(Excerpts taken from American Renewal Project newsletter dated September 26,2025.)

George Alexander Chadwick [1840-1923], Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, opened his Exodus commentary with a bracing reality: “It is one thing to admire abstract freedom, but a very different thing to accept the austere conditions of the life of genuine freemen.”1

Freedom survives only where people accept the hard work that liberty demands. Over the last century, much of American Christendom has admired freedom from a safe distance - inside the four walls of the church building - while refusing to engage in the rough and tumble of the public square.

Across the last century, Evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians - half unregistered and half not voting - have behaved as though securing liberty for our children were painless and easy. 

The result is predictable: those who live in rebellion against the Lord choose the representatives who then draft and pass laws that codify their profane values. Culture, in turn, becomes the public liturgy of the nation’s secular religion, now lording it over America.

Liberty, like an orchid, dies without the right culture, habits, and guardrails - something the American Founders preached over and over again.

Os Guinness presses the point: no enduring free civilization has ever been built on atheistic foundations.... He (continues) with an indictment of our age: "We have turned from the Founders’ vision and from the Jewish-Christian and classical truths that made lasting freedom possible, chasing seductive but lazy-minded alternatives that are now proving disastrous, and becoming “caricatures” of our original liberty - both fascinating and repellent to the watching world."3

Living as a free people is rugged - requiring habits, duty, and sacrifice. The “once converted, always comfortable” theology and eschatology of the last century amounts to malpractice, Biblically as well as culturally.

Protestant clergyman and historian Benjamin F. Morris [1810-1867] recorded a far sterner formation undergone by our forebears:

“The persecutions of the Puritans in England for non-conformity, and the religious agitations and conflicts in Germany by Luther, in Geneva by Calvin, and in Scotland by Knox, were the preparatory ordeals for qualifying Christian men for the work of establishing the civil institutions on the American continent. ‘God sifted’ in these conflicts a whole nation that He might send choice grain over into the wilderness, and the blood and persecution of martyrs became the seed of both the church and the state.

“It was in these schools of fiery trial that the founders of the American republic were educated and prepared for their grand Christian mission, and in which their faith and characters became strong and earnest with Christian truth. They were trained in stormy times, in order to prepare them to elaborate and establish the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty and of just systems of civil government.”4

Hardship was not accidental; it was preparatory as God sifted a people for the hard work of self-government. If we mean to keep our freedom, we must recover the disciplines that keep it: tell the truth, keep our covenants, endure, work with integrity, love our neighbors, and take responsibility at the gates - showing up where our town is governed.

In his excellent Proverbs Commentary, Dr. Bruce K. Waltke [born 1930; age 95], the foremost living authority on wisdom literature in the Old Testament, elucidates that “ultimately, a nation’s exaltation rests on its piety and ethics, not on political, military, or economic might. Abroad, a sinful nation breaks treaties, spreads propaganda, lies, and bullies the weak. At home, it lets justice decay - rewarding criminals and idlers, while overtaxing and intimidating the upright.”

What steps can I take to help return my state and country to one based on piety and ethics?

First, if you are not registered to vote, get registered. You do not need to go anywhere to do so, it doesn’t cost anything, and it only takes a few minutes. If you live in Delaware this is the link for you to register: https://ivote.de.gov/VoterView. If you live in a different state type the name of your state followed by “department of elections” into your browser and near the top of the website there should be a button to click to register.

Second, make sure that you vote in each upcoming election - including for your local school board. To stay up to date on when elections are occurring you can type the name of your state and “GOP” into your browser to sign up for a free newsletter that will keep you informed about when elections are upcoming. If you live in Delaware here is the link you can go to https://delawaregop.com/. There should also be an option to sign up to receive a newsletter from your particular region in the state. In Northern New Castle County the link is: https://www.nnccrrc.com/.

Third, in order to stay abreast of laws that are being considered in your state, if you live in Delaware, you can sign up for both the Delaware Senate Republicans newsletter at  https://senategop.delaware.gov/ and the Delaware House Republicans newsletter at https://housegop.delaware.gov/ which will keep you informed. Other states likely have similar free newsletters that can keep you informed.

I also recommend signing up for the Delaware Family Policy Council newsletter at https://delawarefamilies.org/. This organization focuses on “rebuilding a culture of life, marriage, family, and religious freedom in Delaware”. Most states have a Family Policy Council. Here is a map for you to find the Family Policy Council in your state.

Why should I bother to stay informed about politics in my state? 

Below are two examples of important topics that have recently been brought before the Delaware legislature that Conservatives could use your help to defeat.

Gender Transition Medical Treatment

House Bill 346 (Introduced 2024) aims to provide legal protections for gender-affirming healthcare providers. It would turn Delaware into a sanctuary state for transgender medical procedures. It was voted out of committee in the 2024 session but did not advance to a full vote. Its supporters will likely reintroduce similar legislation in future sessions. It was due to comments from Delawareans like you that this bill did not pass but those on the left do not intend to let that happen again. 

Because HB 346 did not pass, Governor Meyer decided to issue Executive Order #11 (Signed June 2025) to “protect access to gender-affirming care” and make Delaware a legal refuge for patients and providers. It prevents state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into ”legally performed” gender-affirming care in Delaware.

Counseling to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity

In 2018, Delaware enacted a law (Senate Bill 65) that bans licensed health care professionals from providing “conversion therapy” to minors. The legislation makes such counseling a form of "unprofessional conduct" meaning that counselors are not allowed to help clients accept their God-given sex even if they ask for this help.

“Conversion therapy” is defined as any practice or treatment that seeks to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity. It also bans referring a minor to a practitioner in another state for conversion therapy. The bill passed the state Senate in 2017 and the House in 2018. It was signed into law by Governor John Carney in July 2018. This is a bill for which Republican legislators could have used more support from Delawareans like you to prevent its passage.

Delaware’s “conversion therapy” bill is similar to a Colorado bill that is currently receiving attention in a case being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in which a counselor is challenging a state law that dictates conversations she can have with clients. As in Delaware, the Colorado law allows her to affirm gender transitions but restricts her from helping minors embrace their biological sex. 

If the counselor wins this lawsuit the question regarding Delaware’s “conversion therapy” bill will be revisited and your help will be essential in fighting against the state interfering with a counselor's Freedom of Speech in assisting minors questioning their gender or experiencing same sex attraction

Fourth, write to or call your legislators or better yet give testimony during bill hearings - either from home via Zoom or in person. Conservatives must make our state legislature aware of our views on bills. To find out who your legislators are in Delaware go to https://legis.delaware.gov/FindMyLegislator. To sign up to give testimony on a particular bill in Delaware go to https://legis.delaware.gov/. To obtain this information in other states type in the name of your state and “find my legislator”. To give testimony in other states type in the name of your state and “legislature”.  

Your help in these various ways is essential for saving our country from its current hazardous and unfortunate trajectory.

1. G.A. Chadwick, The Book of Exodus; 1890.

2. M. Stanton Evans, The Theme Is Freedom; 1994.

3. Os Guinness, A Free People’s Suicide; 2012.

4. B.F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of The Civil Institutions of The United States; 1864.

5. Byron Sunderland, Introduction to Benjamin F. Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States [1868 ed.].