from most other politicians.
But Trump’s humanity needs redemption. Badly.
Saying so isn’t a politically motivated attack; it is simply asserting the truth of Christianity. Human beings are born with fallen natures, with primordial wounds which play out in our desire to accumulate, to dominate, and to prove ourselves worthy of love and affection at the expense of others. Trump’s wounds in this regard are not different in kind from those writ large on the hearts of humanity.
But his wounds are on full display in front of the whole world. Not just on social media, but on the skyscrapers and other massive buildings with his name on them, in his renaming institutions after himself, and in his ferociously putting other people down in an attempt to build himself up. These are obviously not the marks of a man who is at peace with himself.
And then there was the assassin’s bullet in Pennsylvania, which came less than an inch from ending his life. At a <a href="https://cbn.com/news/us/it-changed-something-me-trump-admits-attempted-assassination-transformed-his-belief-god">recent prayer breakfast</a>, Trump said that this “changed something in me.” And in what appeared to be a moment of self-reflection on his own life, he told the crowd, “You can&#8217;t be happy without religion—without that belief.”
In speaking with those who know him and have discussed this topic with him, I’ve come to believe that we should take this shift in him seriously and not be cynical about it.
But we must also ask whether the person who said this believes it. Really, really believes it. In his bones. In the deepest part of who he is.
If Trump truly believes that faith in God is what brings one true happiness, would he be on social media launching unprecedented attacks on the pope? If the kid from Queens really knew that he is loved beyond measure—loved in this unimaginable way before he accomplished even one single thing in his life—would he still need to build himself up by tearing his perceived enemies new metaphorical holes?
We are now weeks away from celebrating the 250th anniversary of a founding document that declared we are created equal by God. Our equality and value come from one source and one source alone: the way God made us. Nothing about our position, age, size, level of dependence, IQ, net worth, families, health, successes, or failures—nothing—can add to or take away from the intrinsic dignity that makes all human beings equal. We are loved with the unconditional love of a heavenly father for a child. And in the president’s case, a son.
What would Trump’s life (including, but not at all limited to, his presidency) look like if he really believed that he was loved in this way? Unconditionally, warts and all? If he knew that if he sincerely asked for forgiveness, the Peace that Christ offers all of us (and in a special way at this time of year) could be his? Would he feel the need to portray himself as a Christ figure, King of Kings, and spiritual healer, as he did in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend?
I feel comfortable saying that he wouldn’t spend time on social media attacking the pope and others like this. Reasonable people, including faithful Catholics, can and do disagree with the pope on prudential policy matters. But a man at peace doesn’t feel the need to humiliate someone else when offering a different point of view.
Perhaps the most important thing a Christian should do in this context is wish something for Donald Trump, the person, the child of God, quite apart from Donald Trump the politician and president.
Donald, you’ve been used by Christian leaders and others in the faith who wanted to advance their own agendas through you. I’m genuinely sorry that your primary exposure to the faith and to Christians over the last decade has been like this. I want to genuinely invite you to put aside the wisdom of the world, which has made you and so many others anxious and angry. I want to genuinely invite you to embrace the unimaginable good news of the Cross and Resurrection. It turns the wisdom of the world on its head: we lead authentically when we put others before ourselves; the proper way to respond to our enemies is with love; we receive in direct proportion to what we give away; and it is in dying to self that we find who we truly are.
The peace that comes from this divine wisdom is what you are missing, Donald. You know this on some level. It is the only thing that truly satisfies and makes one truly happy.
Mr. President, Peace be with you.
***
Charles Camosy is a professor of moral theology and bioethics at the Catholic University of America.

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Mr. President, Peace Be With You

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Social Media

President Donald Trump deleted a post from his Truth Social account on Monday after he was condemned by some of his Christian supporters for depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
The image showed Trump, dressed in a white tunic and red robe, healing a man in a hospital bed as people around Trump looked on in adoration and prayer. The image appears to have originated on social media in February when conservative social media personality Nick Adams <a href="https://x.com/nickadamsinusa/status/2019100728078348415?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q">shared</a> it on X with the caption, &#8220;America has been sick for a long time. President Trump is healing this nation.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1076721" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1076721" class="wp-image-1076721 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Untitled-design-2026-04-13T075044.115-384x576.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Untitled-design-2026-04-13T075044.115-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Untitled-design-2026-04-13T075044.115-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Untitled-design-2026-04-13T075044.115-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Untitled-design-2026-04-13T075044.115.jpg 800w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Screenshot: Truth Social</div>
The image was a step too far in the minds of many of his Christian supporters, who often defend the president&#8217;s unconventional social media tactics. Many of Trump&#8217;s Christian supporters urged the president to take it down, with some Christians calling the image &#8220;<a href="https://x.com/JonnyRoot_/status/2043545923192758693">blasphemous</a>.&#8221;
&#8220;I assume someone has already told him, but it behooves the President both spiritually and politically to delete the picture, no matter the intent,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/michaeljknowles/status/2043539668227039475">wrote</a> Daily Wire host Michael Knowles.
&#8220;I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/megbasham/status/2043532479194075630">said</a> Megan Basham, &#8220;But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump posted the image less than one hour after he blasted Pope Leo XIV in another social media post, calling the pope &#8220;weak&#8221; and suggesting he didn&#8217;t deserve to be chosen for the position. The pope has been critical of Trump&#8217;s immigration policies and the military campaign against Iran.
&#8220;God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,&#8221; Pope Leo <a href="https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2042588417578668338">said</a> last week. &#8220;Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.&#8221;
In his Palm Sunday message last month, Pope Leo also said that Jesus &#8220;rejects war&#8221; and &#8220;does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.&#8221;
Trump responded to the pope&#8217;s comments Sunday evening, writing, &#8220;I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.&#8221;
&#8220;Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.&#8221;

Trump Removes ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ Post Depicting Himself As Jesus Christ After Backlash From Supporters

Christians

Jesus Christ

Former Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse said he does not fear his death during an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/opinion/ben-sasse-death-pancreatic-cancer.html">interview</a> with Ross Douthat earlier this week.
Sasse <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-senator-ben-sasse-reveals-stage-four-cancer-diagnosis-ive-got-less-time-than-id-prefer?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Former+Senator+Ben+Sasse+Reveals+Stage-Four+Cancer+Diagnosis%3A+%E2%80%98I%E2%80%99ve+Got+Less+Time+Than+I%E2%80%99d+Prefer%E2%80%99">said</a> in December that he had been diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, calling it a “death sentence.”
“I was incredibly blessed to be quickly at peace,” Sasse told Douthat. “I kept hearing the Pauline phrase, ‘To live is Christ, to die is gain.’&#8221;
“Death is terrible,” Sasse added. “We should never sugarcoat it. It is not how things are meant to be. But it is great that death can be called the final enemy. It’s an enemy, but it’s a final enemy, and then there will be no more tears.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Former Sen. Ben Sasse, who is facing terminal illness, opens up about how his faith in Jesus Christ is sustaining him during this difficult time:
“I believe in the Resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world, and so I did not feel great fear about my death.” <a href="https://t.co/MhZrV5ULra">pic.twitter.com/MhZrV5ULra</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2042661373125984542?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Sasse is now in the fourth month since his diagnosis, having been told he had three to four months to live.
“I believe in the Resurrection, and I believe in a restoration of this world, and so I did not feel great fear about my death,” Sasse said. “I didn’t want the pain I was going through, I didn’t want to be a pansy-ass in my final moments.”
Sasse had a bloody face during his interview, a side effect of a new cancer treatment, he told Douthat. The treatment is extending the lives of cancer patients, but causes bleeding, peeling, and rashes.
“It’s a nasty drug,” Sasse said. “It causes crazy stuff, like my body can’t grow skin, and so I bleed out of a whole bunch of parts of me that shouldn’t be bleeding.”
Sasse has done several interviews since his diagnosis, and he told Douthat he has “time to redeem.”
“You gotta redeem the time, and there’s only so many bits of unsolicited advice I can give my children,” Sasse said when asked why he is choosing to talk to journalists. “You journalists want to talk, and if you don’t have anybody better, I’m your man.”
Although Sasse said he has made peace with his mortality, he added that he does have regrets about having prioritized poorly throughout his life.
“We’re all on the clock, and I wanted to have prioritized better, and whether I really only had three or four months left or if I get nine to 12 months left, I wanna prioritize better from then. But in my tradition, in Christianity, the need for daily repentance is just a truth. I am broken,” Sasse said. “And I get to repent every day of my sins — of both omission and commission. And yet, at a slightly bigger level, if you’re only gonna get three or four months, you really wanna get some of your affairs in order.”
Sasse said he has felt a heaviness about the diagnosis because he does not want to leave his children without a father.
“I knew that God was not surprised by the diagnosis,” Sasse said. “There is not a maverick molecule in the universe. But I didn’t like the idea of my 14-year-old son not having a dad around at 16. I didn’t like the idea of my daughters, who are 22 and 24, not having their dad there to walk them down the aisle.”
Despite his concerns, Sasse said, he is still at peace.
“I’ve continued to feel a peace about the fact that death is something that we should hate, we should call it a wicked thief, and yet, it’s pretty good that you pass through the veil of tears one time and then there will be no more tears,” Sasse said.

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