No retreat

Election 2008 | Conservative reaction to the GOP’s defeat | The Editors

George, Coburn (Zuma Press/Newscom), Evans, Wright

In the hours before and after results were in, WORLD writers around the country spoke with a variety of leading conservative political and religious minds, asking for reaction to Barack Obama's victory but also seeking answers to this question: What should conservative Christians focus on politically over the next four years?

(Editor's Note: What follows are the full comments of these conservative political and religious leaders, expanding upon what appeared in the print edition of the magazine.)

Robert George, Princeton professor of jurisprudence, 
specialist on constitutional law 
and political philosophy

"The idea that we would retreat into churches or into insular communities and abandon our responsibilities as citizens is a daft and dangerous idea. There's no way that Christian families can insulate themselves from the culture. … There's no retreating to a corner. … Culture shapes conduct. Law shapes culture.