So on Monday I was slated to appear on a panel with Piers Morgan and, having done so, I encountered what passes for enlightened discourse these days—you know, in the twilight of our Republic.

Piers was the host, and did an okay job trying to be the host, and I shared the panel with Tim Miller of The Bulwark and Wajahat Ali, who has a Substack newsletter, The Left Hook. When I say we “shared” the panel, that way of putting it is kind of misleading.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

Dear Ehud...

Thanks for the email, and for the follow-up phone conversation. I think I have a good grasp of your questions now, and of your dilemma, and hope that I can be of some help. I am thankful that your friend Dawson recommended that you contact me—Dawson’s a great one.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

Secularism is not a workable common sense solution for getting along in a pluralistic society. Secularism is simply apostasy and godlessness. And the fact that there are numerous Protestant theologians and ministers who are privately orthodox, and who would never themselves burn incense to the Queen of heaven on their own rooftops, but who nevertheless publicly argue for a “neutral” public square illustrates—as few other things could illustrate—that the heresy of secularism has made deep inroads among us. Nothing else can account for such confusion.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

So the war in Iran has been going on for a little over a month now, and enough of it has unfolded that I am now being asked on the regular what I think of the big picture....There is an additional factor in all of this in bello discussion. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, worships as part of our church service in Washington D.C. How does that factor into all of this?...On the one hand, some critics want us to intervene and “make Pete stop it.” But then, think for a minute. Do these same critics really want me or any of my fellow pastors—with no background on the intel, with no military training at this level, with no security clearance, and with no basis for sticking our noses into the internal workings of the Pentagon—to be giving Pete any specific policy advice?

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

One of the ways to test whether truth is a person’s absolute, as opposed to whether his tribal loyalty is, would be by seeing whether he ever acknowledges that his political opponent, the one who is against his tribe, has ever made a fair point. Or is he wrong about absolutely everything? This is how our polarization has come to pass; this is where it comes from. Far from making everyone more tolerant, relativism pushes people into the assumption that anyone who differs must be an orc.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

AI is a very slick search engine. You need to be careful with this one though. When you use google to search, it gives you a column of links, and the clear implication is that you need to evaluate the claims made on your own. “These are places that talk about your question, and now you are on your own.” But AI responds to you with an authoritative voice, telling you that this is the way it is. But it got that info by scrubbing the entire web, and there is a lot of bum dope out there. In addition, AI doesn’t just search for things, it just flat makes things up. More than one attorney has gotten busted for submitting a brief with non-existent court cases in it. AI is not a truth machine, but rather a consensus machine, so take care.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

If you are anything like me, you may have wondered from time to time about the precise nature of the argument between Job and his three friends. Everyone in the book speaks a lot about the greatness of God, but in all the back-and-forth, what was the nub of the issue exactly?... His three friends thought that he should take responsibility in some way, but for what exactly? This Job refused to do, but what was he refusing to do exactly? Was it simply a matter of did too/did not? What were their arguments revolving around exactly?

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

So here is what happened—in case you are not up to speed. My friend Brooks Potteiger was on a podcast with Joshua Haymes and the topic of James Talarico, a death angel from Texas, came up. Now to be fair, he doesn’t look like a death angel. As one meme put it, he looks like a walking embodiment of that COEXIST bumper sticker. But despite the choir boy appearances, he is a card-carrying member of the abortion death cult.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/