Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

November 2025 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of conservative icon William F. Buckley.

2026 will mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Born Again,

the account of Chuck Colson's fall from grace

in American politics, and his life-changing rebirth to Christianity. Buckley and Colson were two

of the most significant public Christian figures of the latter half of the 20th century, and they

continue to serve as models of Christian leadership today. Many remember Buckley is the author of God and Man at Yale

and the host of the Public Television Debate Program, Firing Line.

Both on television and in print, Buckley was a provocative communicator with an erudite vocabulary.

It's not a stretch to say that the 1955 founding of Buckley's Magazine National Review

launched the modern conservative movement. And in

addition to being a prominent public figure, Buckley was also a serious thinker. Of his many books,

keeping the tablets showcase the depth of his political and philosophical analysis. Less well-known

were Buckley's deep religious convictions. As a Roman Catholic, Buckley took seriously the tenets of his faith.

According to the National Review writer Catherine Jean Lopez,

Buckley's faith animated everything in his life

and formed the worldview that shaped how he understood

the corrosive effects of secularism and atheism.

And Buckley discussed his faith in one of his final books,

Nearer My God. According to Chuck Colson, the final chapter of that book alone was worth its

price and gold. And this is where the lives of Buckley and Colson truly began to intersect.

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