Heritage’s Kevin Roberts to Hugh Hewitt: The American Republic Is Dead If We Don’t Revitalize Our Faith

Dr. Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation was on Hugh Hewitt’s Show to promote his terrific book, “Dawn’s Early Light,” and made profound points about the role of faith in the survival of the nation. And he's no pessimist. 

Transcript:

No, the American Republic is dead if we don't revitalize our faith.  The conservative movement simply can't exist by philosophical definition.  if there isn't a revitalizing of faith in the movement -- by the way while there are challenges and both of those certainly headwinds, given the decline of religiosity.  Not just by Americans at large, but even by people who are right of center politically. I do see that in this next generation as we search for greater meaning, that sometimes is challenged by technological innovation, that ironically we're going to find it.

I also see real specific individual, localized examples of this kind of revitalizing of faith.  If we could stitch those together while also recognizing that sometimes it's best if they're organic then I'm optimistic.  But ultimately as as we sit here and have this conversation Hugh in our faith tradition, we're observing Advent.  It's a time that of course we're anticipating the Lord's coming but we're also thinking about the last things and meaning you know, our own lives and when those come to an end, we need to be thinking about the last things of this Republic.

I happen to think that we ought to be optimistic about that. Not just because of the outcome of the election, but because of the priorities in terms of public policy that President-elect Trump is articulating.  We have to understand however -- to sum up here -- that politics and policy are not the end-all-be-all.  

 if we are not as I talk about in the book actually having some introspection about our own lives, our own virtue or lack thereof ,and also how we're living out those lives of virtue in our local communities, then no election is going to save us.  if we recapture that soon in the United States then I'm hopeful about our future.

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Kevin Roberts is President of the Heritage Foundation