The latest edition of the Acton Institute’s flagship journal, Religion & Liberty, has been released. The Winter 2021 issue focuses on the menace of political violence.

Politics divides; commerce and goodwill unite. That truth has been driven home as politically inspired riots have swept the nation.

In our cover story, Ismael Hernandez observes that the underlying ideology driving much of our division “is not drawn from the perspective of black Americans as they collectively reflected on the American experience; this view is derived from applying the radical, socialist analysis of America to black citizens.” He writes, “With such theories spreading like wildfire in academic, cultural, political, legal, theological, and judicial circles,” it becomes difficult to “oppose violence by the ‘oppressed’ against the ‘oppressive’ system without being accused of abetting the oppressors.”

I focus on a few of the programs designed to end our cycle of recriminations. “According to researchers, the solution is solutions – specifically, focusing on solving national problems together,” I note, drawing attention to exciting psychological research that can decrease polarization and open the door for our nation to begin healing.

Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute presents a well-researched and compelling portrait of the latest strategy to degrade human exceptionalism, property rights, and economic development: investing nature with legal “rights.”

Samuel Kronen and Nate Hochman survey Critical Race Theory. Their article makes an excellent supplement to “Critical Theory, critiqued” by Noah Warren Kelley in the Fall 2020 issue of R&L.

Dustin Siggins outlines commonsense healthcare reforms. Rev. Richard Turnbull previews the UK’s future outside the EU. John Couretas reviews David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson’s Solzhenitsyn and American Culture. Josh Herring defends the great books against the #DisruptTexts movement.

And Acton Institute President Rev. Robert Sirico argues the answer to our polarization lies in a Bible verse that Eastern Orthodox Christians sing every Sunday: “Put not your trust in princes, in a sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.”

As violence metastasizes across our political spectrum, it has never been more imperative for us to commit ourselves to principles, not princes, affirming that no earthly figure can command our ultimate loyalty.

You can review the latest issue here or download a full PDF of the issue here.