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The empirical social science around the positive impacts of religious attendance is overwhelming. When I tell this to crowds, I often get this response: "Yeah, but I don't believe in all that. I can find community in other ways." Yet, there's been no replacement for religious community created in the last 30 years that has even 5% of the participation of weekend church-going. So, there's kind of an impasse here.

It is interesting to note how, in Paul's letters to the early church, he recommends radical forgiveness, bold confrontation of sin to root out immorality, abuse, and false teaching, as well as unity and mercy, to struggling churches, as opposed to "taking a break from the church," or a "just me and Jesus" mentality. Instead, he talks about how the church is a body that needs each member in order to function and flourish. And some of those early churches were pretty messed up. If those Christians weren't supposed to just walk away, then maybe we aren't either?

Liberty divorced from virtue cannot sustain a nation. And any nation divorced from liberty cannot thrive. The need of the hour is both - a cultivation of virtue that comes from mediating institutions like family and church, and a defense of liberty that is the sole legitimate function of the state. In this fusion, America was born, and to this fusion, America will be restored.