Truth, Justice, and the American Way

I normally like to start a blog post with something light, pithy and a little silly. But I'm not feeling that way today. I'm not exactly depressed or sad, but I am feeling the weight of the world right now, for many reasons, some personal, some political. So I'm not going to sugarcoat things. 

 America is hurting right now. The world is hurting right now, of course, but this blog is about America and what I love about our nation. That is no slight to the horror in the rest of the world, but I feel its important to frame things here to not lose the point. 

Those on the political left likely are hurting for a lot of reasons that I can't fully speak to as an outsider. I imagine this has been a difficult year to watch this new presidential administration enact policies they oppose and speak in ways the reject. I imagine there's a lot of pondering next steps, where to go forward, and how to win the next elections.  I'm not on the left though, so I won't put words in their mouth. 

Anyway, I suspect the midterms are going to go well for the left regardless, so hope is on your horizon.

This blog is primarily for those on the political right, though. And even more directly to Christians who find themselves on the right. I think there are a lot of emotions and thoughts on the state of our Union right now. I am cognizant that many on the right are probably not overly tuned into politics right now. We tend to rile ourselves up in an presidential election year, and then fall back to our daily lives. That's healthy for the most part. Politics pales in importance to daily life - raising our kids, working good jobs to provide for our families, paying bills, getting out of debt, navigating health issues, being good friends, and growing spiritually in our faith. If that's where you're at - I'm glad. Real life is a much better place to live than in the insane political zeitgeist that is American at the end of 2025.

Some of us are following the politics though, whether intentionally or by choice. This is directed to you and most honestly, is just my own attempt to put words to my thoughts - whether anyone listens or not. 

September 10, 2025 changed things for me. I watched Charlie Kirk, a man who I had conflicting opinions on, brutally die on a tiny screen in my hand in excruciating and uncensored detail. Then I watched people in my own life (not online trolls), who I considered personal friends or at least friendly acquaintances viciously malign his character, attack his widow and children, and celebrate his death.  

A lot of the hope I had in this nation died that day as well. I realized things were much darker than I had realized, and for a moment thought that partisanship had just gotten too entrenched. Maybe this would be a spark for conservatives to redouble our efforts to fight for the soul of the nation. Even more hopefully, I thought maybe this will encourage Christians to stop looking to politics to solve our problems, but instead speak boldly in the name of Christ as the only lasting hope and salvation for our broken world. Maybe we could see the imago dei in each human being. 

And then instead of coming together, the right exploded. I won't belabor the details here. We've all heard the pundits jostling for the microphone dropped by Charlie. 

What I want to say now isn't really about whether you're on the Tucker wing or the Shapiro wing, whether you're MAGA or America First or Republican or Conservative. Or just a Christian who doesn't really have a dog in the fight. The way forward, in my opinion, is about remembering truth, justice, and the American way. 

Truth

As Ben Shapiro emphasized at his AmericaFest speech a few days back, truth matters. Truth matters far more than party affiliation or national identify. Lies and half-truths are wrong -  not being they're strategically unwise - but because they're ungodly and morally wrong.  Conspiracy theories do not trade in truth. They trade is secrecy, fear, paranoia, speculation and emotion. 

Truth is different. It looks at evidence and demands a conclusion from that evidence. But it also must look past biases, pre-existing frameworks and beliefs and worldviews to find true metaphysical reality. 

Truth seeks to ascertain what IS.

Our world is lost in an era of AI, social media, and 10-20 years of relativistic thought training our minds to believe in "our truth" rather than THE truth. We listen to podcasters and politicians and other thought leaders who try to tell us their perspective on the truth. That's important. And I think we all have to think about what is THE truth, not just our truth. First Truths, as it were.

As Conservatives, we've gotten so lost in the fight opposing "the Left" that we've forgotten first principles. So I want to try and walk back a bit.

I am a Christian. I am not quiet about that fact. I have a bias and a perspective. I believe that there is an eternal God who made the universe, time and space. He is the uncaused cause and the author of the world. In my mind, that means He is the one who gets to make the call on Truth. 

In the Gospel of John, the author writes "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:3-5, ESV)

When brought before Pilate during his trial in Chapter 18, Jesus states "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."  He goes out to state "for this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." (John 18: 36-37). 

Jesus testifies clearly that the his ministry and purpose is to bear witness to the truth and his words speak truth. So what does Jesus say is truth? 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:6-7).God's way is the truth. And his kingdom is not of this world. 

Let me be clear. I'm not a "Christian Nationalist." I'm a Christian. I love my nation and want what's best for it, but if I have to choose between love of country and obedience to my God, it's not even a choice. It's God's Way every time. Nations rise and fall. The Bible says "He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away" (Job 12:23). America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and values, which is part of why I love this nation. But every day our nation needs to face the question of whether we will honor God or not. If our leaders and our people reject God's truth, then we will fail. And rightly so. 

It's not a coincidence that John Adams, one of our founding fathers said "our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." That doesn't mean you have to be a Christian or religious to be a part of American society or American politics, but it does mean the principles the nation was built on rely on some shared social construct we agree to operate under and undergirded by Judeo-Christian values. 

However, regardless of political structures or outcomes or values, our job is to pursue truth as individual created beings regardless of whether the nation follows. Hopefully it does. But we are individuals and must make our own choice before God.

Justice

So, what does pursuing God's way, and Truth look like? Micah 6:8 says "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Justice requires accountability for acts of evil. But it also requires kindness and mercy and humility before God. We've lost that in this country. Maybe we never had it. I'm not sure, to be honest.

But who judges what is Just? Ultimately, at a moral level it's God. I hope our nation can submit and kneel to God's authority in this. But I'm also cognizant that America isn't a theocracy, it's a Representative Democracy or a Republic. And it's not my place to demand faith by fiat.

However, Scripture also gives guidelines for living as followers of Christ - of Truth - within the political realities of our world. Paul write in Romans 13: 

"[l]et every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for his is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoing." 

So what do we, as individual Americans and Christians, do? We take on the reality of the world in the nation we live in. We submit to our governing authorities, and we seek to arrange government that provides justice - whether a sword or mercy - in a God honoring way. 

That will look different in other parts of the world. But I'm speaking to Americans. And thankfully we're blessed to live in a really cool nation and political system in many ways. 

The American Way

See, our founders were pretty smart. They knew that governments can become corrupt and can perpetuate evil. Even our beloved America. They'd seen it in fact. In 1788, in an effort to convince the people to adopt the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of letters called today the Federalist Papers. The 51st article states:

 "But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." 

Many conservatives probably know this quote. It explains one of the reasons why many of us prefer smaller, limited government. But I think it's also helpful to reflect on our own hearts and examine our own "side" from this perspective as well. 

As we move forward and decide where we go from here as a nation, we need to ask ourselves how do we enable the political "right" or conservatives to not fall prey to the weaknesses of human nature? What internal and external controls do we need on ourselves, understanding that bad actors can step in and cause damage. 

These are the questions we need to be exploring right now. And we need to be putting forward solutions. Not just to these questions, but to the issues of our day - in regard to freedom of speech, foreign policy, in regard to economic policy, and in regard to criminal justice. 

THIS GETS MESSY. It's not always obvious what's right. We live in a broken world. But we have an obligation as Christians to pursue justice, mercy, and humility before God. It's non-negotiable. 

But I think a roadmap, at least for Christians in this nation is this: 

1) Pursue Truth. Lean into relationship with God and his Son. Read and medicate on Scripture daily. Challenge your preconceptions, and allow God to transform you. Stop looking to politics first, and instead look to God to frame your understanding of the world. Nations rise and fall. American may move forward and do justice, or it may collapse and that's okay. God is sovereign. 

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  Romans 12:2.

 2) Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God. As Christians and conservatives, we need to fight injustice with boldness and clarity. We need to speak loudly to the issues of the day without fear. But we also must do so with mercy and humility before God. All human being are are made in the image of God and we must never forget this reality. We must follow the whole counsel of Scripture and remember that "[t]he wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1) but also to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). 

3) As Americans, work to heal and repair the systems in place. It's easy to try and tear down and destroy, but as Americans we've been given a gift of an incredibly constitutional system of government. I pray we can return to the principles that allowed this system to work, and get the machine moving again. Freedom of speech is good. It allows for real conversation and debate. Limited government is good to avoid tyranny. Fiscal responsibility is good. It shows integrity and long-term thinking and sustainability. 

But truth, wisdom and love must be paramount and we must not be afraid to speak it. And we must never cower or stand down when truth is under attack. 

I'll leave you with this fantastic image and quote from Captain America. God Bless, and Merry Christmas. 

By Evan Gillespie