This Week in Review was written by Senior Editor Jake Whitfield

1.       Hurricane Florence made landfall early this morning, much weaker than what was feared. Still a strong storm, Florence has turn south slightly and has weakened greatly. This weekend will see people returning to their homes in the wake of the destruction. Florence, though weakened, will stick around the Carolinas and continue to drop large amounts of rain. More about the hurricane can be read here.

2.       A wedge in Evangelicalism over Social Justice has further revealed itself this week. John MacArthur’s blog series titled “Social Justice and the Gospel” has expressed his opposition to the Social Justice movement in the Evangelical mainstream lead by Russell Moore of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson ravaged MacArthur’s arguments in his column titled “Christians are suffering from complete spiritual blindness”. It is interesting to imagine how deep this divide will go. John MacArthur’s opposition to any spiritual movement of the last 400 years doesn’t show any signs of subsiding. Meanwhile, the mainstream Evangelical movement’s heavyweights are quickly jumping on the Social Justice movement.  

3.       The Atlantic continues it series titled “Is Democracy Dying?” with “A Warning from Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come”. Anne Applebaum warns that the major, concerning political trends in the United States is all too familiar for Europeans. Polarization, conspiracy theories, distrust of the press, and obsession to loyalty (all of which we are seeing in the United States) is more common in Europe. The profound political shifts that have spilt families up, destroy friendships, and completely rearranged alliances is not completely unknown in Europe. Applebaum’s piece serves as a reminder for all of us. Read more here.