Greetings. Today is Friday, February the 23rd, 2024. This is the Daily Article podcast. Today's

article is written by Dr. Ryan Dennison and narrated by Chris Elkins of the Denison Forum.

In the aftermath of Alexei Navalny's death last Friday, much of the focus has, understandably,

been on his attempts to combat corruption in the Russian government and the role Vladimir Putin likely played in his demise.

Yet, as Russell Moore recently described, Navalny's final years were defined as much by his

faith as by his politics or his time in prison. And that faith,

in turn, motivated a great deal of how he chose to approach the persecution that ended his life

at the age of 47. You see, Navalny came to faith late in life. And while he hasn't gone into

detail on that process, the general belief is that it happened in the aftermath of Putin's previous attempt to kill him in 2020.

As he told to court the following year, quote, the fact is that I'm a Christian, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the anti-corruption foundation because mostly our people are atheist,

and I was once quite a militant atheist myself, end quote.

He then went on to explain how his faith gave clarity and focus to his life as his circumstances became progressively grim.

As Russell Moore concludes, this was the root, I believe, of Navalny's moral courage, his willingness

to stand alone, his willingness to die. And while we may not be facing the prospect of imminent

death or being banished to the gulags, living out our faith well still requires the moral

courage to stand against the culture when the culture stands against God. However, the manner in which we take that stand is just as important as our willingness to take it.

In a fascinating article, Alan Jacobs recently outlined one of the most essential truths to understanding our culture.

He wrote of how many Americans don't seem all that interested in data or understanding

opposing views. Rather, quote, what many people want, what they earnestly and passionately desire

is to hate their enemies. In quote, as he goes on to describe, many of the problems that our

society faces stem from this basic tendency to organize our ideas around what we hate rather than what we love.

And the reason is that, as Jacob puts it, hatred alone is immortal.

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