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		<title>The Looming Deluge</title>
		<link>https://theareopagus.org/update54/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jefrey D. Breshears]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2021 01:04:19 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#240;&#159;&#147;&#132;The Areopagus Update &#8211; Jan/Feb 2021 One of my favorite recording artists in the 1970s was Jackson Browne. Most of those who know of him remember his music for songs such as &#8220;Rock Me on the Water,&#8221; &#8220;Take It Easy&#8221; (a hit single by the Eagles) and &#8220;Running on Empty,&#8221; along with classic rock albums [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update54/">The Looming Deluge</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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<h5 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left"><a href="https://theareopagus.org/wp-content/uploads/54-jan-2021.pdf">📄The Areopagus Update – Jan/Feb 2021</a></h5>



<p>One of my favorite recording artists in the 1970s was Jackson Browne. Most of those who know of him remember his music for songs such as “Rock Me on the Water,” “Take It Easy” (a hit single by the Eagles) and “Running on Empty,” along with classic rock albums including Late for the Sky and The Pretender. Browne was not a Christian, but in his prime he wrote carefully-crafted and thoughtful songs that often conveyed existentialist themes (which in some cases carried his philosophy to its logical conclusion: i.e., nihilism). He was rather obviously a lost soul, but unlike most of his contemporaries in the music biz there were indications that he was searching not only for Beauty but also for Truth even if (to paraphrase a later country song) he was “looking for Truth in all the wrong places.” </p>



<p>One of my favorite Jackson Browne songs was “Before the Deluge,” which closed out the aforementioned Late for the Sky album. Written and recorded in 1974, it was essentially an elegy for the Sixties ’ counterculture – in particular, the environmentally-correct “back to nature” rural communities that sprang up in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. As a young Christian who was reading C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer at the time, I was not surprised that these utopian socialist and proto-New Age communal quests were dissolving. Without the requisite agape love and the Holy Spirit to guide us, all our idealistic efforts to create new and better social communities inevitably end in disillusionment and cynicism. Regardless, I admire those who aspire to higher and nobler ideals than the crass secular gods of Power, Wealth, Social Status, Security, Materialism, Pleasure, and Social Conventionality.</p>



<p>The nature of the looming “deluge” that Browne prophesied was ecological – the mostly ersatz “climate crisis” of recent decades. Nonetheless, some of the lyrics in “Before the Deluge” actually presage the current dilemma of Christians who aspire to be “in the world but not of the world.” </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow" style="font-size:14px">
<p style="font-size:14px">Some of them were dreamers <br>Some of them were fools <br>For making plans and thinking of the future. <br>In the energy of the innocent, <br>They were gathering the tools <br>They would need to make their journey <br>Back to nature. <br>While the sand slipped through the opening <br>And their hands reached for the golden ring <br>In their hearts they turned to each other’s hearts <br>For refuge In the troubled years that came before the deluge. <br>Some of them knew pleasure <br>Some of them knew pain <br>And for some of them it was only the moment <br>That mattered.<br>On the brave and crazy wings of youth <br>They went flying about in the rain <br>And their feathers once so fine Grew torn and tattered. <br>And in the end they traded their tired wings <br>For the resignation that living brings <br>And exchanged love&#8217;s bright and fragile glow <br>For the glitter and the rouge <br>And in a moment they were swept <br>Before the deluge. </p>



<p style="font-size:14px">* Let the music keep our spirits high&#8230; <br>* Let the buildings keep our children dry <br>* Let creation reveal it&#8217;s secrets by and by&#8230; <br>* By and by When the light that&#8217;s lost within us <br>* Reaches the sky. </p>



<p>Some of them were angry <br>At the way the earth was abused <br>By the men who learned how to forge her beauty <br>Into power. <br>And they struggled to protect her from them <br>Only to be confused <br>By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour. <br>And when the sand was gone and time arrived <br>In the naked dawn only a few survived <br>And in attempts to understand a thing <br>So simple and so huge <br>Believed that they were meant to live After the deluge. <br>(“Before the Deluge.” Music and lyrics by Jackson Browne, 1974, Swallow Turn Music)</p>
</blockquote>



<p style="font-size:14px">The “deluge” that Jackson Browne feared was an ecological apocalypse. My concern is quite different. In lieu of a faux “climate crisis,” Christians – and cultural conservatives in general – understand that we face a far more ominous threat. A ferocious cultural, moral and spiritual storm is brewing, and we had best be prepared. This deluge will be more intense than anything we have ever experienced in the past. It will be an unrelenting assault on much of what we value and believe everything from freedom of expression, religious liberty and the sanctity of life to the Constitutional rule of law. From all apparent indications, a Biden/Harris administration will make the Obama administration seem relatively moderate by comparison. </p>



<p style="font-size:14px">This radical agenda will be propagated by an insidious coalition of neo-Marxist secular socialists and cultural liberals and their allies in the media, Big Tech, corporate America, the entertainment industry, the education establishment, labor unions, the trial lawyers associations, the open-borders lobby, environmental extremists, LGBTQ activists, and naive Christians. Politically, the driving force behind this onslaught will be the Democratic Party, the initiators and enforcers of virtually every immoral, irrational, impractical, irresponsible and counterproductive policy and program that is systematically destroying America socially, morally and institutionally. </p>



<p style="font-size:14px">Over the course of the last 400 years, American Christians have been the most free, prosperous and privileged Christians in history. But through a lethal combination of indifference, ignorance, apathy, lethargy, and faithless cowardice we are squandering this precious heritage. </p>



<p style="font-size:14px">We have lost the culture war in America, but not because the secular Left is more intelligent, more humane or more practical. We lost the culture war by default. While the Left has been literally hell-bent on radically transforming America, too many Christians and church leaders have failed to stand up and provide the kind of principled, courageous and prophetic leadership that is so absolutely essential in the face of such overt evil. </p>



<p style="font-size:14px">What is the solution, and how can Christians prepare for the coming deluge? That is the theme of my recent book, <a href="https://a.co/d/75Lb9m7"><em>American Crisis</em></a> particularly the final chapter on “The Ministry of the Watchman.” In addition, I recommend that you read and discuss with others two books by Rod Dreher: <a href="https://a.co/d/fOKxCTi"><em>The Benedict Option</em></a> (2017) and <a href="https://a.co/d/gVkDIVN"><em>Live Not by Lies</em> </a>(2020).</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update54/">The Looming Deluge</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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		<title>Democrats and Republicans:  What’s the Difference?</title>
		<link>https://theareopagus.org/democrats-and-republicans-whats-the-difference/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jefrey D. Breshears]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Oct 2020 23:09:07 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abortion Debate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[American Politics]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Worldviews]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Current Political Realities For the first twenty years of my adult life I sought to be as nonpartisan as possible, realizing that neither party is ideal. But the Democratic Party of the last fifty years &#8211; since its lurch leftward in 1972 with the nomination of George McGovern &#8211; is not the Democratic Party of [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/democrats-and-republicans-whats-the-difference/">Democrats and Republicans:  What’s the Difference?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h4><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">Current Political Realities</span></h4>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">For the first twenty years of my adult life I sought to be as nonpartisan as possible, realizing that neither party is ideal. But the Democratic Party of the last fifty years – since its lurch leftward in 1972 with the nomination of George McGovern – is not the Democratic Party of FDR or even JFK. The modern Democratic Party is simply the partisan political expression of a secular socialist ideology. Though Republicans are often timid and pathetic, it is the Democratic Party that is the driving force behind virtually all the immoral, irrational, impractical, irresponsible and counterproductive policies and programs that are bankrupting America economically, socially, morally and spiritually.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">Christians who still identify with the Democratic Party are living in the distant past, totally out of touch with reality and seemingly incapable of connecting the dots. The Republican Party may be (and often is) the party of mediocrity, but the Democratic Party is indisputably the party of venality. Mediocrity is a concession to human limitations and fallibility. Venality is a purposeful surrender to the most base and evil impulses in human nature. In a broken and fallen world, I will take mediocrity over venality any day. It is an unfortunate choice that we often (but thankfully, not always) must make.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">When a society loses its spiritual and moral bearings, everything becomes dysfunctional. Unlike most contemporary politicians, America’s founding fathers understood that liberty without virtue will inevitably degenerate into chaos, which sets the stage for political tyranny. We haven’t quite arrived at “1984” yet, but those who are hell-bent on “fundamentally transforming America” understand that the secular liberal/socialist vision of a “Brave New World” is the surest path to “1984&#8243;. And make no mistake: it is the Democratic Party that is driving the agenda.</span></p>
<h4><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">Politics and the Culture War</span></h4>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">The corruption and moral confusion in America today has wreaked havoc on our political culture, and over the past fifty years the culture war has become increasingly politicized and all the more intense. The secular Left will not compromise, and while its proponents have been (literally) hell-bent on pushing their agenda, many Christians and church leaders avoid the conflict or even deny its existence. The result, as Rod Dreher observed in<em> The Benedict Option</em>, is that “Conservative Christians have been routed. We are living in a new country.” The trend, however, is anything but “progressive.” Increasingly, it resembles some kind of diabolical dystopian matrix in which ideological alchemists combine elements of Aldous Huxley’s <em>Brave New World </em>with George Orwell’s <em>1984</em>. As I noted in Chapter 4 of <em>American Crisis</em>, this follows the script set forth by Herbert Marcuse in <em>Eros and Civilization</em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">As I recounted in Chapter 8, for much of my adult life I strived to be scrupulously nonpartisan. Realizing that neither political party has ever had a monopoly on common sense or virtue, I believed there were honorable and admirable leaders in both parties who were worthy of respect. Regrettably, that position has become <em>passé</em> as the parties have come to represent not only two opposing political ideologies but, in many ways, contrasting worldviews. Ever since the late-1960s the Democratic Party has been pulled farther and farther to the Left to the point that it advocates a massive cradle-to-grave socialistic welfare state, open borders and “sanctuary cities,” liberalized drug laws, the LGBTQ agenda, abortion-on-demand, increased government control over the economy, education, and health care, and a naive globalistic foreign policy that often reflects the values and interests of the United Nations more than the American people.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">The Democratic Party has become the party of refuge for most secularists, cultural liberals, multiculturalists, the media, Hollywood and academic elites, labor unions, the trial lawyers associations, the open-borders lobby, neo-Marxists, environmental extremists, radical feminists, homosexual and transgender activists, and black and Hispanic racialists. Listening to Democratic politicians and activists, their spin doctors and their sycophants in the media, one can only conclude that the party has lost not only all common sense but any moral sensibilities it might once have had. If consistency were a virtue in itself, one could concede that the Democratic Party is remarkably impressive. The problem, of course, is that it is consistently on the <em>wrong</em> side of most every political, legal, social and moral issue.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">Regarding the Republican Party, one must admit that in many respects it can be an outright embarrassment. If the Democrats have collectively sold their souls, many Republicans lack not only vision but courage. On numerous crucial issues over the past fifty years, Republicans have capitulated to their opponents. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of Donald Trump – and despite his problematic personality and infamous character flaws – has been the fact that under his leadership many Republican politicians began to grow a backbone. This has not come easily. In the first two years of the Trump Administration, despite holding the White House, the Senate and House of Representatives, “moderates” within the party thwarted most of the President’s efforts to reverse Obama’s socialist agenda. Although social conservatives constitute at least  half of the party’s support base, they are constantly locked in a protracted struggle with the GOP’s establishment elites who care little about the great moral and cultural issues of our time so long as the party promotes lower taxes, “free trade” and fewer government regulations on business. As a result, most everything that President Trump accomplished other than judicial appointments came by way of executive orders which will of course be overturned as soon as the next Democrat is elected president.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">In actuality, the main difference in the political parties is that the Republican Party has a base of social conservatives who care about traditional moral values while the Democratic Party functions as the political arm of a radical secular cultural agenda that is absolutely devastating the moral and civic climate in America. Furthermore, the Republican base includes millions of Christians who care passionately about religious liberty. Within the Democratic Party, virtually the only time religious liberty is a priority is when Muslim rights are an issue.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">All things considered, the bottom-line is that while the Republican Party is the party of mediocrity, the Democratic Party is the party of venality. Mediocrity is a concession to human weakness and fallibility, while venality is an expression of the innate evil within human nature. Therefore, while the Republican Party is potentially redeemable, the Democratic Party is irredeemably hopeless. And therein lies the difference.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">There are, of course, pietistic Christians who refuse to compromise their standards for what they regard as political expediency. These are those who believe that politics is corrupt, messy, divisive (which it often is), and too “worldly.” So while our culture disintegrates, they are content to watch from the sidelines. But if we truly put into practice what Jesus taught as “the greatest commandment(s)” – to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40) – we must care not only for the souls of others but also their physical, material, emotional, mental, and social needs as well. Politics and government are important as they formulate policies and programs and enforce (or fail to enforce) laws that have a direct and profound effect on the lives of citizens, either for better or worse. Christians should seriously consider: How can we possibly love others as we love ourselves if we are indifferent to the kinds of laws, policies and programs that regulate our lives and those of others?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">There is a saying that “the enemy of the good is the best” – i.e., those who insist on perfection often end up with the very worst option. This is certainly true in politics where we are often forced to choose between two less-than-ideal candidates. But just as no two people are truly equal, likewise one candidate is always at least incrementally better than the other. Realistically, politics is often about damage control – i.e., not only who will do the most good, but who will do the least harm – and Christians have a moral and civic responsibility to do what they can to keep the very worst men and women out of office even when the alternative is far from ideal. That is the choice we often have to make in a fallen world, and the failure to do so is irresponsible.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">When self-proclaimed Democratic “progressives” talk so glibly about “hope and change,” they don’t mean a sober reassessment of policies and programs that have obviously failed. Because the party has become the political enforcer of a radical secular Left-wing agenda, it is apparent that their idea of “change” means altering the fundamental core values, the institutions and the socio/political philosophy on which America was founded. Based on their cynical view of our nation’s past, their goal most obviously is a radical transformation that includes all aspects of American life and culture. Christians, and conservatives in general, had best beware.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;">[Excerpts from <em>American Crisis: Cultural Marxism and the Culture War – A Christian Response </em>(Centre•Pointe Publishing, 2020)]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/democrats-and-republicans-whats-the-difference/">Democrats and Republicans:  What’s the Difference?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Benedict Option: A Necessary Preface</title>
		<link>https://theareopagus.org/the-benedict-option-a-necessary-preface/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jefrey D. Breshears]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Mar 2018 14:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture War]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Benedict Option]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>In the course of reading reviews and listening to comments over the past couple of months regarding Rod Dreher&#8217;s The Benedict Option, it has occurred to me that some kind of Preface needs to precede any kind of thoughtful and focused discussion of the book. In particular, there are three basic questions that should to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/the-benedict-option-a-necessary-preface/">The Benedict Option: A Necessary Preface</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In the course of reading reviews and listening to comments over the past couple of months regarding Rod Dreher’s <em>The Benedict Option</em>, it has occurred to me that some kind of Preface needs to precede any kind of thoughtful and focused discussion of the book. In particular, there are three basic questions that should to be addressed in order to clearly understand Dreher’s thesis and his seminal arguments. Unless there is a consensus agreement on these issues, any discussion and debate on the relative merits of the book are probably futile.</p>
<p><a href="/wp-content/uploads/The-Benedict-Option-Jefrey-Breshears-A-Necessary-Preface.pdf"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">continue reading the full PDF article here</span></span></em></strong></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/the-benedict-option-a-necessary-preface/">The Benedict Option: A Necessary Preface</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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		<title>“The Benedict Option” A Necessary Preface</title>
		<link>https://theareopagus.org/update38/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jefrey D. Breshears]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Sep 2017 01:48:30 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Newsletters]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#240;&#159;&#147;&#132;The Areopagus Update &#8211; Aug/Sept 2017 Our Areopagus Dinner &#38; Dialogue series this summer focused on Rod Dreher&#8217;s new book, &#8216;The Benedict Option&#8221;. Dreher is a writer and senior editor at The American Conservative blogsite, and &#8220;The Benedict Option&#8221; is one of the most relevant and important Christian books in recent years. Not only has [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update38/">“The Benedict Option” A Necessary Preface</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<h5 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left"><a href="/wp-content/uploads/38-areopagus-update-aug-2017.pdf">📄The Areopagus Update &#8211; Aug/Sept 2017</a></h5>



<p><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;">Our Areopagus Dinner &amp; Dialogue series this summer focused on Rod Dreher’s new book, &#8216;The Benedict Option&#8221;. Dreher is a writer and senior editor at The American Conservative blogsite, and &#8220;The Benedict Option&#8221; is one of the most relevant and important Christian books in recent years. Not only has the book sparked considerable interest, but also considerable controversy. In the course of reading reviews and listening to comments over the past several months related to &#8220;The Benedict Option&#8221;, it occurred to me that some kind of Preface needed to precede any&nbsp; thoughtful and focused discussion of the book.</span></p>



<p class="has-text-align-left"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In particular, there are three basic questions that should be addressed in order to clearly understand Dreher’s thesis and his seminal arguments. Unless there is a consensus agreement on these issues, any discussion and debate on the relative merits of the book are probably fruitless and futile. The following is a condensed version of my article, “<a href="/the-benedict-option-a-necessary-preface/">The Benedict Option: A Necessary Preface</a>.” </span></span></p>



<p class="has-text-align-left"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;"><em><a href="/wp-content/uploads/38-Areopagus-Update-Aug-2017.pdf">click here to read the full PDF newsletter</a></em></span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update38/">“The Benedict Option” A Necessary Preface</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Most Important Christian Book of the Decade? “The Benedict Option”</title>
		<link>https://theareopagus.org/update37/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jefrey D. Breshears]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 May 2017 03:24:51 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>&#240;&#159;&#147;&#132;The Areopagus Update &#8211; May/June 2017 One of the most anticipated books in recent years was released a couple of weeks ago: Rod Dreher&#8217;s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (Sentinel Press, 2017). This is a book that some regard as the most important Christian book of the decade, if [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update37/">The Most Important Christian Book of the Decade? “The Benedict Option”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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<h5 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="/wp-content/uploads/37-areopagus-update-may-2017.pdf">📄The Areopagus Update &#8211; May/June 2017</a></h5>



<p><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;">One of the most anticipated books in recent years was released a couple of weeks ago: Rod Dreher’s <em>The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation</em> (Sentinel Press, 2017). This is a book that some regard as the most important Christian book of the decade, if not in several decades. As sobering and unsettling as it is inspiring, <em>The Benedict Option</em> is a clarion call for Christians to awaken from their cultural slumber. According to Dreher, a Bible- centered Orthodox Christian traditionalist and an astute social critic, we are not losing the culture war in America. We lost. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that things will improve – barring some totally unprecedented revival that dramatically alters the spiritual, moral and cultural landscape of America. What this portends for the future are not only the greatest challenges that American Christians have ever faced, but great opportunities as well.</span></p>



<p><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: georgia, palatino, serif;"><a href="/wp-content/uploads/37-areopagus-update-may-2017.pdf"><em>click here to read the full PDF newsletter</em></a></span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://theareopagus.org/update37/">The Most Important Christian Book of the Decade? “The Benedict Option”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theareopagus.org">The Areopagus</a>.</p>
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