Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8412 Plough Quarterly • Winter 2017 kingdom of God are visible, in a way of life that is open to everyone. I agree. It’s similar to when a husband and wife come together and pledge their lives to each other. They wall off the possibility of being involved romantically or sexually with anybody else so they can build something beautiful, deepen their love to each other and their love of God, and bring forth new fruit, that is to say, children. That is the attitude we need to have going into the Benedict Option. Pope Benedict said that the greatest witness for the church is not its apologetics but the art it produces and its saints – the beautiful things that come out of its culture that reflect Christ and cause people to say, “God is in that.” In the postmodern age, people don’t really have the patience to hear rational arguments for the faith. Not to say we shouldn’t make them, but they’re going to be the least useful thing for spreading the faith. The most useful thing is going to be the love in our hearts and the good deeds and mercy that come out of that. I remember when as a teenager – I was a very arrogant agnostic – I walked into the cathedral of Chartres in France. It knocked me flat. Nothing in my life had prepared me for the beauty of that medieval cathedral, the sense of harmony and depth. I knew that God was present. We don’t even know who built the thing, but I knew this was built by people who knew God. I walked out of that church knowing that I wanted whatever inspired the men who built that cathedral. We no longer live in the age of cathedral- building. But we Christians need to relearn the habit of making good art and not kitsch, which is the bane of church life. In the course of the Benedict Option, craftsmanship and artistry should be reborn out of these communities as a way of serving the world and as a way of witness. We have to expand our sense of what evan- gelism is. Leading a person toward the sinner’s prayer is one way of evangelizing. But another way I’ve found so effective with people I know who have come to the faith has been indirect: just being a friend to somebody, being open about your faith but not pushy, and living a life where the light of Christ shines through you. That’s what I found when I spent a week with the Benedictine monks in the monastery founded by Saint Benedict in what’s now Norcia, Italy. The monks may never say a word to you about Jesus Christ, but you can see him in their faces, in the peace they have. I think that’s going to be the most effective form of evangelization in the twenty-first century. Faith in Public You’ve written that Christianity is under assault in contemporary culture. But how real is the threat? Liberals argue, for instance, that Chris- tian religious liberty claims are just a cover for persecuting LGBT folks. They’re wrong. In Canada right now there’s a push among the medical community to deny doctors licenses and accreditation if they refuse to perform abortions or euthanasia. In Fort Worth, Texas, this past year, the superintendent tried to compel teachers to teach gender theory to elementary school kids – not call them boys or girls but call them “scholars” and “students.” As a journalist at major newspapers in the 1990s, I was always “out” as a Christian, but today there’s so much bias against Christians in American newsrooms that I don’t think that would be possible. Where before my views on homosexuality – which are also my views on heterosexuality; I believe in the biblical standard – were just seen as eccentric, now they would probably keep me from being hired. The culture is slowly shifting to where people who affirm traditional Christian belief on sexuality