Ben Peterson

Assistant professor @ACUedu. Author: Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons ( Views mine.

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

New Ep of Cicero On Duties! Bk 1, Ch 132-137 with Cicero's advice on oratory and conversation. Read along with @ChrisAnadale , Katherine Bradshaw, @Ethan_AD_, and @ben_2_long. Link to follow:

[Mere Orthodoxy @mereorthodoxy]

Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons: Sanctuaries of Order
by Benjamin Peterson

https://t.co/QQT1A8S1e2

[Ben Peterson @ben_2_long]

Grateful to debut at @mereorthodoxy with this book launch essay. Many thanks @NadyaWilliams81 and @jake_meador

https://t.co/FLvm5G0njB

[José Cuadriello ✞🇻🇦 @JACuadriello]

An Egalitarian Faith? Alexis de Tocqueville probes the relationship between Christianity, equality, and liberal democracy. - @ben_2_long | @LawLiberty https://t.co/otWHJDKE6d

[Ben Peterson @ben_2_long]

@HertogFDN @ACTC5 Thanks @HertogFDN! This paper issued in an essay at @LawLiberty: https://t.co/no2r7Tyrsb

[Hertog Foundation @HertogFDN]

Next up: Alumnus Ben Peterson — our third in this series of panelists at the 2026 @ACTC5 Conference — offered a critical analysis of Alexis de Tocqueville's account of religion's place in American democracy.

[Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing @Zenpersuasion]

I’m an appellate court judge.

I’ve read thousands of briefs.

Here’s what no one told you about persuasion and how to win. Thread.

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

Why behavior that is seemly for one person is unseemly for another. Episode 18 of our podcast reading through and commenting on Cicero's De Officiis.
With @ChrisAnadale, Katherine Bradshaw, @ben_2_long, @McGillPatterson, and @Ethan_AD_. All of us in 1 room for a change.

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

Reason and seemliness should govern even our sense of humor. Cicero explains & we discuss, in episode 17 of our weekly On Duties podcast. With @ChrisAnadale @Ethan_AD_ @ben_2_long and the great Coyle Neal. Links follow.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Wow. Sobering truth from Corrie ten Boom. 🔥

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

The good man has a sense of shame and lives a life of ordered beauty. Cicero On Duties podcast episode 16, with hosts Chris Anadale, Ethan Alexander-Davey, Ben Peterson, and Coyle Neal. Links below.
@ChrisAnadale @Ethan_AD_ @ben_2_long

[Law & Liberty @LawLiberty]

Ben Peterson (@ben_2_long) explores Tocqueville’s account of religion as a formative influence on American political life, considering how Christianity has shaped—and been shaped by—the rise of democratic equality. https://t.co/FSraegSomM

[Lee Trepanier @lee_trepanier]

@ben_2_long: "Alexis de Tocqueville probes the relationship between Christianity, equality, and liberal democracy."
https://t.co/dY5FFyp3jt

[Ben Peterson @ben_2_long]

Thanks to @LawLiberty for posting this essay, a critical reflection on Tocqueville's discussion of religion in American democracy: https://t.co/no2r7Tyrsb

[Ben Peterson @ben_2_long]

I was grateful to briefly join this informative and stimulating conversation on crime, community, and policing at The Glenn Show with two excellent scholars, Jeffrey Seaman and Robert J. Sampson, hosted by @GlennLoury:

https://t.co/dhkp4o65pl

[Nancy Pearcey @NancyRPearcey]

It's not just conservative families. It's conservative religious families:

Guenter Lewy is the author of Why America Needs Religion. "Interestingly, Lewy started out to write a book on the opposite theme—why America does not need religion. Many political conservatives have argued that religion is foundational to morality and social stability, and Lewy intended to prove them wrong.

His book would be, in his own words, “a defense of secular humanism and ethical relativism.”

But as he examined the evidence, Lewy turned around 180 degrees. He ended up writing a book arguing that religion, particularly Christianity, correlates with lower rates of social pathologies such as crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and family breakdown.

Or, to put it positively, Christianity motivates attitudes that signal social health, such as responsibility, moral integrity, compassion, and altruism.

“Contrary to the expectations of the Enlightenment,” Lewy concludes, “freeing individuals from the shackles of traditional religion does not result in their moral uplift.”

To the contrary, the evidence now shows clearly that “no society has yet been successful in teaching morality without religion.”

Today the facts are in: Science itself confirms that biblical principles work in the real world—which is strong evidence that they are true. The Bible describes the way we were created to function, and when we follow its prescriptions, we are happier and healthier.

The best explanation of the positive data is that our lives are lining up with the objective structure of reality."

--from Total Truth

[Ross Douthat @DouthatNYT]

An essay on the papal relationship to populism, the just-war debate over Iran, and Trump's relationship to God:
https://t.co/MOdULtqYMN

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

Your annual Donald Rumsfeld IRS Tax Day Letter appreciation post.

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

New Ep of Cicero, On Duties. @ChrisAnadale, @Ethan_AD_, and Ben Peterson discuss Bk 1, Chs. 61-69. Cicero on the “great spirited man.” Link to follow:

[The Ciceronian Society @ciceroniansoc]

New Ep of Cicero, ON DUTIES, @ChrisAnadale, @Ethan_AD_, and Ben Peterson discuss Bk 1, Chs 79-86. The great spirited man must govern himself with Reason. What does that mean? Link to follow: