Spiritual Quote of the Day (David Brooks, on 21st-Century ‘Globe-Spanning Holy Wars’)

“Over the last several years something interesting happened: Authoritarians found God. They used religious symbols as nationalist identity markers and rallying cries. They unified the masses behind them by whipping up perpetual culture wars. They reframed the global debate: It was no longer between democracy and dictatorship; it was between the moral decadence of Western elites and traditional values and superior spirituality of the good normal people in their own homelands.

“The 21st century is turning into an era of globe-spanning holy wars at a time when the appeal of actual religion seems to be on the wane.”—Columnist David Brooks, “When Dictators Find God,” The New York Times, Sept. 10, 2021