Seth Leibsohn: Let Them Pray

March the 1st marked the death of one of the most infamous murderers in American history. Abortionist Kermit Gosnell died in prison custody at the age of 85. Dr. Gosnell went to prison for committing the most heinous abortionist murder imaginable—he delivered babies who were born alive and then killed those babies. He inserted scissors into their spinal column and labeled their deaths as abortion. One trial witness said that a baby killed by Dr. Gosnell had “made noises, a whine, like my baby.” Let’s just understand how the law is operating right now. It is unlikely that those legal consequences would ever have come if Dr. Gosnell had used some other technique where his evil was not so obvious, where it was not so well-documented. The moral urgency of abortion, and even late-term abortion, is more apparent and horrific than any of us would want to see. That’s why we must press on in the fight for life. Human dignity depends upon that defense all the way from fertilization until healthy birth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s a story that fills you with a very American kind of pride. In a risky and costly operation, the US rescued the missing pilot who had been shot down over Iran. The operation involved hundreds of intelligence and military personnel, Navy SEAL Team Six, Army Delta Force, CIA operatives who carried out a deception campaign, even the destruction of two damaged aircraft, all to find one man. Some questioned why America would go to such extraordinary lengths just to recover a single pilot. Of course, we wanted to deny Iran a propaganda victory and access to any intelligence the pilot possessed, but there’s more to it than that. We come from a Judeo‑Christian worldview. We believe every life is precious. We honor our fighting men and women, and we don’t leave any of them behind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Washington Post, and others, are upset that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is hosting monthly worship services at the Pentagon.  Unconstitutional, they say … Upending of norms … Breaking cohesion. Are they kidding us?  First, I want my soldiers—especially in a time of war—being reverent and prayerful.  Second, just how timid and weak are these Pentagon employees that they have to go off the record and run to the Washington Post to complain about this? One employee said, “If troops are trained to believe that ‘God is on our side,’ what precludes us from doing anything we want to win?”  I don’t know—ask Lincoln, or Franklin Roosevelt, who led the largest public prayer in history on the cusp of D-Day.  Ask Dwight Eisenhower who issued a prayer to the soldiers in World War II.  Or, maybe, know that a great deal of just-war theory comes from famous religious leaders of yore. Journalists today just have no sense of history or context.  Even the Unknown Soldier was known only to God. I’m Seth Leibsohn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Sunday is Easter, Resurrection Sunday, a great celebration day for Christians marking the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. The Christian church bears a mandate to proclaim the truth that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and that’s an indispensable truth claim of Christianity. The resurrected Lord gave the church a sacred commission to take the gospel, the message of Christ’s victory over sin and death to all the world. So: As the Christian church gathers to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christians look back in thankfulness to that empty tomb and forward to the fulfillment of Christ’s purposes in us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the promise of our resurrection from the dead and of Christ's total victory over sin and death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the very center of the Christian gospel. The empty tomb is full of power. I hope you’ll celebrate Christ’s work on our behalf this weekend. Happy Easter. Happy Resurrection Day to all. May the joy of the resurrection be yours.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump is on the cusp of a historic achievement. If the President oversees the toppling of the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, his achievements will rank with the greatest of those of any post-World War II president. That’s just an objective fact. If you don’t understand that fact, you haven’t been paying attention for more than 40 years. Iran is as evil a regime as exists on the planet. It is run by religious fanatics with a peculiar theology, rooted in end-times eschatology and “resistance” up to and especially including martyrdom. It cannot be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction or an arsenal of conventional weapons sufficient to deter normal regimes from stopping it from obtaining WMD, especially obtaining nuclear weapons. The result needed in the war has not yet been achieved. But if President Trump delivers it, only his critics incapable of basic objectivity will deny the significance of his order to take down the regime that has bedeviled the world for almost a half century.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the holiest week in the Christian calendar. But for Christians in Syria and Nigeria, it was a day marked by bloodshed and tragedy. In Syria, sectarian attacks in a Christian town damaged homes, shops and cars—as men on motorcycles from a nearby Sunni Muslim town terrorized the community into the early morning hours. In Nigeria, the violence was even more horrific. Muslim gunmen attacked a university community, killing at least 30 people and injuring many more. Yet coverage of this violence was scant. Instead, there was widespread media outrage when Israel briefly paused public prayer gatherings due to Iranian missile threats—before quickly reversing course. There’s a very clear double standard. And it raises serious questions about whether Western media outlets are intimidated by Islamism. They certainly have not shown courage.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Those of us of a certain age will remember America’s 200th birthday well. It was a year-long celebration with pageantry and even commercials celebrating our patriotism everywhere.  Now, months away from the date of our 250th birthday, all seems rather quiet on the Western civilizational front. Our Founders weren’t so sure we’d last anywhere near this long—and yet, here we are 250 years later.  What changed in the last 50 years?  The media and the academy, both of which have trained millions of pupils and teachers and citizens to view America as a down-market commodity.  History professors literally sneer at efforts to restore and remind about the very field they supposedly care about: teaching American history.  And a great socialist effort to undermine the exceptionalism of America, and pride in it, has taken over an entire political party. The great Czech writer Milan Kundera, put it that “The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory.”  And that’s been the progressive effort here.  We must know of it, we cannot let it prevail.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The United States has allies in this battle with Iran, though you’d be hard-pressed to prove it from coverage in mainstream media. Israel has fought valiantly beside us, absorbing the blows that the enemy wishes it could rain down on our country. We in America ought to at least bring their stories forward. Israel has been at war with Iran since its proxy Hamas launched the attack on October 7, 2023, and the massacre that followed. Right now: The American and Israeli militaries are methodically smashing the military that the Iranian radical regime has built up over 47 years. If it was a boxing match, the referee would stop the fight. But it’s a war, and the target list is long and it’s not done. This battle is the story of this decade, and its outcome one of those very few-and-far between hinge points of history that are obvious as they occur, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall. Our legacy outlets ought to be telling the story. The whole story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We learned in recent days that Leo Radvinsky, the owner of the vast website known as OnlyFans, had died at age 43 of cancer. OnlyFans is one of the most significant purveyors of pornography in all of human history. Through Radvinsky’s leadership, the site exploded to 377 million users, bringing in more than $7.2 billion in revenue in a single year. It’s not really possible to comment on this adequately without reference to theological terms: What we see here is the power of sin, the power of human depravity matched with human ingenuity. The OnlyFans platform was—and it is—a deeply diabolical plan and strategy. And—obviously—at least in financial terms, it works. But we know: It doesn’t work. It is sin and depravity and lust coupled with manipulation and oppression and enslavement. This week’s headlines give us the opportunity to state the truth and to say that what I hope are clear and unequivocal terms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some four weeks into the war with Iran, a couple of things have become clear—and both worth highlighting. First, in undertaking this mission, President Trump fully restored the American deterrent that was forfeited by President Biden’s collapse in Afghanistan. President Trump demonstrated again the remarkable power of the American military and solidified the most important relationship with America’s most important and powerful ally — Israel. And second, with all that clarity comes one more impossible-to-deny truth: With America involved in a battle with a terrorist regime, Democrats have repeatedly chose in vote after vote to keep the Department of Homeland Security shuttered and unfunded. That is ridiculous and wildly irresponsible. The spectacle of the Democrats risking America to make talking points for MS-NOW audience should leave an enduring impression: The Republicans are the party of security at home and abroad. Democrats couldn't care less.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.