Penna Dexter

As we enter 2021, many scholars I respect warn that things are becoming quite different in America. What’s being described as a ”soft totalitarianism” is taking hold in American public, economic, and academic life. People are being canceled, losing jobs, educational opportunities, and the ability to express ideas that have Christian and conservative roots. If you’re a believer, you will be tested. To respond to testing well, each of us must decide beforehand how we will react. Princeton Law Professor Robbie George has done this. He writes on Facebook:

"A time of testing is coming — indeed, for some it has already come. We are each going to have to decide. As for myself: I will not pretend to believe what I do not believe, or pretend not to believe what I do believe. I will not speak as if I believe to be true something I in fact believe to be false. Not in public. Not in private. Not for the sake of career or friendships. Not to fit in or avoid being thrown out (or "canceled"). There is only one thing about my life that is completely in my control, namely, my integrity. No one can take it from me. If I lose it, it can only be by way of my own freely chosen decision to yield it up. This I will not do. How about you? The only thing in your life that no one can take from you — even if they take from you everything else, everything you love, treasure, or cherish — is your integrity. Will you sacrifice it for other things? Or will you refuse to yield it up, no matter the cost? You will face the test. Pray for me, as I will pray for you, dear friends, that all of us, with God's help, will pass the test--that ‘like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved.’"

This New Year, let’s pray Professor George’s prayer.